gate, and saw the two lions; then he set hands to his
sword, and drew it. Then there came suddenly
as it were a stroke upon the arm, so sore that the
sword fell out of his hand, and he heard a voice that
said, “O man of evil faith, wherefore believest
thou more in thy armor than in thy Maker?” Then
said Sir Launcelot, “Fair Lord, I thank thee
of thy great mercy, that thou reprovest me of my misdeed;
now see I well that thou holdest me for thy servant.”
Then he made a cross on his forehead, and came to the
lions; and they made semblance to do him harm, but
he passed them without hurt, and entered into the
castle, and he found no gate nor door but it was open.
But at the last he found a chamber whereof the door
was shut; and he set his hand thereto, to have opened
it, but he might not. Then he listened, and heard
a voice which sung so sweetly that it seemed none
earthly thing; and the voice said, “Joy and
honor be to the Father of heaven.” Then
Sir Launcelot kneeled down before the chamber, for
well he wist that there was the Sangreal in that chamber.
Then said he, “Fair, sweet Lord, if ever I did
anything that pleased thee, for thy pity show me something
of that which I seek.” And with that he
saw the chamber door open, and there came out a great
clearness, that the house was as bright as though
all the torches of the world had been there.
So he came to the chamber door, and would have entered;
and anon a voice said unto him, “Stay, Sir Launcelot,
and enter not.” And he withdrew him back,
and was right heavy in his mind. Then looked
he in the midst of the chamber, and saw a table of
silver, and the holy vessel, covered with red samite,
and many angels about it; whereof one held a candle
of wax burning, and another held a cross, and the
ornaments of the altar.
“O, yet methought I saw the
Holy Grail,
All pall’d in crimson samite, and around
Great angels, awful shapes, and wings and eyes”
—The
Holy Grail.
Then for very wonder and thankfulness Sir Launcelot
forgot himself and he stepped forward and entered
the chamber. And suddenly a breath that seemed
intermixed with fire smote him so sore in the visage
that therewith he fell to the ground, and had no power
to rise. Then felt he many hands about him, which
took him up and bare him out of the chamber, without
any amending of his swoon, and left him there, seeming
dead to all the people. So on the morrow, when
it was fair daylight, and they within were arisen,
they found Sir Launcelot lying before the chamber door.
And they looked upon him and felt his pulse, to know
if there were any life in him. And they found
life in him, but he might neither stand nor stir any
member that he had. So they took him and bare
him into a chamber, and laid him upon a bed, far from
all folk, and there he lay many days. Then the
one said he was alive, and the others said nay.
But said an old man, “He is as full of life as
the mightiest of you all, and therefore I counsel