THE SCENE: The giants of Saxony get a rude awakening when the Knights of the Round Table interrupt their harassments.
THE TEXT: Then the horsemen of Genoa hurtled as one,
With five hundred men pressing forward at the front.
A fellow named Sir Frederick and many of his force
Came hammering in, hollering eagerly,
To fight with our foragers on the field of battle
Then the true royals of the Round Table
With great gusto went galloping against them,
Though in the melees with their middle guard they were ill matched.
What a marvel to see such a massing multitude!
Soon in the engagement the Saracens could see
That the Sovereign of Saxony was struggling badly,
His giants being out-jousted by gentle knights
And being jabbed in the heart through their Genoese hauberks.
They whacked through the helmets of those haughty warriors
And sank their hilted swords to their hearts.
Then the renowned ranks of the Round Table
Ran down and rived those renegade wretches.
So dukes and earls were dispatched to their death
All the length of the day by dreadful deeds.
– The Alliterative Morte D’Arthur, 15th Century AD