They exchange questions.

"A man," he said, "some time I was" (which must be one of the earliest occurrences in English of a striking phrase), and the prisoner turns out to be Lunet.

She has been accused of treason by the usual steward (it is _very_ hard for a steward of romance to be good) and two brothers--of treason to her lady, and is to be burnt, unless she can find a knight who will fight the three.

Ywain agrees to defend her: but before he can carry out his promise he has, on the same morning, to meet a terrible giant who is molesting his hosts at a castle where he is guested.

Both adventures, however, are achieved on the same day, with very notable aid from the lion: and Ywain undertakes a fresh one, being recruited by the necessary damsel-messenger, against two half-fiend brother knights.