r born, there came in an hermit unto King Arthur
upon Whitsunday, as the knights sat at the Table Round. And when the
hermit saw the Siege Perilous, he asked the king and all the knights
why that siege was void. Sir Arthur and all the knights answered: There
shall never none sit in that siege but one, but if he be destroyed.
Then said the hermit: Wot ye what is he? Nay, said Arthur and all the
knights, we wot not who is he that shall sit therein. Then wot I, said
the hermit, for he that shall sit there is unborn and ungotten, and
this same year he shall be gotten that shall sit there in that Siege
Perilous, and he shall win the Sangreal. When this hermit had made this
mention he departed from the court of King Arthur.

And then after this feast Sir Launcelot rode on his adventure, till on
a time by adventure he passed over the pont of Corbin; and there he saw
the fairest tower that ever he saw, and there-under was a fair town full
of people; and all the people, men and women, cried at once: Welcome,
Sir Launcelot du Lake, the flower of all knighthood, for by thee all we
shall be holpen out of danger. What mean ye, said Sir Launcelot, that
ye cry so upon me? Ah, fair knight, said they all, here is within this
tower a dolorous lady that hath been there in pains many winters and
days, for ever she boileth in scalding water; and but late, said all the
people, Sir Gawaine was here and he might not help her, and so he left
her in pain. So may I, said Sir Launcelot, leave her in pain as well
as Sir Gawaine did. Nay, said the people, we know well that it is Sir
Launcelot that shall deliver her. Well, said Launcelot, then shew me
what I shall do.

Then they brought Sir Launcelot into the tower; and when he came to the
chamber thereas this lady was, the doors of iron unlocked and unbolted.
And so Sir Launcelot went into the chamber that was as hot as any stew.
And there Sir Launcelot took the fairest lady by the hand that ever he
saw, and she was naked as a needle; and by enchantment Queen Morgan le
Fay and the Queen of Northgalis had put her there in that pains, because
she was called the fairest lady of that country; and there she had been
five years, and never might she be delivered out of her great pains unto
the time the best knight of the world had taken her by the hand. Then
the people brought her clothes. And when she was arrayed, Sir Launcelot
thought she was the fairest lady of the world, but if it were Queen
Guenever.