Owain's rescue of Luned

Owain's rescue of Luned turns a wandering adventure into a test of loyalty: after leaving the Countess of the Fountain, Owain son of Urien saves a lion and later discovers that Luned is imprisoned because she defended him in his absence. He defeats the men who would burn her, and the rescue reunites him with the woman who had once helped secure his own escape.

Departure and the lion's allegiance

After three years defending the Fountain and ruling as the Countess of the Fountain's husband, Owain son of Urien leaves her dominions despite the Countess and her subjects begging him to stay. He chooses to wander through distant lands and deserts. The departure sets the rescue in motion not as a planned return, but as one episode in his renewed travels.

In a wood, Owain son of Urien hears a loud cry repeated three times. He finds a serpent in a cleft in a grey rock, and a black lion nearby, unable to leave without being attacked. When the serpent springs out, Owain son of Urien cuts it in two. The lion follows him afterward, playing beside him like a greyhound he had raised. Their alliance begins with an act of rescue: the lion is no longer trapped by the serpent, and it chooses to accompany the knight who freed it.

The companionship quickly becomes practical as well as affectionate. At night, Owain son of Urien makes a fire in a wooded meadow; the lion brings enough fuel to last three nights, then returns with a large roebuck. Owain son of Urien cooks some of the meat for himself and gives the rest to the lion. During this halt, three deep sighs lead him to learn that the prisoner is Luned, hand-maiden of the Countess of the Fountain.

Luned's imprisonment

Luned explains that she is imprisoned because Owain son of Urien, who married the Countess of the Fountain, stayed with her only briefly before departing for Arthur's court and never returning. Luned says he was the friend she loved best in the world. Two pages in the Countess's chamber traduced him as a deceiver; Luned defended him, and the conflict brought about the compact that now threatens her. Her imprisonment therefore grows out of her defense of the absent knight, while his return to the Countess's lands has not yet brought him to her aid.

The next day, Owain son of Urien reaches an earl's castle, where the earl recounts a separate danger. A giant has seized his two sons while they were hunting and threatens to kill them unless the earl gives him his daughter. The earl would rather risk losing his sons than surrender his daughter to abuse and destruction. Owain son of Urien arms himself and goes out against the giant, with the lion at his side.

The lion fights so fiercely that the giant says his struggle with the knight would be easy without the animal. Owain son of Urien takes the lion back into the castle and shuts it in, then returns to fight alone. Hearing that Owain son of Urien is in trouble, the lion climbs to the roof and castle walls, leaps down, and rejoins the battle. Its paw tears the giant from shoulder to hip, exposing his heart and killing him. Owain son of Urien restores the two sons to their father, then refuses the earl's invitation to remain. He sets out for the meadow where Luned is held.

The rescue at the meadow

When Owain son of Urien arrives, a great fire is already kindled. Two young men with curling auburn hair are leading Luned toward it. They explain that she is to be burned because Owain son of Urien failed her. He does not disclose himself as the absent knight; instead, he says that the knight would surely have come to her rescue had he known of her peril, and offers to fight in his place. The young men accept the challenge.

They attack, and Owain son of Urien is hard pressed. The lion comes to his aid. The young men object that the agreement was for a fight against Owain son of Urien alone, and say that contending with the animal is harder than contending with him. Owain son of Urien puts the lion in the place where Luned had been imprisoned and blocks the door with stones, then resumes the fight without it. Weakened and pressed by both opponents, he cannot prevail as usual. The lion roars at his danger, breaks through the wall, and rushes at the young men, killing them instantly. Luned is saved from the fire.

The rescue repeats, in altered form, the earlier scene at the castle gate. There, Luned had given Owain son of Urien a ring to conceal him and guided him out of danger; now he enters danger on her behalf, while the lion breaks through a barrier to release him from a losing fight. The narrative makes loyalty visible through action: Luned had defended the absent knight, and he answers her peril by taking her place in the combat, even before revealing who he is.

Return to the Countess

Owain son of Urien returns with Luned to the dominions of the Countess of the Fountain. He then takes the Countess with him to Arthur's court, and she remains his wife for the rest of her life. The rescue thus reunites the knight with Luned and also brings the Countess into the return to court. Its conclusion resolves the danger to Luned without presenting her imprisonment as an isolated adventure: it is bound to Owain son of Urien's departure, the loyalty she showed in his absence, and his eventual return to the people and obligations he had left behind.