Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XVI CHAPTER IV

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 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.