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Beaumains
Beaumains ("big hands"), a nickname which sir Kay, Arthur's steward, gave to Gareth when he was kitchen drudge in the palace. "He had the largest hands that ever man saw." Gareth was the son of king Lot and Margawse, king Arthur's sister. His brothers were sir Gawain, sir Agravain, and sir Gaheris. Mordred was his half-brother. His achievements are given under the name "Gareth".
Tennyson,
in his Gareth
and Lynette, makes sir Key tauntingly address Lancelot thus,
referring to Gareth:
Fair and fine, forsooth!
Sir Fine-face, sir Fair-hands? But see thou to it
That thine own fineness, Lancelot, some fine day,
Undo thee not.
Be it remembered that Kay himself called Gareth "Beaumain" from the extraordinary size of the lad's hands; but the taunt put into the mouth of Kay by the poet indicates that the lad prided himself on his "fine" face and "fair" hands, which is not the case. If "fair hands" is a translation of this nickname, it should be "fine hands," which bears the equivocal sense of big and beautiful.
"And seeing he has no name I will give him one, and it shall be Beaumains, or Fair-hands, and he shall sit in the kitchen and eat broth, and at the end of a year he shall be as fat as any pig that feeds on acorns.' So the young man was left in charge of Sir Kay, that scorned and mocked him." What Beaumains Asked Of The King
