This appears in the Mons manuscript after The Elucidation. It features also in a second manuscript – London, British Museum, Additional 36614 – where it appears after Chrétien's own prologue.

In the land of Wales were twelve most worthy brothers; you could have searched the length and breadth of the land and all the country round about and I don't think you'd have found a knight of such esteem or so richly endowed with wealth, allies, castles and strongholds, woods and rivers and meadows. And they were fine knights indeed, fierce and bold in combat, and often travelled to other lands to engage in tournaments and wars, seeking to win renown and reputation. But I shan't go on, for the long and the short of it is that misfortune strikes many a worthy man and that was all too true of them: eleven of the brothers were killed, leaving one alone to maintain their entire inheritance. He was a wise and worthy man, courtly, bright and eloquent, and known to all the people of the land as Bliocadran.

He was most distressed at the loss of his brothers and brooded a long while, lost in sorrow. But it's foolish and pointless to mourn forever – sometimes a man must feign good cheer, even when he's feeling only grief; [he certainly shouldn't let despair] make him abandon striving to achieve fine deeds. And Bliocadran would mope no more: he had his arms made ready and his steeds well shod – back to the tournaments he'd go! But his wife and all those dear to him said:

‘Have pity, good sir! Stay! Don't go! It's madness! If you go you'll be leaving your land exposed, defenceless, and your people in misery, distraught!’

They pleaded so insistently that he finally promised not to leave at all. How delighted they were!

The lord remained with his wife, a most worthy lady, for a good two years without their having any children – and they'd had none previously – until at last God granted that the lady conceived.