py above all other knights.

In this sorrow he abode all that day till it was night. Then he was
faint, and laid him down and slept till it was midnight. Then he
awaked, and saw afore him a woman which said unto him right fiercely,
"Sir Percivale, abide here, and I shall go fetch you a horse, which
shall bear you whither you will."

So she came soon again, and brought a horse with her that was inky
black. When Sir Percivale beheld that horse, he marvelled that it was
so great and so well apparelled. Courageously he leaped upon him, and
took no heed of himself. As soon as ever he was mounted he thrust in
the spurs, and so rode away by the forest, and the moon shone clear.

Within an hour, and less, the black steed bare him four day's journey
thence, till he came to a rough water the which roared, and his horse
would have borne him into it. And when Sir Percivale came nigh the
brim, and saw the water so boisterous, he feared to overpass it. Then
he made a sign of the cross in his forehead, whereupon the horse shook
off Sir Percivale, and he fell into the water, crying and roaring,
making great sorrow; and it seemed unto him that the water burned.
Then Sir Percivale perceived the steed was a fiend, the which would
have brought him unto his perdition. Then he commended himself unto
God, and prayed our Lord to keep him from all such temptations.

So he prayed all that night till it was day. Then he saw that he was
in a wild mountain the which was closed with the sea nigh all about, so
that he might see no land about him which might relieve him. Then was
Sir Percivale ware in the sea, and saw a ship come sailing towards him;
and he went unto the ship, and found it covered within and without with
white samite. At the board stood an old man clothed in a surplice in
likeness of a priest.

"Sir," said Sir Percivale, "ye be welcome."

"God keep you," said the good man, "of whence be ye?"

"Sir," said Sir Percivale, "I am of King Arthur's court, and a knight
of the Table Round, the which am in the quest of the Holy Grail. Here
I am in great duress, and never likely to escape out of this
wilderness."

"Doubt not," said the good man, "if ye be so true a knight as the order
of chivalry requireth, and of heart as ye ought to be, ye need not fear
that any enemy shall slay you."

"What are ye?" said Sir Percivale.

"Sir," said the old man, "I am of a strange country, and hither I come
to comfort you, and to warn y