{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart326.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart326.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart326.htm","text":"CHAPTER I\nHow Sir Launcelot rode on his adventure, and how he holp\na dolorous lady from her pain, and how that he fought\nwith a dragon.\nNOW leave we Sir Tristram de Liones, and speak we of\nSir Launcelot du Lake, and of Sir Galahad, Sir Launcelot's\nson, how he was gotten, and in what manner, as the book\nof French rehearseth. Afore the time that Sir Galahad\nwas gotten or born, there came in an hermit unto King\nArthur upon Whitsunday, as the knights sat at the Table\nRound. And when the hermit saw the Siege Perilous, he\nasked the king and all the knights why that siege was\nvoid. Sir Arthur and all the knights answered: There\nshall never none sit in that siege but one, but if he be\ndestroyed. Then said the hermit: Wot ye what is he?\nNay, said Arthur and all the knights, we wot not who is\nhe that shall sit therein. Then wot I, said the hermit,\nfor he that shall sit there is unborn and ungotten, and\nthis same year he shall be gotten that shall sit there in\nthat Siege Perilous, and he shall win the Sangreal. When\nthis hermit had made this mention he departed from the\ncourt of King Arthur.\nAnd then after this feast Sir Launcelot rode on his\nadventure, till on a time by adventure he passed over the\npont of Corbin; and there he saw the fairest tower that ever\nhe saw, and there-under was a fair town full of people; and\nall the people, men and women, cried at once: Welcome,\nSir Launcelot du Lake, the flower of all knighthood,\nfor by thee all we shall be holpen out of danger. What\nmean ye, said Sir Launcelot, that ye cry so upon me?\nAh, fair knight, said they all, here is within this tower a\ndolorous lady that hath been there in pains many winters\nand days, for ever she boileth in scalding water; and but\nlate, said all the people, Sir Gawaine was here and he\nmight not help her, and so he left her in pain. So may\nI, said Sir Launcelot, leave her in pain as well as Sir\nGawaine did. Nay, said the people, we know well that\nit is Sir Launcelot that shall deliver her. Well, said\nLauncelot, then shew me what I shall do.\nThen they brought Sir Launcelot into the tower; and\nwhen he came to the chamber thereas this lady was, the\ndoors of iron unlocked and unbolted. And so Sir Launcelot\nwent into the chamber that was as hot as any stew.\nAnd there Sir Launcelot took the fairest lady by the hand\nthat ever he saw, and she was naked as a needle; and by\nenchantment Queen Morgan le Fay and the Queen of\nNorthgalis had put her there in that pains, because she\nwas called the fairest lady of that country; and there she\nhad been five years, and never might she be delivered out\nof her great pains unto the time the best knight of the\nworld had taken her by the hand. Then the people\nbrought her clothes. And when she was arrayed, Sir\nLauncelot thought she was the fairest lady of the world,\nbut if it were Queen Guenever.\nThen this lady said to Sir Launcelot: Sir, if it please\nyou will ye go with me hereby into a chapel that we may\ngive loving and thanking unto God? Madam, said Sir\nLauncelot, come on with me, I will go with you. So\nwhen they came there and gave thankings to God all the\npeople, both learned and lewd, gave thankings unto God\nand him, and said: Sir knight, since ye have delivered\nthis lady, ye shall deliver us from a serpent there is here\nin a tomb. Then Sir Launcelot took his shield and said:\nBring me thither, and what I may do unto the pleasure\nof God and you I will do. So when Sir Launcelot came\nthither he saw written upon the tomb letters of gold that\nsaid thus: Here shall come a leopard of king's blood, and\nhe shall slay this serpent, and this leopard shall engender\na lion in this foreign country, the which lion shall pass all\nother knights. So then Sir Launcelot lift up the tomb,\nand there came out an horrible and a fiendly dragon,\nspitting fire out of his mouth. Then Sir Launcelot drew\nhis sword and fought with the dragon long, and at the\nlast with great pain Sir Launcelot slew that dragon.\nTherewithal came King Pelles, the good and noble knight,\nand saluted Sir Launcelot, and he him again. Fair knight,\nsaid the king, what is your name? I require you of your\nknighthood tell me!","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XI CHAPTER I","type":"page"}