And the king fell on his neck and kissed him , and cried joyfully that he was the ` bravest knight in all the world , and that a feast should be made for him and Rosald , and that the great deed should be proclaimed throughout the kingdom . ' And Geirald 's heart swelled with pride , and he almost forgot that it was Rosald and not he , who had slain the giant . By-and-by a whisper went round that a beautiful lady who lived in the castle would be present at the feast , with twenty-four lovely maidens , her attendants . The lady was the queen of her own country , but as her father and mother had died when she was a little girl , she had been left in the care of this king who was her uncle . She was now old enough to govern her own kingdom , but her subjects did not like being ruled by a woman , and said that she must find a husband to help her in managing her affairs . Prince after prince had offered himself , but the young queen would have nothing to say to any of them , and at last told her ministers that if she was to have a husband at all she must choose him for herself , as she would certainly not marry any of those whom they had selected for her . The ministers replied that in that case she had better manage her kingdom alone , and the queen , who knew nothing about business , got things into such a confusion that at last she threw them up altogether , and went off to her uncle . Now when she heard how the two young men had slain the giant , her heart was filled with admiration of their courage , and she declared that if a feast was held she would certainly be present at it . And so she was ; and when the feast was over she asked the king , her guardian , if he would allow the two heroes who had killed the robbers and slain the giant to fight a tourney the next day with one of her pages . The king gladly gave his consent , and ordered the lists to be made ready , never doubting that two great champions would be eager for such a chance of adding to their fame . Little did he guess that Geirald had done all he could to persuade Rosald to steal secretly out of the castle during the night , ` for , ' said he , ' I do n't believe they are pages at all , but well-proved knights , and how can we , so young and untried , stand up against them ? ' ` The honour will be all the higher if we gain the day , ' answered Rosald ; but Geirald would listen to nothing , and only declared that he did not care about honour , and would rather be alive than have every honour in the world heaped upon him . Go he would , and as Rosald had sworn to give him his company , he must come with him . Rosald was much grieved when he heard these words , but he knew that it was useless attempting to persuade Geirald , and turned his thoughts to forming some plan to prevent this disgraceful flight . Suddenly his face brightened . ` Let us change clothes , ' he said , ` and I will do the fighting , while you shall get the glory . Nobody will ever know . ' And to this Geirald readily consented . Whether Geirald was right or not in thinking that the so-called page was really a well-proved knight , it is certain that Rosald 's task was a very hard one . Three times they came together with a crash which made their horses reel ; once Rosald knocked the helmet off his foe , and received in return such a blow that he staggered in his saddle .
Shouts went up from the lookers-on , as first one and then the other seemed gaining the victory ; but XXXXX length Rosald planted his spear in the armour which covered his adversary 's breast and bore him steadily backward .
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