The lord pointed to the spear fixed in the pillar, all inlaid with gold enamel.

'Go', he said, 'and observe the custom as other knights have done.'

'What may that be?' asked Lancelot.

'They could not pull that spear from the pillar,' he said, 'and so lost my daughter and their lives.'

'May God keep me,' said Lancelot, 'from such customs.'

He came straight up to the pillar and seized the spear with both hands; and as soon as he took hold of it he pulled the spear with such force that the whole pillar came crumbling down.

Perlesvaus