And the youth pricked forth upon a steed with head dappled gray, four winters old, firm of limb, with shell-formed hoofs, having a bridle of linked gold on his head, and upon him a saddle of costly gold.  And in the youth’s hand were two spears of silver, sharp, well-tempered, headed with steel, three ells in length, of an edge to wound the wind, and cause blood to flow, and swifter than the fall of the dew-drop from the blade of reed-grass, when the dew of June is at the heaviest.  A gold-hilted sword was upon his thigh, the blade of which was gilded, bearing a cross of inlaid gold of the hue of the lightning of heaven.  His war-horn was of ivory.  Before him were two brindled, white-breasted greyhounds, having strong collars of rubies about their necks, reaching from the shoulder to the ear.  And the one that was upon the left side bounded across to the right side, and the one on the right to the left, and, like two sea-swallows, sported around him.  And his courser cast up four sods, with his four hoofs, like four swallows in the air, about his head, now above, now below.  About him was a four-cornered cloth of purple, and an apple of gold was at each corner, and every one of the apples was of the value of an hundred kine.  And there was precious gold of the value of three hundred kine upon his shoes, and upon his stirrups, from his knee to the tip of his toe.  And the blade of grass bent not beneath him, so light was his courser’s tread, as he journeyed toward the gate of Arthur’s palace.

Spoke the youth:  “Is there a porter?” “There is; and if thou holdest not thy peace, small will be thy welcome.  I am Arthur’s porter every first day of January.”  “Open the portal.”  “I will not open it.”  “Wherefore not?” “The knife is in the meat, and the drink is in the horn, and there is revelry in Arthur’s hall; and none may enter therein but the son of a king of a privileged country, or a craftsman bringing his craft.  But there will be refreshment for thy dogs and for thy horse; and for thee there will be collops cooked and peppered, and luscious wine, and mirthful songs; and food for fifty men shall be brought unto thee in the guest-chamber, where the stranger and the sons of other countries eat, who come not into the precincts of the palace of Arthur.  Thou wilt fare no worse there than thou wouldst with Arthur in the court.  A lady shall smooth thy couch, and shall lull thee with songs; and early to-morrow morning, when the gate is open for the multitude that came hither to-day, for thee shall it be opened first, and thou mayest sit in the place that thou shalt choose in Arthur’s hall, from the upper end to the lower.”  Said the youth:  “That will I not do.  If thou openest the gate, it is well.  If thou dost not open it, I will bring disgrace upon thy lord, and evil report upon thee.  And I will set up three shouts at this very gate, than which none were ever heard more deadly.”  “What clamor soever thou mayest make,” said Glewlwyd, the porter, “against the laws of Arthur’s palace, shalt thou not enter therein, until I first go and speak with Arthur.”