Bors chooses to rescue the damsel rather than Lionel

Bors chooses to rescue the damsel rather than Lionel when he finds his brother bound and being beaten while a young woman is being carried off through the forest. His choice puts the demands of kinship against the duty to protect a woman from dishonour, and he acts on the latter after praying that Lionel be spared.

The Two Emergencies

After restoring a lady to her lands, Bors refuses the riches offered in gratitude and rides on in search of another adventure. At a fork in the forest, he sees two knights leading Lionel naked and bound on a strong horse, beating him with thorns. Lionel endures the attack without speaking. Nearby, another armed knight is taking a gentlewoman into the thickest part of the forest, where he means to be out of reach of those searching for her. She cries out for help and appeals to Bors as a knight of the Round Table, invoking his faith, his knightly calling, and King Arthur.

Bors Makes His Choice

Bors is torn: if he leaves Lionel, his brother may be killed; if he refuses the woman, she may be shamed and lose her honour. Rather than treating the conflict as a simple choice between courage and fear, the episode makes both obligations urgent. Bors looks upward and prays to Jesus Christ to protect Lionel, then commits himself to rescuing the woman. His prayer does not remove the cost of his decision; it marks the moment when he entrusts his brother’s safety to God and turns toward the immediate plea for help.

The Rescue and Its Consequences

Bors challenges the knight carrying the woman and fights him with his sword, defeating him. He then asks the woman what she needs and escorts her where she wishes to go, using the wounded knight’s horse for her. She explains that the abductor is her cousin, who had secretly taken her from her father the previous day. Twelve knights arrive in pursuit, and she tells them that Bors has delivered her. She also reveals the danger the rescue has averted: had she been dishonoured, five hundred men would have died in consequence. Bors declines the invitation to accompany her to her father, saying that he has another adventure to undertake, and rides away.

The Unresolved Cost

Bors follows the tracks of the knights who took Lionel. A man in religious clothing tells him that Lionel is dead and shows him a newly slain body that appears to be his brother’s. Bors falls into a swoon, then mourns the separation of their companionship and asks for a chapel where he can bury the body. The episode therefore gives no immediate assurance that his prayer has been answered: the rescue succeeds, but the apparent loss of Lionel makes the choice carry a grave personal cost. By setting the woman’s peril beside Lionel’s suffering, the narrative tests knightly service at the point where its obligations cannot all be met at once.