Lunette's clever words have worked a miracle, for in just a few short days she has persuaded her mistress to marry a man whom she has every right to hate. So Yvain and the Lady Laudine are married, and the people of the land are even happier with their new lord than they were with the old one.
The wedding-feast lasts for a week, amid great rejoicing, until the evening
before the day when King Arthur, with all his knights, visits the Spring.
'I wonder where Yvain's got to,' laughed Kay. 'He was too scared to come after all, for all his boasting about how he'd get revenge for his cousin. He sneaked off somewhere before we left.'
Gawain answered him:
'Be a bit kinder, Kay. Since Yvain isn't here, you can't know what he's doing or what keeps him away.'
'All right,' said Kay huffily. 'I'll shut up, since you don't like my words.'
Then the King, wanting to see the rain, tipped a whole basinful of water from the spring onto the rock beneath the pine. At once the rain poured and the wind blew, and Yvain, fully armed on a huge, glossy horse, galloped into the forest. Kay begged the King to be allowed to fight this stranger knight.
'Since you are so keen, and are the first to ask, I will not refuse,' the King told him.
