them hasten to set on the banquet. "Sir," said Sir Key, the
seneschal, "if ye go now to meat ye will break the ancient custom of your
court, for never have ye dined at this high feast till ye have seen some
strange adventure."

"Thou sayest truly," said the king, "but my mind was full of wonders and
musings, till I bethought me not of mine old custom."

As they stood speaking thus, a squire ran in and cried, "Lord, I bring
thee marvellous tidings."

"What be they?" said King Arthur.

"Lord," said he, "hereby at the river is a marvellous great stone, which I
myself saw swim down hitherwards upon the water, and in it there is set a
sword, and ever the stone heaveth and swayeth on the water, but floateth
down no further with the stream."

"I will go and see it," said the king. So all the knights went with him,
and when they came to the river, there surely found they a mighty stone of
red marble floating on the water, as the squire had said, and therein
stuck a fair and rich sword, on the pommel whereof were precious stones
wrought skilfully with gold into these words: "No man shall take me hence
but he by whose side I should hang, and he shall be the best knight in the
world."

When the king read this, he turned round to Sir Lancelot, and said, "Fair
sir, this sword ought surely to be thine, for thou art the best knight in
all the world."

But Lancelot answered soberly, "Certainly, sir, it is not for me; nor will
I have the hardihood to set my hand upon it. For he that toucheth it and
faileth to achieve it shall one day be wounded by it mortally. But I doubt
not, lord, this day will show the greatest marvels that we yet have seen,
for now the time is fully come, as Merlin hath forewarned us, when all the
prophecies about the Sangreal shall be fulfilled."

Then stepped Sir Gawain forward and pulled at the sword, but could not
move it, and after him Sir Percival, to keep him fellowship in any peril
he might suffer. But no other knight durst be so hardy as to try.

"Now may ye go to your dinner," said Sir Key, "for a marvellous adventure
ye have had."

So all returned from the river, and every knight sat down in his own
place, and the high feast and banquet then was sumptuously begun, and all
the hall was full of laughter and loud talk and jests, and running to and
fro of squires who served their knights, and noise of jollity and mirth.

Then suddenly befell a wondrous thing, for all the doors and windows of
the