When he had prepared the meal as he had been ordered, he brought water in two basins to them. Tables and tablecloths were prepared and set out with bread and wine, and everyone sat down to eat. They had as much as they wanted of everything they needed.

When they had dined at their ease and had arisen from the tables, Erec questioned his host, the lord of the house. ‘Tell me, good host,’ said he, ‘why is your daughter, who is so lovely and full of good sense, dressed in such a poor and unseemly dress?’

‘Good friend,’ said the vavasour, ‘poverty ill-treats many men, and likewise she does me. It grieves me when I see my daughter so poorly dressed, yet I am powerless to change the situation: I have spent so much time at war that I have lost all my land, and mortgaged and sold it. And yet she would be well clothed if I allowed her to accept what someone would gladly give her. The lord of this town himself would have clothed her handsomely and granted her every wish, for she is his niece and he is a count; nor is there a lord in all this land, however grand his reputation, who would not have taken her for his wife, and gladly, according to my conditions. But I am still waiting for a better opportunity, for God to grant her greater honour and for fortune to bring to her a king or count who will take her away with him. Is there in all the world a king or count who would be ashamed of my daughter, who is so wonderfully beautiful that her equal cannot be found? Indeed, though beautiful, her good sense is worth even more than her beauty; God never made such a wise creature nor one so noble in spirit. When I have my daughter near me, I would not give a marble for the whole world: she is my delight, she is my diversion, she is my solace and my comfort, she is my wealth and my treasure. I love nothing else as much as her.’

When Erec had listened to all his host had said, he asked him to tell him why there was such a gathering of knights as had come to this town, for there was no street so poor, and no inn so poor or cramped, that it was not full of knights and ladies and squires.

And the vavasour replied: ‘Good friend, those are the lords of the lands hereabouts. Everyone, young and old, has come for a festival that will occur in this town tomorrow; that is why the inns are so full. Tomorrow there will be great excitement when they are all assembled, for in front of all the people, seated on a silver perch, there will be a very fine sparrow-hawk – five or six years old, the best that can be found. Whoever wants to win the sparrow-hawk will need to have a lady who is beautiful and wise and free from baseness; if there is any knight bold enough to claim for his lady the reputation and honour of being the most beautiful, he will have his lady take the sparrow-hawk from its perch in front of everyone, if no one dares oppose him. They uphold this tradition and that is why they come here each year.’

Then Erec asked him: ‘Good host, may it not trouble you, but tell me if you know who is the knight bearing arms of azure and gold, who passed by here a while ago with an attractive maiden very close beside him, preceded by a hunchbacked dwarf?’

Then the host replied: ‘He is the one who will have the sparrow-hawk without being challenged by any other knight. There will be no blow or wound, for I believe no one else will come forward. He has already had it two years in a row without being challenged, and if he gets it again this year he will have claimed it for ever. He will retain it each year without combat or complaint.’

Erec immediately replied: ‘I have no love for this knight. Be assured that if I had armour I would challenge him for the sparrow-hawk. Good host, as a favour and a service, I ask you in your generosity to advise me how I might be equipped with armour – old or new, I care not which, ugly or beautiful.’

And he replied generously: ‘You need never be concerned on that account: I have good and beautiful armour that I will gladly lend you. Inside there is a hauberk of woven mail, chosen from among five hundred, and beautiful and expensive greaves, good and new and light; the helmet is similarly good and elegant and the shield brand-new. I shall lend you horse, sword, and lance, without hesitation, so that you need ask for nothing more.’

‘My thanks to you, good kind sir, but I wish for no better sword than the one I brought with me, nor any horse besides my own; I shall make good use of that one. If you lend me the rest, I shall deem it a very great favour; but I wish to ask one other gift of you,3 which I shall repay if God permits me to emerge with the honours of the battle.’

And the vavasour generously replied: ‘Ask confidently for what you wish, whatever it may be. Nothing I have will be denied you!’

Then Erec said that he wanted to contend for the sparrow-hawk by means of his daughter, for in truth no other maiden would be there who was the hundredth part as beautiful, and if he took her there with him he would be perfectly justified in contending and in claiming that she should carry off the sparrow-hawk. Then he said: ‘Sir, you do not know what guest you have lodged, what is his station or ancestry. I am the son of a rich and powerful king: my father is named King Lac; the Bretons call me Erec. I am of the court of King Arthur and have been with him for three years. I do not know whether my father’s fame or mine ever came to this land, but I promise that, if you equip me with armour and entrust your daughter to me to win the sparrow-hawk tomorrow, I shall take her to my land if God gives me the victory; there I shall crown her and she will be queen of ten cities.’

‘Ah, good sir, is this the truth? Are you Erec, the son of Lac?’

‘That is my name,’ he said, ‘exactly.’

The host rejoiced greatly at this and said: ‘We have indeed heard tell of you in this land. Now I love and esteem you even more, for you are very valiant and bold. I shall never refuse your request: I entrust my beautiful daughter to you, just as you desire.’ Then he took her by the hand.