Chaitivel Summary

A beautiful lady is courted by four especially brave and handsome knights. They are all worthy, and she cannot decide among them. She arranges to hold a tournament for them to battle for the honor of her love. Many knights come from far away to take part.

The night before the tournament, a battle breaks out among all the knights who have assembled, and three of the four knights are killed and the fourth is badly wounded. Upset that her plan has gone wrong, the lady has the three dead knights buried with honor and has the surviving one nursed back to health.

After recovering, the knight continues to visit the lady. One evening she tells him she intends to write a lai about the four knights and call it The Four Sorrows after her grief for the four of them. The knight...