spent all his time in warring
against the Saracens, as all pagans are called in these metrical romances.
The booty he won he gave either to the church or to the poor, and his
courage and virtue were only equaled by his piety and extreme humility.

One day, when Titurel was walking alone in the woods, he was favored by the
vision of an angel. The celestial messenger sailed down to earth out of the
blue, and announced in musical tones that the Lord had chosen him to be the
guardian of the Holy Grail on Montsalvatch (which some authors believe to
have been in Spain), and that it behooved him to set his house in order and
obey the voice of God.

When the angel had floated upward and out of sight, Titurel returned home.
After disposing of all his property, reserving nothing but his armor and
trusty sword, he again returned to the spot where he had been favored with
the divine message. There he saw a mysterious white cloud, which seemed to
beckon him onward. Titurel followed it, passed through vast solitudes and
almost impenetrable woods, and eventually began to climb a steep mountain,
whose ascent at first seemed impossible. Clinging to the rocks, and gazing
ever ahead at the guiding cloud, Titurel came at last to the top of the
mountain, where, in a beam of refulgent light, he beheld the Holy Grail,
borne in the air by invisible hands. He raised his heart in passionate
prayer that he might be found worthy to guard the emerald-colored wonder
which was thus intrusted to his care, and in his rapture hardly heeded the
welcoming cries of a number of knights in shining armor, who hailed him as
their king.

The vision of the Holy Grail was as evanescent as beautiful, and soon
disappeared; but Titurel, knowing that the spot was holy, guarded it with
all his might against the infidels, who would fain have climbed the
mountain.

After several years had passed without the Holy Grail's coming down to
earth, Titurel conceived the plan of building a temple suitable for its
reception. The knights who helped to build and afterward guarded this
temple were called "Templars." Their first effort was to clear the mountain
top, which they found was one single onyx of enormous size. This they
leveled and polished until it shone like a mirror, and upon this foundation
they prepared to build their temple.

[Sidenote: Temple of the Holy Grail.] As Titurel was hesitating what plan
to adopt for the building, he prayed for guidance, and when he a