Let’s continue on in our quest for the Holy Grail, as told in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. For this entry, allow me to just provide a summary of the action.
Summary of Chapter 7: “Sir Galahad”
Chapter 7 really serves as the beginning of the end of the Grail story. Once again, its focus is on Sir Galahad, but this time, he teams up with Sir Percivale and Sir Bors as they make their way to the Castle of Carbonek and the Holy Grail.
The last time we saw Galahad was when he saved Percivale from 20 knights and then rode off again through the waste land. Here, we are told Galahad had many other adventures that no one knows anything about. Eventually, though, Galahad came to a castle where there was a tournament going on. Sir Ector and Sir Gawain were there, and in the course of the tournament Galahad gave Gawain a terrible wound. This, we are told, was a fulfillment of Launcelot’s prophecy in chapter 1: anyone who unworthily touched the sword in the floating stone would receive a terrible wound.
After the tournament, Galahad once again rides off through the wasteland until he comes to a hermitage within sight of the Castle of Carbonek. That night, a young noblewoman tells Galahad to follow her, and in three days he would have the highest adventure that can befall a knight. They ride off to another castle beside the sea and find a ship on the shore—the same one on which Bors and Percivale are. Galahad and the young noblewomen step aboard, and the ship and it goes out to sea, only to meet a second ship that is deserted—it is the Ship of Faith. Only those who are steadfast in their faith may board. Galahad, Percivale, Bors, and the young noblewoman board the Ship of Faith. At that time the young noblewoman reveals herself to be Percivale’s sister.
On the ship, Galahad finds a bed on which was a crown and a sword, partly drawn from its sheath. The pommel of the sword was a solid stone of many colors, and the hilt was made from two bones. The first was from a snake known as the Fiend’s Serpent—whoever held it would never weary or get injured. The second was from a fish known as the Ertanax—possessed the power that the holder could face the matter at hand and never weary. The inscription read: “No man may ever grip my handle, except for one—and he will surpass all others.” Percivale and Bors try but fail—they are not “the one.” That would be Galahad. As soon as he grips the handle, a second inscription appears: “Whoever draws me out of my sheathe will never fall to shame or be wounded to death.” Galahad, though, does not draw it out.
It is then that Percivale’s sister tells them the story behind the ship and the sword. A long time ago, at Logres, King Labor (the father of the Maimed King) fought with King Hurlaine (a Saracen who later became a Christian) at sea. During the battle, King Hurlaine picked up the sword, gave King Labor the Dolorous Stroke and killed him. But at the same time, that death blow also brought pestilence to both kingdoms, and they became known as the Waste Lands. King Hurlaine then went back to the ship, put the sword back in its scabbard, but then instantly died at the foot of the bed. It became clear that any man who drew that sword ended up maimed or killed.
Percivale’s sister then tells them that Nacien the hermit, the brother-in-law of King Mordrayne, was born 40 years after the Passion of Christ. At some point, Nacien found his way to this ship, and it sped off to a rocky island, where there was a giant. Nacien ran back on the ship and tried to take the sword, but it broke. So, he jumped in the water and attacked and killed the giant. He got back on the ship, and it took him to meet King Mordrayne in another ship where fiends were tempting him. Mordrayne was able to reassemble the pieces, but immediately after that, a voice spoke to them and said, “Leave this ship before you fall into deadly sin and perish!” As the two boarded the first ship, Nacien tripped, fell, and wounded his head with the sword. He was told, “This wound you will suffer for your transgression, for you have handled a sword of which you are unworthy!”
The next one who handled the sword was King Pelles—a righteous king and bulwark of the church. When the ship came to his castle, he boarded it and found the sword. When he started to take the sword out of the sheath, though, a spear came out of nowhere to wound him in both thighs. They are open wounds to this day. Pelles, Galahad’s grandfather, is known as the Maimed King.
After Percivale’s sister tells them that story, the knights examine the bed and notice that the spindles that supported the canopy were three different colors: blood red, snow white, and emerald green. We are then told the story regarding the spindles and the bed.
After Adam and Eve sinned, Eve took some of the apples from the Tree (presumably, the Tree of Life) and planted them in the soil after they were forced out of Eden. Because she was still a virgin when she planted them, the tree that grew up was white. After Adam “knew” Eve and they began to have children, the tree became green. But when Cain killed Abel, the tree grew red. Time went on, and eventually, in the days of King Solomon, the Holy Ghost revealed to Solomon the coming of the Virgin Mary, and eventually Galahad. And so, Solomon and his wife built a ship, and on the ship they made a bed. The spindles for the bed were made out of the wood from that original tree. In fact, when the carpenter began to saw off some of the branches for the spindles, we are told that blood came from the tree. Solomon is told that the last knight in his lineage would sleep on the bed.
The knights then look at the sword on the bed and realize that a new girdle (belt) was needed for the sword. Percivale’s sister then tells them that she has already made one from her golden hair. Galahad then wraps the girdle around his waist and carries the sword. They then all return to the previous ship, and it takes them to Scotland, near the Castle Carteloyse.
As they approach the castle, though, ten knights attack them, but they are able kill them all. A priest then comes out with a vessel of holy wine, and they all kneel before him. He tells them that the ten knights were antichrists. The Earl Hennox is then released from his prison cell in the castle and thanks Galahad for saving him. Then, after telling Galahad to go to the Maimed King, the Earl Hennox dies.
The four then ride off into the wasteland and eventually come across four lions leading a white hart. They follow them to a chapel of a hermitage. Once inside the chapel, the hart takes the form of a man and sits in a pew near the altar. Then three of the lions change into an eagle, ox, and man (the fourth remaining a lion), and they all sit next to man in the pew. Then, miraculously, they all passed through the window without the window being broken. We are then told, “In such a fashion did the Son of God enter the womb of the Virgin Mary, which neither perished nor was hurt.” The hermit there then explains the vision. The hart was Christ, and the four lions were the four Evangelists.
It is at that time, though, that things take a tragic turn. When the hermit finds out that Percivale’s sister is a virgin, he tells her she must submit to the custom of the castle and fill a dish with blood from her right arm. When Galahad, Percivale, and Bors protest, twelve knights and a lady appear and the twelve knights attack. Galahad, Percivale, Bors kill the twelve knights, but then another sixty show up. At that point, Galahad draws his special sword (the Sword of the Strange Girdles) and strikes down all of them.
Finally, a knight tells them the origin of the grisly custom. The lady of the castle had fallen into a coma, and no physician was able to heal her. It was prophesied that she could only be cured by the blood of a virgin princess. That is why they drew blood from every virgin who came to the castle. After hearing that story, Percivale’s sister agrees, and she ends up sacrificing her life for the lady of the castle. After she dies, they put her on a barge and send it out to sea.
As they make their way back to the castle from the shore, there is a wild tempest that sweeps through the land. In the morning, they find the castle in ruins and everyone in it dead. They then heard a voice: “Behold the vengeance of the Lord for the shedding of maidens’ blood.” They then went back to the chapel graveyard and found sixty graves of young noblewomen, with twelve having been princesses. The three then parted company, in hopes of meeting up soon.
