CHAPTER VIII
 
 How great sorrow was made of the king and the queen and
 ladies for the departing of the knights, and how they
 departed.
 
 
 AND therewith the tears fell in his eyes.  And then he
 said:  Gawaine, Gawaine, ye have set me in great sorrow,
 for I have great doubt that my true fellowship shall never
 meet here more again.  Ah, said Sir Launcelot, comfort
 yourself; for it shall be unto us a great honour and much
 more than if we died in any other places, for of death we
 be siker.  Ah, Launcelot, said the king, the great love
 that I have had unto you all the days of my life maketh
 me to say such doleful words; for never Christian king
 had never so many worthy men at his table as I have had
 this day at the Round Table, and that is my great sorrow.
 
 When the queen, ladies, and gentlewomen, wist these
 tidings, they had such sorrow and heaviness that there
 might no tongue tell it, for those knights had held them
 in honour and chiert.  But among all other Queen
 Guenever made great sorrow.  I marvel, said she, my
 lord would suffer them to depart from him.  Thus was
 all the court troubled for the love of the departition of
 those knights.  And many of those ladies that loved
 knights would have gone with their lovers; and so had
 they done, had not an old knight come among them in
 religious clothing; and then he spake all on high and
 said:  Fair lords, which have sworn in the quest of the
 Sangreal, thus sendeth you Nacien, the hermit, word, that
 none in this quest lead lady nor gentlewoman with him,
 for it is not to do in so high a service as they labour in;
 for I warn you plain, he that is not clean of his sins he
 shall not see the mysteries of our Lord Jesu Christ.  And
 for this cause they left these ladies and gentlewomen.
 
 After this the queen came unto Galahad and asked
 him of whence he was, and of what country.  He told
 her of whence he was.  And son unto Launcelot, she said
 he was.  As to that, he said neither yea nor nay.  So God
 me help, said the queen, of your father ye need not to
 shame you, for he is the goodliest knight, and of the best
 men of the world come, and of the strain, of all parties,
 of kings.  Wherefore ye ought of right to be, of your
 deeds, a passing good man; and certainly, she said, ye
 resemble him much.  Then Sir Galahad was a little
 ashamed and said:  Madam, sith ye know in certain,
 wherefore do ye ask it me? for he that is my father shall
 be known openly and all betimes.  And then they went
 to rest them.  And in the honour of the highness of
 Galahad he was led into King Arthur's chamber, and
 there rested in his own bed.
 
 And as soon as it was day the king arose, for he had
 no rest of all that night for sorrow.  Then he went unto
 Gawaine and to Sir Launcelot that were arisen for to hear
 mass.  And then the king again said:  Ah Gawaine,
 Gawaine, ye have betrayed me; for never shall my court
 be amended by you, but ye will never be sorry for me as
 I am for you.  And therewith the tears began to run down
 by his visage.  And therewith the king said:  Ah, knight
 Sir Launcelot, I require thee thou counsel me, for I would
 that this quest were undone, an it might be Sir, said Sir
 Launcelot, ye saw yesterday so many worthy knights that
 then were sworn that they may not leave it in no manner
 of wise.  That wot I well, said the king, but it shall so
 heavy me at their departing that I wot well there shall no
 manner of joy remedy me.  And then the king and the
 queen went unto the minster.  So anon Launcelot and
 Gawaine commanded their men to bring their arms.  And
 when they all were armed save their shields and their
 helms, then they came to their fellowship, which were all
 ready in the same wise, for to go to the minster to hear
 their service.
 
 Then after the service was done the king would wit
 how many had undertaken the quest of the Holy Grail;
 and to accompt them he prayed them all.  Then found
 they by the tale an hundred and fifty, and all were knights
 of the Round Table.  And then they put on their helms
 and departed, and recommended them all wholly unto the
 queen; and there was weeping and great sorrow.  Then
 the queen departed into her chamber and held her, so that
 no man should perceive her great sorrows.  When Sir
 Launcelot missed the queen he went till her chamber, and
 when she saw him she cried aloud:  O Launcelot, Launcelot,
 ye have betrayed me and put me to the death, for to
 leave thus my lord.  Ah, madam, I pray you be not
 displeased, for I shall come again as soon as I may with
 my worship.  Alas, said she, that ever I saw you; but he
 that suffered upon the cross for all mankind, he be unto
 you good conduct and safety, and all the whole fellowship.
 
 Right so departed Sir Launcelot, and found his fellowship
 that abode his coming.  And so they mounted upon
 their horses and rode through the streets of Camelot; and
 there was weeping of rich and poor, and the king turned
 away and might not speak for weeping.  So within a
 while they came to a city, and a castle that hight Vagon.
 There they entered into the castle, and the lord of that
 castle was an old man that hight Vagon, and he was a
 good man of his living, and set open the gates, and made
 them all the cheer that he might.  And so on the morn
 they were all accorded that they should depart everych
 from other; and on the morn they departed with weeping
 cheer, and every knight took the way that him liked best.