Then after the black knight had thus struck down those three knights he went to each in turn and tied his hands behind his back.  Then, lifting each man with extraordinary ease, he laid him across the saddle of that horse from which he had fallen, as though he were a sack of grain.  And all this Sir Lionel beheld with very great wonder, marvelling much at the strength and prowess of that black knight.  “Ha,” quoth he to himself, “I will go and inquire into this business, for it may haply be that yonder black knight shall not find it to be so easy to deal with a knight of the Round Table as with those other three knights.”

So, with this, Sir Lionel loosed his horse very quietly and went his way so softly that Sir Launcelot was not awakened.  And after he had gone some way, he mounted his steed and rode off at a fast gallop down into that valley.

[Sidenote:  Sir Lionel addresses the sable knight] When Sir Lionel had come to that place where the knight was, he found that he had just bound the last of the three knights upon the saddle of his horse as aforetold.  So Sir Lionel spoke to the sable knight in this wise:  “Sir, I pray you tell me your name and degree and why you treat those knights in so shameful a fashion as I behold you to do.”

“Messire,” said the black knight very fiercely, “this matter concerns you not at all; yet I may tell you that those knights whom I have overthrown are knights of King Arthur’s court, and so I serve all such as come into this place.  So will I serve you, too, if you be a knight of King Arthur’s.”

“Well,” said Sir Lionel, “that is a very ungracious thing for you to say.  And as for that, I too am a knight of King Arthur’s court, but I do not believe that you will serve me as you have served those three.  Instead of that, I have great hope that I shall serve you in such a fashion that I shall be able to set these knights free from your hands.”

[Sidenote:  The sable knight overcomes Sir Lionel] Thereupon, without more ado, he made him ready with spear and shield, and the black knight, perceiving his design, also made him ready.  Then they rode a little distance apart so as to have a fair course for a tilt upon the roadway.  Then each set spur to his horse and the two drave together with such violence that the earth shook beneath them.  So they met fair in the middle of the course, but lo! in that encounter the spear of Sir Lionel broke into as many as thirty or forty pieces, but the spear of the black knight held, so that Sir Lionel was lifted clean out from his saddle and over the crupper of his horse with such violence that when he smote the ground he rolled three times over ere he ceased to fall.  And because of that fierce, terrible blow he swooned away entirely, and all was black before his eyes, and he knew nothing.

Therewith the black knight dismounted and tied Sir Lionel’s arms behind his back and he laid him across the saddle of his horse as he had laid those others across the saddles of their horses; and he tied him there very securely with strong cords so that Sir Lionel could not move.