Straightway he took the knight and led him to his lions—their jaws were hungry—and thrust him into their pit. As he approached one of the lions, it did not fail to rip off a strip of flesh from his side with its claws. There was no time to lose; he turned to face the lion that had thus wounded him. Then the other was ready to strike, for hunger had made it ferocious, and tore a large wound in him so that the blood gushed from it as if from a spring. But the hero’s quickness was extraordinary. Let no one doubt that. He hurled himself against this one and struck its head right off. The other, however, then attacked him and pulled him to the ground; but he lamed the lion, so that it lost the courage to strike. The hero
chased it down and put it to death just like the other one. But the worst was yet to come.

Lanzelet