“I know not who I am,” said Sir Tristram, “nor know I whence I came nor whither I go.  As for this sword, I had it from a gentleman who came hither to us no great while ago.”

Then the chiefest of the swineherds said:  “Lord, this is a poor madman whom we found naked and starving in the forest.  As for that sword, I may tell you that he took it away from a knight who came hither to threaten his life, and he soused that knight into the well so that he was wellnigh drowned.”

Sir Daynant said:  “That is a very strange story, that a naked madman should take the sword out of the hands of an armed knight and treat that knight as ye tell me.  Now maybe this is some famous hero or knight who hath lost his wits through sorrow or because of some other reason, and who hath so come to this sorry pass.”

(So said Sir Daynant, and it may here be said that from that time those rude swineherds began to look upon Sir Tristram with different eyes than before, saying amongst themselves:  “Maybe what that knight said is true, and this is indeed no common madman.”)

Now whilst Sir Daynant sat there with his lady, holding converse with the swineherds concerning Sir Tristram in that wise, there came a great noise in the forest, and out therefrom there came riding with great speed that huge savage knight Sir Tauleas aforetold of.  Then Sir Daynant cried out, “Alas, here is misfortune!” And therewith he made all haste to put his helmet upon his head.

[Sidenote:  Sir Tauleas strikes down Sir Daynant] But ere he could arm himself in any sufficient wise, Sir Tauleas drave down very fiercely upon him.  And Sir Tauleas rose up in his stirrups and lashed so terrible a blow at Sir Daynant that it struck through Sir Daynant’s helmet and into his brain-pan, wherefore Sir Daynant immediately fell down to the ground as though he had been struck dead.

[Sidenote:  Sir Tauleas bears away the lady] Then Sir Tauleas rode straightway to where the lady of Sir Daynant was, and he said:  “Lady, thou art a prize that it is very well worth while fighting for!  And lo!  I have won thee.”  Therewith he catched her and lifted her up, shrieking and screaming and struggling, and sat her upon the saddle before him and held her there maugre all her struggles.  Then straightway he rode away into the forest, carrying her with him; and all that while Sir Tristram stood as though in a maze, gazing with a sort of terror upon what befell and not rightly knowing what it all meant.  For there lay Sir Daynant as though dead upon the ground, and he could yet hear the shrieks of the lady sounding out from the forest whither Sir Tauleas had carried her.

Then the chief of the swineherds came to Sir Tristram, and said:  “Fellow, as thou hast a sword, let us see if thou canst use it.  If thou art a hero as that knight said of thee a while since, and not a pure madman, then follow after that knight and bring that lady back hither again.”