But while the noise still sounded a marvelous light stole into the room, a light brighter than any sunbeam.

As the knights looked at one another, each seemed to the other to have a new glory and a new beauty in his face.

And down the sunbeam glided the Holy Grail.  It was the Sacred Cup they had all longed to see.  But no one saw it, for it was invisible to all but the pure-hearted Sir Galahad.

As the strange light faded away, King Arthur heard his knights vowing that they would go in search of the Holy Grail, and never give up the quest till they had found it.

And the boy-knight knew that he too would go over land and sea, till he saw again the wonderful vision.

That night the King could not sleep, for his sorrow was great.  His knights would wander into far-off countries, and many of them would forget that they were in search of the Holy Grail.  Would they not have found the Sacred Cup one day if they had stayed with their King and helped to clear the country of its enemies?

In the morning the streets of Camelot were crowded with rich and poor.  And the people wept as they watched the knights ride away on their strange quest.  And the King wept too, for he knew that now there would be many empty chairs at the Round Table.

The knights rode together to a strange city and stayed there all night.  The next day they separated, each going a different way.

Sir Galahad rode on for four days without adventure.  At last he came to a white abbey, where he was received very kindly.  And he found two knights there, and one was a king.

“What adventure has brought you here?” asked the boy-knight.

Then they told him that in this abbey there was a shield.  And if any man tried to carry it, he was either wounded or dead within three days.

“But to-morrow I shall try to bear it,” said the king.

“In the name of God, let me take the shield,” said Sir Galahad gravely.

“If I fail, you shall try to bear it,” said the king.  And Galahad was glad, for he had still no shield of his own.

Then a monk took the king and the young knight behind the altar, and showed them where the shield hung.  It was as white as snow, but in the middle there was a red cross.

“The shield can be borne only by the worthiest knight in the world,” the monk warned the king.

“I will try to bear it, though I am no worthy knight,” insisted the king; and he took the shield and rode down into the valley.

And Galahad waited at the abbey, for the king had said he would send his squire to tell the young knight how the shield had protected him.

For two miles the king rode through the valley, till he reached a hermitage.  And he saw a warrior there, dressed in white armor, and sitting on a white horse.

The warrior rode quickly towards the king, and struck him so hard that he broke his armor.  Then he thrust his spear through the king’s right shoulder, as though he held no shield.