Le Morte Darthur / by Syr Thomas Malory ; the original edition of William Caxton now reprinted and edited with an introduction and glossary by H. Oskar Sommer ; with an essay on Malory's prose style by Andrew Lang

¶ Capitulum vndecimum

[leaf 314r]

NOt longe after that Ioseph was layd in his dedely bed And whanne kynge Euelake sawe that / he made moche sorowe / and sayd / for thy loue I haue lefte my countrey / And sythe ye shalle departe oute of this world / leue me somme token of yours that I may thynke on you / Ioseph said that wille I doo ful gladly / Now brynge me your sheld that I toke yow whanne ye went in to bataille ageynst kyng Tolleme / Thenne Ioseph bled sore at the nose / so that he myȝt not by no meane be staunched / And therupon that sheld he made a crosse of his owne blood / Now may ye see a remembraunce that I loue yow / for ye shalle neuer see this shelde but ye shal thynke on me / and it shall be alweyes as fresshe as it is now And neuer shalle man bere this sheld aboute his neck but he shalle repente hit vnto the tyme that Galahad the good knyȝte bere hit / and the laste of my lygnage shal leue hit aboute his neck that shall doo many merueyllous dedes / Now sayd kynge Euelake where shalle I put this shelde that this worthy knyght may haue hit / ye shal leue hit there as nacyen the heremyte shal be put after his dethe / For thydder shal that good knyghte come the fyftenth day after that he shal receyue the ordre of knyghthode / and soo that daye that they sette / is this tyme that he haue his shelde / And in the same abbay lyeth Nacyen the heremyte / And thenne the whyte knyghte vanysshed away Anone as the squyer had herde these wordes / he alyghte of his hakney and kneled doune at Galahads feet and prayd hym that he myghte goo with hym tyll he had made hym knyghte/ Yf I wold not refuse yow / thenne will ye make me a knyȝte sayd the squyer / and that ordre by the grace of god shal be wel sette in me / Soo syr Galahad graunted hym and tourned ageyne vnto the Abbay there they came fro / and there men made grete Ioye of syr Galahad / And anone as he was alyghte / there was a monke broughte hym vnto a Tombe in a Chirche yerd where that was suche a noyse that who that herd hit shold veryly nyghe be madde or lese his strengthe / and syre they sayd we deme hit is a fende