Perceval Rode Out Into Open Country But Met no-one; then he passed back into the forest and rode on, his head bowed in thought. Suddenly a knight came thundering through the trees, lance lowered, as fast as his horse could go; and he struck Perceval as he passed and sent him crashing to the ground and seized his horse by the reins. Perceval leaped up swiftly and drew his sword, and began to race after the knight to recover his mount, distraught and furious at being felled. He gave chase right along a valley, not slowing for a moment; but the knight was riding away so fast that a thunderbolt wouldn’t have caught him. Perceval lost sight of him and sat down beneath an oak, irate, downcast and troubled, and began to say to himself:

‘This morning I unburdened myself of all my sins, wanting to mend my wrongful ways, and now I’ve lost my horse! I’m in a mess without a mount – I look a proper fool! I don’t care what the priest said: I’d pursue that knight to the end of the earth to take revenge! But I’d have to find out his name first – I don’t know who he is.’

Such was Perceval’s lament as he leaned against the forest oak, sad, dejected and frustrated. While he sat there crestfallen, not knowing what to do, he saw a horse coming straight and swiftly towards him; it lacked neither saddle nor stirrups nor harness: it was a handsome horse indeed, and it galloped up to Perceval like lightning, whinnying and pounding its hooves. And it was as black as any berry. Perceval was roused from his troubled thoughts, and leaped up to catch it as soon as he saw it; the horse baulked and reared, but Perceval grabbed the reins and jumped into the saddle. He was jubilant, and delighted with his fine mount, and said he had had a great stroke of luck in finding this splendid, God-sent horse.

And so it was that he rode on until he found himself in the Waste Forest, where he chanced to meet a knight whose arms he didn’t recognise; and taking him for an enemy he charged him and struck him so hard in the chest that he shattered his lance. The knight struck him back, and once again Perceval found himself unseated and crashing to the ground.