t not be served nor said. And this same day
her father sent to me for to be confessed and houseled; but such shame
had never man as I had this day with the three brethren, but the earl
bade me suffer, for he said they should not long endure, for three
servants of Our Lord should destroy them, and now it is brought to an
end. And by this may ye wit that Our Lord is not displeased with your
deeds. Certes, said Galahad, an it had not pleased Our Lord, never
should we have slain so many men in so little a while.

And then they brought the Earl Hernox out of prison into the midst of
the hall, that knew Galahad anon, and yet he saw him never afore but by
revelation of Our Lord.

CHAPTER IX. How the three knights, with Percivale's sister, came unto
the same forest, and of an hart and four lions, and other things.

THEN began he to weep right tenderly, and said: Long have I abiden your
coming, but for God's love hold me in your arms, that my soul may depart
out of my body in so good a man's arms as ye be. Gladly, said Galahad.
And then one said on high, that all heard: Galahad, well hast thou
avenged me on God's enemies. Now behoveth thee to go to the Maimed King
as soon as thou mayest, for he shall receive by thee health which he
hath abiden so long. And therewith the soul departed from the body, and
Galahad made him to be buried as him ought to be.

Right so departed the three knights, and Percivale's sister with them.
And so they came into a waste forest, and there they saw afore them a
white hart which four lions led. Then they took them to assent for to
follow after for to know whither they repaired; and so they rode after a
great pace till that they came to a valley, and thereby was an hermitage
where a good man dwelled, and the hart and the lions entered also. So
when they saw all this they turned to the chapel, and saw the good man
in a religious weed and in the armour of Our Lord, for he would sing
mass of the Holy Ghost; and so they entered in and heard mass. And at
the secrets of the mass they three saw the hart become a man, the which
marvelled them, and set him upon the altar in a rich siege; and saw the
four lions were changed, the one to the form of a man, the other to the
form of a lion, and the third to an eagle, and the fourth was changed
unto an ox. Then took they their siege where the hart sat, and went out
through a glass window, and there was nothing perished nor broken; and
they heard a voice s