{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart337.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart337.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart337.htm","text":"CHAPTER XII\nHow Sir Pervivale departed secretly from his brother, and\nhow he loosed a knight bound with a chain, and of\nother doings.\nAND when this was done they rode into many countries,\never inquiring after Sir Launcelot, but never they could\nhear of him; and at the last they came to a castle that\nhight Cardican, and there Sir Percivale and Sir Aglovale\nwere lodged together. And privily about midnight Sir\nPercivale came to Aglovale's squire and said: Arise and\nmake thee ready, for ye and I will ride away secretly.\nSir, said the squire, I would full fain ride with you where\nye would have me, but an my lord, your brother, take me\nhe will slay me. As for that care thou not, for I shall be\nthy warrant.\nAnd so Sir Percivale rode till it was after noon, and then\nhe came upon a bridge of stone, and there he found a\nknight that was bound with a chain fast about the waist\nunto a pillar of stone. O fair knight, said that bound\nknight, I require thee loose me of my bonds. What\nknight are ye, said Sir Percivale, and for what cause are\nye so bound? Sir, I shall tell you, said that knight:\nI am a knight of the Table Round, and my name is Sir\nPersides; and thus by adventure I came this way, and\nhere I lodged in this castle at the bridge foot, and therein\ndwelleth an uncourteous lady; and because she proffered\nme to be her paramour, and I refused her, she set her men\nupon me suddenly or ever I might come to my weapon;\nand thus they bound me, and here I wot well I shall die but\nif some man of worship break my bands. Be ye of good\ncheer, said Sir Percivale, and because ye are a knight of the\nRound Table as well as I, I trust to God to break your\nbands. And therewith Sir Percivale pulled out his sword\nand struck at the chain with such a might that he cut\na-two the chain, and through Sir Persides' hauberk and hurt\nhim a little. O Jesu, said Sir Persides, that was a mighty\nstroke as ever I felt one, for had not the chain been ye\nhad slain me.\nAnd therewithal Sir Persides saw a knight coming out\nof a castle all that ever he might fling. Beware, sir, said\nSir Persides, yonder cometh a man that will have ado with\nyou. Let him come, said Sir Percivale. And so he met\nwith that knight in midst of the bridge; and Sir Percivale\ngave him such a buffet that he smote him quite from his\nhorse and over a part of the bridge, that, had not been\na little vessel under the bridge, that knight had been\ndrowned. And then Sir Percivale took the knight's horse\nand made Sir Persides to mount up him; and so they rode\nunto the castle, and bade the lady deliver Sir Persides'\nservants, or else he would slay all that ever he found;\nand so for fear she delivered them all. Then was Sir\nPercivale ware of a lady that stood in that tower. Ah,\nmadam, said Sir Percivale, what use and custom is that in\na lady to destroy good knights but if they will be your\nparamour? Forsooth this is a shameful custom of a lady,\nand if I had not a great matter in my hand I should fordo\nyour evil customs.\nAnd so Sir Persides brought Sir Percivale unto his own\ncastle, and there he made him great cheer all that night.\nAnd on the morn, when Sir Percivale had heard mass and\nbroken his fast, he bade Sir Persides ride unto King\nArthur: And tell the king how that ye met with me; and\ntell my brother, Sir Aglovale, how I rescued you; and\nbid him seek not after me, for I am in the quest to seek\nSir Launcelot du Lake, and though he seek me he shall\nnot find me; and tell him I will never see him, nor the\ncourt, till I have found Sir Launcelot. Also tell Sir Kay\nthe Seneschal, and to Sir Mordred, that I trust to Jesu to\nbe of as great worthiness as either of them, for tell them\nI shall never forget their mocks and scorns that they did\nto me that day that I was made knight; and tell them I\nwill never see that court till men speak more worship of\nme than ever men did of any of them both. And so Sir\nPersides departed from Sir Percivale, and then he rode\nunto King Arthur, and told there of Sir Percivale. And\nwhen Sir Aglovale heard him speak of his brother Sir\nPercivale, he said: He departed from me unkindly.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XI CHAPTER XII","type":"page"}