When Perceval heard this he had pity thereof, and issued forth of the
ship and came to land, and his mariner with him. He prayed the hermits
that they would lead him to the graveyard where the knights lay, and
gladly did they so. Perceval is come thither and seeth the coffins
right rich and fair, and the chapels full fairly dight, and every
coffin lay over against the altar in each chapel.
"Lords, which coffin is that of the Lord of Camelot?"
"This, the highest," say the hermits, "and the most rich, for that he
was eldest of all the brethren."
Perceval kneeleth down before it, then embraceth the coffin and prayeth
right sweetly for the soul of his father, and in like manner he went to
all the other coffins. He harboured the night with the hermits, and
told them that Alain li Gros was his father and all the other his
uncles. Right joyous were the hermits for that he was come thither,
and the morrow, or ever he departed, he heard mass in the chapel of his
father and in the others where he might. He entered into the ship and
sped full swift, and so far hath the ship run that he draweth nigh the
islands of Great Britain. He arriveth at the head of a forest under
the Red Tower whereof he had slain the lord, there where Meliot
delivered Messire Gawain. He is issued forth of the ship and leadeth
forth his horse and is armed, and commendeth the pilot to God. He
mounteth on his destrier, all armed, and goeth amidst the land that was
well-nigh void of people, for he himself had slain the greater part
thereof, albeit he knew it not. He rideth so long, right amidst the
country, that he cometh toward evensong to a hold that was in a great
forest, and he bethought him that he would go into the hermitage, and
he cometh straight into the hold, and seeth a knight lying in the
entrance of the gate on a straw mattress, and a damsel sate at the
bed's head, of passing great beauty, and held his head on her lap.