Her eyes were so
beautiful
with the
light of holiness that I did not know them.
light of holiness that I did not know them.
Tennyson
]
"The Holy Grail," cried Ambrosious. "Heaven knows I don't know much, but
what is that, the phantom of a cup that comes and goes? "
"No, no," said Percival, "what phantom do you mean? It's the cup that
our Lord drank from at his sad last supper, and after he died Joseph of
Aramathea brought it to Glastonbury at Christmas time, and there it
stayed a while and every one who looked at it or touched it was healed
of their sicknesses. But the times grew so wicked that the cup was
caught up into heaven where nobody could see it. "
"Yes, I remember reading in our old books," said Ambrosious, "how Joseph
built a lonely little church at Glastonbury on the marsh, but that was
long ago. Who first saw the vision of the Holy Grail to-day? "
"A woman," said Sir Percival, "a nun, my sister who was a holy maid if
ever there was one. The old man to whom she used to tell her sins (or
what she called her sins), often spoke to her about the legend of the
Holy Grail which had been handed down through six people, each of them a
hundred years old, from the Lord's time. And when Arthur made the order
of the Round Table and all hearts became clean and pure for a time this
old man thought surely the Holy Grail would come back again. 'O Christ! '
he used to say to my sister, 'if only it would come back and help all
the world of its wickedness! ' And then my sister asked him whether it
might come to her by prayer and fasting.
"'Perhaps,' said the father, 'for your heart is as pure as snow. '
"So she prayed and fasted until the sun shone and the wind blew through
her and one day she sent for me.
Her eyes were so beautiful with the
light of holiness that I did not know them.
"'Sweet Brother,' she said, 'I have seen the Holy Grail. I heard a sound
like a silver horn but sweeter than any music we can make, and then a
cold silver beam of light streamed in through my cell, and down the beam
stole the Holy Grail, rose red and throbbing as if it were alive. All
the walls of my cell grew rosy red with quivering rosy colors. Then the
music faded away, the Holy Grail vanished and the colors died out in
the darkness. So now we know the Holy Thing is here again, Brother fast,
too, and pray, and tell your brother-knights about it, then perhaps the
vision may be seen by you all, and the whole world will be healed. '
[Illustration: MY KNIGHT OF HEAVEN, GO FORTH. ]
"So I told all the knights and we fasted and prayed for many weeks. Then
my sister cut off all her long streaming silken hair which used to fall
to her feet and out of it braided a strong sword belt and with silver
and crimson thread she wove into it a crimson grail in a silver beam.
Then she bound it on our beautiful boy knight, Sir Galahad, and said:
"'My knight of heaven, go forth, for you shall see what I have seen and
far in the spiritual city you will be crowned king. ' Then she sent the
deathless passion of her eyes through him and he believed what she said.
"Then came a year of miracles. In our great hall there stood a chair
which Merlin had fashioned carved with strange figures like a serpent
and in and out among the strange figures ran a scroll of strange letters
in a language nobody knew like a serpent. Merlin called it the Seat
Perilous, because he said if any one sat in it he would get lost. And
Galahad said that if he got lost in it he would save himself. So one
summer night Sir Galahad sat down in the chair and all at once there was
a cracking of the roofs above us, and a blast and thunder, and in the
thunder there was a cry and in the blast there was a beam of light seven
times clearer than the daylight.
"The Holy Grail," cried Ambrosious. "Heaven knows I don't know much, but
what is that, the phantom of a cup that comes and goes? "
"No, no," said Percival, "what phantom do you mean? It's the cup that
our Lord drank from at his sad last supper, and after he died Joseph of
Aramathea brought it to Glastonbury at Christmas time, and there it
stayed a while and every one who looked at it or touched it was healed
of their sicknesses. But the times grew so wicked that the cup was
caught up into heaven where nobody could see it. "
"Yes, I remember reading in our old books," said Ambrosious, "how Joseph
built a lonely little church at Glastonbury on the marsh, but that was
long ago. Who first saw the vision of the Holy Grail to-day? "
"A woman," said Sir Percival, "a nun, my sister who was a holy maid if
ever there was one. The old man to whom she used to tell her sins (or
what she called her sins), often spoke to her about the legend of the
Holy Grail which had been handed down through six people, each of them a
hundred years old, from the Lord's time. And when Arthur made the order
of the Round Table and all hearts became clean and pure for a time this
old man thought surely the Holy Grail would come back again. 'O Christ! '
he used to say to my sister, 'if only it would come back and help all
the world of its wickedness! ' And then my sister asked him whether it
might come to her by prayer and fasting.
"'Perhaps,' said the father, 'for your heart is as pure as snow. '
"So she prayed and fasted until the sun shone and the wind blew through
her and one day she sent for me.
Her eyes were so beautiful with the
light of holiness that I did not know them.
"'Sweet Brother,' she said, 'I have seen the Holy Grail. I heard a sound
like a silver horn but sweeter than any music we can make, and then a
cold silver beam of light streamed in through my cell, and down the beam
stole the Holy Grail, rose red and throbbing as if it were alive. All
the walls of my cell grew rosy red with quivering rosy colors. Then the
music faded away, the Holy Grail vanished and the colors died out in
the darkness. So now we know the Holy Thing is here again, Brother fast,
too, and pray, and tell your brother-knights about it, then perhaps the
vision may be seen by you all, and the whole world will be healed. '
[Illustration: MY KNIGHT OF HEAVEN, GO FORTH. ]
"So I told all the knights and we fasted and prayed for many weeks. Then
my sister cut off all her long streaming silken hair which used to fall
to her feet and out of it braided a strong sword belt and with silver
and crimson thread she wove into it a crimson grail in a silver beam.
Then she bound it on our beautiful boy knight, Sir Galahad, and said:
"'My knight of heaven, go forth, for you shall see what I have seen and
far in the spiritual city you will be crowned king. ' Then she sent the
deathless passion of her eyes through him and he believed what she said.
"Then came a year of miracles. In our great hall there stood a chair
which Merlin had fashioned carved with strange figures like a serpent
and in and out among the strange figures ran a scroll of strange letters
in a language nobody knew like a serpent. Merlin called it the Seat
Perilous, because he said if any one sat in it he would get lost. And
Galahad said that if he got lost in it he would save himself. So one
summer night Sir Galahad sat down in the chair and all at once there was
a cracking of the roofs above us, and a blast and thunder, and in the
thunder there was a cry and in the blast there was a beam of light seven
times clearer than the daylight.
