"Messire Gawain," saith the master of the priests, that was right
ancient: "Great need have you to take rest, for meseemeth you have had
much travail."
"Sir, many things have I seen whereof I am sore abashed, nor know I
what castle this may be."
"Sir," saith the priest, "This Castle is the Castle of Inquest, for
nought you shall ask whereof it shall not tell you the meaning, by the
witness of Joseph, the good clerk and good hermit through whom we have
it, and he knoweth it by annunciation of the Holy Ghost."
"By my faith," saith Messire Gawain, "I am much abashed of the three
damsels that were at the court of King Arthur. Two of them carried,
the one the head of a king and the other of a queen, and they had in a
car an hundred and fifty heads of knights whereof some were sealed in
gold, other in silver, and the rest in lead."
"True," saith the priest, "For as by the queen was the king betrayed
and killed, and the knights whereof the heads were in the car, so saith
she truth as Joseph witnesseth to us, for he saith of remembrance that
by envy was Adam betrayed, and all the people that were after him and
the people that are yet to come shall have dole thereof for ever more.
And for that Adam was the first man is he called King, for he was our
earthly father, and his wife Queen. And the heads of the knights
sealed in gold signify the new law, and the heads sealed in silver the
old, and the heads sealed in lead the false law of the Sarrazins. Of
these three manner of folk is the world stablished."
"Sir," saith Messire Gawain, "I marvel of the castle of the Black
Hermit, there where the heads were all taken from her, and the Damsel
told me that the Good Knight should cast them all forth when he should
come. And the other folk that are therewithin are longing for him."
"Well know you," saith the priest, "that on account of the apple that
Eve gave Adam to eat, all went to hell alike, the good as well as the
evil, and to cast His people forth from hell did God become man, and
cast these souls forth from hell of His bounty and of His puissance.
And to this doth Joseph make us allusion by the castle or the Black
Hermit which signifieth hell, and the Good Knight that shall thence
cast forth them that are within. And I tell you that the Black Hermit
is Lucifer, that is Lord of hell in like manner as he fain would have
been Lord of Paradise."
"Sir," saith the priest, "By this significance is he fain to draw the
good hermits on behalt of the new law wherein the most part are not
well learned, wherefore he would fain make allusion by ensample."
"By God," saith Messire Gawain, "I marvel much of the Damsel that was
all bald, and said that never should she have her hair again until such
time as the Good Knight should have achieved the Holy Graal."
"Sir," saith the good man, "Each day full bald behoveth her to be, ever
since bald she became when the good King fell into languishment on
account of the knight whom he harboured that made not the demand. The
bald damsel signifieth Joseu Josephus, that was bald before the
crucifixion of Our Lord, nor never had his hair again until such time
as He had redeemed His people by His blood and by His death. The car
that she leadeth after her signifieth the wheel of fortune, for like as
the car goeth on the wheels, doth she lay the burden of the world on
the two damsels that follow her; and this you may see well, for the
fairest followeth afoot and the other was on a sorry hackney, and they
were poorly clad, whereas the third had costlier attire. The shield
whereon was the red cross, that she left at the court of King Arthur,
signifieth the most holy shield of the rood that never none durst lift
save God alone."
Messire Gawain heareth these significances and much pleaseth him
thereof, and thinketh him that none durst set his hand to nor lift the
shield that hung in the King's hall, as he had heard tell in many
places; wherefore day by day were they waiting for the Good Knight that
should come for the shield.