{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart385.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart385.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart385.htm","text":"CHAPTER II\nOf a dead man, how men would have hewn him, and it would\nnot be, and how Sir Launcelot took the hair of the dead\nman.\nTHEN was there peace betwixt the earl and this Aguarus,\nand great surety that the earl should never war against\nhim. Then this dead man that here lieth came to this\nhermitage again; and then the earl made two of his\nnephews for to be avenged upon this man. So they came\non a day, and found this dead man at the sacring\nof his mass, and they abode him till he had said mass.\nAnd then they set upon him and drew out swords to\nhave slain him; but there would no sword bite on him\nmore than upon a gad of steel, for the high Lord which he\nserved He him preserved. Then made they a great fire,\nand did off all his clothes, and the hair off his back. And\nthen this dead man hermit said unto them: Ween you to\nburn me? It shall not lie in your power nor to perish me\nas much as a thread, an there were any on my body. No?\nsaid one of them, it shall be assayed. And then they\ndespoiled him, and put upon him this shirt, and cast him in a\nfire, and there he lay all that night till it was day in that\nfire, and was not dead, and so in the morn I came and\nfound him dead; but I found neither thread nor skin\ntamed, and so took him out of the fire with great fear, and\nlaid him here as ye may see. And now may ye suffer me\nto go my way, for I have said you the sooth. And then\nhe departed with a great tempest.\nThen was the good man and Sir Launcelot more\ngladder than they were to-fore. And then Sir Launcelot\ndwelled with that good man that night. Sir, said the good\nman, be ye not Sir Launcelot du Lake? Yea, sir, said he.\nWhat seek ye in this country? Sir, said Sir Launcelot, I\ngo to seek the adventures of the Sangreal. Well, said he,\nseek it ye may well, but though it were here ye shall have\nno power to see it no more than a blind man should see a\nbright sword, and that is long on your sin, and else ye were\nmore abler than any man living. And then Sir Launcelot\nbegan to weep. Then said the good man: Were ye confessed\nsith ye entered into the quest of the Sangreal? Yea,\nsir, said Sir Launcelot. Then upon the morn when the\ngood man had sung his mass, then they buried the dead\nman. Then Sir Launcelot said: Father, what shall I do?\nNow, said the good man, I require you take this hair that\nwas this holy man's and put it next thy skin, and it shall\nprevail thee greatly. Sir, and I will do it, said Sir\nLauncelot. Also I charge you that ye eat no flesh as long as ye\nbe in the quest of the Sangreal, nor ye shall drink no\nwine, and that ye hear mass daily an ye may do it. So he\ntook the hair and put it upon him, and so departed at\nevensong-time.\nAnd so rode he into a forest, and there he met with a\ngentlewoman riding upon a white palfrey, and then she\nasked him: Sir knight, whither ride ye? Certes, damosel,\nsaid Launcelot, I wot not whither I ride but as fortune\nleadeth me. Ah, Sir Launcelot, said she, I wot what\nadventure ye seek, for ye were afore time nearer than ye\nbe now, and yet shall ye see it more openly than ever ye\ndid, and that shall ye understand in short time. Then Sir\nLauncelot asked her where he might be harboured that\nnight. Ye shall not find this day nor night, but to-morn ye\nshall find harbour good, and ease of that ye be in doubt of\nAnd then he commended her unto God. Then he rode\ntill that he came to a Cross, and took that for his host as\nfor that night.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XV CHAPTER II","type":"page"}