"Fair sir," said Sir Launcelot, "will ye come with me unto the court of
King Arthur?"
"Nay," said he, "I will not go with you at this time."
Then he departed from them and came to Camelot by the hour of underne[2]
on Whitsunday. By that time the King and Queen were gone to the minster
to hear their service.
[Footnote 2: _Underne_ meant, according to ancient reckoning, nine
o'clock in the morning.]
So when the King and all the knights were come from service, the barons
espied in the sieges of the Round Table all about, written with golden
letters: "Here ought to sit he, and he ought to sit here."[3] And thus
they went so long till they came to the Siege Perilous where they found
letters newly written of gold which said: "Four hundred winters and four
and fifty accomplished after the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ ought
this siege to be fulfilled."
[Footnote 3: That is, "Such a one should sit here, and such another one
here."]