Then one of the doors opened, and there came in a very old man dressed all in white, and no one knew whence he came.
By his side was a young man in red armor. He had neither sword nor shield, but hanging by his side was an empty sheath.
There was a great silence in the hall as the old man said, slowly and solemnly, "I bring you the young knight Sir Galahad, who is descended from a king. He shall do many great deeds, and he shall see the Holy Grail."
"He shall see the Holy Grail," the knights repeated, with awe on their faces.
For far back, in the days of their boyhood, they had heard the story of the Holy Grail. It was the Sacred Cup out of which their Lord had drunk before He died.
And they had been told how sometimes it was seen carried by angels, and how at other times in a gleam of light. But in whatever way it appeared, it was seen only by those who were pure in heart.
And as the old man's words, "He shall see the Holy Grail," fell on their ears, the knights thought of the story they had heard so long ago, and they were sorry, for they had never seen the Sacred Cup, and they knew that it was unseen only by those who had done wrong.
But the old man was telling the boy-knight to follow him. He led him to the empty chair, and lifted the silk that covered the golden letters. "This is the seat of Sir Galahad, the Pure*-hearted," he read aloud. And the young knight sat in the empty seat that belonged to him.
Then the old man left the palace, and twenty noble squires met him, and took him back to his own country.