much unto Sir
Launcelot. I may well suppose, said the queen, that Sir Launcelot begat
him on King Pelles' daughter, by the which he was made to lie by, by
enchantment, and his name is Galahad. I would fain see him, said the
queen, for he must needs be a noble man, for so is his father that him
begat, I report me unto all the Table Round.

So when the meat was done that the king and all were risen, the king
yede unto the Siege Perilous and lift up the cloth, and found there the
name of Galahad; and then he shewed it unto Sir Gawaine, and said: Fair
nephew, now have we among us Sir Galahad, the good knight that shall
worship us all; and upon pain of my life he shall enchieve the Sangreal,
right as Sir Launcelot had done us to understand. Then came King Arthur
unto Galahad and said: Sir, ye be welcome, for ye shall move many good
knights to the quest of the Sangreal, and ye shall enchieve that never
knights might bring to an end. Then the king took him by the hand, and
went down from the palace to shew Galahad the adventures of the stone.

CHAPTER V. How King Arthur shewed the stone hoving on the water to
Galahad, and how he drew out the sword.

THE queen heard thereof, and came after with many ladies, and shewed
them the stone where it hoved on the water. Sir, said the king unto Sir
Galahad, here is a great marvel as ever I saw, and right good knights
have assayed and failed. Sir, said Galahad, that is no marvel, for this
adventure is not theirs but mine; and for the surety of this sword I
brought none with me, for here by my side hangeth the scabbard. And anon
he laid his hand on the sword, and lightly drew it out of the stone, and
put it in the sheath, and said unto the king: Now it goeth better than
it did aforehand. Sir, said the king, a shield God shall send you. Now
have I that sword that sometime was the good knight's, Balin le Savage,
and he was a passing good man of his hands; and with this sword he slew
his brother Balan, and that was great pity, for he was a good knight,
and either slew other through a dolorous stroke that Balin gave unto my
grandfather King Pelles, the which is not yet whole, nor not shall be
till I heal him.

Therewith the king and all espied where came riding down the river a
lady on a white palfrey toward them. Then she saluted the king and the
queen, and asked if that Sir Launcelot was there. And then he answered
himself: I am here, fair lady. Then she said all with weeping: How