{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart371.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart371.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart371.htm","text":"CHAPTER XVIII\nHow Sir Launcelot, half sleeping and half waking, saw a\nsick man borne in a litter, and how he was healed with\nthe Sangreal.\nAND so he fell asleep; and half waking and sleeping he\nsaw come by him two palfreys all fair and white, the\nwhich bare a litter, therein lying a sick knight. And\nwhen he was nigh the cross he there abode still. All this\nSir Launcelot saw and beheld, for he slept not verily;\nand he heard him say: O sweet Lord, when shall this\nsorrow leave me? and when shall the holy vessel come by\nme, wherethrough I shall be blessed? For I have endured\nthus long, for little trespass. A full great while\ncomplained the knight thus, and always Sir Launcelot heard\nit. With that Sir Launcelot saw the candlestick with\nthe six tapers come before the cross, and he saw nobody\nthat brought it. Also there came a table of silver, and\nthe holy vessel of the Sangreal, which Launcelot had\nseen aforetime in King Pescheour's house. And therewith\nthe sick knight set him up, and held up both his\nhands, and said: Fair sweet Lord, which is here within\nthis holy vessel; take heed unto me that I may be whole\nof this malady. And therewith on his hands and on\nhis knees he went so nigh that he touched the holy\nvessel and kissed it, and anon he was whole; and then he\nsaid: Lord God, I thank thee, for I am healed of this\nsickness.\nSo when the holy vessel had been there a great\nwhile it went unto the chapel with the chandelier and\nthe light, so that Launcelot wist not where it was\nbecome; for he was overtaken with sin that he had\nno power to rise again the holy vessel; wherefore after\nthat many men said of him shame, but he took repentance\nafter that. Then the sick knight dressed him up\nand kissed the cross; anon his squire brought him his\narms, and asked his lord how he did. Certes, said he,\nI thank God right well, through the holy vessel I am\nhealed. But I have marvel of this sleeping knight that\nhad no power to awake when this holy vessel was\nbrought hither. I dare right well say, said the squire,\nthat he dwelleth in some deadly sin whereof he was\nnever confessed. By my faith, said the knight, whatsomever\nhe be he is unhappy, for as I deem he is of the\nfellowship of the Round Table, the which is entered\ninto the quest of the Sangreal. Sir, said the squire,\nhere I have brought you all your arms save your helm\nand your sword, and therefore by mine assent now may\nye take this knight's helm and his sword: and so he\ndid. And when he was clean armed he took Sir\nLauncelot's horse, for he was better than his; and so\ndeparted they from the cross.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XIII CHAPTER XVIII","type":"page"}