ancelot, by the counsel of
Messire Gawain, granted the treasure to the two damsels, sisters to the
Poor Knight of the Waste Castle, whereupon let them send for Joseus the
Hermit and bid him guard the treasure until they shall come hither."

And Joseus said that he would do so, and is right glad that the robbers
of the forest are made away withal, that had so often made assault upon
him. He guarded the treasure and the hold right safely in the forest;
but the dread and the renown of the good knights that had freed the
forest went far and wide. The knight that led the three destriers was
right joyfully received at the Waste Castle; and when he told the
message wherewith he was charged by Messire Gawain, the Poor Knight and
two damsels made great joy thereof. Perceval taketh leave of Messire
Gawain and Lancelot, and saith that never will he rest again until he
shall have found his sister and his widow mother. They durst not
gainsay him, for they know well that he is right, and he prayeth them
right sweetly that they salute the King and Queen and all the good
knights of the court, for, please God, he will go see them at an early
day. But first he was fain to fulfil the promise King Arthur made to
his sister, for he would not that the King should be blamed in any
place as concerning him, nor by his default; and he himself would have
the greater blame therein and he succoured her not, for the matter
touched him nearer than it did King Arthur.

VII.

With that the Good Knight departeth, and they commend him to God, and
he them in like sort. Messire Gawain and Lancelot go their way back
toward the court of King Arthur, and Perceval goeth amidst strange
forests until he cometh to a forest far away, wherein, so it seemed
him, he had never been before. And he passed through a land that
seemed him to have been laid waste, for it was all void of folk. Wild
beast only seeth he there, that ran through the open country. He
entered into a forest in this waste country, and found a hermitage in
the combe of a mountain. He alighted without and heard that the hermit
was singing the service of the dead, and had begun the mass with a
requiem betwixt him and his clerk. He looketh and seeth a pall spread
upon the ground before the altar as though it were over a corpse. He
would not enter the chapel armed, wherefore he hearkened to the mass
from without right reverently, and showed great devotion as he that
loved God much and wa