Harvard Classics, Vol. 35, Part 2

The Holy Grail
Being Books XIII, XIV, XV, XVI and XVII of the Book of King Arthur and of His Noble Knights of the Round Table

Sir Thomas Malory

A selection from Malory’s famed Morte d’Arthur describing Sir Gawaine’s quest for the Holy Grail—the legendary cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper.

Bibliographic Record

Contents

FROM THE CAXTON EDITION OF THE MORTE D’ARTHUR

NEW YORK: P.F. COLLIER & SON COMPANY, 1909–14
NEW YORK: BARTLEBY.COM, 2001

Introductory Note

The Thirteenth Book

1. How at the Vigil of the Feast of Pentecost Entered into the Hall before King Arthur a Damosel, and Desired Sir Launcelot for to Come and Dub a Knight, and How He Went with Her
2. How the Letters Were Found Written in the Siege Perilous, and of the Marvellous Adventure of the Sword in a Stone
3. How Sir Gawaine Essayed to Draw out the Sword, and How an Old Man Brought in Galahad
4. How the Old Man Brought Galahad to the Siege Perilous and Set Him Therein, and How All the Knights Marvelled
5. How King Arthur Shewed the Stone Hoving on the Water to Galahad, and How He Drew out the Sword
6. How King Arthur Had All the Knights Together for to Joust in the Meadow beside Camelot or They Departed
7. How the Queen Desired to See Galahad; and How After, All the Knights Were Replenished with the Holy Sangreal, and How They Avowed the Enquest of the Same
8. How Great Sorrow Was Made of the King and the Queen and Ladies for the Departing of the Knights, and How They Departed
9. How Galahad Gat Him a Shield, and How They Sped That Presumed to Take Down the Said Shield
10. How Galahad Departed with the Shield, and How King Evelake Had Received the Shield of Joseph of Aramathie
11. How Joseph Made a Cross on the White Shield with His Blood, and How Galahad Was by a Monk Brought to a Tomb
12. Of the Marvel That Sir Galahad Saw and Heard in the Tomb, and How He Made Melias Knight
13. Of the Adventure That Melias Had, and How Galahad Revenged Him, and How Melias Was Carried into an Abbey
14. How Sir Galahad Departed, and How He Was Commanded to Go to the Castle of Maidens to Destroy the Wicked Custom
15. How Sir Galahad Fought with the Knights of the Castle, and Destroyed the Wicked Custom
16. How Sir Gawaine Came to the Abbey for to Follow Galahad, and How He Was Shriven to a Hermit
17. How Sir Galahad Met with Sir Launcelot and Sir Percivale, and Smote Them Down, and Departed from Them
18. How Sir Launcelot, Half Sleeping and Half Waking, Saw a Sick Man Born in a Litter, and How He Was Healed with the Sangreal
19. How a Voice Spake to Sir Launcelot, and How He Found His Horse and His Helm Borne Away, and after Went Afoot
20. How Sir Launcelot Was Shriven, and What Sorrow He Made, and of the Good Ensamples Which Were Shewed Him

The Fourteenth Book

1. How Sir Percivale Came to a Recluse and Asked Counsel, and How She Told Him That She Was His Aunt
2. How Merlin Likened the Round Table to the World, and How the Knights That Should Achieve the Sangreal Should Be Known
3. How Sir Percivale Came into a Monastery, Where He Found King Evelake, Which Was an Old Man
4. How Sir Percivale Saw Many Men of Arms Bearing a Dead Knight, and How He Fought against Them
5. How a Yeoman Desired Him to Get Again an Horse and How Sir Percivale’s Hackney Was Slain, and How He Gat an Horse
6. Of the Great Danger That Sir Percivale Was in by His Horse, and How He Saw a Serpent and a Lion Fight
7. Of the Vision That Sir Percivale Saw, and How His Vision Was Expounded, and of His Lion
8. How Sir Percivale Saw a Ship Coming to Him-Ward, and How the Lady of the Ship Told Him of Her Disheritance
9. How Sir Percivale Promised Her Help, and How He Required Her of Love, and How He Was Saved from the Fiend
10. How Sir Percivale for Penance Rove Himself through the Thigh; and How She Was Known for the Devil

The Fifteenth Book

1. How Sir Launcelot Came to a Chapel, Where He Found Dead, in a White Shirt, a Man of Religion, of an Hundred Winter Old
2. Of a Dead Man, How Men Would Have Hewn Him, and It Would Not Be, and How Sir Launcelot Took the Hair of the Dead Man
3. Of a Vision That Sir Launcelot Had, and How He Told It to an Hermit, and Desired Counsel of Him
4. How the Hermit Expounded to Sir Launcelot His Vision, and Told Him That Sir Galahad Was His Son
5. How Sir Launcelot Jousted with Many Knights, and How He Was Taken
6. How Sir Launcelot Told His Vision unto a Woman, and How She Expounded It unto Him

The Sixteenth Book

1. How Sir Gawaine Was Nigh Weary of the Quest of the Sangreal, and of His Marvellous Dream
2. Of the Vision of Sir Ector, and How He Jousted with Sir Uwaine Les Avoutres, His Sworn Brother
3. How Sir Gawaine and Sir Ector Came to an Hermitage to Be Confessed, and How They Told to the Hermit Their Visions
4. How the Hermit Expounded Their Vision
5. Of the Good Counsel That the Hermit Gave to Him
6. How Sir Bors Met with an Hermit, and How He Was Confessed to Him, and of His Penance Enjoined to Him
7. How Sir Bors Was Lodged with a Lady, and How He Took Upon Him for to Fight against a Champion for Her Land
8. Of a Vision Which Sir Bors Had That Night, and How He Fought and Overcame His Adversary
9. How the Lady Was Returned to Her Lands by the Battle of Sir Bors, and of His Departing, and How He Met Sir Lionel Taken and Beaten with Thorns, and Also of a Maid Which Should Have Been Dishonoured
10. How Sir Bors Left to Rescue His Brother, and Rescued the Damosel; and How It Was Told Him That Lionel Was Dead
11. How Sir Bors Told His Dream to a Priest, Which He Had Dreamed and of the Counsel That the Priest Gave to Him
12. How a Devil in Woman’s Likeness Would Have Tempted Sir Bors, and How by God’s Grace He Escaped
13. Of the Holy Communication of an Abbot to Sir Bors, and How the Abbot Counselled Him
14. How Sir Bors Met with His Brother Sir Lionel, and How Sir Lionel Would Have Slain Sir Bors
15. How Sir Colgrevance Fought against Sir Lionel for to Save Sir Bors, and How the Hermit Was Slain
16. How Sir Lionel Slew Sir Colgrevance, and How after He Would Have Slain Sir Bors
17. How There Came a Voice Which Charged Sir Bors to Touch Him Not, and of a Cloud That Came between Them

The Seventeenth Book

1. How Sir Galahad Fought at a Tournament, and How He Was Known of Sir Gawaine and Sir Ector De Maris
2. How Sir Galahad Rode with the Damosel, and Came to the Ship Whereas Sir Bors and Sir Percivale Were in
3. How Sir Galahad Entered into the Ship, and of a Fair Bed Therein, with Other Marvellous Things, and of a Sword
4. Of the Marvels of the Sword and of the Scabbard
5. How King Pelles Was Smitten through Both Thighs Because He Drew the Sword, and Other Marvellous Histories
6. How Solomon Took David’s Sword by the Counsel of His Wife, and of Other Matters Marvellous
7. A Wonderful Tale of King Solomon and His Wife
8. How Galahad and His Fellows Came to a Castle, and How They Were Fought Withal, and How They Slew Their Adversaries, and Other Matters
9. How the Three Knights, with Percivale’s Sister, Came unto the Same Forest, and of an Hart and Four Lions, and Other Things
10. How They Were Desired of a Strange Custom, the Which They Would Not Obey; and How They Fought and Slew Many Knights
11. How Sir Percivale’s Sister Bled a Dish Full of Blood for to Heal a Lady, Wherefore She Died; and How That the Body Was Put in a Ship
12. How Galahad and Percivale Found in a Castle Many Tombs of Maidens That Had Bled to Death
13. How Sir Launcelot Entered into the Ship Where Sir Percivale’s Sister Lay Dead, and How He Met with Sir Galahad, His Son
14. How a Knight Brought unto Sir Galahad a Horse, and Bad Him Come from His Father, Sir Launcelot
15. How Sir Launcelot Was afore the Door of the Chamber wherein the Holy Sangreal Was
16. How Sir Launcelot Had Lain Four and Twenty Days and As Many Nights As a Dead Man, and Other Divers Matters
17. How Sir Launcelot Returned towards Logris, and of Other Adventures Which He Saw in the Way
18. How Galahad Came to King Mordrains, and of Other Matters and Adventures
19. How Sir Percivale and Sir Bors Met with Sir Galahad, and How They Came to the Castle of Carbonek, and Other Matters
20. How Galahad and His Fellows Were Fed of the Holy Sangreal, and How Our Lord Appeared to Them, and Other Things
21. How Galahad Anointed with the Blood of the Spear the Maimed King, and Other Adventures
22. How They Were Fed with the Sangreal While They Were in Prison, and How Galahad Was Made King
23. Of the Sorrow That Percivale and Bors Made When Galahad Was Dead: and of Percivale How He Died, and Other Matters