Fourteenth Stanza

Stunned at first, even stiller now was the whole hall, high and low. The knight adjusted in his saddle, wildly reeling his red eyes about under brackish green brows – his beard waving below – to see who would rise. When none would take his challenge, he cleared his throat with a cough and cracked his knuckles. “Is this Arthur’s house, then,” said the knight, “whose renown is recounted in all the wide realms? Where is your pride? Your conquests? Where is your fierceness and your wrath? Where, now, are your boasts? Is the rule and renown of the Round Table overwhelmed with one man’s mere words, causing you to cower before a blow has even been struck?” With this he laughed so loud that the lord grieved; blood shot to Arthur’s face in shame – his anger swept like a wind through the hall, lifting his cape as he stepped up to the knight.