When King Arthur held his court at Caerlon, his restless Queen was apt to cast a wanton eye on the young Knights of his company. But a Knight named Launfal was proof against the pretty lady's blandishments,although he risked his life in spurning her.

His heart was given to a fairy woman, whom he had met in a woodland, at a time when he was out of favour with the court because of his poverty.

The encounter happened this way. Alone and melancholy, Launfal had ridden deep into the forest one mid-summer's day. At lengh he dismounted, he flung himself down on a grassy bank and closed his eyes to the sunshine.After a while, the murmur  of sweet voices roused him. Nearby were two golden -haired maidens, who signaled to him . He arose and followd the maidens to a clearing ablaze with wild flower's,  where he saw a pavilion of embroidered silk, adorned with gilded roses and crowned with an eagle of burnished gold.

It sheltered a maiden who was so radiant that every memory of mortal beauty faded from Launfal's mind.  She welcomed him sweetly and gave him her hand.At her touch, love kindled between the two . Launfal asked that she stay with him always, but this was not possible, the lady said: he was a mortal and she a fairy.

She could appear whenever he wished for her ,she said, but only on certain conditions. He must never speak of her ( no small sacrifice, in a day when Knights dedicated every deed to a lady),and he must not summon her at a time when other mortals were present. If her existance were revealed,she would disappear forever to her own distant lands. fittingly,her name was Tryamour , which meant "test of love ".  

Launfal agreed to her  terms, and all that long afternoon they remained together in the sunny clearing. When next he appeared at Caerleon, he seemed a different man. He was richly dressed and bravely armed, and he rode a magnificent charger. He kept alone in his chambers at night, when Tryamour came to him, but by day he shone with happiness.

The Queen did not fail to notice this, and from time to time her grey eyes rested on him reflectively.  She said little, but at length she summoned Launfal.   He found the Queen in a dark and high - walled  palace garden. She came quickly to the point: He had become her heart's desire; she wished to make him her paramour.

Unmoved, Launfal, courteously refused.  The Quen cried,    "You are no man fit for a woman 's love".

" Queen, " said Launfal, " I am beloved of a lady whose lowliest handmaiden puts your beauty to shame"   It was an insult, of course,  but it was worse than that.  Launfal had revealed the existence of his lover and therby closed the gate that had opened between the mortal realm and that of faerie.

Tossing  her jeweled braids and trailing threats, Guinevere strode from her garden. Launfal secluded himself in his chamber and mourned. He had betrayed Tryamour. When he called , there was no answer.   Presently, mailed fists drummed at his door Launfal was bound and taken before King Arthur, for reason's that soon became clear.  Guinievere had told the King that his Knight had tried to force her love, that she had refused and that had insulted her with the beauty of his mistress.

The penalty for the double infraction was death. But Arthur's Knights looked doubtful when they heard the Queen's tale, for her amorous habits were well known to them. They supported Launfal, and  in the end he was asked only to produce his mistress within the year, that all may judge her beauty against that of the Queen.  

This, of course, Launfal  he could not do. Thus the day came when he stood in the palace courtyard, head bowed, arms bound, awaiting death by fire.    But before the pyre was set alight, a cool breeze stirred in the stifling stillness. It carried  the  scent of wild flowers. Through the gate on a white palfrey rode Tryamour.Her hair was a halo of gold,  her cheeks were softly flushed and her body was quick and bright as a sunbeam. she smiled upon Launfal and, without speaking a word,  turned to the King and court.

All were silent.    King Arthur spoke at last: " If you are Launfal's lady," said he, "there is no one to deny that he spoke the truth, he may go free."   

So his fellow Knights released their brother from his bonds. Without a backward glance, Sir Launfal strode across the courtyard to the lady of the realm of Faerie and leaped up behind her on the white horse. Launfal and Tryamour rode together out of the castle gates and into the meadow beyond, dwindling in the distance and finally vanishing.   

Tryamour was never seen again. It was said that she had taken her lover far across the seas to live  on the fairy island of Avalon,from which she could never return. But Launfal reappeared in the forest near Caerlon once each year on the eve of the day he had left. 

A shadowy figure in the fading light of dusk, he was mounted on a splendid charger, and he rode alone, a hint of longing on his face for the mortal world that he had forsaken.

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