rlesvax?" saith the King.

"Sir," saith she, "When he was born, his father was asked how he should
be named in right baptism, and he said that he would he should have the
name Perlesvax, for the Lord of the Moors had reft him of the greater
part of the Valleys of Camelot, and therefore he would that his son
should by this name be reminded thereof, and God should so multiply him
as that he should be knight. The lad was right comely and right gentle
and began to go by the forests and launch his javelins, Welsh-fashion,
at hart and hind. His father and his mother loved him much, and one
day they were come forth of their hold, whereunto the forest was close
anigh, to enjoy them. Now, there was between the hold and the forest,
an exceeding small chapel that stood upon four columns of marble; and
it was roofed of timber and had a little altar within, and before the
altar a right fair coffin, and thereupon was the figure of a man
graven. Sir," saith the damsel to the King, "The lad asked his father
and mother what man lay within the coffin. The father answered: 'Fair
son,' saith he, 'Certes, I know not to tell you, for the tomb hath been
here or ever that my father's father was born, and never have I heard
tell of none that might know who it is therein, save only that the
letters that are on the coffin say that when the Best Knight in the
world shall come hither the coffin will open and the joinings all fall
asunder, and then will it be seen who it is that lieth therein.'"

X.

"Damsel," saith the King, "Have many knights passed thereby sithence
that the coffin was set there?"

"Yea, sir, so many that neither I nor none other may tell the number.
Yet natheless hath not the coffin removed itself for none. When the
lad heareth his father and mother talking thus, he asketh what a knight
may be? 'Fair son,' saith his mother, 'Of right ought you well to know
by your lineage.' She telleth the lad that he had eleven uncles on his
father's side that had all been slain in arms, and not one of them
lived knight but twelve years. Sir," saith she to the King, "The lad
made answer that this was nor that he had asked, but how knights were
made? And the father answered that they were such as had more valour
than any other in the world. After that he said, 'Fair son, they are
clad in habergeons of iron to protect their bodies, and helms laced
upon their heads, and shields and spears and swords girded wherewithal
to defend thei