upon his forehead.

[Illustration: SIR PERCIVALE SLAYS THE SERPENT]

At that the fiend which had taken the shape of a horse shook off Sir
Percivale and dashed into the water, crying and making great sorrow;
and it seemed to him that the water burned. Then Sir Percivale knew
that it was not a horse but a fiend, which would have brought him to
perdition, and he gave thanks and prayed all that night long. As soon
as it was day he looked about him, and saw he was in a wild mountain,
girt round with the sea and filled with wild beasts. Then he rose and
went into a valley, and there he saw a young serpent bring a young
lion by the neck, and after that there passed a great lion, crying and
roaring after the serpent, and a fierce battle began between them. Sir
Percivale thought to help the lion, as he was the more natural beast
of the twain, and he drew his sword and set his shield before him, and
gave the serpent a deadly buffet. When the lion saw that, he made him
all the cheer that a beast might make a man, and fawned about him like
a spaniel, and stroked him with his paws. And about noon the lion took
his little whelp, and placed him on his back, and bare him home again,
and Sir Percivale, being left alone, prayed till he was comforted. But
at eventide the lion returned, and couched down at his feet, and all
night long he and the lion slept together.

VI

AN ADVENTURE OF SIR LANCELOT

As Lancelot went his way through the forest he met with many hermits
who dwelled therein, and had adventure with the Knight who stole his
horse and his helm, and got them back again. And he learned from one
of the hermits that Sir Galahad was his son, and that it was he who at
the Feast of Pentecost had sat in the Siege Perilous, which it was
ordained by Merlin that none should sit in save the best Knight in the
world. All that night Sir Lancelot abode with the hermit and laid him
to rest, a hair shirt always on his body, and it pricked him sorely,
but he bore it meekly and suffered the pain. When the day dawned he
bade the hermit farewell. As he rode he came to a fair plain, in which
was a great castle set about with tents and pavilions of divers hues.
Here were full five hundred Knights riding on horseback, and those
near the castle were mounted on black horses with black trappings, and
they that were without were on white horses and their trappings white.
And the two sides fought together, and Sir Lancelot looked on.

At last it