THE queen heard thereof,and came after with many ladies,and shewed them the stone where it hoved on the water.Sir,said the king unto Sir Galahad,here is a great marvel as ever I saw,and right good knights have assayed and failed.Sir,said Galahad,that is no marvel,for this adventure is not theirs but mine;and for the surety of this sword I brought none with me,for here by my side hangeth the scabbard.And anon he laid his hand on the sword,and lightly drew it out of the stone,and put it in the sheath,and said unto the king:Now it goeth better than it did aforehand.Sir,said the king,a shield God shall send you.Now have I that sword that sometime was the good knight's,Balin le Savage,and he was a passing good man of his hands;and with this sword he slew his brother Balan,and that was great pity,for he was a good knight,and either slew other through a dolorous stroke that Balin gave unto my grandfather King Pelles,the which is not yet whole,nor not shall be till I heal him.
Therewith the king and all espied where came riding down the river a lady on a white palfrey toward them.
Then she saluted the king and the queen,and asked if that Sir Launcelot was there.And then he answered himself:I am here,fair lady.Then she said all with weeping:How your great doing is changed sith this day in the morn.Damosel,why say you so?said Launcelot.
I say you sooth,said the damosel,for ye were this day the best knight of the world,but who should say so now,he should be a liar,for there is now one better than ye,and well it is proved by the adventures of the sword whereto ye durst not set to your hand;and that is the change and leaving of your name.Wherefore I make unto you a remembrance,that ye shall not ween from henceforth that ye be the best knight of the world.As touching unto that,said Launcelot,I know well I was never the best.Yes,said the damosel,that were ye,and are yet,of any sinful man of the world.And,Sir king,Nacien,the hermit,sendeth thee word,that thee shall befall the greatest worship that ever befell king in Britain;and Isay you wherefore,for this day the Sangreal appeared in thy house and fed thee and all thy fellowship of the Round Table.So she departed and went that same way that she came.
CHAPTER VI
How King Arthur had all the knights together for to joust in the meadow beside Camelot or they departed.
Now,said the king,I am sure at this quest of the Sangreal shall all ye of the Table Round depart,and never shall I see you again whole together;therefore I will see you all whole together in the meadow of Camelot to joust and to tourney,that after your death men may speak of it that such good knights were wholly together such a day.As unto that counsel and at the king's request they accorded all,and took on their harness that longed unto jousting.But all this moving of the king was for this intent,for to see Galahad proved;for the king deemed he should not lightly come again unto the court after his departing.So were they assembled in the meadow,both more and less.Then Sir Galahad,by the prayer of the king and the queen,did upon him a noble jesseraunce,and also he did on his helm,but shield would he take none for no prayer of the king.And then Sir Gawaine and other knights prayed him to take a spear.
Right so he did;and the queen was in a tower with all her ladies,for to behold that tournament.Then Sir Galahad dressed him in midst of the meadow,and began to break spears marvellously,that all men had wonder of him;for he there surmounted all other knights,for within a while he had defouled many good knights of the Table Round save twain,that was Sir Launcelot and Sir Percivale.
CHAPTER VII
How the queen desired to see Galahad;and how after,all the knights were replenished with the Holy Sangreal,and how they avowed the enquest of the same.
THEN the king,at the queen's request,made him to alight and to unlace his helm,that the queen might see him in the visage.When she beheld him she said:
Soothly I dare well say that Sir Launcelot begat him,for never two men resembled more in likeness,therefore it nis no marvel though he be of great prowess.So a lady that stood by the queen said:Madam,for God's sake ought he of right to be so good a knight?Yea,forsooth,said the queen,for he is of all parties come of the best knights of the world and of the highest lineage;for Sir Launcelot is come but of the eighth degree from our Lord Jesu Christ,and Sir Galahad is of the ninth degree from our Lord Jesu Christ,therefore I dare say they be the greatest gentlemen of the world.
And then the king and all estates went home unto Camelot,and so went to evensong to the great minster,and so after upon that to supper,and every knight sat in his own place as they were toforehand.Then anon they heard cracking and crying of thunder,that them thought the place should all to-drive.In the midst of this blast entered a sunbeam more clearer by seven times than ever they saw day,and all they were alighted of the grace of the Holy Ghost.Then began every knight to behold other,and either saw other,by their seeming,fairer than ever they saw afore.Not for then there was no knight might speak one word a great while,and so they looked every man on other as they had been dumb.Then there entered into the hall the Holy Grail covered with white samite,but there was none might see it,nor who bare it.
And there was all the hall fulfilled with good odours,and every knight had such meats and drinks as he best loved in this world.And when the Holy Grail had been borne through the hall,then the holy vessel departed suddenly,that they wist not where it became:then had they all breath to speak.And then the king yielded thankings to God,of His good grace that he had sent them.Certes,said the king,we ought to thank our Lord Jesu greatly for that he hath shewed us this day,at the reverence of this high feast of Pentecost.