Sir Calidore, who, in the poem, impersonates Courtesy (or Sir Philip
Sidney), now meets Artegall, declaring the queen has despatched him to
track and slay the Blatant Beast,--an offspring of Cerberus and
Chimera,--whose bite inflicts a deadly wound. When Artegall reports
having recently met that thousand-tongued monster, Calidore spurs off,
and soon sees a squire bound to a tree. Pausing to free this captive,
he learns that this unfortunate has been illtreated by a neighboring
villain, who exacts the hair of every woman and beard of every man
passing his castle, because his lady-love wishes a cloak woven of
female hair and adorned with a fringe of beards. It was because the
captive had vainly tried to rescue a poor lady from this tribute that
he had been bound to this tree. On hearing this report, Sir Calidore
decides to end such doings forever, and riding up to the castle pounds
on its gates until a servant opens them wide. Forcing his way into the
castle, Sir Calidore slays all who oppose him, and thus reaches the
villain, with whom he fights until he compels him to surrender and
promise never to exact such tribute again.

Having settled this affair entirely to his satisfaction, Sir Calidore
rides on until he meets a youth on foot, bravely fighting a knight on
horseback, while a lady anxiously watches the outcome of the fray.
Just as Calidore rides up, the youth strikes down his opponent, a deed
of violence justified by the maiden, who explains how the man on
horseback was ill treating her when the youth came to her rescue.
Charmed by the courage displayed by an unarmed man, Sir Calidore
proposes to take the youth as his squire, and learns he is Tristram of
Lyonnesse, son of a king, and in quest of adventures.

Accompanied by this squire, who now wears the armor of the slain
knight, Sir Calidore journeys on, until he sees a knight sorely