When he was asleep he heard a voice in a dream which said, “Launcelot, rise up, take thine armor and enter the first ship thou shalt find.”
When he heard these words he rose up and set out toward the sea. By good fortune he found a ship which was without sail and oars, and he saw no one.
As soon as he was on shipboard he was filled with joy such as he had never felt before, and in this joy he lay down and slept till daylight.
When he awoke he was astonished to see there a fair bed in which lay a dead gentlewoman. As he looked he saw in her right hand Sir Percival’s letter, which told who she was and what she had achieved.
There Sir Launcelot spent some days, not knowing what to do. One night as he was sitting on the shore, he heard a horseman coming that way and waited to see what would happen. The rider, who seemed to be a knight, rode to where the ship was, alighted, and went on board.
Sir Launcelot went toward him and said, “Sir, you are welcome.”
The other returned his salute and asked his name, “for,” said he, “my heart goes out to you.”
“Truly,” said Sir Launcelot, “my name is Sir Launcelot of the Lake.”
“Sir,” said the other, “then you are welcome, for you were the beginning of me in this world.”