Stéfan and Geirard

And so she was. When the feast was over, she asked the king, her guardian, if he would allow Gierald, the hero known to have defeated the robbers and slain the giant, to fight a tournament the next day with one of her pages. The king gladly gave his permission. He ordered the tournament lists to be made ready, never doubting that the great champion would be eager for such a chance of adding to their fame. Little did he guess that Geirald had done all he could to persuade St�fan to steal secretly out of the castle with him during the night: "For," said Geirald, "I don't believe they will set a page against me at all, but a well-proven knight, and how can I, so young and untried, stand up against him?"

"The honor will be all the higher if you gain the day," answered St�fan; but Geirald would listen to nothing, and only declared that he did not care about honor, and would rather be alive than have every honor in the world heaped on him. Escape he would, and as St�fan had sworn to give him his company, he must come along.

St�fan was much grieved when he heard these words, but he knew that it was useless attempting to persuade Geirald. Suddenly his face brightened. "Let us change clothes," he said. "I will do the fighting, while you shall get the glory. Nobody will ever know." To this Geirald readily agreed.

Whether Geirald was right or not in thinking that the so-called page would really be a well-proven knight, it is certain that St�fan's task was much harder than he had expected. Three times, St�fan and the page came together with a crash which made their horses reel. Once, St�fan knocked the helmet off his foe, and received in return such a blow that he staggered in his saddle. Shouts went up from the lookers-on, as first one and then the other seemed gaining the victory. At last St�fan planted his spear in the armor which covered his opponent's breast and bore him steadily backward. "Unhorsed! unhorsed!