Then one of the doors opened, and there came in a very old man dressed all in white, and no one knew whence he came.

By his side was a young man in red armor.  He had neither sword nor shield, but hanging by his side was an empty sheath.

There was a great silence in the hall as the old man said, slowly and solemnly, “I bring you the young knight Sir Galahad, who is descended from a king.  He shall do many great deeds, and he shall see the Holy Grail.”

“He shall see the Holy Grail,” the knights repeated, with awe on their faces.

For far back, in the days of their boyhood, they had heard the story of the Holy Grail.  It was the Sacred Cup out of which their Lord had drunk before He died.

And they had been told how sometimes it was seen carried by angels, and how at other times in a gleam of light.  But in whatever way it appeared, it was seen only by those who were pure in heart.

And as the old man’s words, “He shall see the Holy Grail,” fell on their ears, the knights thought of the story they had heard so long ago, and they were sorry, for they had never seen the Sacred Cup, and they knew that it was unseen only by those who had done wrong.

But the old man was telling the boy-knight to follow him.  He led him to the empty chair, and lifted the silk that covered the golden letters.  “This is the seat of Sir Galahad, the Pure-hearted,” he read aloud.  And the young knight sat in the empty seat that belonged to him.

Then the old man left the palace, and twenty noble squires met him, and took him back to his own country.

When dinner was ended, the King went over to the chair where his boy-knight sat, and welcomed him to the circle of the Round Table.  Afterwards he took Sir Galahad’s hand, and led him out of the palace to show him the strange red stone that floated on the river.  When Sir Galahad heard how the knights could not draw the sword out of the stone, he knew that this adventure was his.

“I will try to take the sword,” said the boy-knight, “and place it in my sheath, for it is empty,” and he pointed to his side.  Then he laid his hand on the wonderful sword, and easily drew it out of the stone, and placed it in his sheath.

“God has sent you the sword, now He will send you a shield as well,” said King Arthur.

Then the King proclaimed that the next day there would be a tournament in the meadows of Camelot.  For before his knights went out to new adventures, he would see Sir Galahad proved.

And in the morning the meadows lay bright in the sunshine.  And the boy-knight rode bravely to his first combat, and over-threw many men; but Sir Lancelot and Sir Percivale he could not overthrow.

When the tournament was over the King and his knights went home to supper, and each sat in his own seat at the Round Table.

All at once there was a loud crashing noise, a noise that was louder than any peal of thunder.  Was the King’s wonderful palace falling to pieces?