Bulfinch’s Mythology · Chapter
Sir Perceval explained
Sir Perceval, riding alone, is attacked by twenty armed men and nearly slain, but is rescued by Sir Galahad.
What happens
Sir Perceval, riding alone, is attacked by twenty armed men and nearly slain, but is rescued by Sir Galahad. After his horse is killed, he is tempted by a fiend disguised as a woman who offers him a horse, which nearly carries him to his doom. He escapes by making the sign of the cross. Later, he encounters a beautiful lady in a ship who claims to be disinherited; she tempts him with food and wine and nearly seduces him into swearing fealty, but he sees the red cross on his sword, makes the sign of the cross, and the illusion vanishes, revealing the fiend.
Themes in this chapter
Heroism and the Quest
Sir Perceval's journey is marked by trials of combat and temptation, embodying the chivalric quest for spiritual purity and knightly virtue.
Mortality and Immortality
Perceval's encounters with fiendish temptations highlight the mortal struggle between earthly desires and eternal salvation.
Characters to notice
- Sir Perceval
The protagonist of the chapter; he is rescued by Sir Galahad, tempted by a fiendish horse, and later nearly seduced by a demonic lady before being saved by the sign of the cross.
- Sir Galahad
Appears as the knight with the red cross who rescues Sir Perceval from the twenty men of arms, then chases the fleeing attackers into a forest.
Key passages
“Then he made the sign of the cross on his forehead. When the fiend felt him so charged, he shook off Sir Perceval, and went into the water crying and roaring; and it seemed unto him that the water burned.”
Perceval crossed himself, and the demonic horse threw him off, plunging into the water with a roar as if the water itself were on fire.
Perceval's use of the cross defeats the fiendish horse, revealing its demonic nature.
“Then he made the sign of the cross on his forehead, and therewith the pavilion shrivelled up, and changed into a smoke and a black cloud. And the damsel cried aloud, and hasted into the ship, and so she went with the wind roaring and yelling that it seemed all the water burned after her.”
Perceval crossed himself, causing the pavilion to collapse into smoke and a black cloud, while the lady fled screaming into her ship, which departed with a roaring wind as if the sea were ablaze.
The second temptation is dispelled by the sign of the cross, revealing the lady as a fiend.