“Then came Sir Bors de Ganis, and said, My lord Sir Lancelot, what think ye for to do, now to ride in this realm? wit thou well ye shall find few friends.  Be as it may, said Sir Lancelot, keep you still here, for I will forth on my journey, and no man nor child shall go with me.  So it was no boot to strive, but he departed and rode westerly and sought seven or eight days, and at the last he came to a nunnery.  And then was Queen Guinevere ware of Sir Lancelot as he walked in the cloister.  And when she saw him there she swooned thrice, that all the ladies and gentlewomen had work enough to hold the Queen up.  So when she might speak she called the ladies and gentlewomen to her and said, Ye marvel, fair ladies, why I make this cheer.  Truly, she said, it is for the sight of yonder knight which yonder standeth, wherefore I pray you all call him to me.  And when Sir Lancelot was brought unto her she said, through this knight and me all these wars been wrought, and the death of the most noblest knights of the world.  For through our love that we have loved together is my most noble lord slain.  Therefore, wit ye well, Sir Lancelot, I am set in such a plight to get my soul health; and yet I trust through God’s grace after my death to have a sight of the blessed face of Christ, and at the dreadful day of doom to sit on His right side, for as sinful creatures as ever was I are saints in heaven.  Therefore, Sir Lancelot, I require and beseech thee heartily, for all the love that ever was betwixt us, that thou never see me more in the visage.  And furthermore I command thee on God’s behalf right straightly that thou forsake my company, and to thy kingdom thou turn again, and keep well thy realm from war and wrack.  For as well as I have loved thee, mine heart will not serve me to see thee; for both through me and thee is the flower of kings and knights destroyed.  Therefore, Sir Lancelot, go to thy realm, and there take thee a wife, and live with her in joy and bliss, and I pray thee heartily pray for me to our Lord, that I may amend my mis-living.

“Now, sweet madam, said Sir Lancelot, would ye that I should return again unto my country, and there to wed a lady?  Nay, madam, wit you well, that shall I never do:  for I shall never be so false to you of that I have promised, but the same destiny that ye have taken you unto, I will take me unto, for to please God and specially to pray for you.

“If thou wilt do so, said the Queen, hold thy promise.  But I may not believe but that thou wilt turn to the world again.

“Ye say well, said he, yet wish ye me never false of my promise, and God defend but that I should forsake the world like as ye have done.  For in the quest of the Sancgreall I had forsaken the vanities of the world had not your lord been.  And if I had done so at that time, with my heart, will, and thought, I had passed all the knights that were in the Sancgreall, except Sir Galahad, my son.  And therefore, lady, sithen ye have taken you to perfection,