They stipulate that the lion is to be forcibly prevented from interfering, and he is locked up in a room; but, hearing the noise of battle, he scratches up the earth under the door, frees himself, and once more succours his master at the nick of time.

Even this does not expiate Ywain's fault: and yet another task falls to him--the championship of the rights of the younger of a pair of sisters, the elder of whom has secured no less a representative than Gawain himself.

The pair, unknowing and unknown, fight all day long before Arthur's court with no advantage on either side: and when the light fails an interchange of courtesies leads to recognition and the settlement of the dispute.

Now the tale is nearly full.

Ywain rides yet again to the magic fountain and performs the rite; there is no one to meet him; the castle rocks and the inmates quake.