r pain, he did not tell her of the knight he had slain.

She called him to her, and said:

'Dear son of mine, it seems I may not keep thy fate from thee. The
blood of thy warlike generations before thee may not be quenched,
whatever fond and foolish plans I made to keep thee from knowledge of
battle and weapons. Dear son, dost thou desire to ride forth into the
world?'

'Yes, mother, of a truth,' said Perceval. 'I shall not be happy more
until I go.'

'Go forward, then,' she said weeping, 'and God be with thee, my dear
son. And as I have no man who is strong of his hands, thou must go
alone, yet will I give thee gold for thy proper garnishing and lodging.
But make all the haste ye may to the court of King Arthur at
Caerleon-upon-Usk, for there are the best and the boldest and the most
worshipful of knights. And the king will give thee knighthood. And
wherever thou seest a church, go kneel and repeat thy prayers therein;
and if thou hearest an outcry, go quickly and defend the weak, the poor
and the unprotected. And be ever tender towards women, my son, and
remember that thy mother loves thee and prays for thy stay in health
and life. And come thou to see me within a little while.'

And he thanked her, saying he would do naught that should shame her,
but would remember all the nobleness of her teaching; also, that he
would return to see her within a little while.

Perceval went to the stable and took a bony, piebald horse, which
seemed the strongest, and he pressed a pallet of straw into the
semblance of a saddle, and with pieces of leather and wood he imitated
the trappings he had seen on the horses of the knights.

Then, after taking leave of his mother, he rode forth, sad at first for
leaving her in sorrow and tears, but afterwards glad that now he was
going into the world to become a knight. And for armour he had a rough
jerkin, old and moth-eaten, and for arms he had a handful of
sharp-pointed sticks of hard wood.

He journeyed southwards two days and two nights along the great
straight road, which went through the deep dark forests, over desert
places and over the high mountains. And all that time he ate nothing
but wild berries, for he had not thought to bring food with him.

While he was yet but a little way from the court of King Arthur, a
stranger knight, tall and big, in black armour, had ridden into the
hall where sat Gwenevere the queen, with a few of the younger knights
and her women. The page of