The Holy Grail, part 2 of 5

¶“Then on a summer night it came to pass, While the great banquet lay along the hall, That Galahad would sit down in Merlin’s chair.

¶“And all at once, as there we sat, we heard A cracking and a riving of the roofs, And rending, and a blast, and overhead Thunder, and in the thunder was a cry. And in the blast there smote along the hall A beam of light seven times more clear than day: And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail All over covered with a luminous cloud. And none might see who bare it, and it past. But every knight beheld his fellow’s face As in a glory, and all the knights arose, And staring each at other like dumb men Stood, till I found a voice and sware a vow.

¶“I sware a vow before them all, that I, Because I had not seen the Grail, would ride A twelvemonth and a day in quest of it, Until I found and saw it, as the nun My sister saw it; and Galahad sware the vow, And good Sir Bors, our Lancelot’s cousin, sware, And Lancelot sware, and many among the knights, And Gawain sware, and louder than the rest.”

¶Then spake the monk Ambrosius, asking him, “What said the King? Did Arthur take the vow?”

¶“Nay, for my lord,” said Percivale, “the King, Was not in hall: for early that same day, Scaped through a cavern from a bandit hold, An outraged maiden sprang into the hall Crying on help: for all her shining hair Was smeared with earth, and either milky arm Red-rent with hooks of bramble, and all she wore Torn as a sail that leaves the rope is torn In tempest: so the King arose and went To smoke the scandalous hive of those wild bees That made such honey in his realm. Howbeit Some little of this marvel he too saw, Returning o’er the plain that then began To darken under Camelot; whence the King Looked up, calling aloud, ‘Lo, there! the roofs Of our great hall are rolled in thunder-smoke! Pray Heaven, they be not smitten by the bolt.’ For dear to Arthur was that hall of ours, As having there so oft with all his knights Feasted, and as the stateliest under heaven.

¶“O brother, had you known our mighty hall, Which Merlin built for Arthur long ago! For all the sacred mount of Camelot, And all the dim rich city, roof by roof, Tower after tower, spire beyond spire, By grove, and garden-lawn, and rushing brook, Climbs to the mighty hall that Merlin built. And four great zones of sculpture, set betwixt With many a mystic symbol, gird the hall: And in the lowest beasts are slaying men, And in the second men are slaying beasts, And on the third are warriors, perfect men, And on the fourth are men with growing wings, And over all one statue in the mould Of Arthur, made by Merlin, with a crown, And peaked wings pointed to the Northern Star. And eastward fronts the statue, and the crown And both the wings are made of gold, and flame At sunrise till the people in far fields, Wasted so often by the heathen hordes, Behold it, crying, ‘We have still a King.’

¶“And, brother, had you known our hall within, Broader and higher than any in all the lands! Where twelve great windows blazon Arthur’s wars, And all the light that falls upon the board Streams through the twelve great battles of our King. Nay, one there is, and at the eastern end, Wealthy with wandering lines of mount and mere, Where Arthur finds the brand Excalibur. And also one to the west, and counter to it, And blank: and who shall blazon it? when and how?— O there, perchance, when all our wars are done, The brand Excalibur will be cast away.

¶“So to this hall full quickly rode the King, In horror lest the work by Merlin wrought, Dreamlike, should on the sudden vanish, wrapt In unremorseful folds of rolling fire. And in he rode, and up I glanced, and saw The golden dragon sparkling over all: And many of those who burnt the hold, their arms Hacked, and their foreheads grimed with smoke, and seared, Followed, and in among bright faces, ours, Full of the vision, prest: and then the King Spake to me, being nearest, ‘Percivale,’ (Because the hall was all in tumult—some Vowing, and some protesting), ‘what is this?’

¶“O brother, when I told him what had chanced, My sister’s vision, and the rest, his face Darkened, as I have seen it more than once, When some brave deed seemed to be done in vain, Darken; and ‘Woe is me, my knights,’ he cried, ‘Had I been here, ye had not sworn the vow.’ Bold was mine answer, ‘Had thyself been here, My King, thou wouldst have sworn.’ ‘Yea, yea,’ said he, ‘Art thou so bold and hast not seen the Grail?’

¶“‘Nay, lord, I heard the sound, I saw the light, But since I did not see the Holy Thing, I sware a vow to follow it till I saw.’

¶“Then when he asked us, knight by knight, if any Had seen it, all their answers were as one: ‘Nay, lord, and therefore have we sworn our vows.’

¶“‘Lo now,’ said Arthur, ‘have ye seen a cloud? What go ye into the wilderness to see?’

¶“Then Galahad on the sudden, and in a voice Shrilling along the hall to Arthur, called, ‘But I, Sir Arthur, saw the Holy Grail, I saw the Holy Grail and heard a cry— “O Galahad, and O Galahad, follow me.”‘

¶“‘Ah, Galahad, Galahad,’ said the King, ‘for such As thou art is the vision, not for these. Thy holy nun and thou have seen a sign— Holier is none, my Percivale, than she— A sign to maim this Order which I made. But ye, that follow but the leader’s bell’ (Brother, the King was hard upon his knights) ‘Taliessin is our fullest throat of song, And one hath sung and all the dumb will sing. Lancelot is Lancelot, and hath overborne Five knights at once, and every younger knight, Unproven, holds himself as Lancelot, Till overborne by one, he learns—and ye, What are ye? Galahads?—no, nor Percivales’ (For thus it pleased the King to range me close After Sir Galahad); ‘nay,’ said he, ‘but men With strength and will to right the wronged, of power To lay the sudden heads of violence flat, Knights that in twelve great battles splashed and dyed The strong White Horse in his own heathen blood— But one hath seen, and all the blind will see. Go, since your vows are sacred, being made: Yet—for ye know the cries of all my realm Pass through this hall—how often, O my knights, Your places being vacant at my side, This chance of noble deeds will come and go Unchallenged, while ye follow wandering fires Lost in the quagmire! Many of you, yea most, Return no more: ye think I show myself Too dark a prophet: come now, let us meet The morrow morn once more in one full field Of gracious pastime, that once more the King, Before ye leave him for this Quest, may count The yet-unbroken strength of all his knights, Rejoicing in that Order which he made.’

¶“So when the sun broke next from under ground, All the great table of our Arthur closed And clashed in such a tourney and so full, So many lances broken—never yet Had Camelot seen the like, since Arthur came; And I myself and Galahad, for a strength Was in us from this vision, overthrew So many knights that all the people cried, And almost burst the barriers in their heat, Shouting, ‘Sir Galahad and Sir Percivale!’

¶“But when the next day brake from under ground— O brother, had you known our Camelot, Built by old kings, age after age, so old The King himself had fears that it would fall, So strange, and rich, and dim; for where the roofs Tottered toward each other in the sky, Met foreheads all along the street of those Who watched us pass; and lower, and where the long Rich galleries, lady-laden, weighed the necks Of dragons clinging to the crazy walls, Thicker than drops from thunder, showers of flowers Fell as we past; and men and boys astride On wyvern, lion, dragon, griffin, swan, At all the corners, named us each by name, Calling, ‘God speed!’ but in the ways below The knights and ladies wept, and rich and poor Wept, and the King himself could hardly speak For grief, and all in middle street the Queen, Who rode by Lancelot, wailed and shrieked aloud, ‘This madness has come on us for our sins.’ So to the Gate of the three Queens we came, Where Arthur’s wars are rendered mystically, And thence departed every one his way.