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 ix

THenne beganne he to wepe ryght tendyrly & said long haue I abyden your comynge / but for goddes loue holdeth me in your armes that my sowle may departe oute of my body in soo good a mans armes as ye be / Gladly sayd Galahad / And thenne one sayd on hyghe that alle herde / Galahad/ wel hast thou auenged me on goddes enemyes / Now behoueth the to goo to the maymed kyng as soone as thow maist / for he shalle receyue by the helthe whiche he hath abyden soo long / and ther with the sowle departed from the body / and Galahad made hym to be buryed as hym ought to be / Ryght soo departed the thre knyghtes and Percyuals syster with them / And soo they came in to a waste foreste / and there they sawe afore them a whyte herte whiche four lyons ladde / Thenne they took hem to assent for to folowe after / for to knowe whydder they repayred and soo they rode after a grete paas til that they cam to a valeye / & ther by was an hermytage where a good man dwellid and the herte and the lyons entryd also / soo whanne they sawe all this / they torned to the chappel / and sawe the good man in a relygyous wede & in the armour of our lord / for he wold synge masse of the holy ghoost / and soo they entryd in & herde

[leaf 352r] masse / And at the secretys of the masse / they thre sawe the hert become a man / the whiche merueyled hem and sette hym vpon the aulter / in a ryche sege / and sawe the four lyons were chaunged / the one to the forme of a man / the other to the forme of a lyon / and the thyrd to an Egle / and the fourth was chaunged vnto an oxe / thenne toke they her sege / where the herte sat / and wente oute thurgh a glas wyndowe / and there was no thynge perysshed nor broken / and they herd a voyce say in suche a maner entred the sone of god in the wombe of a mayd mary / whos vyrgynyte ne was perysshed ne hurte / & whanne they herd these wordes they felle doune to the erthe / and were astonyed / and ther with was a grete clerenes / And whanne they were come to their self ageyn they wente to the good man and prayd hym that he wold say hem trouthe / What thynge ha ue ye sene sayd he / & they told hym all that they had sene / A lordes sayd he ye be welcome / now wote I wel ye be the good knyghtes / the whiche shal brynge the Sancgreal to an ende / For ye ben they vnto whome oure lord shalle shewe grete secretes / and wel oughte oure lord be sygnefyed to an herte / For the herte whanne he is old / he waxeth yonge ageyne in hys whyte skynne / Ryght soo cometh ageyne oure lord from dethe to lyf / for he lost erthely flesshe that was the dedely flesshe / whyche he had taken in the wombe of the blessid vyrgyn mary / & for that cause appiered oure lord as a whyte herte withoute spot / and the foure that were with hym is to vnderstande the foure euuangelystes whiche sette in wrytynge a parte of Ihesu Crystes dedes that he dyd somtyme whan he was amonge yow an erthely man / for wete ye wel neuer erst ne myghte no knyghte knowe the trouthe / for oftymes or this oure lord shewed hym vnto good men and vnto good knyghtes in lykenes of an herte But I suppose from hens forth ye shalle see no more / and thenne they Ioyed moche / and dwelled ther alle that day /

¶ And vpon the morowe whan they had herde masse / they departed and commaunded the good man to god and soo they came to a Castel and passed by / So there came a knyghte armed after them and sayd lordes herke what I shal saye to yow