Then went the gentlewoman and set it on the girdle of the sword. Now,
said the fellowship, what is the name of the sword, and what shall we
call it? Truly, said she, the name of the sword is the Sword with the
Strange Girdles; and the sheath, Mover of Blood; for no man that hath
blood in him ne shall never see the one part of the sheath which was
made of the Tree of Life. Then they said to Galahad: In the name of
Jesu Christ, and pray you that ye gird you with this sword which hath
been desired so much in the realm of Logris. Now let me begin, said
Galahad, to grip this sword for to give you courage; but wit ye well it
longeth no more to me than it doth to you. And then he gripped about it
with his fingers a great deal; and then she girt him about the middle
with the sword. Now reck I not though I die, for now I hold me one of
the blessed maidens of the world, which hath made the worthiest knight
of the world. Damosel, said Galahad, ye have done so much that I shall
be your knight all the days of my life.
Then they went from that ship, and went to the other. And anon the wind
drove them into the sea a great pace, but they had no victuals: but it
befell that they came on the morn to a castle that men call Carteloise,
that was in the marches of Scotland. And when they had passed the port,
the gentlewoman said: Lords, here be men arriven that, an they wist
that ye were of King Arthur’s court, ye should be assailed anon.
Damosel, said Galahad, He that cast us out of the rock shall deliver us
from them.
CHAPTER VIII. How Galahad and his fellows came to a castle, and how
they were fought withal, and how they slew their adversaries, and other
matters.
So it befell as they spoke thus there came a squire by them, and asked
what they were; and they said they were of King Arthur’s house. Is that
sooth? said he. Now by my head, said he, ye be ill arrayed; and then
turned he again unto the cliff fortress. And within a while they heard
an horn blow. Then a gentlewoman came to them, and asked them of whence
they were; and they told her. Fair lords, said she, for God’s love turn
again if ye may, for ye be come unto your death. Nay, they said, we
will not turn again, for He shall help us in whose service we be
entered in. Then as they stood talking there came knights well armed,
and bade them yield them or else to die. That yielding, said they,
shall be noyous to you. And therewith they let their horses run, and
Sir Percivale smote the foremost to the earth, and took his horse, and
mounted thereupon, and the same did Galahad. Also Bors served another
so, for they had no horses in that country, for they left their horses
when they took their ship in other countries. And so when they were
horsed then began they to set upon them; and they of the castle fled
into the strong fortress, and the three knights after them into the
castle, and so alighted on foot, and with their swords slew them down,
and gat into the hall.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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