And all this while Sir Launcelot slept beneath the apple-tree upon the hillside, for he was greatly soothed by the melodious humming of the bees in the blossoms above where he lay.

[Sidenote:  Of Sir Turquine the sable knight] Now you are to know that he who had thus taken Sir Lionel and those three knights prisoner was one Sir Turquine, a very cruel, haughty knight, who had a great and strong castle out beyond the mouth of that valley in which these knights took combat as aforetold.  Moreover, it was the custom of Sir Turquine to make prisoner all the knights and ladies who came that way; and all the knights and ladies who were not of King Arthur’s court he set free when they had paid a sufficient ransom unto him; but the knights who were of King Arthur’s court, and especially those who were of the Round Table, he held prisoner for aye within his castle.  The dungeon of that castle was a very cold, dismal, and unlovely place, and it was to this prison that he proposed to take those four knights whom he had overcome, with intent to hold them prisoner as aforetold.

And now turn we to King Arthur’s court and consider what befell there after Sir Launcelot and Sir Lionel had left it in search of adventures.

[Sidenote:  Sir Ector follows Sir Launcelot and Sir Lionel] When Sir Ector found that Sir Launcelot and Sir Lionel had gone away in that fashion he was very much grieved in spirit; wherefore he said to himself, “Meseems my brother might have taken me with him as well as our cousin.”  So he went to King Arthur and besought his leave to quit the court and to ride after those other two and to join in their adventures, and King Arthur very cheerfully gave him that leave.  So Sir Ector made him ready with all despatch, and rode away at a great gait after Sir Launcelot and Sir Lionel.  And ever as Sir Ector rode he made diligent inquiry and he found that those two knights had ridden before him, so he said to himself:  “By and by I shall overtake them—­if not to-day, at least by night, or by to-morrow day.”

[Sidenote:  Sir Ector seeks adventure] But after a while he came to a cross-roads, and there he took a way that Sir Launcelot and Sir Lionel had not taken; so that, after he had gone a distance, he found that he had missed them by taking that road.  Nevertheless, he went on until about the prime of the day, what time he met a forester, to whom he said:  “Sirrah, saw you two knights ride this way—­one knight clad in white armor with a white shield upon which was depicted the figure of a lady, and the other knight clad in red armor with the figure of a red gryphon upon his shield?” “Nay,” said the forester, “I saw not such folk.”  Then said Sir Ector, “Is there any adventure to be found hereabouts?” Upon this the forester fell to laughing in great measure.  “Yea,” he said, “there is an adventure to be found hard by and it is one that many have undertaken and not one yet hath ever fulfilled.”  Then Sir Ector said, “Tell me what that adventure is and I will undertake it.”