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 Octauum

SOo hit befelle as they spoken thus / there cam a squyer by them / and asked what they were / and they said they were of kynge Arthurs hows / is that sothe sayd he / Now by my hede sayd he ye be ylle arayed / and thenne torned he ageyn vnto the clyff fortresse / And within a whyle they herd an horne blowe / Thenne a gentylwoman came to hem and asked hem of whens they were / and they told her / Faire lordes sayd she for goddes loue torne ageyne yf ye may / for ye be come vnto youre dethe / Nay they sayd we wille not torne ageyne / for he shalle helpe vs in whos seruyse we ben entred in /

¶ Thenne as they

[leaf 351r] stode talkynge / there came knyghtes wel armed and bad hem yelde them or els to dye / that yeldyng sayd they shal be noyous to yow / and there with they lete theyr horses renne / and sir Percyual smote the formest to the erthe / and took his hors / & mounted therupon / and the same dyd Galahad / Also Bors serued another soo for they had no horses in that countrey / for they lefte their horses whan they toke their shyp in other countrayes/

¶ And soo whan they were horsed / thenne beganne they to sette vpon them / and they of the Castel fled in to the stronge fortresse / and the thre knyghtes after them in to the Castel / and soo alyghte on foote / and with their swerdes slewe them doune and gate in to the halle / Thenne whan they beheld the grete multytude of peple / that they had slayne / they held them self grete synners / Certes sayd Bors / I wene & god had loued hem that we shold not haue had power to haue slayne hem thus / But they haue done soo moche ageyn our lord that he wold not suffre hem to regne no lenger / Say ye not soo sayd Galahad / for yf they mysdyd ageynst god / the vengeaunce is not ours / but to hym whiche hath power therof / So came there oute of a chamber a good man whiche was a preest and bare goddes body in a coupe / And whanne he sawe hem whiche lay dede in the halle / he was alle abasshed / and Galahad dyd of his helme and kneled doune / and soo dyd his two felawes / syre sayd they haue ye no drede of vs / For we ben of kynge Arthurs courte /

¶ Thenne asked the good man how they were slayn so sodenly / and they told it hym Truly sayd the good man and ye myghte lyue as longe as the world myght endure / ne myghte ye haue done soo grete an almesse dede as this / Sire sayd Galahad I repente me moch in as moche as they were crystened / Nay repente yow not sayd he for they were not crystened / and I shalle telle you hou that I wote of this Castel / here was lord Erle Hernox not but one yere / and he had thre sones good knyghtes of armes and a doughter the fayrest gentylwoman that men knewe / soo tho thre knyghtes loued theyr syster so sore that they brente in loue / and so they lay by her maulgre her hede / And for she cryed to her fader / they slewe her and took their fader / and putte hym in pryson / and woūded hym nygh to the deth / but a cosyn

[leaf 351v] of hers rescowed hym / And thenne dyd they grete vntrouthe/ they slewe clerkes and preestes / and made bete doune chappels that oure lordes seruyse myght not be serued ne sayd / and this same day her fader sente to me for to be confessid & houseld / but suche shame had neuer man as I had this day with the thre bretheren / but the erle badde me suffer / for he sayde they shold not longe endure / for thre seruauntes of oure lord shold destroye them / and now hit is brought to an ende / And by this maye ye wete our lord is not displeasyd with your dedes Certes sayd Galahad and hit had not pleasyd our lord / neuer shold we haue slayne soo many men in soo lytel a whyle / & thenne they broughte the erle Hernox oute of pryson in to the myddes of the halle that knewe Galahad anone / and yet he sawe hym neuer afore but by reuelacyon of our lord