Early in Chrétien de Troyes’s story Perceval, the title character is presented as a young boy throwing spears in the forest, teaching himself war, and enjoying the simple pleasures of nature. He hears, and then sees, Five armed knights, in armour from head to toe, coming through the woods. . . . . . . The glittering hauberks and the bright, shining helmets, the lances and the shields . . . the green and vermilion glistening in the sunshine . . . Convinced he must be seeing angels, he asks their leader, “Are you God?” “No, by my faith,” replies the man. “I am a knight.”
