Then Sir Percival said to the woman at the window:  “Bid them open the gate and let me in; for I come to bring you succor at this place.”

To this the woman said:  “I shall not bid them open the gate, for I know from your armor who you are, and that you are Sir Engeneron the Seneschal.  And I know that you are one of our bitterest enemies; for you have already slain several of the knights of this castle, and now you seek by guile to enter into the castle itself.”

[Sidenote:  Sir Percival entereth Beaurepaire] Then Sir Percival said:  “I am not Sir Engeneron, but one who hath overthrown Sir Engeneron in battle.  I have put on his armor with intent that I might come hither to help defend this place against Sir Clamadius.”  So said Sir Percival, and therewith he put up the umbril of his helmet, saying:  “Look, see; I am not Sir Engeneron.”  Then the woman at the window saw his face and that it was not the face of Sir Engeneron.  And she saw that the face of Sir Percival was mild and gentle, wherefore she ran and told the people of the castle that a knight who was a friend stood without.  Therewith they of the castle let fall the drawbridge and opened the gates, and Sir Percival entered into the castle.

Then there came several of the chief people of the castle, and they also were all pale and woe-begone from long fasting, as was the woman whom Sir Percival had first seen; for all were greatly wasted because of the toil and anxiety of that siege.  These asked Sir Percival who he was and whence he came and how he came thither; and Sir Percival told them all that it was necessary for them to know.  For he told them how he was a young knight trained under the care of Sir Launcelot; and he told them that he had come thither with the hope of serving the Lady Blanchefleur; and he told them what adventures had befallen him in the coming and how he had already overthrown Sir Lionel and Sir Engeneron to get there.  Wherefore, from these things, they of the castle perceived that Sir Percival was a very strong, worthy knight, and they gave great joy that he should have come thither to their aid.

So he who was chief of those castle people summoned several attendants, and these came and some took the horse of Sir Percival and led it to the stables, and others relieved Sir Percival of his armor; and others took him to a bath of tepid water, where he bathed himself, and was dried on soft linen towels; and others brought soft garments of gray cloth and clad Sir Percival in them and afterward brought him down into a fair large chamber where there was a table spread as though ready for meat.

[Sidenote:  Sir Percival beholds the Lady Blanchefleur] Now in a little after Sir Percival was come to that supper-hall the door thereof was opened and there entered several people.  With these came a damsel of such extraordinary beauty and gracefulness of figure that Sir Percival stood amazed.  For her face was fair beyond words; red upon white, like rose-leaves upon cream; and her eyes were bright and glancing like those of a falcon, and her nose was thin and straight, and her lips were very red, like to coral for redness, and her hair was dark and abundant and like to silk for softness.  She was clad all in a dress of black, shot with stars of gold, and the dress was lined with ermine and was trimmed with sable at the collar and the cuffs and the hem thereof.