Chapter 63 [part 3 of 3]

[How Amadis and Sir Galvanes and the other knights learned that Madasima had been sentenced to death.] 

[The door in the prison at Segovia Castle. Photo by Sue Burke.] 
 
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Amadis and his companions who left King Lisuarte’s court, as ye have heard, arrived at Firm Island, where they were received with great pleasure and happiness by everyone who lived there, whose sorrow at having lost their new lord was turned into twice as much pleasure for their spirits at having him return.

The knights saw how strong the castle was and that the only entrance to the island was through it, and saw that the island was large, and the land was as fertile and delightful as they had heard, populated by so many good people. Having seen this, they said the island was suitable for waging war from it against the whole world. They were immediately lodged in the biggest town which lay at the foot of the castle.

Know ye that this island was nine leagues long and seven wide, and it was filled with towns and other fine dwellings of the knights of that land. In the most enjoyable places, Apolidon had made four dwellings for himself, the most rare and delightful that man could ever see. The first was the one with the serpent and the lions; the second with the deer and the dogs. The third, which was called the spinning palace, was a house that three times per day and three times per night turned around so sharply that those inside it thought they were sinking. The fourth was called the bull, because each day a very brave bull would come out of an old tunnel and charge at people as if it wished to kill them. Everyone would flee from it, and its mighty horns would break down the iron door of a tower. It would enter, but soon it would come out tame, ridden by a monkey so old and wrinkled that its skin hung off it everywhere. The monkey would strike the bull with a whip and make it enter the tunnel from which it had emerged.

All the knights had much pleasure and delight to see these enchantments and the many others that Apolidon had made out of his devotion to giving pleasure to his beloved Grimanesa so she would always have something with which to pass the time. And all the knights were very firm in their love for Amadis and to obey whatever his will was to do.

At this time, as ye hear, the hermit Andalod arrived, the one who had lived at Poor Rock when Amadis was there. He came to bring order to the monastery at Firm Island that ye have heard about. And when he saw Amadis thus, he gave many thanks to God for having given such a good man life, and gazed at him and embraced him as if he had never seen him before. Amadis kissed his hands and thanked him humbly for the health and life that through God and him he had recovered.

Then a monastery was founded at the foot of a peak on Firm Island at the hermitage of the Virgin Mary where Amadis, desperate for life, with great pain in his heart over the letter that his lady Oriana had sent him, had prayed and was lost to the world as ye have heard earlier. Andalod had brought a priest named Sisian and thirty friars for the monastery. Amadis ordered them to receive enough income to support their lives comfortably, and Andalod returned to Poor Rock as before.

Then Balais of Carsante arrived, whom Amadis had rescued from Arcalaus’s prison, and who had gone to bid farewell to King Lisuarte when he learned that Amadis had left him discontented. Olivas also came, who had helped Agrajes and Sir Galvanes in his battle with the Duke of Bristol. They asked Balais for news of the court of King Lisuarte, and he said:

“There is exceedingly much to tell.”

Then he told them:

“Know, my lords, that King Lisuarte has sent orders to all his men to join him immediately. Count Latine and the knights he had sent to take Mongaza Island had sent him word that the old giant had relinquished all the castles that were in the power of himself or his sons, but Gromadaza did not wish to give up Boiling Lake, the strongest castle in all the island, as well as three other very strong castles.

“And know that Gromadaza said that never in all the days of her life will she abandon the places where she had lived with her husband Famongomadan and son Barsagante. She would die before she delivers them, and the King will always receive trouble from her. And as for her daughter Madasima and her damsels, the King may do what he wishes to them, for she cares little for them or their lives, and their loss would give her a only a little sadness. And so I say she may be taken as an example of how rigorous and strong is the heart of an angry woman, willing to abandon all that she was engendered for and that her nature cannot achieve, and necessarily her slight wisdom cannot help her. And if a woman is not like this, it is due to the great grace of God in Whom all power is and Who can guide events without any difficulty as He pleases, forcing all things of nature to be contrary.”

After Balais had delivered this news, they asked him what the King had said and planned to do, and he told them:

“In front of all his men, as I have told you, he swore that if Gromadaza’s castles were not his within a month, he would have Madasima and her damsels beheaded, and then he would march to Boiling Lake and would attack until he had taken them, and if he had the old giantess in his power, he would throw her to his brave lions.”

When they heard this news, they were very angry. They had Balais and the other knights given lodging, and they spoke a lot about it. But Sir Galvanes, who had not forgotten the promise he had made to Madasima, and whose heart was tormented by great anguish and pain, told them:

“My good lords, ye all know well that the principal cause for which Amadis and ourselves left the King was over Madasima and me. I beg you all to help me fulfill the promise I made, and to protect her with just reason, and if reason is not enough, to protect her with arms, which with God’s help and yours I believe I could well do.”

Sir Florestan stood up and said:

“My lord Sir Galvanes, there are others here who are wiser and can give better counsel than I, and they can help you protect Madasima if she can be defended with reason, which would be best. But if it is necessary to fight, I shall take on the battle in the name of God to defend her and to support your promise.”

“My good friend,” Sir Galvanes said, “I thank you for that as much as I can, because ye have shown yourself to be my loyal friend. But if she must be freed by arms, it ought to fall on me to do it, since I made that promise to her, and I shall do it.”

“My good lords,” Brian of Monjaste said, “ye both speak well, but we all have our part in this deed. What happened with Amadis with the King showed us how little we were regarded, and what happened between him and you, my lord Sir Galvanes, could also have befallen to any one of us who were there. But if we do not become involved in this, we should all be diminished, although the principal cause was Amadis’s. So, since we all left together and are together now, what befalls to one of us befalls us all, and so there is no private matter. And leaving that aside, Madasima is a damsel, one of the most lovely in the world, and she is in danger of losing her life, as are her damsels. Since one of the principles of the order of knighthood is to rescue such women, I tell you that I shall strive that they be defended with reason, and if that fails, with arms as long as my strength shall last.”

Sir Cuadragante said:

“Truly, Sir Brian, ye speak like a man of high estate, and I believe ye shall do the very best ye can, yet this business affects us all, and so we must all take it as our own so they hold us as worthy men. Now and without delay, because waiting often adds little to intentions, we must put this effort in effect, for there will not be a better time. And remember, my lords, these damsels are now miserable and forsaken, but they were not put in prison by their own volution but due to the obedience that Madasima owed to her mother. So, although the King may hold something against them in this world, God holds nothing against them, and so they have been condemned by force rather than their will.”

Amadis said:

“I am very pleased, my lords, to hear what ye say, because we should expect only a good outcome from things considered out of love and concord. And if ye maintain your mighty and brave hearts in the future the way they are now, no only do I think these damsels will find great aid, but this will lead to other great deeds, for none in the world can equal you. And if ye are all agreed to help, if ye please, I shall say what it seems to me should be done.”

They all asked him to say it. So he told them:

“There are twelve damsels. I think it good that they be rescued by twelve of you knights either by reason or by arms, one for each of them, together if possible or separately as necessity may demand. I am certain that all of ye here, with your great courage, would take this challenge for enjoyment and pleasure, but that cannot be, for there can only be twelve. I wish to name them, and the others and I shall remain here for things of greater danger that may occur to us.”

Then he said:

“Ye, my lord Sir Galvanes, are the first, for the business is principally yours; and your cousin Agrajes; my brother Sir Florestan; my cousins Palomir and Dragonis; Sir Brian of Monjaste; Nicoran of the White Tower; Orlandin, son of the Count of Urlanda; Gavarte of Valtemoroso; Imosil, brother of the Duke of Burgundy; Madansil of the Silver Bridge; and Ladaderin of Fajarque. I hold these twelve to be good because among them are sons of kings and queens and duke and counts of such high lineage that none of them can fail there because they have no par.”

They were all very pleased by what Amadis had said, and those who where named immediately went to their lodging to arrange everything necessary for their departure, which would be early in the morning the next day. That night they all stayed in Agrajes’s lodging, and at midnight they were armed. They mounted their horses and got on the road to Tasilana, the town where King Lisuarte was.
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Chapter 63 [part 2 of 3]

[How Queen Briolanja arrived at Firm Island, and the wonders she saw there, and how she tested the forbidden chamber.] 

[Alexander the Great fighting a dragon from Le Livre et la vraye hystoire du bon roy Alixandre, on display at Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination at the British Library.]
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At this time one of Queen Briolanja’s damsels arrived with orders to tell Oriana what had happened at Firm Island, which pleased everyone because the Queen was well loved by all. She said to Oriana:

“My lady, I have come to you on behalf of Briolanja to tell you about the wonders she found at Firm Island, for I saw it all and ye can know it from me.”

“May God give her a long life,” Oriana said, “and good fortune to you for the effort ye have undertaken.”

Then everyone came to listen to her story, and the damsel said:

“My lady, know that after Briolanja left here, she arrived with all her company at the Island, where she spent five days. She was immediately asked if she wished to try the test of the chamber or the arch of love, and she said that she wished to leave those two tests for the end. Instead they took her to some beautiful houses a league from the castle, which were abundantly provisioned and which had been some of the famous principal residences of Apolidon.

“When it came time to eat, they brought us to a beautiful great hall, marvelously decorated, and at one end of it was a very deep, large, dark cave, so frightening to look into that none of us dared to go near. At the other end of the grand hall was a splendid tower, and from the windows one could see everything that happened in the hall. They had all us women go up into it, where we found tables and estrados placed next to the windows. There the Queen and ourselves were very well served with many kinds of delicacies by very attentive ladies and damsels.

“Below in the hall, as ye have heard, the knights and our other people ate, and they were served by knights of that land, and after they had put the second course in front of them, they heard loud hissing from the cave and hot smoke came out. Soon a great serpent emerged and stood in the middle of the hall, brave and terrifying, and no one dared look at it. Smoke came from its nostrils and it whipped its tail so hard that the entire hall shook.

“And then behind it two enormous lions came out of the cavern, and they all began to fight so bravely and so fiercely that no man’s heart was not terrified. The knights and other people abandoned their tables and left the hall as fast as they could. Although the windows from which we watched with Briolanja were very high, even still we could not help but be very afraid and terrified.

“The battle lasted a half-hour, and at its end the lions were so tired that they lay on the ground as if they were dead, and the serpent so tired and weary it hardly breathe. But after it had rested a while, it took one of the lions in its mouth and put it in the cave, returned for the other one, threw it inside, and then leapt in after them.

“They did not reappear for the rest of the day, and the men of the island laughed heartily at our terror. When we were sure they would not come back that day, we returned to the tables and finished our meal.

“And so we passed the day, and that night in a good lodging, and the next day they took us to an even more wonderful site, where we passed the day in great pleasure and were provided with all the things we needed. When it was time to sleep, they took us to a fine and beautiful chamber that was amazing to behold, where there was a bed of rich, costly fabric for Briolanja and other beds exceedingly fine for us.

“We were tired and sleepy, but after we had lain down and midnight had passed, the doors opened so loudly that we were all awakened and frightened. We saw a stag enter with lit candles on its horns, and the entire chamber was illuminated as if it were day. Half of it was white as snow, and the neck and head as black as tar, and one horn seemed gilt and the other vermillion.

“Behind it came four dogs of similar appearance, and all of them were harassing it, so it was sorely afflicted. And behind it came a gold and ivory horn that was playing itself and floating in the air as if someone were holding it in their hand. It sounded a hunting call that drove on the dogs.

“They would not let the stag rest, and it ran from one side of the chamber to the other, jumping over our beds, which made them shake, and at times it tripped on the beds and fell. We got up in our nightshirts and with our hair loose, fleeing from the stag, and some of us hid under our beds. But the dogs did not stop pursuing it as hard as they could, and when the stag saw that it had no place to hide in the chamber, it jumped out of the window as fast as it could and the dogs leapt out after it, and so we were very relieved.

“We picked up the bedding, which had been made disorderly, and covered ourselves, and we gave Briolanja, who was very worried, a robe to wear. When we ceased to be afraid, we laughed a lot at the disarray in which we found ourselves. As we were remaking the beds, a lady and two damsels came through the door, with a little girl carrying candles ahead of them, and the lady said to Briolanja:

“ ‘My lady, what happened to you that ye are awake?’

“She told her:

“ ‘My friend, such a commotion that it would be hard to recount.’

The lady laughed a lot, and said:

“ ‘Well, my lady, lay down and sleep, for tonight nothing more will happen for you to fear.’

“With that assurance we straightened our beds and slept the rest of the night. The next day, early in the morning, we left and went to a forest where there were many tall pine trees and beautiful gardens, and we rested in tents alongside a river. There we found a round house of twelve marble pillars and a strangely constructed roof. Between the pillars were glass panels locked in place and made in such a subtle way that everyone outside could see what was inside. It had two doors worked with sheets of gold and silver that were amazingly valuable.

“On top of each post inside the house was a copper statue made to resemble a giant that held a powerful bow whose arrows had red-hot iron tips as bright as if they had just come out of a fire. They said that nothing can enter there without being immediately turned into ashes by the fire on those arrows, because the statues instantly shoot their bows and never miss their target.

“As we watched with Briolanja, they put two fallow deer and a buck inside, and immediately arrows were shot into them, then the arrows flew back to the archers and the animals were reduced to ashes. On the doors of the palace, an inscription said:

“ ‘Let no man or woman dare to enter this house if they do not love each other as much and as loyally as Grimanesa and Apolidon, who made this enchantment, and they must enter together the first time, for if each one were to do it alone, they would suffer the most cruel death ever seen. This enchantment will last until a man and woman come who due to their great loyalty in love and the great skill at arms of the knight, shall enter in the beautiful enchanted chamber and lie together as one. And when they are wed, then all the enchantments of Firm Island shall be undone.’

“We stayed there that day, and Briolanja sent for Isanjo and Enil and told them that we no longer wished to see anything more besides the arch of love and the forbidden chamber. She asked Isanjo about the serpent and lions, and the stag and dogs.

“ ‘My lady,’ he said, ‘we know only that the serpent and lions come out each day at the time that ye saw them and fight that way, and of the buck and dogs I tell you they come to that chamber every night at the hour in which ye saw them, and they turn to leave by the window, with the dogs behind the buck, and they all enter a lake nearby that we think leads to the sea. I do not know what more to tell you, my lady, except that it would take you more than a year to see all the great marvels that are on this island.’

“The next morning, we mounted our palfreys and returned to the castle. Immediately Briolanja went to the arch of the loyal lovers and entered through its forbidden pillars as she who had never erred in her love for even a moment. The statue played a very sweet song with its trumpet, so sweet that it made us faint. And when Briolanja entered inside, where the images of Apolidon and Grimanesa were, the song stopped with sweet final notes that were wonderful to hear. There she saw the statues as beautiful and new as if they were alive, so that although she was alone, she felt as if they were with her. Immediately she saw freshly carved letters in the jasper that said:

“ ‘This is the name of Briolanja, daughter of Tagadan, King of Sobradisa. This is the third damsel who has entered here.’

“Immediately she thought to leave, for she was very afraid to be alone, since no one in her company could enter. She left and went to her lodging. On the fifth day she went to test the forbidden chamber, and she was dressed so richly it was astonishing. She wore nothing on her hair besides a beautiful golden headband set with precious gems, and all those who saw her said that if she did not enter the chamber, then no one in the world could, and that when she did, all the enchantments would end.

“She commended herself to God and entered the forbidden site and passed the copper pillar and reached the marble one, and read the words that were written on it. When she was three steps away from the door of the chamber, three hands grabbed her by her beautiful, precious hair and tossed her away without pity. And like the rest, they threw her outside of the protected site, and she was left so battered that we could not revive her.”

Oriana, whose heart had felt faint and sad as she listened, became very happy. She looked at Mabilia and the Damsel of Denmark, and they at her, and they were all pleased.

The damsel said:

“We spent the rest of the day there, and the next day Briolanja left for her kingdom.”

After the news had been told, the damsel left to go to her lady, and she carried messages from Queen Brisena and Oriana and the other ladies and damsels for her.
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Summary, Chapters 58 to 62

“When the king has a sound mind, receives good counsel, and is wise without malice, he does well for his people — and the contrary is also true.” Medieval saying collected by Sir Juan Manuel in El Conde Lucanor. 

Duratón River Gorges Natural Park near Sepúlveda, Spain. It includes the 12th century hermitage and monastery of St. Fructus. Photo by Txo.

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Chapter 58

King Lisuarte had been challenged months earlier to battle by King Cildadan of Ireland, and the battle is finally about to begin. Amadis, still known as Beltenebros, goes to the site of the battle with his squire, Enil, and volunteers to join the hundred knights who will fight alongside King Lisuarte. Enil begs Beltenebros to knight him so he can join the King’s company.

Among King Cildadan’s men are many treacherous giants, including Madanfabul, who has been ordered to wait on a small hill with ten other knights and attack after the battle is underway to try to kill or capture Lisuarte.

The battle is cruel, and after several hours, more than half the knights on both sides have died. At that point, Madanfabul attacks and drags King Lisuarte from his horse, holding him under his arm, to carry him off as a prisoner. Beltenebros comes to his rescue and cuts off the giant’s arm — and he shouts: “Gaul, Gaul, for I am Amadis!”

This rallies Lisuarte’s men and they win, led by Amadis. But Galaor has been badly injured. Amadis believes he will die, but twelve maidens arrive and ask to take Galaor away and give him medical care. They also ask King Lisuarte for King Cildadan, who is badly hurt. They take the two men to a ship and sail away.

The King embraces Amadis. The surviving knights rest, eat, and get their injuries treated. The dead knights are buried honorably in a chapel erected for them.

Meanwhile, Queen Briolanja comes to Miraflores Castle to meet Oriana, and they instantly become best friends forever.

Chapter 59

Sir Galaor wakes up jailed in a beautiful room in a garden. A damsel comes to treat him, and soon he realizes that the damsel is Urganda the Unrecognized, a powerful sorceress who has helped him in the past. His squire and the dwarf Ardian are brought to serve him. King Cildadan awakes locked inside a tower. He is treated by people who do not talk to him, and he believes he is a prisoner until Urganda tells him otherwise. Two beautiful damsels care for the injured men; the damsels become pregnant, and the sons will become valiant knights, and Galaor and Cildadan will be released, but all that shall be recounted “farther on.”

Amadis meets with Queen Briolanja and Oriana, and after some joking, he urges Briolanja to test the forbidden room at Firm Island to see if she is the most beautiful woman in the world. This hurts Oriana’s feelings until he explains to her that he knows Briolanja will fail but Oriana, when she tries it, will win, but if Oriana did it first, everyone would wonder if Briolanja could have won, so he had urged Briolanja to try it for Oriana’s greater glory.

Sir Cuadragante and Amadis become fast friends, and the court begins to scheme to free King Arban of North Wales and Angriote de Estravaus, who are being held prisoner and tortured at the Island of Mongaza.

Chapter 60

A strange ship with a huge fire in its mast docks and turns out to carry Urganda the Unrecognized; the fire was sorcery. She assures Amadis that his brother Galaor is safe. The King and Queen welcome her, she performs feats of magic. She delivers disturbing prophesies to Oriana and Amadis and about the Kingdom in general before she departs.

Chapter 61

An exceptionally tall damsel arrives with a message for the King. Amadis had killed the husband and son of a giantess named Gromadaza, who is holding Arban and Angriote de Estravaus prisoner. She has learned that the King wants to free them. She will send the valiant knight Ardan Canileo to fight Amadis. If Amadis wins, Gromadaza will deliver the prisoners and her lands, but if Ardan wins, he will kill Amadis and the lands and prisoners will remain in her hands. And the lady Madasima, daughter of Gromadaza, will come to serve as a hostage to guarantee the proposal.

Amadis accepts the battle and invites the damsel to dine at his lodging to honor her. She accepts, but impolitely. While she is there, she steals the magic sword Amadis had won in a test of his love. She delivers it to Ardan Canileo, who is a mighty but very ugly knight. Madasima has agreed to marry him because her mother is forcing her, but she finds him repugnant.

Amadis greets Ardan and Madasima as they arrive with the customary exchange of insults between the two knights, but as he prepares that night for the battle, he discovers that his sword is missing. He arranges to have it replaced by his father’s sword, which had been left with him when he was abandoned as a baby.

The battle begins, and it is fierce. Oriana watches from a window, and her presence, especially the sight of her hair – women’s hair was sexy in medieval times – gives Amadis great courage. Madasima hopes Amadis will win so she does not have to marry Ardan. But the battle goes badly for Amadis even before his sword breaks. Inspired by Oriana, he makes a bold move that disarms Ardan, and he kills him and wins the fight.

Chapter 62

Sir Bruneo of Bonamar had challenged the brother of the exceptionally tall damsel to a battle. The battle is held, Bruneo wins, and she commits suicide.

Although King Lisuarte has enjoyed great good fortune for many years, he has two scheming old counselors in his court, and they are jealous of Amadis. They begin to tell the King that Amadis is planning to take the Kingdom from him. Foolishly, the King believes them.

Sir Galvanes falls in love with Madasima. When Amadis has recovered from the injuries suffered in his battle with Ardan Canileo, he and Agrajes and Galvanes meet with the King. Amadis proposes giving Madasima’s land to Galvanes as a wedding gift, thus rewarding his outstanding service and keeping the land in the realm. The King refuses, and when the knights complain, he tells them to leave and seek someone who would appreciate them.

That night, Amadis secretly meets with Oriana, and while in bed, explains that he must leave. She is heartbroken but grants permission. The next morning, Amadis calls together many knights and tells them he is departing for Firm Island, explains why, and invites them to accompany him. Many agree to do so.
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Chapter 62 [part 4 of 4]

[How Amadis sadly announced his departure.] 

[From On the Art of Hunting With Birds, from a manuscript commissioned by King Manfred of Sicily in the 13th century.]

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Amadis went to his lodging with more anger and melancholy than his face showed, where he found many good knights who always stayed there with him, and he did not want anything about what had happened with the King to be spoken of until he had talked with his lady Oriana. He took Durin aside and sent him to tell his cousin Mabilia on his behalf that he needed to see Oriana that night, and she should wait for him in the old passageway under the garden, where he had entered on other occasions.

With that, he returned to the knights and ate and enjoyed himself with them as he had on previous days. And he told them:

“My lords, I would very much like all of you to join me here tomorrow because I have to speak about something very important.”

“So it shall be,” they said.

When the day had passed and the night came, after people had supped and gone to bed, Amadis took Gandalin and went to the garden. He entered the underground passage, as he had done before, and arrived in the chamber of his lady Oriana, who was waiting for him with a loyal and true love equal to his own. With many kisses and embraces they were joined without envy for anyone else who truly loves in this world, believing their own to be without equal.

As they lay in bed, Oriana asked him why he had sent word that he need to talk with her. He told her:

“Because something very strange happened to me and my cousin Agrajes and Sir Galvanes with your father.”

Then he told her everything that had happened, and how the King finally told them that the world was exceedingly large and they should seek in it someone who would recognize them better.

“My lady,” Amadis said, “since that pleases him, then we ought to do it, because otherwise all the fame and glory that I have won by keeping your delightful memory in my thoughts would be lost and my honor would be diminished so much that no knight in the world would be as lessened and debilitated as I would be. So I ask you, my lady, not to order me to do anything else, because, since I am more yours than my own, that loss would reach you, and although it would be hidden to all, it would be plain to you, my lady, and it would always put your spirit in great anguish.”

When Oriana heard this, although her heart broke, she became as strong as she could, and she said:

“My true beloved, for little reason ye ought to complain about my father, because ye have served more me than him, and by my order ye came to his court, and from me ye are and shall always be rewarded while I live. And if any blame could be laid on my father, it is only in believing that things were done in his service when they were secretly done on my orders, and these deeds oblige him not to give you such an insolent reply. Although your departure will be as grave for me as if my heart were broken into ever-smaller pieces, it pleases me to do as ye ask, considering more what is right than my will and my excessive love for you. Due to the reign that I have over you, I have in my hand more the remedy than my pleasure, although I know that by losing you, what that remains for my father will give him great loss and loneliness.”

Amadis, hearing this, kissed her hands many times, and said:

“My true lady, if until now I have received many great gifts from you, from which my sad heart was turned from death to life, this must be considered greater because of the transcendent difference that issues of honor have over delights and pleasures.”

In this and other things they spent the night talking, mixing their great pleasure with their many tears, thinking of the deep loneliness that awaited them. But as day approached, Amadis arose, accompanied by his very beloved cousin Mabilia and the Damsel of Denmark. He humbly begged them to console Oriana, and they agreed, weeping, and he left them.

When he arrived at his lodging, he spent the rest of the night and some part of the day sleeping. But when the time came, all the knights ye have heard of arose from their beds and came to him, and after they heard Mass, they gathered together on horseback in a field.

Amadis spoke to them thus:

“As ye all know, my good lords and honorable knights, after I left the Kingdom of Gaul and came to Great Britain, and my brothers and friends followed me, things happened that placed King Lisuarte in greater or lesser honor, and so there is no reason to remind you of them. I only believe that it must rightly be said that ye and I should expect to have been justly rewarded, but due to inconstant Fortune who in her usual way changes and reverses events, or due to bad counsel, or perhaps due to the advanced age that has come over the King, we have encountered a situation much to the contrary of our expectations.

“Agrajes and Sir Galvanes and I had asked the King to give Madasima her land so that when she and Sir Galvanes were married, it would remain in his reign and vassalage. But not considering the great worth and high lineage of this knight, and the other services he had received from him, the King not only did not wish to grant us that, but we were denied by him with an answer so insolent and false from a mouth previously so truthful and with such discreet wisdom that it would be difficult for you to believe me.

“But it cannot be hidden because of how it ended, and so, my lords, know ye that at the end of our conversation, when we said how poorly we were recognized for our services, he told us that the world is large and we should travel through it and look for someone who would recognize us better. And so, because we have been obedient while in agreement and friendship, we should be obedient in discord and enmity, and we should comply with what he thought we should do. It seems to me to be right that ye know, because it involves not only ourselves in particular but everyone in general.”

When those knights heard what Amadis said, many were amazed, and they said to each other that their small services would be would receive a very poor reward if the great ones by Amadis and his brother had been forgotten. Immediately their hearts were moved to serve the King no more and to do him disservice when they could.

Angriote de Estravaus, who wanted to share in whatever good or ill befell Amadis, said:

“My lords, I have known the King for a long time, and I have always seen him as very calm in all his business. He has never become angry except with great cause and just reason, so I cannot believe that what has happened to Amadis and these knights was an act of his own nature or volition. Instead I truly think that deceitful people have overcome all his wisdom and good judgement. For that reason, I cannot blame the goodness and great virtue of the King, and what I truly think has happened is I have seen him speak in recent days with Gandandel and Brocadan more than usual. They are false and dishonest and have forgotten God and the world and think to seek gain to themselves and their sons for what their evil works do not deserve. I think this has caused the change in the King.

“And so that ye may see how the justice of God is executed, I wish to arm myself at once and tell them that they are vile and envious and have done great treason and dishonesty to the King and Amadis, and I will fight both of them. And if their age excuses them, they should send their sons to fight me alone and bear the evil deeds of their fathers.”

He was about to leave, but Amadis stopped him and said:

“My good friend Angriote, may it not please God that your good and loyal body be placed in danger for what is not known to be true for certain.”

He replied:

“I am certain that it is thus, because I have known them for a long time. And if the will of the King were to say the truth, I know that he would say that I have told the truth.”

Amadis said:

“If ye love me, do not try to solve this, so that the King does not receive an affront. And if they are as ye say, presenting themselves as my friends when they have been my enemies, they will get what those lies deserve. When it is discovered and known, ye may more justly and with greater cause proceed against them. And know that then I shall not let ye avoid it.”

Angriote said:

“Although it is against my will, I shall let it go this time, since it pleases you, but it shall remain for the future.”

Then Amadis, turning to the knights, told them:

“My lords, I wish to bid farewell to the King and Queen if they will see me. Then I will go to Firm Island. Those of us who wish to live there together shall receive honor in addition to pleasures because that land is very agreeable, abounding in all good things and good hunting and beautiful women, who are the reason, wherever they may be, that knights are praised and proud. I have many precious jewels there of great worth so that our needs may be fulfilled.

“Many people will come there who know us, as well as strangers, both men and women, who will need our help. There we shall return whenever we please to seek shelter and rest from our labors. And along with Firm Island, during the life of my father, King Perion, and afterward, the Kingdom of Gaul will also be there for us in Little Brittany, for I have letters giving it to me now and after his days. Ye can count on all this without a doubt. But I also remind you that the Kingdom of Scotland is there for my cousin Agrajes, and that the Kingdom of Queen Briolanja neither for good nor ill will be closed to us.”

“My lord Amadis, you may say this with great truth,” said a knight named Tantiles, majordomo and governor of the Kingdom of Sobradisa. “The beautiful Queen whose kingdom ye returned to her shall always be at your command.”

Sir Cuadragante said:

“Now, my lord, bid farewell to the King, as shall those who love you and your company.”

“So it shall be,” Amadis said, “and I hold in esteem those who at this time wish to honor me, but I say that those who stay with the King to their advantage do me no dishonor. Truly, I believe that an equally good lord could not be found anywhere at this time.”

The King rode past with Gandandel at his side and many other knights. He had gone hunting with falcons, and although he rode close by, he did not speak to them nor look at them, and returned to his palace.
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