` My lord , ' he said , ` during the three years that I have been absent from thee I have been preparing a banquet for thee , knowing full well that thou wouldst come to seek me . Tarry with me , therefore , for a while , thou and thy men . ' So they rode to the castle of the countess of the fountain , and spent three months in resting and feasting . And when it was time for them to depart Arthur besought the countess that she would allow Owen to go with him to Britain for the space of three months . With a sore heart she granted permission , and so content was Owen to be once more with his old companions that three years instead of three months passed away like a dream . One day Owen sat at meat in the castle of Caerleon upon Usk , when a damsel on a bay horse entered the hall , and riding straight up to the place where Owen sat she stooped and drew the ring from off his hand . ` Thus shall be treated the traitor and the faithless , ' said she , and turning her horse 's head she rode out of the hall . At her words Owen remembered all that he had forgotten , and sorrowful and ashamed he went to his own chamber and made ready to depart . At the dawn he set out , but he did not go back to the castle , for his heart was heavy , but he wandered far into wild places till his body was weak and thin , and his hair was long . The wild beasts were his friends , and he slept by their side , but in the end he longed to see the face of a man again , and he came down into a valley and fell asleep by a lake in the lands of a widowed countess . Now it was the time when the countess took her walk , attended by her maidens , and when they saw a man lying by the lake they shrank back in terror , for he lay so still that they thought he was dead . But when they had overcome their fright , they drew near him , and touched him , and saw that there was life in him . Then the countess hastened to the castle , and brought from it a flask full of precious ointment and gave it to one of her maidens . ` Take that horse which is grazing yonder , ' she said , ` and a suit of men 's garments , and place them near the man , and pour some of this ointment near his heart . If there is any life in him that will bring it back . But if he moves , hide thyself in the bushes near by , and see what he does . ' The damsel took the flask and did her mistress ' bidding . Soon the man began to move his arms , and then rose slowly to his feet . Creeping forward step by step he took the garments from off the saddle and put them on him , and painfully he mounted the horse . When he was seated the damsel came forth and greeted him , and glad was he when he saw her and inquired what castle that was before him .
` It belongs XXXXX a widowed countess , ' answered the maiden .
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