Yvain, or the Knight With the Lion

The servants provide Yvain with a room where he and his lion may rest. The lord’s two daughters, “Well versed in surgery” (158), work to heal Yvain and his lion, who take some time to recover. 

At about this time, the Lord of Blackthorn dies, and the elder of his own daughters claims all his lands and possessions. Her younger sister protests and travels to King Arthur’s court to find a champion. The elder sister rides ahead and gets there first, where Gawain agrees to defend her claim.

The younger daughter arrives at Arthur’s court three days after his queen returns from captivity. On the same day, news arrives of the killing of Harpin the giant; Gawain learns that the victor is the Knight of the Lion, who knows Gawain well.

The younger daughter tries to enlist Gawain’s aid in her own claim to her father’s estate, but Gawain politely puts her off. The younger daughter then brings her claim to Arthur, but the elder daughter appears and requests that the king settle the matter immediately in her own favor. Arthur says the younger daughter should have 40 days to find a champion; the elder daughter relents. The younger daughter sets off to find the famous Knight of the Lion, “for he / Devotes himself to bringing aid / To women in need, and afraid” (162).

The younger sister travels far and wide but cannot find her champion. She becomes ill and stops at a friend’s house, where she recuperates while the friend sends a messenger to continue the search. This young woman rides all day and continues past dark, through a storm, until she arrives at a castle, where she is welcomed. The castle lord listens as she describes her quest for the Knight of the Lion; he reveals that the same knight recently killed his enemy, a giant. The baron doesn’t know where the knight is, but he can show her the path he took when he left. 

The maiden leaves the next morning and soon arrives at the chapel near the fountain, where she asks for information about the Knight of the Lion. The people know little, but someone who knows more, Lunete, is attending Mass in the chapel.

Lunete steps from the chapel, and the maiden asks her for help. Lunete says the knight saved her from being burned at the stake. She takes the maiden to a meadow where she last saw the knight, points in the direction he went, tells her he was wounded at the time, and guesses he’d have stopped someplace not too far in the distance.

The maiden follows the path to a mansion where, she learns, the knight and his lion recuperated, and they left only this morning. They show her the road the knight took, and she gallops after him. Some hours later, she sees him riding up ahead; she races to his side and begs him to defend her lady’s suit against her sister for her rightful inheritance. Yvain agrees to do so. 

They ride until a castle appears, and the people greet them with, “Ill-come here, sir, ill-come here! / This lodging doth to you appear / That you might suffer ill and shame” (172). Yvain asks why they speak to him so rudely, and an old lady tells him they say this to all strangers, trying to warn them away. Inside the Castle of Ill Adventure, no matter what he has ever done wrong, worse will be done to him. As a knight, Yvain cannot shy away and must explore this place. 

Yvain enters the castle and finds a great courtyard in which 300 maidens sew and knit. They appear ill fed, badly clothed, and deeply sad. Many of them are in tears. Yvain asks what brought them here, and they reply that a king became trapped in the castle by two sons of the devil, and he ransomed his freedom by promising to send them 30 maidens every year. None of the women can escape, for every knight who tries to free them is killed by the brothers. They fear for Yvain, as he must fight them in the morning. Yvain replies that, if God wills it, he will free them tomorrow.

Yvain continues through the castle until he comes to a garden, where horses are being cared for by people who think they, and not the castle lord, own them. Further into the garden, Yvain finds a gentleman seated as a beautiful teenage girl reads a romance story to him. Her parents look on, clearly proud of her station.

The people in the garden welcome Yvain, and the castle lord's daughter receives him politely; taking him by the hand, she bathes him, then clothes him in the finest raiment. That evening, Yvain is treated to a sumptuous meal and then escorted to an elegant room where he and his lion sleep soundly. In the morning, the daughter takes Yvain to Mass. All seems to be well.

Yvain bids the castle lord goodbye, but the noble tells Yvain he cannot leave until he has fought the two devil brothers. The lord will give his daughter in marriage, along with the castle and its lands, to the man who can defeat them. Yvain politely refuses the offer but accepts the challenge.

The devil brothers appear, clad from knee to shoulder in armor and bearing powerful clubs and shields. They demand that Yvain remove his lion. Yvain agrees, and the lion is placed inside a closed room. The combatants mount their horses and charge at each other. The devils’ cudgels are very strong and quickly break holes in Yvain’s shield. He fights valiantly, but the devils are winning.

The lion, hearing the fight outside, rages to escape. He claws at the door, which is much decayed with age, and manages to make a hole in it and crawl out. He races to the garden and leaps onto one of the Devils, seriously injuring him. The other devil turns to help his brother, and Yvain uses the moment to attack him from behind and slice off his head. The wounded devil yields, and the battle is over.

The people rejoice at their new freedom. Yvain reminds the Lord to release the 300 maidens. The Lord insists that Yvain marry his daughter and accept rulership over the realm, but Yvain politely declines, saying that he is already committed elsewhere. Though miffed, the castle lord relents.