{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart409.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart409.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart409.htm","text":"CHAPTER III\nHow Sir Galahad entered into the ship, and of a fair bed\ntherein, with other marvellous things, and of a sword.\nIN the meanwhile Galahad blessed him, and entered therein;\nand then next the gentlewoman, and then Sir Bors and Sir\nPercivale. And when they were in, it was so marvellous\nfair and rich that they marvelled; and in midst of the\nship was a fair bed, and Galahad went thereto, and found\nthere a crown of silk. And at the feet was a sword, rich\nand fair, and it was drawn out of the sheath half a foot\nand more; and the sword was of divers fashions, and the\npommel was of stone, and there was in him all manner of\ncolours that any man might find, and everych of the\ncolours had divers virtues; and the scales of the haft\nwere of two ribs of divers beasts, the one beast was a\nserpent which was conversant in Calidone, and is called\nthe Serpent of the fiend; and the bone of him is of such\na virtue that there is no hand that handleth him shall\nnever be weary nor hurt. And the other beast is a\nfish which is not right great, and haunteth the flood of\nEuphrates; and that fish is called Ertanax, and his bones\nbe of such a manner of kind that who that handleth them\nshall have so much will that he shall never be weary, and\nhe shall not think on joy nor sorrow that he hath had\nbut only that thing that he beholdeth before him. And\nas for this sword there shall never man begrip him at the\nhandles but one; but he shall pass all other. In the name\nof God, said Percivale, I shall assay to handle it. So he\nset his hand to the sword, but he might not begrip it.\nBy my faith, said he, now have I failed. Bors set his\nhand thereto and failed.\nThen Galahad beheld the sword and saw letters like\nblood that said: Let see who shall assay to draw me out\nof my sheath, but if he be more hardier than any other;\nand who that draweth me, wit ye well that he shall never\nfail of shame of his body, or to be wounded to the death.\nBy my faith, said Galahad, I would draw this sword out\nof the sheath, but the offending is so great that I shall not\nset my hand thereto. Now sirs, said the gentlewoman,\nwit ye well that the drawing of this sword is warned to\nall men save all only to you. Also this ship arrived in\nthe realm of Logris; and that time was deadly war between\nKing Labor, which was father unto the maimed king, and\nKing Hurlame, which was a Saracen. But then was he\nnewly christened, so that men held him afterward one of\nthe wittiest men of the world. And so upon a day it\nbefell that King Labor and King Hurlame had assembled\ntheir folk upon the sea where this ship was arrived; and\nthere King Hurlame was discomfit, and his men slain;\nand he was afeard to be dead, and fled to his ship, and\nthere found this sword and drew it, and came out and\nfound King Labor, the man in the world of all Christendom\nin whom was then the greatest faith. And when\nKing Hurlame saw King Labor he dressed this sword,\nand smote him upon the helm so hard that he clave him\nand his horse to the earth with the first stroke of his\nsword. And it was in the realm of Logris; and so befell\ngreat pestilence and great harm to both realms. For\nsithen increased neither corn, nor grass, nor well-nigh no\nfruit, nor in the water was no fish; wherefore men call\nit the lands of the two marches, the waste land, for that\ndolorous stroke. And when King Hurlame saw this\nsword so carving, he turned again to fetch the scabbard,\nand so came into this ship and entered, and put up the\nsword in the sheath. And as soon as he had done it\nhe fell down dead afore the bed. Thus was the sword\nproved, that none ne drew it but he were dead or maimed.\nSo lay he there till a maiden came into the ship and cast\nhim out, for there was no man so hardy of the world to\nenter into that ship for the defence.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XVII CHAPTER III","type":"page"}