THEN came forth the other lady that rode upon the serpent,and she said:Sir Percivale,I complain me of you that ye have done unto me,and have not offended unto you.Certes,madam,he said,unto you nor no lady I never offended.Yes,said she,I shall tell you why.Ihave nourished in this place a great while a serpent,which served me a great while,and yesterday ye slew him as he gat his prey.Say me for what cause ye slew him,for the lion was not yours.Madam,said Sir Percivale,I know well the lion was not mine,but I did it for the lion is of more gentler nature than the serpent,and therefore I slew him;meseemeth I did not amiss against you.Madam,said he,what would ye that I did?I would,said she,for the amends of my beast that ye become my man.
And then he answered:That will I not grant you.No,said she,truly ye were never but my servant sin ye received the homage of Our Lord Jesu Christ.Therefore,I ensure you in what place I may find you without keeping I shall take you,as he that sometime was my man.And so she departed from Sir Percivale and left him sleeping,the which was sore travailed of his advision.And on the morn he arose and blessed him,and he was passing feeble.
Then was Sir Percivale ware in the sea,and saw a ship come sailing toward him;and Sir Percivale went unto the ship and found it covered within and without with white samite.And at the board stood an old man clothed in a surplice,in likeness of a priest.Sir,said Sir Percivale,ye be welcome.God keep you,said the good man.Sir,said the old man,of whence be ye?Sir,said Sir Percivale,I am of King Arthur's court,and a knight of the Table Round,the which am in the quest of the Sangreal;and here am I in great duresse,and never like to escape out of this wilderness.Doubt not,said the good man,an ye be so true a knight as the order of chivalry requireth,and of heart as ye ought to be,ye should not doubt that none enemy should slay you.
What are ye?said Sir Percivale.Sir,said the old man,I am of a strange country,and hither I come to comfort you.
Sir,said Sir Percivale,what signifieth my dream that I dreamed this night?And there he told him altogether:
She which rode upon the lion betokeneth the new law of holy church,that is to understand,faith,good hope,belief,and baptism.For she seemed younger than the other it is great reason,for she was born in the resurrection and the passion of Our Lord Jesu Christ.And for great love she came to thee to warn thee of thy great battle that shall befall thee.With whom,said Sir Percivale,shall I fight?
With the most champion of the world,said the old man;for as the lady said,but if thou quit thee well thou shalt not be quit by losing of one member,but thou shalt be shamed to the world's end.And she that rode on the serpent signifieth the old law,and that serpent betokeneth a fiend.And why she blamed thee that thou slewest her servant,it betokeneth nothing;the serpent that thou slewest betokeneth the devil that thou rodest upon to the rock.And when thou madest a sign of the cross,there thou slewest him,and put away his power.And when she asked thee amends and to become her man,and thou saidst thou wouldst not,that was to make thee to believe on her and leave thy baptism.So he commanded Sir Percivale to depart,and so he leapt over the board and the ship,and all went away he wist not whither.Then he went up unto the rock and found the lion which always kept him fellowship,and he stroked him upon the back and had great joy of him.
CHAPTER VIII
How Sir Percivale saw a ship coming to him-ward,and how the lady of the ship told him of her disheritance.
BY that Sir Percivale had abiden there till mid-day he saw a ship came rowing in the sea,as all the wind of the world had driven it.And so it drove under that rock.And when Sir Percivale saw this he hied him thither,and found the ship covered with silk more blacker than any bear,and therein was a gentlewoman of great beauty,and she was clothed richly that none might be better.And when she saw Sir Percivale she said:Who brought you in this wilderness where ye be never like to pass hence,for ye shall die here for hunger and mischief?Damosel,said Sir Percivale,I serve the best man of the world,and in his service he will not suffer me to die,for who that knocketh shall enter,and who that asketh shall have,and who that seeketh him he hideth him not.But then she said:Sir Percivale,wot ye what I am?Yea,said he.
Now who taught you my name?said she.Now,said Sir Percivale,I know you better than ye ween.And I came out of the waste forest where I found the Red Knight with the white shield,said the damosel.Ah,damosel,said he,with that knight would I meet passing fain.Sir knight,said she,an ye will ensure me by the faith that ye owe unto knighthood that ye shall do my will what time I summon you,and I shall bring you unto that knight.Yea,said he,I shall promise you to fulfil your desire.Well,said she,now shall I tell you.I saw him in the forest chasing two knights unto a water,the which is called Mortaise;and they drove him into the water for dread of death,and the two knights passed over,and the Red Knight passed after,and there his horse was drenched,and he,through great strength,escaped unto the land:thus she told him,and Sir Percivale was passing glad thereof.
Then she asked him if he had ate any meat late.
Nay,madam,truly I ate no meat nigh this three days,but late here I spake with a good man that fed me with his good words and holy,and refreshed me greatly.Ah,sir knight,said she,that same man is an enchanter and a multiplier of words.For an ye believe him ye shall plainly be shamed,and die in this rock for pure hunger,and be eaten with wild beasts;and ye be a young man and a goodly knight,and I shall help you an ye will.
