There be two among you that be not in the quest of the Sangreal,and therefore depart ye.
CHAPTER XX
How Galahad and his fellows were fed of the Holy Sangreal,and how Our Lord appeared to them,and other things.
THEN King Pelles and his son departed.And therewithal beseemed them that there came a man,and four angels from heaven,clothed in likeness of a bishop,and had a cross in his hand;and these four angels bare him up in a chair,and set him down before the table of silver where upon the Sangreal was;and it seemed that he had in midst of his forehead letters the which said:See ye here Joseph,the first bishop of Christendom,the same which Our Lord succoured in the city of Sarras in the spiritual place.
Then the knights marvelled,for that bishop was dead more than three hundred year to-fore.O knights,said he,marvel not,for I was sometime an earthly man.
With that they heard the chamber door open,and there they saw angels;and two bare candles of wax,and the third a towel,and the fourth a spear which bled marvellously,that three drops fell within a box which he held with his other hand.And they set the candles upon the table,and the third the towel upon the vessel,and the fourth the holy spear even upright upon the vessel.And then the bishop made semblaunt as though he would have gone to the sacring of the mass.And then he took an ubblie which was made in likeness of bread.And at the lifting up there came a figure in likeness of a child,and the visage was as red and as bright as any fire,and smote himself into the bread,so that they all saw it that the bread was formed of a fleshly man;and then he put it into the Holy Vessel again,and then he did that longed to a priest to do to a mass.And then he went to Galahad and kissed him,and bade him go and kiss his fellows:and so he did anon.Now,said he,servants of Jesu Christ,ye shall be fed afore this table with sweet meats that never knights tasted.And when he had said,he vanished away.
And they set them at the table in great dread,and made their prayers.
Then looked they and saw a man come out of the Holy Vessel,that had all the signs of the passion of Jesu Christ,bleeding all openly,and said:My knights,and my servants,and my true children,which be come out of deadly life into spiritual life,I will now no longer hide me from you,but ye shall see now a part of my secrets and of my hidden things:now hold and receive the high meat which ye have so much desired.Then took he himself the Holy Vessel and came to Galahad;and he kneeled down,and there he received his Saviour,and after him so received all his fellows;and they thought it so sweet that it was marvellous to tell.Then said he to Galahad:Son,wottest thou what I hold betwixt my hands?Nay,said he,but if ye will tell me.This is,said he,the holy dish wherein I ate the lamb on Sheer-Thursday.And now hast thou seen that thou most desired to see,but yet hast thou not seen it so openly as thou shalt see it in the city of Sarras in the spiritual place.Therefore thou must go hence and bear with thee this Holy Vessel;for this night it shall depart from the realm of Logris,that it shall never be seen more here.And wottest thou wherefore?For he is not served nor worshipped to his right by them of this land,for they be turned to evil living;therefore Ishall disherit them of the honour which I have done them.
And therefore go ye three to-morrow unto the sea,where ye shall find your ship ready,and with you take the sword with the strange girdles,and no more with you but Sir Percivale and Sir Bors.Also I will that ye take with you of the blood of this spear for to anoint the Maimed King,both his legs and all his body,and he shall have his health.
Sir,said Galahad,why shall not these other fellows go with us?For this cause:for right as I departed my apostles one here and another there,so I will that ye depart;and two of you shall die in my service,but one of you shall come again and tell tidings.Then gave he them his blessing and vanished away.
CHAPTER XXI
How Galahad anointed with the blood of the spear the Maimed King,and of other adventures.
AND Galahad went anon to the spear which lay upon the table,and touched the blood with his fingers,and came after to the Maimed King and anointed his legs.And therewith he clothed him anon,and start upon his feet out of his bed as an whole man,and thanked Our Lord that He had healed him.And that was not to the worldward,for anon he yielded him to a place of religion of white monks,and was a full holy man.That same night about midnight came a voice among them which said:
My sons and not my chief sons,my friends and not my warriors,go ye hence where ye hope best to do and as Ibade you.Ah,thanked'be Thou,Lord,that Thou wilt vouchsafe to call us,Thy sinners.Now may we well prove that we have not lost our pains.And anon in all haste they took their harness and departed.But the three knights of Gaul,one of them hight Claudine,King Claudas'son,and the other two were great gentlemen.
Then prayed Galahad to everych of them,that if they come to King Arthur's court that they should salute my lord,Sir Launcelot,my father,and all the fellowship[1]of the Round Table;and prayed them if that they came on that part that they should not forget it.
Right so departed Galahad,Percivale and Bors with him;and so they rode three days,and then they came to a rivage,and found the ship whereof the tale speaketh of [1]So W.de Worde;Caxton "of them.''
