“Now,” said the king, “I am sure that all of you who sit at the Round Table will set out in quest of the Holy Grail, and I shall never see you together again; therefore let us go to the meadow of Camelot and hold a tournament, so that after your death men may say that we were all together on this day.”
To this they all agreed, and assembled with their arms in the jousting field. Now the king wished to prove Sir Galahad and to see what he would do. At the king’s request he put on his armor, but would not take a shield. Then Sir Gawain begged him to take a spear, which he did. And the queen sat in a tower with all her ladies to see the tournament.
Then Sir Galahad took his place in the field and began to break marvelously the spears of those who rode against him, so that men wondered. In a short while he overthrew and unhorsed many of the good knights of the Round Table, save two, Sir Launcelot and Sir Percival.
Then the king made Sir Galahad alight from his horse and unlace his helmet so that Queen Guinevere might see him closely. When she saw him she said, “Truly, he is the son of Sir Launcelot, for never did two men more resemble each other; it is no wonder that he has great valor.”
A lady who stood by said, “Madam, ought he of right to be so good a knight?”
[Illustration: THEN SIR GALAHAD TOOK HIS PLACE IN THE FIELD]
“Yes,” said she, “for he comes of the best knights in the world, and of the highest lineage.”
_The Knights of the Round Table Set Out in Quest of the Holy Grail_
The king and all his knights then left the jousting field, and rode to Camelot Church to evensong; and after that they went home to supper. At supper, as each knight sat in his own place at the Round Table, there arose a great storm, and the cracking and crying of the thunder was so terrible that they thought the roof and walls of the castle were breaking apart.
In the midst of the blast a sunbeam entered the great window, seven times whiter than the light of day. Then every knight seemed fairer than his comrades had ever seen him, and no one dared speak for a long while, but all looked at each other as if they had been dumb.
Then there entered on the sunbeam the Holy Grail, but it was covered with a white silken cloth, so that no one could see it, or who bore it. Then the hall was filled with sweet odors, and every knight had such meat and drink as he liked best; and when the Holy Grail had been borne through the hall, it departed as suddenly as it came and the marvelous light with it, but no one knew where. When they had breath to speak, the king gave thanks.