ver knightly
enterprise he may desire my aid. But I will not enter his court until I
have encountered the tall man there who sent me hither, to revenge upon
him the wrong he did to my friends, Tod the dwarf and his wife.'

And with this Perceval said farewell and rode off. Sir Owen went back
to the court, and told Arthur and the queen all these things. Men
marvelled who the strange young man could be, and many sought Tod and
his wife to question them, but nowhere could they be found.

Greater still was their marvelling when, as the weeks passed, knights
came and yielded themselves to King Arthur, saying that Perceval had
overcome them in knightly combat, and had given them their lives on
condition that they went to King Arthur's court and yielded themselves
up to him and his mercy. The king and all his court reproved Kay for
his churlish manner, and for his having driven so splendid a youth from
the court.

And Perceval rode ever forward. He came one day towards the gloaming to
a lonely wood in the fenlands, where the wind shivered like the breath
of ghosts among the leaves, and there was not a track or trace of man
or beast, and no birds piped. And soon, as the wind shrilled, and the
rain began to beat down like thin grey spears, he saw a vast castle
rise before him, and when he made his way towards the gate, he found
the way so overgrown with weeds that hardly could he push his horse
between them. And on the very threshold the grass grew thick and high,
as if the door had not been opened for a hundred winters.

He battered on the door with the butt of his lance; and long he waited,
while the cold rain drove and the wind snarled.

After a little while a voice came from above the gateway, and glancing
up he saw a damsel looking through an opening in the battlements.

'Choose thou, chieftain,' said she, 'whether I shall open unto thee
without announcing thee, or whether I shall tell her that rules here
that thou wishest to enter.'

'Say that I am here,' said Perceval. 'And if she will not house me for
the night, then will I go forward.'

Soon the maiden came back and opened the door for him, and his horse
she led into the stable, where she fed it; and Perceval she brought
into the hall. When he came into the light and looked at the girl, he
thought he had never seen another of so fair an aspect.

She had an old garment of satin upon her, which had once been rich, but
was now frayed and tattered; and fairer was