Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XIII CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER VIII

How great sorrow was made of the king and the queen and
ladies for the departing of the knights, and how they
departed.


AND therewith the tears fell in his eyes.  And then he
said:  Gawaine, Gawaine, ye have set me in great sorrow,
for I have great doubt that my true fellowship shall never
meet here more again.  Ah, said Sir Launcelot, comfort
yourself; for it shall be unto us a great honour and much
more than if we died in any other places, for of death we
be siker.  Ah, Launcelot, said the king, the great love
that I have had unto you all the days of my life maketh
me to say such doleful words; for never Christian king
had never so many worthy men at his table as I have had
this day at the Round Table, and that is my great sorrow.

When the queen, ladies, and gentlewomen, wist these
tidings, they had such sorrow and heaviness that there
might no tongue tell it, for those knights had held them
in honour and chiert.  But among all other Queen
Guenever made great sorrow.  I marvel, said she, my
lord would suffer them to depart from him.  Thus was
all the court troubled for the love of the departition of
those knights.  And many of those ladies that loved
knights would have gone with their lovers; and so had
they done, had not an old knight come among them in
religious clothing; and then he spake all on high and
said:  Fair lords, which have sworn in the quest of the
Sangreal, thus sendeth you Nacien, the hermit, word, that
none in this quest lead lady nor gentlewoman with him,
for it is not to do in so high a service as they labour in;
for I warn you plain, he that is not clean of his sins he
shall not see the mysteries of our Lord Jesu Christ.  And
for this cause they left these ladies and gentlewomen.

After this the queen came unto Galahad and asked
him of whence he was, and of what country.  He told
her of whence he was.  And son unto Launcelot, she said
he was.  As to that, he said neither yea nor nay.  So God
me help, said the queen, of your father ye need not to
shame you, for he is the goodliest knight, and of the best
men of the world come, and of the strain, of all parties,
of kings.  Wherefore ye ought of right to be, of your
deeds, a passing good man; and certainly, she said, ye
resemble him much.  Then Sir Galahad was a little
ashamed and said:  Madam, sith ye know in certain,
wherefore do ye ask it me? for he that is my father shall
be known openly and all betimes.  And then they went
to rest them.  And in the honour of the highness of
Galahad he was led into King Arthur's chamber, and
there rested in his own bed.

And as soon as it was day the king arose, for he had
no rest of all that night for sorrow.  Then he went unto
Gawaine and to Sir Launcelot that were arisen for to hear
mass.  And then the king again said:  Ah Gawaine,
Gawaine, ye have betrayed me; for never shall my court
be amended by you, but ye will never be sorry for me as
I am for you.  And therewith the tears began to run down
by his visage.  And therewith the king said:  Ah, knight
Sir Launcelot, I require thee thou counsel me, for I would
that this quest were undone, an it might be Sir, said Sir
Launcelot, ye saw yesterday so many worthy knights that
then were sworn that they may not leave it in no manner
of wise.  That wot I well, said the king, but it shall so
heavy me at their departing that I wot well there shall no
manner of joy remedy me.  And then the king and the
queen went unto the minster.  So anon Launcelot and
Gawaine commanded their men to bring their arms.  And
when they all were armed save their shields and their
helms, then they came to their fellowship, which were all
ready in the same wise, for to go to the minster to hear
their service.

Then after the service was done the king would wit
how many had undertaken the quest of the Holy Grail;
and to accompt them he prayed them all.  Then found
they by the tale an hundred and fifty, and all were knights
of the Round Table.  And then they put on their helms
and departed, and recommended them all wholly unto the
queen; and there was weeping and great sorrow.  Then
the queen departed into her chamber and held her, so that
no man should perceive her great sorrows.  When Sir
Launcelot missed the queen he went till her chamber, and
when she saw him she cried aloud:  O Launcelot, Launcelot,
ye have betrayed me and put me to the death, for to
leave thus my lord.  Ah, madam, I pray you be not
displeased, for I shall come again as soon as I may with
my worship.  Alas, said she, that ever I saw you; but he
that suffered upon the cross for all mankind, he be unto
you good conduct and safety, and all the whole fellowship.

Right so departed Sir Launcelot, and found his fellowship
that abode his coming.  And so they mounted upon
their horses and rode through the streets of Camelot; and
there was weeping of rich and poor, and the king turned
away and might not speak for weeping.  So within a
while they came to a city, and a castle that hight Vagon.
There they entered into the castle, and the lord of that
castle was an old man that hight Vagon, and he was a
good man of his living, and set open the gates, and made
them all the cheer that he might.  And so on the morn
they were all accorded that they should depart everych
from other; and on the morn they departed with weeping
cheer, and every knight took the way that him liked best.