And
why the voice called thee bitterer than wood, for where overmuch sin
dwelleth, there may be but little sweetness, wherefore thou art
likened to an old rotten tree. Now have I shewed thee why thou art
harder than the stone and bitterer than the tree. Now shall I shew
thee why thou art more naked and barer than the fig tree. It befel
that Our Lord on Palm Sunday preached in Jerusalem, and there He found
in the people that all hardness was harboured in them, and there He
found in all the town not one that would harbour him. And then He went
without the town, and found in the middes of the way a fig tree, the
which was right fair and well garnished of leaves, but fruit had it
none. Then Our Lord cursed the tree that bare no fruit; that
betokeneth the fig tree unto Jerusalem, that had leaves and no fruit.
So thou, Sir Launcelot, when the Holy Grail was brought afore thee, He
found in thee no fruit, nor good thought nor good will, and defouled
with lechery. Certes, said Sir Launcelot, all that you have said is
true, and from henceforward I cast me, by the grace of God, never to
be so wicked as I have been, but as to follow knighthood and to do
feats of arms.
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