The Water of Mortaise is a passage watched by two brothers who challenge travelers. Its brief appearance in the account of Sir Beaumains makes the crossing a test of arms: he defeats both guardians in succession, and neither survives. The episode contributes to the growing record of his prowess and to the reputation he earns at King Arthur’s court.

The Passage and Its Guardians

The narrative identifies the place as a water crossing kept for the most part by two brothers, described as deadly knights. It gives no further account of the waterway’s geography or of a settlement nearby; its defining feature in the story is the obstruction posed by the brothers to those attempting the passage.

Beaumains’s Encounter

Sir Beaumains meets the two knights at the crossing. He strikes the elder brother on the head, knocking him into the water, where he drowns; the elder is named Gherard le Breusse. Beaumains then kills the other brother on land, identified as Sir Arnold le Breusse. The sequence distinguishes the outcomes and locations of the two encounters: one brother dies in the water, the other on shore.

Narrative Significance

The crossing is one episode in the wider account of Beaumains’s adventures and the knights he overcomes. Later, at King Arthur’s court, Pertolepe recounts the deaths of the brothers, while the court also hears that Beaumains had killed their brother Sir Percard in an encounter. The passage thus forms part of a repeated pattern of challenges and victories that brings Beaumains’s reputation before the king and court.