CHAPTER VII
 
 Of the vision that Sir Percivale saw, and how his vision
 was expounded, and of his lion.
 
 
 THEN came forth the other lady that rode upon the
 serpent, and she said:  Sir Percivale, I complain me of
 you that ye have done unto me, and have not offended
 unto you.  Certes, madam, he said, unto you nor no lady
 I never offended.  Yes, said she, I shall tell you why.  I
 have nourished in this place a great while a serpent, which
 served me a great while, and yesterday ye slew him as he
 gat his prey.  Say me for what cause ye slew him, for the
 lion was not yours.  Madam, said Sir Percivale, I know
 well the lion was not mine, but I did it for the lion is of
 more gentler nature than the serpent, and therefore I slew
 him; meseemeth I did not amiss against you.  Madam,
 said he, what would ye that I did?  I would, said she,
 for the amends of my beast that ye become my man.
 And then he answered:  That will I not grant you.  No,
 said she, truly ye were never but my servant sin ye
 received the homage of Our Lord Jesu Christ.  Therefore,
 I ensure you in what place I may find you without keeping
 I shall take you, as he that sometime was my man.  And
 so she departed from Sir Percivale and left him sleeping,
 the which was sore travailed of his advision.  And on
 the morn he arose and blessed him, and he was passing
 feeble.
 
 Then was Sir Percivale ware in the sea, and saw a
 ship come sailing toward him; and Sir Percivale went
 unto the ship and found it covered within and without
 with white samite.  And at the board stood an old man
 clothed in a surplice, in likeness of a priest.  Sir, said Sir
 Percivale, ye be welcome.  God keep you, said the good
 man.  Sir, said the old man, of whence be ye?  Sir, said
 Sir Percivale, I am of King Arthur's court, and a knight
 of the Table Round, the which am in the quest of the
 Sangreal; and here am I in great duresse, and never like
 to escape out of this wilderness.  Doubt not, said the
 good man, an ye be so true a knight as the order of
 chivalry requireth, and of heart as ye ought to be, ye
 should not doubt that none enemy should slay you.
 What are ye? said Sir Percivale.  Sir, said the old man,
 I am of a strange country, and hither I come to comfort
 you.
 
 Sir, said Sir Percivale, what signifieth my dream that
 I dreamed this night?  And there he told him altogether:
 She which rode upon the lion betokeneth the new law of
 holy church, that is to understand, faith, good hope, belief,
 and baptism.  For she seemed younger than the other it
 is great reason, for she was born in the resurrection and
 the passion of Our Lord Jesu Christ.  And for great love
 she came to thee to warn thee of thy great battle that shall
 befall thee.  With whom, said Sir Percivale, shall I fight?
 With the most champion of the world, said the old man;
 for as the lady said, but if thou quit thee well thou shalt
 not be quit by losing of one member, but thou shalt be
 shamed to the world's end.  And she that rode on the
 serpent signifieth the old law, and that serpent betokeneth
 a fiend.  And why she blamed thee that thou slewest her
 servant, it betokeneth nothing; the serpent that thou
 slewest betokeneth the devil that thou rodest upon to the
 rock.  And when thou madest a sign of the cross, there
 thou slewest him, and put away his power.  And when
 she asked thee amends and to become her man, and thou
 saidst thou wouldst not, that was to make thee to believe
 on her and leave thy baptism.  So he commanded Sir
 Percivale to depart, and so he leapt over the board and
 the ship, and all went away he wist not whither.  Then
 he went up unto the rock and found the lion which always
 kept him fellowship, and he stroked him upon the back
 and had great joy of him.