, and there found this sword and drew it,
and came out and found King Labor, the man in the world of all
Christendom in whom was then the greatest faith. And when King Hurlame
saw King Labor he dressed this sword, and smote him upon the helm so
hard that he clave him and his horse to the earth with the first
stroke of his sword. And it was in the realm of Logris; and so befel
great pestilence and great harm to both realms. For sithen increased
neither corn, nor grass, nor well-nigh no fruit, nor in the water was
no fish; wherefore men call it the lands of the two marches, the waste
land, for that dolorous stroke. And when King Hurlame saw this sword
so carving, he turned again to fetch the scabbard, and so came into
this ship and entered, and put up the sword in the sheath. And as soon
as he had done it he fell down dead afore the bed. Thus was the sword
proved, that none ne drew it but he were dead or maimed. So lay he
there till a maiden came into the ship and cast him out, for there was
no man so hardy of the world to enter into that ship for the defence.

CHAPTER IV

OF THE MARVELS OF THE SWORD AND OF THE SCABBARD

And then beheld they the scabbard, it seemed to be of a serpent's
skin, and thereon were letters of gold and silver. And the girdle was
but poorly to come to, and not able to sustain such a rich sword. And
the letters said: He which shall wield me ought to be more harder than
any other, if he bear me as truly as me ought to be borne. For the
body of him which I ought to hang by, he shall not be shamed in no
place while he is girt with this girdle, nor never none be so hardy to
do away this girdle; for it ought not to be done away but by the hands
of a maid, and that she be a king's daughter and queen's, and she must
be a maid all the days of her life, both in will and in deed. And if
she break her virginity she shall die the most villainous death that
ever died any woman. Sir, said Percivale, turn this sword that we may
see what is on the other side. And it was red as blood, with black
letters as any coal, which said: He that shall praise me most, most
shall he find me to blame at a great need; and to whom I should be
most debonair shall I be most felon, and that shall be at one time.
Fair brother, said she to Percivale, it befell after a forty year
after the passion of Jesu Christ that Nacien, the brother-in-law of
King Mordrains, was borne into a town more than fourteen days' journey
from his