Reading Notes: King Arthur, Part A

King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang

The Drawing of the Sword

After King Uther died, England was thrown into chaos. Merlin declared that whoever could draw the sword from the stone would be King. Needing a sword for his brother, Kay, Arthur drew the sword from the stone and became the rightful King of England.

 

                                      The Sword in the Stone Sculpture

The Questing Beast

               Knight Pellinore, who had been chasing a beast for nearly a year, stole a horse from the King and challenged him to catch the Knight. Merlin came along and prophesied Arthur’s death by his nephew.

 

The Sword Excalibur

               How Arthur got Excalibur from the Lady in the Lake

 

The Round Table

               Guenevere’s father had the Round Table and gave it to Arthur as her dowry. He did not have enough Knights to fill it, and Arthur did not either.

 

The Passing of Merlin

               Merlin fell in love with a damsel of the lake, even though he knew that it would probably not turn out well. He told the King many things, including that he must always keep Excalibur and its scabbard near them, for they would be stolen by a woman he trusted. Merlin and the damsel, Nimue, traveled many places, and Nimue grew weary and upset with Merlin, but Merlin would not leave. Nimue tricked him into crawling under a stone, and then she buried him alive.

 

 

King Arthur and Morgan le Fay

               Morgan, who was Arthur’s sister, hated Arthur, for he had slain a knight that she loved in battle. Morgan stole Excalibur’s scabbard and took off. Arthur and his knights chased after her. She flung the scabbard into a lake where it sank and turned herself and her people into blocks of stone. Arthur looked for the scabbard, but he could not find it.

 

The Quest of the Holy Graal

               The story of the Quest that we know now is not the story of the Quest as it was originally.

 

The King’s Pilgrimage

               The King set off on a pilgrimage with a squire. The squire died in an odd way, and King Arthur never took a squire with him again.

 

The Coming of the Holy Graal

               The Knights of the Round Table set off to find the Holy Graal, even though they know a lot of them will die on the way.

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