Lady Tryamour

Tryamour was born to the King of Olyroun, the ruler of all the fairies of the Occident. She dwelt in a realm where time moved differently and pleasures knew no end. Though she could have taken any lover from the ranks of kings, she chose Sir Launfal, a knight of the Round Table who had fallen from grace through reckless generosity. She watched him ride alone into the forest near Caerleon, the Roman fortress town in Wales, his heart heavy with poverty after Queen Guinevere had humiliated him at the wedding feast of King Arthur, the legendary king of Britain.

On a hot summer day, Tryamour sent two maidens to find the despairing knight. They led him to a clearing where a pavilion of silk stood, its crystal pommels and burnished gold eagle shining like a jewel no mortal king could own. Inside, on a bed of purple linen, lay Tryamour herself. She was white as a lily in May, her hair shining like threads of gold, her complexion so lovely that the red rose newly blown would pale beside her. She greeted Launfal as her darling and offered a bargain that would bind them together and test his honour to its limit.

The gifts she gave were the treasures of a fairy queen. She gave him a purse of silk that always refilled with gold, her white horse Blaunchard of supernatural speed, her invisible dwarf servant Gyfre, and armour that no weapon could pierce. She granted him a banner bearing her arms of three ermines, the stoat-like creatures whose white winter coats marked royal purity. But the condition was absolute. He must never speak of her to any mortal soul, must keep their love secret, and never boast of her beauty. If he broke this silence, she warned, every enchantment would vanish in that same instant.

For seven years the bargain held. Tryamour came to Launfal whenever he wished, invisible to others, and her gifts made him the most celebrated knight in Britain. But at a feast in Arthur's court, Guinevere approached him with slander. When he refused her advances, she accused him of cowardice. Launfal, burning with pride, forgot his promise and declared that even the least of Tryamour's maidens was fairer than the queen. The magic shattered. Tryamour withdrew, the purse emptied, the horse vanished, and Gyfre fell silent. Arthur ordered Launfal to stand trial for treason against the queen's honour, giving him a year and a day to produce his lady as proof or face the gallows. The months passed and Tryamour did not come, for the fairy world punishes broken faith with merciless precision.

On the final day, with rope prepared, Launfal stood condemned. Then a trumpet sounded. Tryamour rode into the hall on a white palfrey, attended by ten maidens of radiance that the torches seemed dim. She declared that Launfal had never offered shameful love to the queen, that Guinevere had solicited him, and that every word about her was true. The queen paled beside her as the moon before the sun. Then Tryamour blew upon Guinevere's face a breath of fairy power, striking her blind. She leaped to her horse, Gyfre appeared with Blaunchard, and she led Launfal from the hall forever. They rode to the fairy isle of Olyroun, a land some call Avalon, where Launfal lives in immortal joy. Yet once each year, his horse may be heard neighing and his armour seen flashing, and any knight seeking a worthy opponent may find his match with the steward who learned that a fairy queen's love cannot survive a boastful tongue.