words meant.

'Ah, Sir White Knight!' said the man, whose tears fell as he spoke,
'surely thou art an angel of heaven, not of the pit, such as have
ravened and slaughtered throughout this fair land since good King
Pellam was struck by the Dolorous Stroke that Balin made. For of that
stroke came all our misery. The sacred relics of the Crucifixion fled
our land, our king sickened of a malady that naught could heal, our
crops rotted, and our cattle died. Yet did some among us strive to live
and do as brave men should in all adversity. But into the land came an
evil and a pagan knight, the knight of the Dragon, and he willed that
all should scorn and despise the good Christ, and should turn to the
old gods of the standing stones and the oaken groves. And those that
would not he slew, and their folk he trampled underfoot, and their
herds and fields he destroyed and desolated. And I, fair lord, have
lost my dear wife and my wee bairns, and I wonder why I fled and kept
my life, remembering all I have lost.'

'Take heart,' said Perceval, 'and remember that it is God His mercy
that chastiseth, and that while thou hast life thou hast hope. It is a
man's duty, a man's nobility, to bear sorrows bravely, and still to
work, to do all and to achieve. I think God will not long let this evil
knight oppress and slay. In His good time He will cut him down.'

'Fair sir,' said the peasant, 'I thank thee for thy cheer, and I will
take heart and trust in God's good time.'

And Perceval rode forward through the blackened land and found the
forests burning and the fields wasted. Anon he came to the edge of a
plain, and saw a great castle in the distance. And there came to him a
damsel, weeping, and when he craved of her to tell him why she mourned,
she stayed, and looked at him as if astounded. Then she cried with a
great cry of joy.

'Oh, tell me, fair sir, who art thou? Thou hast the white armour which
it was foretold the spotless knight should wear, and on thy shield is
the Heart as of Him that bled to save the world.'

'I know not what you say,' replied Perceval, 'but my name is Perceval,
son of Evroc, and I seek the wicked knight that doeth all this evil.'

'Then thou art the White Knight,' said the damsel, 'and now I pray that
God aid thee, for my lady and all this poor land have need of thee.
Come thou to my mistress, the lady of the Chaplet.'

Therewith she led him to the castle, and the lady thereof came out to
him. She was