Sir Galahad, Sir Bors and Sir Perceval, together with the latter’s sister, had disembarked from their ship and freed the imprisoned Lord Hernox, then travelled on to a chapel where they were told that it was they who would bring the quest for the Holy Grail to it conclusion.
After they rode away from that chapel, they were just passing another castle when a knight rode out and asked whether Sir Perceval’s sister was a maid (virgin). When she confirmed that she was, he told them that before they could continue, she had to follow the custom of that castle. With that, a dozen knights joined them to ensure that they followed his instruction. He told them that whenever a maid passed the castle, she had to stop to be bled from her arm sufficient to fill a basin.
Despite their protests and Sir Galahad’s valiant attempts to defeat the overwhelming force of knights that emerged from the castle, they had no choice but to follow the instruction. They were told that the lady of the castle was suffering from a sickness that could only be cured if she was anointed by a dishful of blood from a pure virgin who was a king’s daughter. Sir Perceval’s sister agreed, and her arm was bled into the bowl.
As she did so, she realised that she was about to die in order that the lady of the castle was healed. She told her three companions to put her in a ship rather than bury her. When they eventually achieved the Holy Grail, her ship would arrive, and they could then bury her there, in the same place that the three knights would also be buried in their own time. Shortly after she had received the last rites, Sir Perceval’s sister died, and the lady of the castle was finally healed.
Later, Sir Lancelot was told in a vision to go and board the first ship he could find. When he did so, he found the body of Sir Perceval’s sister, complete with a letter explaining her death. After a month, Sir Galahad rode up to the ship, and the two told one another of their adventures in the quest. They lived on board for six months, until one day they went to the edge of a forest, where they were greeted by a knight armed all in white, who told them to leave the ship and travel in their quest. As they parted, they were told that they would never see one another again.
Over a month later, Lancelot reached a castle, entered, and went to a chamber within it where he knew the Holy Grail would be. The door opened, but he was told not to enter. In the middle of the room was the Holy Grail, covered with red samite (rich silk) on a table of silver. When Lancelot entered to assist the priest who was standing in front of the grail, he felt a fiery wind scorch his face, and fell to the ground powerless. He was left outside the door, apparently dead.
For twenty-four days, Lancelot lay like a corpse, hanging onto life, then on the twenty-fifth day he recovered, and was told that his quest was complete. He made his way back to Camelot, where he learned that more than half the knights of the Round Table had died in their quest for the Holy Grail.
Another of Edwin Austin Abbey’s panels in the Boston Public Library shows Galahad Weds Blanchefleur, an episode in the knight’s quest that isn’t told in Malory’s account. I believe that this refers to a proof of Galahad’s virginity.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Sir Galahad at the Ruined Chapel from 1857-59 appears to be an additional scene.
Sir Galahad had a further series of adventures in his quest, eventually meeting up again with Sir Perceval and Sir Bors. They reached King Pelles at Castle Corbenic, where they were asked to mend the broken sword that had pierced the thigh of Joseph of Arimathea. Galahad was successful in this, making the repaired sword look as good as new. Later it rose into the air, and a voice told all those who were not true knights to leave, so that Galahad and his companions could be fed, alongside King Pelles, his son and a niece.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s composite scene of How Sir Galahad, Sir Bors and Sir Percival Were Fed with the Sanct Grael; but Sir Percival’s Sister Died by the Way (1864) fuses this with the story of Perceval’s sister.
Nine knights then entered, followed by a sick man on a bed. The knights told all those not engaged in the quest for the Holy Grail to depart. Next Joseph himself came in, accompanied by four angels, who lifted him up to his seat by a silver table on which was the Holy Grail. After Joseph had prepared for the celebration of mass with them, he left, and the three knights received the eucharist from Christ himself. They were given instructions to leave that night with the Holy Grail, and to take it to a ship that would be waiting for them.
This section of the tapestry designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris and John Henry Dearle shows The Attainment: The Vision of the Holy Grail to Sir Galahad, Sir Bors, and Sir Perceval, and was made in 1895-96.
Aubrey Beardsley’s unusual account in The Holy Grail is Achieved (1893) forms the frontispiece for an edition of Malory’s book.
Galahad, Perceval and Bors left at midnight and rode for three days before they reached the ship. Already on board was the table of silver on which the Holy Grail stood, again covered in red samite. They reached the city of Sarras, and on entering its harbour found the ship on which the body of Sir Perceval’s sister had been laid to rest.
Galahad was made king of that city, and stayed there in his palace with the Holy Grail. During a vision in which the three knights saw Joseph of Arimathea, Sir Galahad died and his soul was taken up to heaven. Sir Perceval entered a hermitage and took holy orders, dying just over a year later. Sir Bors eventually made his way back to Camelot, where their adventures in quest of the Holy Grail were recorded.
Reference
Dorsey Armstrong (translator and editor) & Sir Thomas Malory (2009) Morte Darthur, a new modern English translation, Parlor Press. ISBN 978 1 60235 103 5. (A superb translation based on the Winchester manuscript.)