gentlewoman of great beauty, and she was
clothed richly that none might be better. And when she saw Sir
Percivale she said: Who brought you in this wilderness where ye be
never like to pass hence, for ye shall die here for hunger and
mischief? Damosel, said Sir Percivale, I serve the best man of the
world, and in his service he will not suffer me to die, for who that
knocketh shall enter, and who that asketh shall have, and who that
seeketh him he hideth him not. But then she said: Sir Percivale, wot
ye what I am? Yea, said he. Now who taught you my name? said she. Now,
said Sir Percivale, I know you better than ye ween. And I came out of
the waste forest where I found the red knight with the white shield,
said the damosel. Ah, damosel, said he, with that knight would I meet
passing fain. Sir knight, said she, an ye will ensure me by the faith
that ye owe unto knighthood that ye shall do my will what time I
summon you, and I shall bring you unto that knight. Yea, said he, I
shall promise you to fulfil your desire. Well, said she, now shall I
tell you. I saw him in the forest chasing two knights unto a water,
the which is called Mortaise; and they drove him into that water for
dread of death, and the two knights passed over, and the red knight
passed after, and there his horse was drenched, and he, through great
strength, escaped unto the land: thus she told him, and Sir Percivale
was passing glad thereof. Then she asked him if he had ate any meat
late. Nay, madam, truly I ate no meat nigh this three days, but late
here I spake with a good man that fed me with his good words and holy,
and refreshed me greatly. Ah, sir knight, said she, that same man is
an enchanter and a multiplier of words. For an ye believe him ye shall
plainly be shamed, and die in this rock for pure hunger, and be eaten
with wild beasts; and ye be a young man and a goodly knight, and I
shall help you an ye will. What are ye, said Sir Percivale, that
proffered me thus great kindness? I am, said she, a gentlewoman that
am disherited, which was sometime the richest woman of the world.
Damosel, said Sir Percivale, who hath disherited you? for I have great
pity of you. Sir, said she, I dwelled with the greatest man of the
world, and he made me so fair and clear that there was none like me;
and of that great beauty I had a little pride more than I ought to
have had. Also I said a word that pleased him not. And then he would
not suffer me to be any longer i