"I agree to that," said Galahad. "I have ridden far enough without a shield."
Then they went to supper, and afterwards to sleep. When morning came Bagdemagus asked of the abbot where the magic shield was, and a monk led him behind an altar where hung a shield as white as snow, but with a red cross in its centre.
"I hope you are well advised of what you do," said the monk. "No knight, unless he be the worthiest in the world, can safely bear this shield."
"I know well that I am not the best of knights," said Bagdemagus; "and yet I shall wear it and dare the danger."
Then he took it out of the monastery, and said to Galahad,—
"If it please you, await me here till you learn how I shall speed."
"I shall await tidings," said Galahad.
Bagdemagus now rode forward with a squire, that he might send back tidings of his good or ill fortune, and passed onward for two miles, when he found himself in a valley before a hermitage. Here he saw a stalwart knight in white armor, horse and all, who, in seeing the red-cross shield, rode upon him at the full speed of his charger. Bagdemagus put his spear in rest and rode to meet him, but his spear broke on the white knight, while he was wounded in the right shoulder and borne from his horse, the treacherous shield refusing to cover him. Then the victor knight alighted and took the white shield from him, saying,—
"Sir knight, you have acted with more folly than wisdom, for you should have known that only he who has no peer living can safely bear this shield."
Then he went to the squire who had come with King Bagdemagus, and said,—