NOW,saith the story,Galahad rode many journeys in vain.And at the last he came to the abbey where King Mordrains was,and when he heard that,he thought he would abide to see him.And upon the morn,when he had heard mass,Galahad came unto King Mordrains,and anon the king saw him,which had lain blind of long time.
And then he dressed him against him,and said:Galahad,the servant of Jesu Christ,whose coming I have abiden so long,now embrace me and let me rest on thy breast,so that I may rest between thine arms,for thou art a clean virgin above all knights,as the flower of the lily in whom virginity is signified,and thou art the rose the which is the flower of all good virtues,and in colour of fire.For the fire of the Holy Ghost is taken so in thee that my flesh which was all dead of oldness is become young again.Then Galahad heard his words,then he embraced him and all his body.Then said he:Fair Lord Jesu Christ,now I have my will.Now I require thee,in this point that I am in,thou come and visit me.And anon Our Lord heard his prayer:therewith the soul departed from the body.
And then Galahad put him in the earth as a king ought to be,and so departed and so came into a perilous forest where he found the well the which boileth with great waves,as the tale telleth to-fore.And as soon as Galahad set his hand thereto it ceased,so that it brent no more,and the heat departed.For that it brent it was a sign of lechery,the which was that time much used.But that heat might not abide his pure virginity.And this was taken in the country for a miracle.And so ever after was it called Galahad's well.
Then by adventure he came into the country of Gore,and into the abbey where Launcelot had been to-forehand,and found the tomb of King Bagdemagus,but he was founder thereof,Joseph of Aramathie's son;and the tomb of Simeon where Launcelot had failed.Then he looked into a croft under the minster,and there he saw a tomb which brent full marvellously.Then asked he the brethren what it was.Sir,said they,a marvellous adventure that may not be brought unto none end but by him that passeth of bounty and of knighthood all them of the Round Table.I would,said Galahad,that ye would lead me thereto.Gladly,said they,and so led him till a cave.
And he went down upon greses,and came nigh the tomb.And then the flaming failed,and the fire staunched,the which many a day had been great.Then came there a voice that said:Much are ye beholden to thank Our Lord,the which hath given you a good hour,that ye may draw out the souls of earthly pain,and to put them into the joys of paradise.I am of your kindred,the which hath dwelled in this heat this three hundred winter and four-and-fifty to be purged of the sin that I did against Joseph of Aramathie.Then Galahad took the body in his arms and bare it into the minster.And that night lay Galahad in the abbey;and on the morn he gave him service,and put him in the earth afore the high altar.
CHAPTER XIX
How Sir Percivale and Sir Bors met with Sir Galahad,and how they came to the castle of Carbonek,and other matters.
SO departed he from thence,and commended the brethren to God;and so he rode five days till that he came to the Maimed King.And ever followed Percivale the five days,asking where he had been;and so one told him how the adventures of Logris were enchieved.So on a day it befell that they came out of a great forest,and there they met at traverse with Sir Bors,the which rode alone.It is none need to tell if they were glad;and them he saluted,and they yielded him honour and good adventure,and everych told other.Then said Bors:It is mo than a year and an half that I ne lay ten times where men dwelled,but in wild forests and in mountains,but God was ever my comfort.
Then rode they a great while till that they came to the castle of Carbonek.And when they were entered within the castle King Pelles knew them;then there was great joy,for they wist well by their coming that they had fulfilled the quest of the Sangreal.Then Eliazar,King Pelles'son,brought to-fore them the broken sword wherewith Joseph was stricken through the thigh.Then Bors set his hand thereto,if that he might have soldered it again;but it would not be.Then he took it to Percivale,but he had no more power thereto than he.Now have ye it again,said Percivale to Galahad,for an it be ever enchieved by any bodily man ye must do it.And then he took the pieces and set them together,and they seemed that they had never been broken,and as well as it had been first forged.And when they within espied that the adventure of the sword was enchieved,then they gave the sword to Bors,for it might not be better set;for he was a good knight and a worthy man.
And a little afore even the sword arose great and marvellous,and was full of great heat that many men fell for dread.And anon alighted a voice among them,and said:They that ought not to sit at the table of Jesu Christ arise,for now shall very knights be fed.So they went thence,all save King Pelles and Eliazar,his son,the which were holy men,and a maid which was his niece;and so these three fellows and they three were there,no mo.Anon they saw knights all armed came in at the hall door,and did off their helms and their arms,and said unto Galahad:Sir,we have hied right much for to be with you at this table where the holy meat shall be departed.Then said he:Ye be welcome,but of whence be ye?So three of them said they were of Gaul,and other three said they were of Ireland,and the other three said they were of Denmark.So as they sat thus there came out a bed of tree,of a chamber,the which four gentlewomen brought;and in the bed lay a good man sick,and a crown of gold upon his head;and there in the midst of the place they set him down,and went again their way.Then he lift up his head,and said:Galahad,Knight,ye be welcome,for much have I desired your coming,for in such pain and in such anguish I have been long.But now I trust to God the term is come that my pain shall be allayed,that I shall pass out of this world so as it was promised me long ago.Therewith a voice said: