For, if
Sir Launcelot was the chiefest of all the knights who ever came unto King
Arthur's court, then it is hard to say whether Sir Tristram of Lyonesse or
Sir Percival of Gales was second unto him in renown_.
_And I pray that it shall be given unto all of ye to live as brave and
honorable and pure a life as he did; and that you, upon your part, may
claim a like glory and credit in the world in which you dwell by such noble
behavior as he exhibited_.
[Illustration: Sir Percival of Gales]
Prologue.
The father of Sir Percival was that king hight Pellinore who fought so
terrible a battle with King Arthur as has been told in the Book of King
Arthur. For it was after that fight that King Arthur obtained his famous
sword Excalibur, as was therein told.
Now, King Pellinore was one of those eleven kings who, in the beginning of
King Arthur's reign, were in rebellion against King Arthur as hath been
told in the book aforesaid, and he was one of the last of all those kings
to yield when he was overcome. So King Arthur drove him from town to town
and from place to place until, at last, he was driven away from the
habitations of men and into the forests like to a wild beast.
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