Le Morte d'Arthur

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speak with a gentlewoman that seemeth hath great need
of you.  Then Galahad went to her and asked her what
she would.  Galahad, said she, I will that ye arm you,
and mount upon your horse and follow me, for I shall
show you within these three days the highest adventure
that ever any knight saw.  Anon Galahad armed him, and
took his horse, and commended him to God, and bade the
gentlewoman go, and he would follow thereas she liked.

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CHAPTER II

How Sir Galahad rode with a damosel, and came to the ship
whereas Sir Bors and Sir Percivale were in.


SO she rode as fast as her palfrey might bear her, till that
she came to the sea, the which was called Collibe.  And
at the night they came unto a castle in a valley, closed
with a running water, and with strong walls and high;
and so she entered into the castle with Galahad, and there
had he great cheer, for the lady of that castle was the
damosel's lady.  So when he was unarmed, then said the

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damosel:  Madam, shall we abide here all this day?  Nay,
said she, but till he hath dined and till he hath slept a
little.  So he ate and slept a while till that the maid called
him, and armed him by torchlight.  And when the maid
was horsed and he both, the lady took Galahad a fair child
and rich; and so they departed from the castle till they
came to the seaside; and there they found the ship where
Bors and Percivale were in, the which cried on the ship's

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board:  Sir Galahad, ye be welcome, we have abiden you
long.  And when he heard them he asked them what they
were.  Sir, said she, leave your horse here, and I shall
leave mine; and took their saddles and their bridles with
them, and made a cross on them, and so entered into the
ship.  And the two knights received them both with great
joy, and everych knew other; and so the wind arose, and
drove them through the sea in a marvellous pace.  And
within a while it dawned.

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Then did Galahad off his helm and his sword, and
asked of his fellows from whence came that fair ship.
Truly, said they, ye wot as well as we, but of God's grace;
and then they told everych to other of all their hard
adventures, and of their great temptations.  Truly, said
Galahad, ye are much bounden to God, for ye have escaped
great adventures; and had not the gentlewoman been I
had not come here, for as for you I weened never to have
found you in these strange countries.  Ah Galahad, said
Bors, if Launcelot, your father, were here then were we
well at ease, for then meseemed we failed nothing.  That
may not be, said Galahad, but if it pleased Our Lord.

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By then the ship went from the land of Logris, and
by adventure it arrived up betwixt two rocks passing great
and marvellous; but there they might not land, for there
was a swallow of the sea, save there was another ship, and
upon it they might go without danger.  Go we thither,
said the gentlewoman, and there shall we see adventures,
for so is Our Lord's will.  And when they came thither
they found the ship rich enough, but they found neither
man nor woman therein.  But they found in the end of
the ship two fair letters written, which said a dreadful
word and a marvellous:  Thou man, which shall enter

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into this ship, beware thou be in steadfast belief, for I am
Faith, and therefore beware how thou enterest, for an
thou fail I shall not help thee.  Then said the gentlewoman:
Percivale, wot ye what I am?  Certes, said he,
nay, to my witting.  Wit ye well, said she, that I am thy
sister, which am daughter of King Pellinore, and therefore
wit ye well ye are the man in the world that I most love;
and if ye be not in perfect belief of Jesu Christ enter not
in no manner of wise, for then should ye perish the ship,
for he is so perfect he will suffer no sinner in him.  When
Percivale understood that she was his very sister he was
inwardly glad, and said:  Fair sister, I shall enter therein,
for if I be a miscreature or an untrue knight there shall I
perish.

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CHAPTER III

How Sir Galahad entered into the ship, and of a fair bed
therein, with other marvellous things, and of a sword.


IN the meanwhile Galahad blessed him, and entered therein;
and then next the gentlewoman, and then Sir Bors and Sir
Percivale.  And when they were in, it was so marvellous
fair and rich that they marvelled; and in midst of the
ship was a fair bed, and Galahad went thereto, and found

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there a crown of silk.  And at the feet was a sword, rich
and fair, and it was drawn out of the sheath half a foot
and more; and the sword was of divers fashions, and the
pommel was of stone, and there was in him all manner of
colours that any man might find, and everych of the
colours had divers virtues; and the scales of the haft
were of two ribs of divers beasts, the one beast was a
serpent which was conversant in Calidone, and is called
the Serpent of the fiend; and the bone of him is of such

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a virtue that there is no hand that handleth him shall
never be weary nor hurt.  And the other beast is a
fish which is not right great, and haunteth the flood of
Euphrates; and that fish is called Ertanax, and his bones
be of such a manner of kind that who that handleth them
shall have so much will that he shall never be weary, and
he shall not think on joy nor sorrow that he hath had
but only that thing that he beholdeth before him.  And
as for this sword there shall never man begrip him at the
handles but one; but he shall pass all other.  In the name
of God, said Percivale, I shall assay to handle it.  So he
set his hand to the sword, but he might not begrip it.
By my faith, said he, now have I failed.  Bors set his
hand thereto and failed.

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Then Galahad beheld the sword and saw letters like
blood that said:  Let see who shall assay to draw me out
of my sheath, but if he be more hardier than any other;
and who that draweth me, wit ye well that he shall never
fail of shame of his body, or to be wounded to the death.
By my faith, said Galahad, I would draw this sword out
of the sheath, but the offending is so great that I shall not
set my hand thereto.  Now sirs, said the gentlewoman,
wit ye well that the drawing of this sword is warned to
all men save all only to you.  Also this ship arrived in
the realm of Logris; and that time was deadly war between
King Labor, which was father unto the maimed king, and

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King Hurlame, which was a Saracen.  But then was he
newly christened, so that men held him afterward one of
the wittiest men of the world.  And so upon a day it
befell that King Labor and King Hurlame had assembled
their folk upon the sea where this ship was arrived; and
there King Hurlame was discomfit, and his men slain;
and he was afeard to be dead, and fled to his ship, and
there found this sword and drew it, and came out and
found King Labor, the man in the world of all Christendom
in whom was then the greatest faith.  And when

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King Hurlame saw King Labor he dressed this sword,
and smote him upon the helm so hard that he clave him
and his horse to the earth with the first stroke of his
sword.  And it was in the realm of Logris; and so befell
great pestilence and great harm to both realms.  For
sithen increased neither corn, nor grass, nor well-nigh no
fruit, nor in the water was no fish; wherefore men call

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it the lands of the two marches, the waste land, for that
dolorous stroke.  And when King Hurlame saw this
sword so carving, he turned again to fetch the scabbard,
and so came into this ship and entered, and put up the
sword in the sheath.  And as soon as he had done it
he fell down dead afore the bed.  Thus was the sword
proved, that none ne drew it but he were dead or maimed.
So lay he there till a maiden came into the ship and cast
him out, for there was no man so hardy of the world to
enter into that ship for the defence.

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CHAPTER IV

Of the marvels of the sword and of the scabbard.


AND then beheld they the scabbard, it seemed to be of a
serpent's skin, and thereon were letters of gold and silver.
And the girdle was but poorly to come to, and not able
to sustain such a rich sword.  And the letters said:  He
which shall wield me sought to be more harder than any
other, if he bear me as truly as me ought to be borne.