CHAPTER I
How Sir Percivale came to a recluse and asked counsel,and how she told him that she was his aunt.
NOW saith the tale,that when Sir Launcelot was ridden after Sir Galahad,the which had all these adventures above said,Sir Percivale turned again unto the recluse,where he deemed to have tidings of that knight that Launcelot followed.And so he kneeled at her window,and the recluse opened it and asked Sir Percivale what he would.Madam,he said,I am a knight of King Arthur's court,and my name is Sir Percivale de Galis.When the recluse heard his name she had great joy of him,for mickle she had loved him to-fore any other knight,for she ought to do so,for she was his aunt.And then she commanded the gates to be opened,and there he had all the cheer that she might make him,and all that was in her power was at his commandment.
So on the morn Sir Percivale went to the recluse and asked her if she knew that knight with the white shield.
Sir,said she,why would ye wit?Truly,madam,said Sir Percivale,I shall never be well at ease till that I know of that knight's fellowship,and that I may fight with him,for I may not leave him so lightly,for I have the shame yet.Ah,Percivale,said she,would ye fight with him?
I see well ye have great will to be slain as your father was,through outrageousness.Madam,said Sir Percivale,it seemeth by your words that ye know me.Yea,said she,I well ought to know you,for I am your aunt,although I be in a priory place.For some called me sometime the Queen of the Waste Lands,and I was called the queen of most riches in the world;and it pleased me never my riches so much as doth my poverty.Then Sir Percivale wept for very pity when that he knew it was his aunt.Ah,fair nephew,said she,when heard ye tidings of your mother?Truly,said he,I heard none of her,but I dream of her much in my sleep;and therefore I wot not whether she be dead or alive.Certes,fair nephew,said she,your mother is dead,for after your departing from her she took such a sorrow that anon,after she was confessed,she died.Now,God have mercy on her soul,said Sir Percivale,it sore forthinketh me;but all we must change the life.Now,fair aunt,tell me what is the knight?I deem it be he that bare the red arms on Whitsunday.Wit you well,said she,that this is he,for otherwise ought he not to do,but to go in red arms;and that same knight hath no peer,for he worketh all by miracle,and he shall never be overcome of none earthly man's hand.
CHAPTER II
How Merlin likened the Round Table to the world,and how the knights that should achieve the Sangreal should be known.
ALSO Merlin made the Round Table in tokening of roundness of the world,for by the Round Table is the world signified by right,for all the world,Christian and heathen,repair unto the Round Table;and when they are chosen to be of the fellowship of the Round Table they think them more blessed and more in worship than if they had gotten half the world;and ye have seen that they have lost their fathers and their mothers,and all their kin,and their wives and their children,for to be of your fellowship.It is well seen by you;for since ye have departed from your mother ye would never see her,ye found such fellowship at the Round Table.When Merlin had ordained the Round Table he said,by them which should be fellows of the Round Table the truth of the Sangreal should be well known.And men asked him how men might know them that should best do and to enchieve the Sangreal?Then he said there should be three white bulls that should enchieve it,and the two should be maidens,and the third should be chaste.And that one of the three should pass his father as much as the lion passeth the leopard,both of strength and hardiness.
They that heard Merlin say so said thus unto Merlin:
Sithen there shall be such a knight,thou shouldest ordain by thy crafts a siege,that no man should sit in it but he all only that shall pass all other knights.Then Merlin answered that he would do so.And then he made the Siege Perilous,in the which Galahad sat in at his meat on Whitsunday last past.Now,madam,said Sir Percivale,so much have I heard of you that by my good will I will never have ado with Sir Galahad but by way of kindness;and for God's love,fair aunt,can ye teach me some way where I may find him?for much would I love the fellowship of him.Fair nephew,said she,ye must ride unto a castle the which is called Goothe,where he hath a cousin-germain,and there may ye be lodged this night.And as he teacheth you,seweth after as fast as ye can;and if he can tell you no tidings of him,ride straight unto the Castle of Carbonek,where the maimed king is there lying,for there shall ye hear true tidings of him.
CHAPTER III
How Sir Percivale came into a monastery,where he found King Evelake,which was an old man.
THEN departed Sir Percivale from his aunt,either making great sorrow.And so he rode till evensong time.And then he heard a clock smite;and then he was ware of an house closed well with walls and deep ditches,and there he knocked at the gate and was let in,and he alighted and was led unto a chamber,and soon he was unarmed.And there he had right good cheer all that night;and on the morn he heard his mass,and in the monastery he found a priest ready at the altar.And on the right side he saw a pew closed with iron,and behind the altar he saw a rich bed and a fair,as of cloth of silk and gold.