"But she, the wan sweet maiden, shore away Clean from her forehead all that wealth of hair Which made a silken mat-work for her feet; And out of this she plaited broad and long A strong sword-belt, and wove with silver thread And crimson in the belt a strange device,

A crimson grail within a silver beam;

And saw the bright boy-knight, and bound it on him, Saying:

'Go forth, for thou shalt see what I have seen, And break thro' all, till one will crown thee king Far in the spiritual city.'

"Then came a year of miracle: O brother,
In our great hall there stood a vacant chair,
Fashion'd by Merlin ere he past away,
And carven with strange figures; and in and out
The figures, like a serpent, ran a scroll

Of letters in a tongue no man could read.
And Merlin call'd it the Siege Perilous,'

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Perilous for good and ill;' for there,' he said,
'No man could sit but he should lose himself ':
And once by misadvertence Merlin sat

In his own chair, and so was lost; but he,
Galahad, when he heard of Merlin's doom,
Cried, If I lose myself, I save myself!'

"Then on a summer night it came to pass, While the great banquet lay along the hall, That Galahad would sit down in Merlin's chair.

Merlin: he had for years been the court magician.
Siege Perilous: Siege here means seat.

"And all at once, as there he sat, we heard
A cracking and a riving of the roofs,
And rending, and a blast, and overhead
Thunder, and in the thunder was a cry.
And in the blast there smote along the hall

A beam of light seven times more clear than day;
And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail
All over cover'd with a luminous cloud,
And none might see who bare it, and it past.
But every knight beheld his fellow's face
As in a glory, and all the knights arose,
And staring each at other like dumb men
Stood, till I found a voice and sware a vow.

"I sware a vow before them all, that I,
Because I had not seen the Grail, would ride
A twelvemonth and a day in quest of it,
Until I found and saw it, as the nun

My sister, saw it; and Galahad sware the vow,
And good Sir Bors, our Lancelot's cousin, sware,
And Lancelot sware, and many among the knights,
And Gawain sware, and louder than the rest."

Then spake the monk Ambrosius, asking him, "What said the King? Did Arthur take the vow?"

"O brother, when I told him what had chanced, My sister's vision and the rest, his face Darken'd, as I have seen it more than once, When some brave deed seem'd to be done in vain, Darken; and' Woe is me, my knights,' he cried,

'Had I been here, ye had not sworn the vow.' Bold was mine answer,' Had thyself been here, My King, thou wouldst have sworn.' Yea, yea,' said he,

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'Art thou so bold and hast not seen the Grail?'

"Nay, lord, I heard the sound, I saw the light, But since I did not see the holy thing, I sware a vow to follow till I saw.'

"Then when he ask'd us, knight by knight, if any Had seen it, all their answers were as one:

'Nay, lord, and therefore have we sworn our vows.'

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Lo, now,' said Arthur, have ye seen a cloud? What go ye into the wilderness to see?'

"Then Galahad on the sudden, and in a voice Shrilling along the hall to Arthur, call'd, ‘But I, Sir Arthur, saw the Holy Grail, I saw the Holy Grail, and heard a cry— "O Galahad, and O Galahad, follow me."'

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"Ah, Galahad, Galahad,' said the King, for such
As thou art is the vision, not for these.
Thy holy nun and thou have seen a sign—
Holier is none, my Percivale, than she—
But one hath seen, and all the blind will see.'”

LXXXVI

THE HOLY GRAIL

PART II

"And I was lifted up in heart, and thought Of all my late-shown prowess in the lists,

How my strong lance had beaten down the knights,
So many and famous names; and never yet
Had heaven appeared so blue, nor earth so green,
For all my blood danced in me, and I knew
That I should light upon the Holy Grail.

"Thereafter, the dark warning of our King,
That most of us would follow wandering fires,
Came like a driving gloom across my mind.
Then every evil word I had spoken once,
And every evil thought I had thought of old,
And every evil deed I ever did,

Awoke and cried,' This quest is not for thee.'

“And on I rode, and when I thought my thirst Would slay me, saw deep lawns, and then a brook, With one sharp rapid, where the crisping white Play'd ever back upon the sloping wave And took both ear and eye; and o'er the brook Were apple trees, and apples by the brook Fallen, and on the lawns. 'I will rest here,'

Wandering fires: The ignis fatuus, which plays over swamps, often leads travelers into the swamps.

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I said, ' I am not worthy of the quest ';
But even while I drank the brook, and ate
The goodly apples, all these things at once
Fell into dust, and I was left alone

And thirsting in a land of sand and thorns.

"And on I rode, and greater was my thirst. Then flash'd a yellow gleam across the world, And where it smote the plowshare in the field The plowman left his plowing and fell down Before it; where it glitter'd in her pail The milkmaid left her milking, and fell down Before it, and I knew not why, but thought

The sun is rising,' tho' the sun had risen. Then was I ware of one that on me moved In golden armor with a crown of gold About a casque all jewels, and his horse In golden armor jeweled everywhere: And on the splendor came, flashing me blind, And seem'd to me the lord of all the world, Being so huge. But when I thought he meant To crush me, moving on me, lo! he, too, Open'd his arms to embrace me as he came, And up I went and touch'd him, and he, too, Fell into dust, and I was left alone And wearying in a land of sand and thorns.

"And I rode on and found a mighty hill, And on the top a city wall'd: the spires Prick'd with incredible pinnacles into heaven. And by the gateway stirr'd a crowd; and these