PERCEVAL
THE father and two elder brothers of Perceval had fallen in battle or
tournaments, and hence, as the last hope of his family, his mother
retired with him into a solitary region, where he was brought up in
total ignorance of arms and chivalry. He was allowed no weapon but “a
lyttel Scots spere,” which was the only thing of all “her lordes faire
gere” that his mother carried to the wood with her. In the use of this
he became so skilful, that he could kill with it not only the animals of
the chase for the table, but even birds on the wing. At length, however,
Perceval was roused to a desire of military renown by seeing in the
forest five knights who were in complete armor. He said to his mother,
“Mother, what are those yonder?” “They are angels, my son,” said she.
“By my faith, I will go and become an angel with them.” And Perceval
went to the road and met them. “Tell me, good lad,” said one of them,
“sawest thou a knight pass this way either to-day or yesterday?” “I know
not,” said he, “what a knight is.” “Such an one as I am,” said the
knight. “If thou wilt tell me what I ask thee, I will tell thee what
thou askest me.” “Gladly will I do so,” said Sir Owain, for that was the
knight’s name. “What is this?” demanded Perceval, touching the saddle.
“It is a saddle,” said Owain. Then he asked about all the accoutrements
which he saw upon the men and the horses, and about the arms, and what
they were for, and how they were used. And Sir Owain showed him all
those things fully. And Perceval in return gave him such information as
he had.
Then Perceval returned to his mother, and said to her, “Mother, those
were not angels, but honorable knights.” Then his mother swooned away.
And Perceval went to the place where they kept the horses that carried
firewood and provisions for the castle, and he took a bony, piebald
horse, which seemed to him the strongest of them. And he pressed a pack
into the form of a saddle, and with twisted twigs he imitated the
trappings which he had seen upon the horses. When he came again to his
mother, the countess had recovered from her swoon. “My son,” said she,
“desirest thou to ride forth?” “Yes, with thy leave,” said he. “Go
forward, then,” she said, “to the court of Arthur, where there are the
best and the noblest and the most bountiful of men, and tell him thou
art Perceval, the son of Pelenore, and ask of him to bestow knighthood
on thee. And whenever thou seest a church, repeat there thy
pater-noster; and if thou see meat and drink, and hast need of them,
thou mayest take them. If thou hear an outcry of one in distress,
proceed toward it, especially if it be the cry of a woman, and render
her what service thou canst. If thou see a fair jewel, win it, for thus
shalt thou acquire fame; yet freely give it to another, for thus thou
shalt obtain praise. If thou see a fair woman, pay court to her, for
thus thou wilt obtain love.”
After this discourse Perceval mounted the horse and taking a number of
sharp-pointed sticks in his hand he rode forth. And he rode far in the
woody wilderness without food or drink. At last he came to an opening in
the wood where he saw a tent, and as he thought it might be a church he
said his pater-noster to it. And he went towards it; and the door of the
tent was open. And Perceval dismounted and entered the tent. In the tent
he found a maiden sitting, with a golden frontlet on her forehead and a
gold ring on her hand. And Perceval said, “Maiden, I salute you, for my
mother told me whenever I met a lady I must respectfully salute her.”
Perceiving in one corner of the tent some food, two flasks full of wine,
and some boar’s flesh roasted, he said, “My mother told me, whenever I
saw meat and drink to take it.” And he ate greedily, for he was very
hungry. The maiden said, “Sir, thou hadst best go quickly from here, for
fear that my friends should come, and evil should befall you.” But
Perceval said, “My mother told me wheresoever I saw a fair jewel to take
it,” and he took the gold ring from her finger, and put it on his own;
and he gave the maiden his own ring in exchange for hers; then he
mounted his horse and rode away.
Perceval journeyed on till he arrived at Arthur’s court. And it so
happened that just at that time an uncourteous knight had offered Queen
Guenever a gross insult. For when her page was serving the queen with a
golden goblet, this knight struck the arm of the page and dashed the
wine in the queen’s face and over her stomacher. Then he said, “If any
have boldness to avenge this insult to Guenever, let him follow me to
the meadow.” So the knight took his horse and rode to the meadow,
carrying away the golden goblet. And all the household hung down their
heads and no one offered to follow the knight to take vengeance upon
him. For it seemed to them that no one would have ventured on so daring
an outrage unless he possessed such powers, through magic or charms,
that none could be able to punish him. Just then, behold, Perceval
entered the hall upon the bony, piebald horse, with his uncouth
trappings. In the centre of the hall stood Kay the Seneschal. “Tell me,
tall man,” said Perceval, “is that Arthur yonder?” “What wouldst thou
with Arthur?” asked Kay. “My mother told me to go to Arthur and receive
knighthood from him.” “By my faith,” said he, “thou art all too meanly
equipped with horse and with arms.” Then all the household began to jeer
and laugh at him. But there was a certain damsel who had been a whole
year at Arthur’s court, and had never been known to smile. And the
king’s fool[54] had said that this damsel would not smile till she had
seen him who would be the flower of chivalry. Now this damsel came up to
Perceval and told him, smiling, that if he lived he would be one of the
bravest and best of knights. “Truly,” said Kay, “thou art ill taught to
remain a year at Arthur’s court, with choice of society, and smile on no
one, and now before the face of Arthur and all his knights to call such
a man as this the flower of knighthood;” and he gave her a box on the
ear, that she fell senseless to the ground. Then said Kay to Perceval,
“Go after the knight who went hence to the meadow, overthrow him and
recover the golden goblet, and possess thyself of his horse and arms,
and thou shalt have knighthood.” “I will do so, tall man,” said
Perceval. So he turned his horse’s head toward the meadow. And when he
came there, the knight was riding up and down, proud of his strength and
valor and noble mien. “Tell me,” said the knight, “didst thou see any
one coming after me from the court?” “The tall man that was there,” said
Perceval, “told me to come and overthrow thee, and to take from thee the
goblet and thy horse and armor for myself.” “Silence!” said the knight;
“go back to the court, and tell Arthur either to come himself, or to
send some other to fight with me; and unless he do so quickly, I will
not wait for him.” “By my faith,” said Perceval, “choose thou whether it
shall be willingly or unwillingly, for I will have the horse and the
arms and the goblet.” Upon this the knight ran at him furiously, and
struck him a violent blow with the shaft of his spear, between the neck
and the shoulder. “Ha, ha, lad!” said Perceval, “my mother’s servants
were not used to play with me in this wise; so thus will I play with
thee.” And he threw at him one of his sharp-pointed sticks, and it
struck him in the eye, and came out at the back of his head, so that he
fell down lifeless.
“Verily,” said Sir Owain, the son of Urien, to Kay the Seneschal, “thou
wast ill-advised to send that madman after the knight, for he must
either be overthrown or flee, and either way it will be a disgrace to
Arthur and his warriors; therefore will I go to see what has befallen
him.” So Sir Owain went to the meadow, and he found Perceval trying in
vain to get the dead knight’s armor off, in order to clothe himself with
it. Sir Owain unfastened the armor, and helped Perceval to put it on,
and taught him how to put his foot in the stirrup, and use the spur; for
Perceval had never used stirrup nor spur, but rode without saddle, and
urged on his horse with a stick. Then Owain would have had him return to
the court to receive the praise that was his due; but Perceval said, “I
will not come to the court till I have encountered the tall man that is
there, to revenge the injury he did to the maiden. But take thou the
goblet to Queen Guenever, and tell King Arthur that, wherever I am, I
will be his vassal, and will do him what profit and service I can.” And
Sir Owain went back to the court, and related all these things to Arthur
and Guenever, and to all the household.
And Perceval rode forward. And he came to a lake on the side of which
was a fair castle, and on the border of the lake he saw a hoary-headed
man sitting upon a velvet cushion, and his attendants were fishing in
the lake. When the hoary-headed man beheld Perceval approaching, he
arose and went into the castle. Perceval rode to the castle, and the
door was open, and he entered the hall. And the hoary-headed man
received Perceval courteously, and asked him to sit by him on the
cushion. When it was time the tables were set, and they went to meat.
And when they had finished their meat the hoary-headed man asked
Perceval if he knew how to fight with the sword. “I know not,” said
Perceval, “but were I to be taught, doubtless I should.” And the
hoary-headed man said to him, “I am thy uncle, thy mother’s brother; I
am called King Pecheur.[55] Thou shalt remain with me a space, in order
to learn the manners and customs of different countries, and courtesy
and noble bearing. And this do thou remember, if thou seest aught to
cause thy wonder, ask not the meaning of it; if no one has the courtesy
to inform thee, the reproach will not fall upon thee, but upon me that
am thy teacher.” While Perceval and his uncle discoursed together,
Perceval beheld two youths enter the hall bearing a golden cup and a
spear of mighty size, with blood dropping from its point to the ground.
And when all the company saw this they began to weep and lament. But for
all that, the man did not break off his discourse with Perceval. And as
he did not tell him the meaning of what he saw, he forebore to ask him
concerning it. Now the cup that Perceval saw was the Sangreal, and the
spear the sacred spear; and afterwards King Pecheur removed with those
sacred relics into a far country.
. . . . . . .
One evening Perceval entered a valley, and came to a hermit’s cell; and
the hermit welcomed him gladly, and there he spent the night. And in the
morning he arose, and when he went forth, behold! a shower of snow had
fallen in the night, and a hawk had killed a wild-fowl in front of the
cell. And the noise of the horse had scared the hawk away, and a raven
alighted on the bird. And Perceval stood and compared the blackness of
the raven and the whiteness of the snow and the redness of the blood to
the hair of the lady that best he loved, which was blacker than jet, and
to her skin, which was whiter than the snow, and to the two red spots
upon her cheeks, which were redder than the blood upon the snow.
Now Arthur and his household were in search of Perceval, and by chance
they came that way. “Know ye,” said Arthur, “who is the knight with the
long spear that stands by the brook up yonder?” “Lord,” said one of
them, “I will go and learn who he is.” So the youth came to the place
where Perceval was, and asked him what he did thus, and who he was. But
Perceval was so intent upon his thought that he gave him no answer. Then
the youth thrust at Perceval with his lance; and Perceval turned upon
him, and struck him to the ground. And when the youth returned to the
king, and told how rudely he had been treated, Sir Kay said, “I will go
myself.” And when he greeted Perceval, and got no answer, he spoke to
him rudely and angrily. And Perceval thrust at him with his lance, and
cast him down so that he broke his arm and his shoulder-blade. And while
he lay thus stunned his horse returned back at a wild and prancing pace.
Then said Sir Gawain, surnamed the Golden-Tongued, because he was the
most courteous knight in Arthur’s court: “It is not fitting that any
should disturb an honorable knight from his thought unadvisedly; for
either he is pondering some damage that he has sustained, or he is
thinking of the lady whom best he loves. If it seem well to thee, lord,
I will go and see if this knight has changed from his thought, and if he
has, I will ask him courteously to come and visit thee.”
And Perceval was resting on the shaft of his spear, pondering the same
thought, and Sir Gawain came to him, and said: “If I thought it would be
as agreeable to thee as it would be to me, I would converse with thee. I
have also a message from Arthur unto thee, to pray thee to come and
visit him. And two men have been before on this errand.” “That is true,”
said Perceval; “and uncourteously they came. They attacked me, and I was
annoyed thereat.” Then he told him the thought that occupied his mind,
and Gawain said, “This was not an ungentle thought, and I should marvel
if it were pleasant for thee to be drawn from it.” Then said Perceval,
“Tell me, is Sir Kay in Arthur’s court?” “He is,” said Gawain; “and
truly he is the knight who fought with thee last.” “Verily,” said
Perceval, “I am not sorry to have thus avenged the insult to the smiling
maiden.” Then Perceval told him his name, and said, “Who art thou?” And
he replied, “I am Gawain.” “I am right glad to meet thee,” said
Perceval, “for I have everywhere heard of thy prowess and uprightness;
and I solicit thy fellowship.” “Thou shalt have it, by my faith; and
grant me thine,” said he. “Gladly will I do so,” answered Perceval.
So they went together to Arthur, and saluted him.
“Behold, lord,” said Gawain, “him whom thou hast sought so long.”
“Welcome unto thee, chieftain,” said Arthur. And hereupon there came the
queen and her handmaidens, and Perceval saluted them. And they were
rejoiced to see him, and bade him welcome. And Arthur did him great
honor and respect and they returned towards Caerleon.
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