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 Quartum

THenne spak Nacyen vnto Ector sothe hit is that launcelot and ye came doune of one chayer / the chayer betokeneth maistership and lordshyp whiche ye came doune fro / But ye two knyghtes sayd the heremyte ye goo to seke that ye shalle neuer fynde that is the Sancgreal For hit is the secrete thynge of oure lord Ihesu Cryste / what is to meane thar syre Launcelot felle doune of his hors / he hath left pryde / and taken hym to humylyte / for he hath cryed mercy lowde for his synne and sore repented hym / and our lorde hath clothed hym in his clothyng whiche is ful of knottes that is the hayre that he weryth dayly /

¶ And the asse that he rode vpon is a beest of

[leaf 335v] humylyte / For god wold not ryde vpon no stede nor vpon no palfrey / So in ensample that an asse betokeneth mekenes that thou sawest syr Launcelot ryde on in thy slepe / and the welle where as the water sanke from hym whanne he shold haue taken therof / And whanne he sawe he myghte not haue it / he retorned thyder from whens he came / for the welle betokeneth the hyghe grace of god / the more men desyre hit to take hit / the more shalle be their desyre / Soo whanne he came nyghe the Sancgreal / he meked hym that he held hym not a man worthy to be soo nyghe the holy vessel / for he had ben soo defouled in dedely synne by the space of many yeres / yet whanne he kneled to drynke of the welle / there he sawe grete preuydence of the Sancgreal / And for he had serued soo longe the deuylle / he shal haue vengeaunce four and twenty dayes longe / for that he hath ben the deuyls seruaunt four and twenty yeres / And thenne soone after he shalle retorne vnto Camelot oute of this coūtrey and he shalle saye a parte of suche thynges as he hath fonde

¶ Now wille I telle yow what betokeneth the hande with the candel and the brydel / that is to vnderstande the holy ghost where charyte is euer / and the brydel sygnefyeth abstynence / For whanne she is brydeled in Crysten mans herte / she holdeth hym soo shorte that he falleth not in dedely synne / And the candell whiche sheweth clerenesse and syghte sygnefyeth the ryȝt way of Ihesu Cryst / And whanne he wente and sayd knyghtes of poure feythe and of wycked byleue / these thre thynges fayled charyte / abstynence / and trouth / therfor ye maye not atteyne that hyhe aduenturr of the Sancgreal