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Now blessed be God, said the Fair Maiden of Astolat, that that knight sped so well, for he is the man in the world that I first loved, and truly he shall be last that ever I shall love. Now, fair maid, said Sir Gawaine, is that good knight your love? Certainly sir, said she, wit ye well he is my love. Then know ye his name? said Sir Gawaine.
Sir Arthur had waited three days in Astolat for some Knights who were long on the road, and when they had arrived they all set forth, and were followed by Sir Lancelot and Sir Lavaine, both with white shields, and Sir Lancelot bore besides the red sleeve that was a token.
'But I marvel, said he, 'how you know my name. Then the maiden told him how Sir Gawaine had been at Astolat and had seen his shield. 'Alas! sighed Sir Lancelot, 'it grieves me that my name is known, for trouble will come of it. For he knew full well that Sir Gawaine would tell Queen Guenevere, and that she would be wroth.
The country people, who lived round about the castle of Astolat, which was Elaine's home, had another and a very beautiful name for her. As she passed their windows in her white frock, they looked at the white lilies growing in their gardens, and they said, 'She is tall and graceful and pure as these, and they called her the 'Lily Maid of Astolat.
Yet what would Elaine, the Lily Maid of Astolat, say to such a liberty, I wonder? We arrived in Tenby too late for anything save an impression, last evening; but it was one of those enchanting, mysterious impressions which one can only have after dusk, when each old ivied wall is purple with romance, and each lamp in a high window is a lovelight.
"Of all this," said the maiden, "I will none; for but if ye will wed me, or be my paramour at the least, wit you well, Sir Lancelot, my good days are done." This was a difficult pass for the poet, living in other days of other manners. His art appears in the turn which he gives to Elaine's declaration: "But when Sir Lancelot's deadly hurt was whole, To Astolat returning rode the three.
Here comes in the exquisite story of Elaine, to which Tennyson has done ample justice. Soon after the death of the "lily maid of Astolat," Sir Agravaine, moved by jealousy of Arthur's greatest knight, discloses the story of Lancelot's treacherous love for the queen, and extracts from the king a reluctant permission to take the miscreant.
On the morn Sir Launcelot and Sir Lavaine took their leave of Sir Bernard, the old baron, and of his daughter, the Fair Maiden of Astolat, and then they rode so long till they came to Camelot.
Then they came to Astolat, and Sir Bernard gave them all great welcome, and they were well feasted and well lodged. On the morrow, when they should depart, the maid Elaine was pale and very quiet, until Sir Lancelot came into the hall to say farewell. Then the maid, bringing her father and her two brothers with her, went up to Sir Lancelot and said: 'My lord, now I see that ye will depart.
Then on the morn Sir Gawaine came to King Arthur, and told him how he had found Sir Launcelot's shield in the keeping of the Fair Maiden of Astolat. All that knew I aforehand, said King Arthur, and that caused me I would not suffer you to have ado at the great jousts, for I espied, said King Arthur, when he came in till his lodging full late in the evening in Astolat.
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