ithin, and the
damsels come before him and serve him right sweetly. The lady bringeth
him a mantle to do on.

"Sir," saith she, "Within are no better garments wherewith to show you
honour than this."

Perceval looketh on the damsels and hath great pity of them, for so
well shapen were they of limb and body as that nature might not have
better fashioned them, and all the beauty that may be in woman's body
was in them, and all the sweetness and simpleness.

IX.

"Lady," saith Perceval, "Is this castle, then, not yours?"

"Sir," saith she, "So much is all that remaineth unto me of all my
land, and you see there my daughters of whom is it right sore pity, for
nought have they but what you see, albeit gentlewomen are they and of
high lineage, but their kinsfolk are too far away, and a knight that is
right cruel hath reft us of our land sithence that my lord was dead,
and holdeth a son of mine in his prison, whereof I am right sorrowful,
for he is one of the comeliest knights in the world. He had not been
knight more than four years when he took him, and now may I aid neither
myself nor other, but I have heard tell that there is a knight in the
land of Wales that was the son of Alain li Gros of the Valleys of
Camelot, and he is the Best Knight in the World, and this Alain was
brother of Calobrutus, whose wife was I, and of whom I had my son and
these two daughters. This know I well, that and the Good Knight that
is so near akin to them were by any adventure to come into this island,
I should have my son again, and my daughters that are disherited would
have their lands again freely, and so should I be brought out of sore
pain and poverty. I am of another lineage that is full far away, for
King Ban of Benoic that is dead was mine uncle, but he hath a son that
is a right good knight as I have been told, so that and one of these
two should come nigh me in any of these islands right joyous should I
be thereof."

X.

Perceval heareth that the two damsels are his uncle's daughters, and
hath great pity thereof.

"Lady," saith he, "How is he named that is in prison?"

"Sir," saith she, "Galobruns, and he that holdeth him in prison is
named Gohaz of the Castle of the Whale."

"Is his castle near this, Lady?" saith he.

"Sir, there is but an arm of the sea to cross, and in all these islands
of the sea is there none that hath any puissance but he only, and so
assured is he that no dread hath he of any. For none t