The Hedge Knight — Dunk IV
Steely Pate takes Dunk's coin for good armor; Tanselle paints his shield — a shooting star above an elm. At the steward's table Dunk learns a hedge knight without a famous name must beg a place in the lists.
The chapter retold
Steely Pate the armorer takes Dunk's measure and nearly all his coin for steel that will fit a man his size, and Tanselle paints the bare shield with arms Dunk chooses himself — a falling star above an elm, the first thing in his life that is truly his own. But the chapter's harder lesson is learned at the steward's table: a hedge knight with no famous name and no lord to vouch for him must beg for a place in the lists, and the meadow's courtesy has a floor beneath which a landless man is simply not welcome. Dunk's whole ambition runs up against the machinery of rank, and the machinery does not care how well his armor fits.
This movement: The Road to Ashford
- Ser Arlan of Pennytree dies of a chill by the roseroad, and his towering squire buries him — then takes his sword, his shield, and his calling.
- At a wayside inn Dunk acquires an ale, a plan, and a bald stableboy named Egg who will not be left behind.
- Ashford Meadow spreads before them: pavilions, puppeteers, merchants — and a tourney with the fair maid of Ashford as its queen of love and beauty.
- Everything Dunk owns buys armor from Steely Pate; Tanselle's brush gives his shield its arms: elm and shooting star.