Rideth Sir Galahad yet without shield, and so he rode four days without
any adventure. And at the fourth day after evensong he came to a White
Abbey, and there he was received with great reverence, and led to a
chamber, and there he was unarmed; and then was he ware of two knights
of the Round Table, one was King Bagdemagus, and that other was Sir
Uwaine. And when they saw him they went unto him and made of him great
solace, and so they went to supper.
"Sirs," said Sir Galahad, "what adventure brought you hither?"
"Sir," said they, "it is told us that within this place is a shield that
no man may bear about his neck but if that he be mischieved or dead
within three days, or else maimed for ever."
"Ah, sir," said King Bagdemagus, "I shall it bear to-morrow for to assay
this strange adventure."
"In the name of God," said Sir Galahad.
"Sir," said Bagdemagus, "an I may not achieve the adventure of this
shield ye shall take it upon you, for I am sure ye shall not fail."
"Sir," said Galahad, "I agree right well thereto, for I have no shield."
So on the morn they arose and heard mass. Anon a monk led them behind an
altar where the shield hung as white as any snow, but in the middes[14]
was a red cross.
[Footnote 14: _Middes_ is an old word for _midst_]
"Sir," said the monk, "this shield ought not to be hanged about no
knight's neck but he be the worthiest knight of the world, and therefore
I counsel you knights to be well advised."
"Well," said King Bagdemagus, "I wot well that I am not the best knight
of the world, but yet shall I assay to bear it."
And so he bare it out of the monastery; and then he said unto Sir
Galahad: "If it will please you I pray you abide here still, till ye
know how I shall speed."
"I shall abide you here," said Galahad. Then King Bagdemagus took with
him a squire, the which should bring tidings unto Sir Galahad how he
sped.
Then when they had ridden a two mile and came in a fair valley afore an
hermitage, then they saw a goodly knight come from that part in white
armour, horse and all; and he came as fast as his horse might run, with
his spear in the rest, and King Bagdemagus dressed his spear against him
and brake it upon the white knight. But the other struck him so hard
that he brake the mails, and thrust him through the right shoulder, for
the shield covered him not at that time; and so he bare him from his
horse.
[Illustration: SIR GALAHAD]
And therewith he alighted and took the white shield from him, saying:
"Knight, thou hast done thyself great folly, for this shield ought not
to be borne but by him that shall have no peer that liveth." And then he
came to King Bagdemagus' squire and said: "Bear this shield unto the
good knight Sir Galahad, that thou left in the abbey, and greet him well
from me, for this shield behoveth[15] unto no man but unto Galahad."
[Footnote 15: That is, _belongeth_.]
"Sir Galahad," said the squire, when he had come to the White Abbey,
"that knight that wounded Bagdemagus sendeth you greeting, and bade that
ye should bear this shield, where through great adventures should
befall."
"Now blessed be God and fortune," said Galahad. And then he asked his
arms, and mounted upon his horse, and hung the white shield about his
neck, and commended them unto God.
Then within a while came Galahad thereas[16] the White knight abode him
by the hermitage, and every each saluted other courteously.
[Footnote 16: _Thereas_ is an old word meaning _where_.]
"Sir," said Galahad, "by this shield be many marvels fallen?"
"Sir," said the knight, "it befell after the passion of our Lord Jesu
Christ thirty-two year, that Joseph of Arimathie, the gentle knight, the
which took down our Lord off the holy Cross, at that time he departed
from Jerusalem with a great party of his kindred with him. And so he
laboured till that they came to a city that hight[17] Sarras.
[Footnote 17: _Hight_ means _was called_.]
"And at that same hour that Joseph came to Sarras there was a King that
hight Evelake, that had great war against the Saracens, and in especial
against one Saracen, the which was King Evelake's cousin, a rich king
and a mighty, which marched nigh this land. So on a day these two met to
do battle. Then Joseph, the son of Joseph of Arimathie, went to King
Evelake and told him he should be discomfit and slain, but if he left
his belief of the old law and believed upon the new law. And then there
he shewed him the right belief of the Holy Trinity, to the which he
agreed unto with all his heart; and there this shield was made for King
Evelake, in the name of Him that died upon the Cross.
"And when Evelake was in the battle there was a cloth set afore the
shield, and when he was in the greatest peril he let put away the cloth,
and then his enemies saw a figure of a man on the Cross, wherethrough
they all were discomfit.
"Then soon after there fell a great marvel, that the cross of the shield
at one time vanished away that no man wist where it became.
"Not long after that Joseph was laid in his deadly bed. And when King
Evelake saw that he made much sorrow, and said: 'For thy love I have
left my country, and sith ye shall depart out of this world, leave me
some token of yours that I may think on you.' Joseph said: 'That will I
do full gladly; now bring me your shield that I took you.' Then Joseph
bled sore at the nose, so that he might not by no mean be staunched. And
there upon that shield he made a cross of his own blood.
"'Now may ye see a remembrance that I love you, for ye shall never see
this shield but ye shall think on me, and it shall always be as fresh as
it is now. And never shall man bear this shield about his neck but he
shall repent it, unto the time that Galahad, the good knight, bear it;
and he last of my lineage shall have it about his neck, that shall do
many marvelous deeds.'"