Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XIV CHAPTER VIII

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 CHAPTER VIII
 
 How Sir Percivale saw a ship coming to him-ward,
 and how the lady of the ship told him of her disheritance.
 
 
 BY that Sir Percivale had abiden there till mid-day he saw
 a ship came rowing in the sea, as all the wind of the world
 had driven it.  And so it drove under that rock.  And
 when Sir Percivale saw this he hied him thither, and found
 the ship covered with silk more blacker than any bear,
 and therein was a gentlewoman of great beauty, and she
 was clothed richly that none might be better.  And when
 she saw Sir Percivale she said:  Who brought you in this
 wilderness where ye be never like to pass hence, for ye
 shall die here for hunger and mischief?  Damosel, said
 Sir Percivale, I serve the best man of the world, and in
 his service he will not suffer me to die, for who that
 knocketh shall enter, and who that asketh shall have, and
 who that seeketh him he hideth him not.  But then she
 said:  Sir Percivale, wot ye what I am?  Yea, said he.
 Now who taught you my name? said she.  Now, said
 Sir Percivale, I know you better than ye ween.  And
 I came out of the waste forest where I found the Red
 Knight with the white shield, said the damosel.  Ah,
 damosel, said he, with that knight would I meet passing
 fain.  Sir knight, said she, an ye will ensure me by the
 faith that ye owe unto knighthood that ye shall do my
 will what time I summon you, and I shall bring you unto
 that knight.  Yea, said he, I shall promise you to fulfil
 your desire.  Well, said she, now shall I tell you.  I saw
 him in the forest chasing two knights unto a water, the
 which is called Mortaise; and they drove him into the
 water for dread of death, and the two knights passed over,
 and the Red Knight passed after, and there his horse was
 drenched, and he, through great strength, escaped unto
 the land: thus she told him, and Sir Percivale was passing
 glad thereof.
 
 Then she asked him if he had ate any meat late.
 Nay, madam, truly I ate no meat nigh this three days,
 but late here I spake with a good man that fed me with
 his good words and holy, and refreshed me greatly.  Ah,
 sir knight, said she, that same man is an enchanter and
 a multiplier of words.  For an ye believe him ye shall
 plainly be shamed, and die in this rock for pure hunger,
 and be eaten with wild beasts; and ye be a young man
 and a goodly knight, and I shall help you an ye will.
 What are ye, said Sir Percivale, that proffered me thus
 great kindness?  I am, said she, a gentlewoman that am
 disherited, which was sometime the richest woman of the
 world.  Damosel, said Sir Percivale, who hath disherited
 you? for I have great pity of you.  Sir, said she, I
 dwelled with the greatest man of the world, and he made
 me so fair and clear that there was none like me; and of
 that great beauty I had a little pride more than I ought
 to have had.  Also I said a word that pleased him not.
 And then he would not suffer me to be any longer in his
 company, and so drove me from mine heritage, and so
 disherited me, and he had never pity of me nor of none of
 my council, nor of my court.  And sithen, sir knight, it
 hath befallen me so, and through me and mine I have
 benome him many of his men, and made them to become
 my men.  For they ask never nothing of me but I give
 it them, that and much more.  Thus I and all my servants
 were against him night and day.  Therefore I know now
 no good knight, nor no good man, but I get them on my
 side an I may.  And for that I know that thou art a good
 knight, I beseech you to help me; and for ye be a fellow
 of the Round Table, wherefore ye ought not to fail no
 gentlewoman which is disherited, an she besought you of
 help.