The women in Lanval differ from women typically seen in Arthurian texts. Thus signifying that the love they share is too pure to be tainted by the worldly sins of the court. By her beauty and request, Lanval is freed and hops up behind her on her horse, evading King Arthur's Court. The day of the trial arrives and first her maidens come, then her. Many barons and other knights believe Lanval, but they do not want to go against their king so they agree to the trial. Lanval becomes very sullen and almost depressed because he is longing for his lover to come and prove herself and to prove that the promise that they made with each other was true. It is decided that if his lady comes then they will know that Lanval would not have made advances on the queen. The queen then complains to Arthur that Lanval asked to be her lover and when she refused him he said he loved someone more beautiful, and Arthur puts Lanval on trial. He protests by saying he has a mistress, even whose handmaidens more beautiful than the queen, thus breaking his oath of secrecy to the fairy mistress, and defaming the queen at the same time.

This was common for the period to accuse one of homosexuality if they were not open about their affairs with their mistresses. The Queen ( Guinevere) makes advances to Lanval, which he rebuffs, and the Queen accuses him of homosexuality. After a while he is invited to join the knights by Gawain. Lanval goes home and gives gifts, and they continue to meet. She blesses him that, 'the more richly he spends, the more gold and silver he will have,' and that she will come when he wants her, but only on the condition that he does not tell anyone else of her existence. Lanval is immediately struck by the lady's beauty and they become lovers. Two women appear and direct him to a tent to see their lady, who is in love with him. Lanval rides out to a meadow one day and lies down by a stream. Lanval, a knight in King Arthur's court, envied for 'his valor, his generosity, his beauty, his prowess', is forgotten from being invited to a banquet where the King distributed rewards, and falls into penury. The tale was popular, and was adapted into English as Sir Landevale, Sir Launfal, and Sir Lambewell. Despite the broken promise, the fairy lover eventually appears to justify Lanval, and to take him with her to Avalon.

Before Arthur, Guinevere accuses Lanval of shaming her, and Arthur, in an extended judicial scene, demands that he reveal his mistress. The plot is complicated by Lanval's promise not to reveal the identity of his mistress, which he breaks when Guinevere accuses him of having 'no desire for women'. Written in Anglo-Norman, it tells the story of Lanval, a knight at King Arthur's court, who is overlooked by the king, wooed by a fairy lady, given all manner of gifts by her, and subsequently refuses the advances of Queen Guinevere. Lanval is one of the Lais of Marie de France.

The lais of marie de france lanval