ite grace I
am healed of my affliction."

Then the holy vessel returned to the chapel, and Lancelot strove hard to
rise and follow it. But his limbs were powerless, and he lay like one
chained to the ground.

He now fell into deep slumber, and waked not till near morning. And as
he raised himself and sat on the ground he heard a voice in the air,
that seemed to come from no earthly lips.

"Sir Lancelot," it said, "more hard than is the stone, more bitter than
the wood, more bare than the barren fig-tree, arise and go from hence,
and withdraw thyself from this holy place."

Lancelot arose with a heavy heart, for the sense of these words sank
deeply within him. But when he sought his horse and helm and sword he
found they were gone, for they had been taken by the knight whose
healing he had seen.

Deeply depressed and unhappy at this misfortune, he left the cross on
foot, and wandered onward till he came to a hermitage on a high hill.

Here he told the hermit what had happened to him, and confessed all the
evil deeds of his life, saying that he had resolved to be a different
man from what he had been, and to live a higher life than that of doing
deeds of arms that men might applaud.

Then the holy man gave him absolution, with injunctions of penance, and
prayed that he would abide with him all that day. This Lancelot did,
talking much with him upon his sins, and repenting sincerely the worldly
life he had led.

Meanwhile Percivale had returned to the recluse, and questioned her as
to how he should find Galahad.

"That I cannot surely tell," she said. "Ride hence to a castle which is
called Goothe, where he has a cousin-german. If he can give you no
tidings, then ride straight to the castle Carbonek, where the maimed
king lies, and there you shall hear sure tidings of him."

Percivale, leaving her, rode onward till eventide, and as he looked
around him for shelter he heard a clock strike loud and clear. He now
perceived before him a mansion, with lofty walls and deep ditches. Here
he knocked loudly, and was let in without delay.

After laying off his armor, he was led to the supper hall, where he was
well served, and afterwards spent the night in comfort. When morning
dawned he entered the chapel for the mass, and found there a priest
ready at the altar. On the right side was a pew closed with iron, and
behind the altar a rich bed, covered with cloth of silk and gold. On
this bed lay a person with covered vis