On his journey through the forest he was stopped by a man black and ill-favoured, holding a large knife in his hand.
“Ho! you that stand there, have you seen King Arthur?” asked the squire.
“No, but I have met you, and I am glad thereof, for you have under your cloak one of the candlesticks of gold that was placed in honour of the Knight who lies dead in the chapel. Give it to me, and I will carry it back; and if you do not this of your own will, I will make you.”
“By my faith!” cried the squire, “I will never yield it to you! Rather, will I carry it off and make a present of it to King Arthur.”
“You will pay for it dearly,” answered the man, “if you yield it not up forthwith.”
To this the squire did not make answer, but dashed forward, thinking to pass him by; but the man thrust at him with his knife, and it entered his body up to the hilt. And when the squire dreamed this, he cried, “Help! help! for I am a dead man!”
As soon as the King and the Queen heard that cry they awoke from their sleep, and the Chamberlain said, “Sir, you must be moving, for it is day;” and the King rose and dressed himself, and put on his shoes. Then the cry came again: “Fetch me a priest, for I die!” and the King ran at great speed into the hall, while the Queen and the Chamberlain followed him with torches and candles. “What aileth you?” asked the King of his squire, and the squire told him of all that he had dreamed. “Ha,” said the king, “is it, then, a dream?” “Yes, Sir,” answered the squire, “but it is a right foul dream for me, for right foully it hath come true,” and he lifted his left arm, and said, “Sir, look you here! Lo, here is the knife that was struck in my side up to the haft.” After that, he drew forth the candlestick, and showed it to the King. “Sir, for this candlestick that I present to you was I wounded to the death!” The King took the candlestick in his hands and looked at it, and none so rich had he seen before, and he bade the Queen look also. “Sir,” said the squire again, “draw not forth the knife out of my body till I be shriven of the priest.” So the King commanded that a priest should be sent for, and when the squire had confessed his sins, the King drew the knife out of the body and the soul departed forthwith. Then the King grieved that the young man had come to his death in such strange wise, and ordered him a fair burial, and desired that the golden candlestick should be sent to the Church of Saint Paul in London, which at that time was newly built.