l escape shall be so lean
that it shall be marvel to see them. And of the three bulls without
spot, the one shall come again, and the other two never.

CHAPTER IV. How the hermit expounded their advision.

THEN spake Nacien unto Ector: Sooth it is that Launcelot and ye came
down off one chair: the chair betokeneth mastership and lordship which
ye came down from. But ye two knights, said the hermit, ye go to seek
that ye shall never find, that is the Sangreal; for it is the secret
thing of our Lord Jesu Christ. What is to mean that Sir Launcelot fell
down off his horse: he hath left pride and taken him to humility, for he
hath cried mercy loud for his sin, and sore repented him, and our Lord
hath clothed him in his clothing which is full of knots, that is the
hair that he weareth daily. And the ass that he rode upon is a beast of
humility, for God would not ride upon no steed, nor upon no palfrey;
so in ensample that an ass betokeneth meekness, that thou sawest Sir
Launcelot ride on in thy sleep. And the well whereas the water sank from
him when he should have taken thereof, and when he saw he might not have
it, he returned thither from whence he came, for the well betokeneth the
high grace of God, the more men desire it to take it, the more shall be
their desire. So when he came nigh the Sangreal, he meeked him that he
held him not a man worthy to be so nigh the Holy Vessel, for he had
been so defouled in deadly sin by the space of many years; yet when
he kneeled to drink of the well, there he saw great providence of
the Sangreal. And for he had served so long the devil, he shall have
vengeance four-and-twenty days long, for that he hath been the devil's
servant four-and-twenty years. And then soon after he shall return unto
Camelot out of this country, and he shall say a part of such things as
he hath found.

Now will I tell you what betokeneth the hand with the candle and the
bridle: that is to understand the Holy Ghost where charity is ever, and
the bridle signifieth abstinence. For when she is bridled in Christian
man's heart she holdeth him so short that he falleth not in deadly sin.
And the candle which sheweth clearness and sight signifieth the right
way of Jesu Christ. And when he went and said: Knights of poor faith and
of wicked belief, these three things failed, charity, abstinence, and
truth; therefore ye may not attain that high adventure of the Sangreal.

CHAPTER V. Of the good counsel that th