{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart383.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart383.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart383.htm","text":"CHAPTER X\nHow Sir Percivale for penance rove himself through the\nthigh; and how she was known for the devil.\nFAIR sweet Father, Jesu Christ, ne let me not be shamed,\nthe which was nigh lost had not thy good grace been.\nAnd then he looked into a ship, and saw her enter therein,\nwhich said: Sir Percivale, ye have betrayed me. And so\nshe went with the wind roaring and yelling, that it seemed\nall the water brent after her. Then Sir Percivale made\ngreat sorrow, and drew his sword unto him, saying:\nSithen my flesh will be my master I shall punish it; and\ntherewith he rove himself through the thigh that the blood\nstert about him, and said: O good Lord, take this in\nrecompensation of that I have done against thee, my Lord.\nSo then he clothed him and armed him, and called himself\na wretch, saying: How nigh was I lost, and to have lost\nthat I should never have gotten again, that was my\nvirginity, for that may never be recovered after it is once\nlost. And then he stopped his bleeding wound with a\npiece of his shirt.\nThus as he made his moan he saw the same ship come\nfrom Orient that the good man was in the day afore, and\nthe noble knight was ashamed with himself, and therewith\nhe fell in a swoon. And when he awoke he went unto\nhim weakly, and there he saluted this good man. And\nthen he asked Sir Percivale: How hast thou done sith\nI departed? Sir, said he, here was a gentlewoman and\nled me into deadly sin. And there he told him altogether.\nKnew ye not the maid? said the good man. Sir, said he,\nnay, but well I wot the fiend sent her hither to shame me.\nO good knight, said he, thou art a fool, for that gentlewoman\nwas the master fiend of hell, the which hath power\nabove all devils, and that was the old lady that thou sawest\nin thine advision riding on the serpent. Then he told\nSir Percivale how our Lord Jesu Christ beat him out of\nheaven for his sin, the which was the most brightest angel\nof heaven, and therefore he lost his heritage. And that\nwas the champion that thou foughtest withal, the which\nhad overcome thee had not the grace of God been. Now\nbeware Sir Percivale, and take this for an ensample. And\nthen the good man vanished away. Then Sir Percivale\ntook his arms, and entered into the ship, and so departed\nfrom thence.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XIV CHAPTER X","type":"page"}