r he met travellers, they
would laugh at him; but he would laugh louder than they and give them
greeting because of pure pleasure that the great world was so merry and
kind.

Now in the declining of the afternoon, he came to a certain pleasant glade,
and there he beheld a very noble and stately pavilion in among the trees,
And that pavilion was all of yellow satin so that it shone like to gold in
the light of the declining sun.

Then Percival said to himself: "Verily, this must be one of those churches
concerning which my mother spake to me." So he descended from his horse and
went to that pavilion and knelt down and said a pater-noster.

[Sidenote: Percival enters the golden pavilion] And when he had ended that
prayer, he arose and went into the pavilion, and lo! he beheld there a
wonderfully beautiful young damsel of sixteen years of age who sat in the
pavilion upon a carved bench and upon a cushion of cloth of gold, and who
bent over a frame of embroidery, which she was busy weaving in threads of
silver and gold. And the hair of that damosel was as black as ebony and her
cheeks were like rose leaves for redness, and she wore a fillet of gold
around her head, and she was clad in raiment of sky blue silk. And near by
was a table spread with meats of divers sorts and likewise with several
wines, both white and red. And all the goblets were of silver and all the
pattens were of gold, and the table was spread with a napkin embroidered
with threads of gold.

Now you are to know that the young lady who sat there was the Lady Yvette
the Fair, the daughter of King Pecheur.

When Percival came to that pavilion the Lady Yvette looked up and beheld
him with great astonishment, and she said to herself: "That must either be
a madman or a foolish jester who comes hither clad all in armor of wattled
willow twigs." So she said to him, "Sirrah, what dost thou here?" He said,
"Lady, is this a church?" Upon that she was angered thinking that he had
intended to make a jest and she said: "Begone, fool, for if my father, who
is King Pecheur, cometh and findeth thee here, he will punish thee for this
jest." But Percival replied, "Nay; I think he will not, lady."

Then the damosel looked at Percival more narrowly and she beheld how noble
and beautiful was his countenance and she said to herself: "This is no fool
nor a jester, but who he is or what he is I know not."

[Sidenote: Percival breaks bread in the golden pavilion] So she said