Le Morte Darthur / by Syr Thomas Malory ; the original edition of William Caxton now reprinted and edited with an introduction and glossary by H. Oskar Sommer ; with an essay on Malory's prose style by Andrew Lang

¶ Capitulum xviij

NOw saith the story Galahad rode many Iorneyes invayne / And at the last he cam to the Abbay where kyng Mordrayns was / and whan he herd that he thouȝte he wold abyde to see hym / And vpon the morne whanne he had herd masse Galahad came vnto kyng Mordrayns / And anon the kynge sawe hym the whiche had leyne blynd of long tyme And thenne he dressid hym ageynst hym / and said Galahad the seruaunt of Ihesu cryste whos comynge I haue abyden so longe / Now enbrace me and lete me reste on thy brest / So that I may reste bitwene thyn armes / for thow arte a clene vyrgyn aboue all knyghtes as the floure of the lyly / in whome vyrgynyte is sygnefyed /and thou arte the rose the whiche is the floure of al good vertu / & in coloure of fyre / For the fyre of the holy ghoost is take so in the / that my flesshe which was al dede of oldenes / is become yonge ageyne / Thenne Galahad herd his wordes thenne he enbraced hym & alle his body /

[leaf 358v] Thenne sayd he / Faire lord Ihesu Cryst now I haue my wil Now I requyre the in this poynt that I am in thow come and vysyte me / And anone oure lord herd his prayer / there with the soule departed from the body / And thenne Galahad putte hym in the erthe as a kynge oughte to be / and soo departede / & soo came in to a perillous foreste where he fond the welle / the whiche boylled with grete wawes as the tale telleth to fore / And as soone as Galahad sette his hand therto it seaced / so that it brente no more / and the hete departed / for that it brente hit was a sygne of lechery the whiche was that tyme moche vsed / but that hete myght not abyde his pure vyrgyntye / & this was taken in the countrey for a myrakle / and soo euer after was it called Callahadys welle / Thenne by aduenture he cam in to the countrey of Gore and in to the Abbay where launcelot had ben to fore hand and fonde the tombe of kynge Bagdemagus / but he was founder thereof Ioseph of Armathyes sone and the Tombe of Symyan where launcelot had fayled Thenne he loked in to a Crofte vnder the mynster / and there he sawe a Tombe whiche brent ful merueyllously / Thenne asked he the bretheren what it was / Sir said they a merueyllous aduentur / that may not be broughte vnto none ende / but by hym that passeth of bounte and of knyhthode al them of the round table / I wold sayd Galahad that ye wold lede me ther to / Gladly sayd they / and soo ledde hym tyl a caue / and he went doune vpon gresys / and cam nyghe the tombe / and thenne the flammynge fayled and the fyre staunched the whiche many a day had ben grete / Thenne came there a voyce that sayd moche are ye beholde to thanke oure lord / the whiche hath gyuen yow a good houre that ye may drawe oute the sowles of erthely payne / and to putte them in to the Ioyes of paradys / I am of your kynred the whiche haue dwelled in this hete thys thre honderd wynter and four and fyfty to be purged of the synne that I dyd ageynst Ioseph of Armathye / thenne Galahad toke the body in his armes and bare it in to the mynster And that nyghte lay Galahad in the Abbay / and on the morne he gaf hym seruyse and putte hym in the erthe afore the hyghe Aulter

[leaf 359r]