commands the knights to be aroused and the horses to be made
ready. Already they are ahorse, and off they go, with bows and
arrows. After them the Queen mounts her horse, taking a damsel
with her. A maid she was, the daughter of a king, and she rode a
white palfrey. After them there swiftly followed a knight, named
Erec, who belonged to the Round Table, and had great fame at the
court. (3) Of all the knights that ever were there, never one
received such praise; and he was so fair that nowhere in the
world need one seek a fairer knight than he. He was very fair,
brave, and courteous, though not yet twenty-five years old.
Never was there a man of his age of greater knighthood. And what
shall I say of his virtues? Mounted on his horse, and clad in an
ermine mantle, he came galloping down the road, wearing a coat of
splendid flowered silk which was made at Constantinople. He had
put on hose of brocade, well made and cut, and when his golden
spurs were well attached, he sat securely in his stirrups. He
carried no arm with him but his sword. As he galloped along, at
the corner of a street he came up with the Queen, and said: "My
lady, if it please you, I should gladly accompany you along this
road, having come for no other purpose than to bear you company."
And the Queen thanks him: "Fair friend, I like your company well,
in truth; for better I could not have."

(Vv. 115-124.) Then they ride along at full speed until they
come into the forest, where the party who had gone before them
had already started the stag. Some wind the horns and others
shout; the hounds plunge ahead after the stag, running,
attacking, and baying; the bowmen shoot amain. And before them
all rode the King on a Spanish hunter.