{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart373.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart373.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart373.htm","text":"CHAPTER XX\nHow Sir Launcelot was shriven, and what sorrow he made\nand of the good ensamples which were shewed him.\nTHEN Sir Launcelot wept with heavy cheer, and said:\nNow I know well ye say me sooth. Sir, said the good\nman, hide none old sin from me. Truly, said Sir Launcelot,\nthat were me full loath to discover. For this fourteen\nyear I never discovered one thing that I have used, and\nthat may I now wite my shame and my disadventure.\nAnd then he told there that good man all his life. And\nhow he had loved a queen unmeasurably and out of\nmeasure long. And all my great deeds of arms that I\nhave done, I did for the most part for the queen's sake,\nand for her sake would I do battle were it right or wrong,\nand never did I battle all only for God's sake, but for to\nwin worship and to cause me to be the better beloved\nand little or nought I thanked God of it. Then Sir\nLauncelot said: I pray you counsel me. I will counsel\nyou, said the hermit, if ye will ensure me that ye will\nnever come in that queen's fellowship as much as ye may\nforbear. And then Sir Launcelot promised him he nold,\nby the faith of his body. Look that your heart and your\nmouth accord, said the good man, and I shall ensure you\nye shall have more worship than ever ye had.\nHoly father, said Sir Launcelot, I marvel of the voice\nthat said to me marvellous words, as ye have heard to-\nforehand. Have ye no marvel, said the good man\nthereof, for it seemeth well God loveth you; for men\nmay understand a stone is hard of kind, and namely one\nmore than another; and that is to understand by thee, Sir\nLauncelot, for thou wilt not leave thy sin for no goodness\nthat God hath sent thee; therefore thou art more than\nany stone, and never wouldst thou be made nesh nor by\nwater nor by fire, and that is the heat of the Holy Ghost\nmay not enter in thee. Now take heed, in all the world\nmen shall not find one knight to whom Our Lord hath\ngiven so much of grace as He hath given you, for He\nhath given you fairness with seemliness, He hath given\nthee wit, discretion to know good from evil, He hath\ngiven thee prowess and hardiness, and given thee to work\nso largely that thou hast had at all days the better\nwheresomever thou came; and now Our Lord will suffer thee\nno longer, but that thou shalt know Him whether thou\nwilt or nylt. And why the voice called thee bitterer than\nwood, for where overmuch sin dwelleth, there may be but\nlittle sweetness, wherefore thou art likened to an old\nrotten tree.\nNow have I shewed thee why thou art harder than the\nstone and bitterer than the tree. Now shall I shew thee\nwhy thou art more naked and barer than the fig tree.\nIt befell that Our Lord on Palm Sunday preached in\nJerusalem, and there He found in the people that all\nhardness was harboured in them, and there He found in\nall the town not one that would harbour him. And then\nHe went without the town, and found in midst of the\nway a fig tree, the which was right fair and well garnished\nof leaves, but fruit had it none. Then Our Lord cursed\nthe tree that bare no fruit; that betokeneth the fig tree\nunto Jerusalem, that had leaves and no fruit. So thou,\nSir Launcelot, when the Holy Grail was brought afore\nthee, He found in thee no fruit, nor good thought nor\ngood will, and defouled with lechery. Certes, said Sir\nLauncelot, all that you have said is true, and from\nhenceforward I cast me, by the grace of God, never to be so\nwicked as I have been, but as to follow knighthood and\nto do feats of arms.\nThen the good man enjoined Sir Launcelot such\npenance as he might do and to sewe knighthood, and so\nassoiled him, and prayed Sir Launcelot to abide with him\nall that day. I will well, said Sir Launcelot, for I have\nneither helm, nor horse, nor sword. As for that, said the\ngood man, I shall help you or to-morn at even of an horse,\nand all that longed unto you. And then Sir Launcelot\nrepented him greatly.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XIII CHAPTER XX","type":"page"}