{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart355.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart355.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart355.htm","text":"CHAPTER II\nHow the letters were found written in the Siege Perilous\nand of the marvellous adventure of the sword in a stone.\nNOW fair sir, said Sir Launcelot, will ye come with me\nunto the court of King Arthur? Nay, said he, I will not\ngo with you as at this time. Then he departed from them\nand took his two cousins with him, and so they came unto\nCamelot by the hour of underne on Whitsunday. By that\ntime the king and the queen were gone to the minster to\nhear their service. Then the king and the queen were\npassing glad of Sir Bors and Sir Lionel, and so was all the\nfellowship. So when the king and all the knights were\ncome from service, the barons espied in the sieges of the\nRound Table all about, written with golden letters: Here\nought to sit he, and he ought to sit here. And thus they\nwent so long till that they came to the Siege Perilous,\nwhere they found letters newly written of gold which said:\nFour hundred winters and four and fifty accomplished\nafter the passion of our Lord Jesu Christ ought this siege\nto be fulfilled. Then all they said: This is a marvellous\nthing and an adventurous. In the name of God, said Sir\nLauncelot; and then accompted the term of the writing\nfrom the birth of our Lord unto that day. It seemeth me\nsaid Sir Launcelot, this siege ought to be fulfilled this same\nday, for this is the feast of Pentecost after the four hundred\nand four and fifty year; and if it would please all parties,\nI would none of these letters were seen this day, till he be\ncome that ought to enchieve this adventure. Then made\nthey to ordain a cloth of silk, for to cover these letters in\nthe Siege Perilous.\nThen the king bade haste unto dinner. Sir, said Sir\nKay the Steward, if ye go now unto your meat ye shall\nbreak your old custom of your court, for ye have not used\non this day to sit at your meat or that ye have seen some\nadventure. Ye say sooth, said the king, but I had so\ngreat joy of Sir Launcelot and of his cousins, which be\ncome to the court whole and sound, so that I bethought\nme not of mine old custom. So, as they stood speaking,\nin came a squire and said unto the king: Sir, I bring unto\nyou marvellous tidings. What be they? said the king.\nSir, there is here beneath at the river a great stone which\nI saw fleet above the water, and therein I saw sticking a\nsword. The king said: I will see that marvel. So all\nthe knights went with him, and when they came to the\nriver they found there a stone fleeting, as it were of red\nmarble, and therein stuck a fair rich sword, and in the\npommel thereof were precious stones wrought with subtle\nletters of gold. Then the barons read the letters which\nsaid in this wise: Never shall man take me hence, but\nonly he by whose side I ought to hang, and he shall be the\nbest knight of the world.\nWhen the king had seen the letters, he said unto Sir\nLauncelot: Fair Sir, this sword ought to be yours, for I\nam sure ye be the best knight of the world. Then Sir\nLauncelot answered full soberly: Certes, sir, it is not my\nsword; also, Sir, wit ye well I have no hardiness to set\nmy hand to it, for it longed not to hang by my side.\nAlso, who that assayeth to take the sword and faileth of\nit, he shall receive a wound by that sword that he shall not\nbe whole long after. And I will that ye wit that this same\nday shall the adventures of the Sangreal, that is called the\nHoly Vessel, begin","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XIII CHAPTER II","type":"page"}