Afterward, riding in a forest, Tristram finds Bereuse Saunz PitŽ about to murder Palomydes. He rescues his old enemy, drives off Bereuse, and sets a time and place for battle with Palomydes. They will fight beside the old tomb of Lanceor (see "The Knight with the Two Swords"). As they ride on they find a strange knight with a covered shield sleeping under a tree. They wake him; he mounts his horse and jousts them both to the ground, then gallops off. Tristram finds later that the stranger has slain another Round Table knight, has wounded Gawain and Bleoberys, and has shamed Kay and Dynadin.
Tristram rides to the appointed place for his fight with Palomydes — the tomb of Lanceor, where long ago Merlin prophesied that the two greatest knights and the two greatest friends in the world would fight. There he finds the knight with the covered shield and fights him. At last, both badly wounded, Tristram and Launcelot discover one another's identity and the fight stops. They go to Camelot, where Launcelot explains that, riding incognito, he was forced into battle with Round Table knights. Tristram is made a knight of the Round Table and all the court rejoices.
