ed to him, and begged his interpretation
thereof.

"Truly you are strong in the service of the Lord," said the abbot, "and
are held for great deeds. Thus I interpret your adventures and visions.
The great fowl that fed its young with its own blood is an emblem of
Christ, who shed his blood for the good of mankind. And the bare tree on
which it sat signifies the world, which of itself is barren and without
fruit. Also King Aniause betokens Jesus Christ, and the lady for whom
you took the battle the new law of Holy Church; while the older lady is
the emblem of the old law and the fiend, which forever war against the
Church.

"By the black bird also was emblemed the Holy Church, which saith, 'I
am black but he is fair.' The white bird represented the fiend, which,
like hypocrisy, is white without and foul within. As for the rotten
chair and the white lilies, the first was thy brother Lionel, who is a
murderer and an untrue knight; while the lilies were the knight and the
lady. The one drew near to the other to dishonor her, but you forced
them to part. And you would have been in great peril had you, for the
rescue of a rotten tree, suffered those two flowers to perish; for if
they had sinned together they had both been damned.

"The seeming man of religion, who blamed you for leaving your brother to
rescue a lady, was the foul fiend himself. Your brother was not slain,
as he made it appear, but is still alive. For the corpse, and the
chapel, and the tower were all devices of the evil one, and the lady who
offered her love was the fiend himself in that showing. He knew you were
tender-hearted, and he did all. Much you may thank God that you
withstood his temptation, and that until now you have come through all
your adventures pure and unblemished."

This gladdened the heart of the virtuous knight, and a warm hope of
winning the Sangreal arose in his soul. Much more passed between them,
and when Bors rode forth it was with the fervent blessing of the holy
abbot.

On the morning of the second day Bors saw before him a castle that rose
in a green valley, and met with a yeoman, whom he stopped and asked what
was going on in that country.

"Sir knight," he answered, "there is to be held a great tournament
before that castle."

"By what people?" asked Bors.

"The Earl of Plains," was the answer, "leads one party, and the nephew
of the Lady of Hervin the other."

With this the yeoman rode on, and Bors kept on his cours