And so she yede out of the garden, and she went straight to her father,
and there she took him apart by herself; and then she said: O father,
now have I need of your help, and but if that ye help me farewell my
good days for ever. What is that, daughter? said King Pelles. Sir, she
said, thus is it: in your garden I went for to sport, and there, by the
well, I found Sir Launcelot du Lake sleeping. I may not believe that,
said King Pelles. Sir, she said, truly he is there, and meseemeth he
should be distract out of his wit. Then hold you still, said the king,
and let me deal. Then the king called to him such as he most trusted, a
four persons, and Dame Elaine, his daughter. And when they came to the
well and beheld Sir Launcelot, anon Dame Brisen knew him. Sir, said
Dame Brisen, we must be wise how we deal with him, for this knight is
out of his mind, and if we awake him rudely what he will do we all know
not; but ye shall abide, and I shall throw such an enchantment upon him
that he shall not awake within the space of an hour; and so she did.
Then within a little while after, the king commanded that all people
should avoid, that none should be in that way thereas the king would
come. And so when this was done, these four men and these ladies laid
hand on Sir Launcelot, and so they bare him into a tower, and so into a
chamber where was the holy vessel of the Sangreal, and by force Sir
Launcelot was laid by that holy vessel; and there came an holy man and
unhilled that vessel, and so by miracle and by virtue of that holy
vessel Sir Launcelot was healed and recovered. And when that he was
awaked he groaned and sighed, and complained greatly that he was
passing sore.
CHAPTER V. How Sir Launcelot, after that he was whole and had his mind,
he was ashamed, and how that Elaine desired a castle for him.
And when Sir Launcelot saw King Pelles and Elaine, he waxed ashamed and
said thus: O Lord Jesu, how came I here? for God’s sake, my lord, let
me wit how I came here. Sir, said Dame Elaine, into this country ye
came like a madman, clean out of your wit, and here have ye been kept
as a fool; and no creature here knew what ye were, until by fortune a
maiden of mine brought me unto you whereas ye lay sleeping by a well,
and anon as I verily beheld you I knew you. And then I told my father,
and so were ye brought afore this holy vessel, and by the virtue of it
thus were ye healed. O Jesu, mercy, said Sir Launcelot; if this be
sooth, how many there be that know of my woodness! So God me help, said
Elaine, no more but my father, and I, and Dame Brisen. Now for Christ’s
love, said Sir Launcelot, keep it in counsel, and let no man know it in
the world, for I am sore ashamed that I have been thus miscarried; for
I am banished out of the country of Logris for ever, that is for to say
the country of England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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