Erec and Enide

Guivret takes Erec and Enide to a nearby castle of his, where he plans to have both of his sisters tend to Erec’s wounds. In the meantime, the group sets up camp where they are. Enide finally feels happy, as “all had turned out for the best” (150). She washes Erec’s wounds and bandages them. Afterward, Guivret implores Erec to eat, offering him to take from his store of goods. Erec agrees, but as he is still very weak from his injuries, he can only eat a small meal.

The next day, the group travels to the castle where Guivret’s sisters are. Upon finding Erec a chamber, the two sisters tend to Erec’s wounds: “they first extracted all dead flesh, / then salved and bandaged him afresh” (152). They also arrange for Erec to eat special meals to help him heal. Throughout his healing, Enide stayed by Erec’s side, with Chrétien writing that Enide is the one “he loved the most of all” (152). Erec begins to feel healed two weeks later, and they make arrangements to leave. While Erec and Enide’s relationship was previously strained, their feelings for each other are renewed, and they “reaffirmed their love so vast” (153). As they leave, Guivret insists on accompanying them on their return to King Arthur along with his men.

As Erec’s party travels, they come across a castle on a large island, completely encircled by a wall. Erec asks Guivret about the castle, and Guivret tells Erec that it is a prosperous one, as “it yields fruit and wine and wheat” inside of its land (158). However, Guivret notes that the castle has “a dreadful passageway” and warns Erec that “no one who entered has returned” (159). Erec presses Guivret for more information, and Guivret tells Erec that within the castle is an adventure (or challenge) known as the “Joy of the Court” in which no knight has been successful (159). Though Guivret attempts to dissuade Erec from pursuing the adventure, Erec is adamant that he wants to “seek the joy” (160).

As the group travels into the castle, the townspeople warn Erec that he will meet certain death if he attempts the challenge of the Joy of the Court. Erec is eventually met by the castle’s ruler, King Evrain, who graciously welcomes Erec’s party and agrees to give them lodgings in his castle. At dinner that evening, Erec asks King Evrain about the Joy of the Court, telling him, “there’s nothing that I so desire” (163). The King dissuades Erec, telling him that every knight who has attempted the challenge has failed. However, Erec insists that nothing will stop him from the adventure, and the King agrees to show him the next day. Enide becomes “angry and despaired” and is fearful that Erec’s “ambitions” will cause him to die (165-66).

The next day, Erec and his party are taken by the king to a seemingly magical orchard: It is “enclosed by air” (167), and “ripe fruit and flowers” grow there all year long (167). As they enter the orchard, they see a series of stakes with knights’ heads on them. The very first stake only has a horn on it, and the King tells Erec that the horn will bestow “esteem and honor” on the individual who is able to blow it (169). Before embarking on his adventure, Erec tells Enide that she has nothing to fear. He then goes deeper into the orchard, where he comes across a beautiful woman lying on a “silver bed.” A “toweringly tall” knight emerges from the woods and challenges Erec to a duel. Erec agrees, and the two fight. While each lands blows on the other, the two knights are well matched, and the battle is long. However, the tall knight grows weak, and Erec is able to strike the knight so that he falls to the ground.

Erec makes the knight explain why he stays in the orchard challenging knights. The knight explains that he fell in love with the woman who sat on the silver bed and made a vow to her that he would “never leave this space / until a knight came to this place / by whom, in combat, I was trounced” (177). The knight then tells Erec that his name is Mabonagrain. He tells Erec that he can only leave the orchard once Erec has blown the horn on the stake. Erec blows the horn, which is heard by Enide, the King, and all of the townspeople. They rush to the orchard, where they celebrate Erec’s triumph. However, the maiden on the bed is initially upset by the celebrations, assuming that Mabonagrain will now leave her since he has been freed.

Enide walks over to the maiden to ask her how she came to the orchard. The maiden realizes that she recognizes Enide, who is her cousin. The maiden tells Enide how she came to meet Mabonagrain, and the two celebrate their reunion. They rejoin Erec, who is being celebrated by the King’s court because he has “restored anew / the joy and bliss our court once knew!” (185). After some days, Erec, Guivret, and Enide leave the court to rejoin King Arthur. When they reach him, Erec tells King Arthur of his many adventures. King Arthur asks Guivret and Erec to join his court.

One day, Erec learns from messengers that his father, King Lac, has died. Erec mourns his father’s death, though he holds in his emotions as “it ill becomes a king to mourn” (190). After organizing a funeral service for his father, Erec asks King Arthur to crown him at his court. King Arthur agrees and organizes a coronation at his court on Christmas. Many barons and lords from around King Arthur’s lands attend the coronation, as do Enide’s parents. Erec presents Enide’s parents to King Arthur, who remarks how noble they seem. At the coronation, King Arthur dubs hundreds of men knights and gives each of them very fine cloaks as a gift—an act of generosity that Chrétien writes is greater than that of any other king. King Arthur also presents Erec with a finely made throne. De Troyes describes Erec’s coronation outfit, which is a robe with portraits of individuals representing geometry, arithmetic, music, and astronomy. King Arthur also presents Erec and Enide with two extravagant crowns covered in gems. Chrétien also describes the crowd who had gathered for the coronation: “None ever saw so large a throng / of kings or barons, dukes or counts / at one mass in such vast amounts” (201). After the coronation, King Arthur organizes an extravagant feast for all those who were invited. King Arthur presents all of the guests with gifts, including “horses, blades, / and weapons, money, and brocades” (202). As the feast concludes, so does Chrétien’s story.