Erec and Enide

Erec’s success at the tournament makes him one of the most famous knights throughout Arthur’s kingdom. Erec decides that he wants to visit his father, King Lac, and introduce him to Enide. Though Arthur is upset to hear of Erec’s absence, as there was almost “no lord more brave, / more valiant, [or] more audacious” than Erec, Arthur agrees to let Erec travel (66). Erec sets out to the castle of Carnant, where King Lac lives, accompanied by numerous “knights and men-at-arms” (66).

At Carnant, the King learns that Erec will soon be visiting them, and he orders his subjects to “drape the streets and to adorn / the ways with silk and tapestry / to greet his son most joyously” (67). Lac then sets out with a party of hundreds of knights to greet his son. When the two meet, Erec and his father spend a long time embracing each other and excitedly greets Enide as well. Afterward, the group travel into the castle grounds, where the townspeople are “rejoicing greatly and delighted” to see Erec (68). They travel to a monastery, where Erec makes an offering of a heavily bejeweled cross that is said to contain pieces of the “true cross whereon Lord God was pained / and crucified” (68).