for an I may meet with him I will not depart from him lightly, for all marvellous adventures that Sir Galahad achieveth.  Sir, said one of the monks, he will not of your fellowship.  Why? said Sir Gawaine.  Sir, said he, for ye be wicked and sinful, and he is full blessed.  Right as they thus stood talking there came in riding Sir Gareth.  And then they made joy either of other.  And on the morn they heard mass, and so departed.  And by the way they met with Sir Uwaine les Avoutres, and there Sir Uwaine told Sir Gawaine how he had met with none adventure sith he departed from the court.  Nor we, said Sir Gawaine.  And either promised other of the three knights not to depart while they were in that quest, but if fortune caused it.  So they departed and rode by fortune till that they came by the Castle of Maidens; and there the seven brethren espied the three knights, and said:  Sithen, we be flemyd by one knight from this castle, we shall destroy all the knights of King Arthur’s that we may overcome, for the love of Sir Galahad.  And therewith the seven knights set upon the three knights, and by fortune Sir Gawaine slew one of the brethren, and each one of his fellows slew another, and so slew the remnant.  And then they took the way under the castle, and there they lost the way that Sir Galahad rode, and there every each of them departed from other; and Sir Gawaine rode till he came to an hermitage, and there he found the good man saying his evensong of Our Lady; and there Sir Gawaine asked harbour for charity, and the good man granted it him gladly.  Then the good man asked him what he was.  Sir, he said, I am a knight of King Arthur’s that am in the quest of the Sangreal, and my name is Sir Gawaine.  Sir, said the good man, I would wit how it standeth betwixt God and you.  Sir, said Sir Gawaine, I will with a good will shew you my life if it please you; and there he told the hermit How a monk of an abbey called me wicked knight.  He might well say it, said the hermit, for when ye were first made knight you should have taken you to knightly deeds and virtuous living, and ye have done the contrary, for ye have lived mischievously many winters; and Sir Galahad is a maid and sinner never, and that is the cause he shall achieve where he goeth that ye nor none such shall not attain, nor none in your fellowship, for ye have used the most untruest life that ever I heard knight live.  For certes had ye not been so wicked as ye are, never had the seven brethren been slain by you and your two fellows.  For Sir Galahad himself alone beat them all seven the day tofore, but his living is such he shall slay no man lightly.  Also I may say you the Castle of Maidens betokeneth the good souls that were in prison afore the Incarnation of Jesu Christ.  And the seven knights betoken the seven deadly sins that reigned that time in the world; and I may liken the good Galahad unto the son of the High Father, that light within a maid, and bought all the souls out of thrall:  so did Sir Galahad deliver all the maidens