In the Gautier section of the Conte del Graal, and in the
description of Gawain's visit to the Graal Castle, he sees among
the sacred objects a Lance, which bleeds into a silver cup, but
it is not the Cup of the Graal. The Lance is the weapon which
pierced the side of Christ, and it is said that it will bleed
till Doomsday. The body of the arm was of wood. The blade was
white as snow, and the weapon was at the head of the master
dais; it seems to have reposed in the vessel, and two tapers
were burning before it. The stream of blood issued from the
point of the Lance and ran down into the vessel, from which, as
it overflowed, it poured into a channel of gold and ran without
the Hall. This extravagant description is substituted for a much
simpler account in Chrétien's portion of the poem; there only a
single drop of blood trickles down to the hand of the squire who
bears the weapon in the pageant. The fuller historical account
is found in Manessier's section, which says that the Lance is
that of the Roman soldi