CHAPTER I
How Sir Launcelot came to a chapel,where he found dead,in a white shirt,a man of religion,of an hundred winter old.
WHEN the hermit had kept Sir Launcelot three days,the hermit gat him an horse,an helm,and a sword.And then he departed about the hour of noon.And then he saw a little house.And when he came near he saw a chapel,and there beside he saw an old man that was clothed all in white full richly;and then Sir Launcelot said:God save you.God keep you,said the good man,and make you a good knight.Then Sir Launcelot alighted and entered into the chapel,and there he saw an old man dead,in a white shirt of passing fine cloth.
Sir,said the good man,this man that is dead ought not to be in such clothing as ye see him in,for in that he brake the oath of his order,for he hath been more than an hundred winter a man of a religion.And then the good man and Sir Launcelot went into the chapel;and the good man took a stole about his neck,and a book,and then he conjured on that book;and with that they saw in an hideous figure and horrible,that there was no man so hard-hearted nor so hard but he should have been afeard.
Then said the fiend:Thou hast travailed me greatly;now tell me what thou wilt with me.I will,said the good man,that thou tell me how my fellow became dead,and whether he be saved or damned.Then he said with an horrible voice:He is not lost but saved.How may that be?said the good man;it seemed to me that he lived not well,for he brake his order for to wear a shirt where he ought to wear none,and who that trespasseth against our order doth not well.Not so,said the fiend,this man that lieth here dead was come of a great lineage.And there was a lord that hight the Earl de Vale,that held great war against this man's nephew,the which hight Aguarus.And so this Aguarus saw the earl was bigger than he.Then he went for to take counsel of his uncle,the which lieth here dead as ye may see.And then he asked leave,and went out of his hermitage for to maintain his nephew against the mighty earl;and so it happed that this man that lieth here dead did so much by his wisdom and hardiness that the earl was taken,and three of his lords,by force of this dead man.
CHAPTER II
Of a dead man,how men would have hewn him,and it would not be,and how Sir Launcelot took the hair of the dead man.
THEN was there peace betwixt the earl and this Aguarus,and great surety that the earl should never war against him.Then this dead man that here lieth came to this hermitage again;and then the earl made two of his nephews for to be avenged upon this man.So they came on a day,and found this dead man at the sacring of his mass,and they abode him till he had said mass.
And then they set upon him and drew out swords to have slain him;but there would no sword bite on him more than upon a gad of steel,for the high Lord which he served He him preserved.Then made they a great fire,and did off all his clothes,and the hair off his back.And then this dead man hermit said unto them:Ween you to burn me?It shall not lie in your power nor to perish me as much as a thread,an there were any on my body.No?
said one of them,it shall be assayed.And then they despoiled him,and put upon him this shirt,and cast him in a fire,and there he lay all that night till it was day in that fire,and was not dead,and so in the morn I came and found him dead;but I found neither thread nor skin tamed,and so took him out of the fire with great fear,and laid him here as ye may see.And now may ye suffer me to go my way,for I have said you the sooth.And then he departed with a great tempest.
Then was the good man and Sir Launcelot more gladder than they were to-fore.And then Sir Launcelot dwelled with that good man that night.Sir,said the good man,be ye not Sir Launcelot du Lake?Yea,sir,said he.
What seek ye in this country?Sir,said Sir Launcelot,Igo to seek the adventures of the Sangreal.Well,said he,seek it ye may well,but though it were here ye shall have no power to see it no more than a blind man should see a bright sword,and that is long on your sin,and else ye were more abler than any man living.And then Sir Launcelot began to weep.Then said the good man:Were ye confessed sith ye entered into the quest of the Sangreal?Yea,sir,said Sir Launcelot.Then upon the morn when the good man had sung his mass,then they buried the dead man.Then Sir Launcelot said:Father,what shall I do?
Now,said the good man,I require you take this hair that was this holy man's and put it next thy skin,and it shall prevail thee greatly.Sir,and I will do it,said Sir Launcelot.Also I charge you that ye eat no flesh as long as ye be in the quest of the Sangreal,nor ye shall drink no wine,and that ye hear mass daily an ye may do it.So he took the hair and put it upon him,and so departed at evensong-time.
And so rode he into a forest,and there he met with a gentlewoman riding upon a white palfrey,and then she asked him:Sir knight,whither ride ye?Certes,damosel,said Launcelot,I wot not whither I ride but as fortune leadeth me.Ah,Sir Launcelot,said she,I wot what adventure ye seek,for ye were afore time nearer than ye be now,and yet shall ye see it more openly than ever ye did,and that shall ye understand in short time.Then Sir Launcelot asked her where he might be harboured that night.Ye shall not find this day nor night,but to-morn ye shall find harbour good,and ease of that ye be in doubt of And then he commended her unto God.Then he rode till that he came to a Cross,and took that for his host as for that night.
CHAPTER III
Of an advision that Sir Launcelot had,and how he told it to an hermit,and desired counsel of him.