Stories from Le Morte DArthur and the Mabinogion

Stories from Le Morte D'Arthur
and the Mabinogion

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Title: Stories from Le Morte D'Arthur and the Mabinogion
Author: Beatrice Clay
Release Date: April 5, 2005 [EBook #15551]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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The KINGS TREASURIES OF LITERATURE
GENERAL EDITOR SIR A.T. QUILLER COUCH
[Illustration: THE LADY OF THE LAKE TELLETH ARTHUR OF
THE SWORD EXCALIBUR]
NEW YORK--E.P. DUTTON & COMPANY

[Illustration: FIRST AND CHIEF OF ALL THE THREE BEST MOST
CHRISTIAN AND WORTHY, KING ARTHUR]
STORIES FROM LE MORTE D'ARTHUR AND THE
MABINOGION
RETOLD BY BEATRICE CLAY
LONDON & TORONTO--J.M. DENT & SONS Ltd.
SOLE AGENT FOR SCOTLAND THE GRANT EDUCATIONAL
CO. LTD. GLASGOW
FIRST EDITION, 1920 REPRINTED, 1922, 1924
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
BOOK I.--THE COMING OF ARTHUR
I. OF ARTHUR'S BIRTH; AND HOW HE BECAME KING II. THE
ROUND TABLE III. OF THE FINDING OF EXCALIBUR IV. OF
THE TREACHERY OF QUEEN MORGAN LE FAY V. HOW THE
SCABBARD OF EXCALIBUR WAS LOST VI. MERLIN VII.
BALIN AND BALAN
BOOK II.--SIR LAUNCELOT
VIII. SIR LAUNCELOT DU LAC IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE
CHAPEL PERILOUS X. SIR LAUNCELOT AND THE FALCON
BOOK III.--SIR TRISTRAM
XI. OF THE BIRTH OF ST. TRISTRAM XII. HOW TRISTRAM
FOUGHT WITH SIR MARHAUS OF IRELAND XIII. THE FAIR
ISOLT XIV. HOW KING MARK SENT SIR TRISTRAM TO FETCH
HIM A WIFE XV. HOW SIR TRISTRAM AND THE FAIR ISOLT
DRANK OF THE MAGIC POTION XVI. OF THE END OF SIR
TRISTRAM
BOOK IV.--KING ARTHUR'S NEPHEWS
XVII. SIR GAWAIN AND THE LADY XVIII. THE ADVENTURES
OF SIR GARETH
BOOK V.--SIR GERAINT
XIX. THE ADVENTURES OF GERAINT XX. GERAINT AND
ENID
BOOK VI.--THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN
XXI. THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN

BOOK VII.--SIR PEREDUR
XXII. THE ADVENTURES OF SIR PEREDUR
BOOK VIII.--THE HOLY GRAIL
XXIII. THE COMING OF SIR GALAHAD XXIV. HOW SIR
GALAHAD WON THE RED-CROSS SHIELD XXV. THE
ADVENTURES OF SIR PERCIVALE XXVI. THE ADVENTURES
OF SIR BORS XXVII. THE ADVENTURES OF SIR LAUNCELOT
XXVIII. HOW SIR LAUNCELOT SAW THE HOLY GRAIL XXIX.
THE END OF THE QUEST
BOOK IX.--THE FAIR MAID OF ASTOLAT
XXX. THE FAIR MAID OF ASTOLAT
BOOK X.--QUEEN GUENEVERE
XXXI. HOW MORDRED PLOTTED AGAINST SIR LAUNCELOT
XXXII. THE TRIAL OF THE QUEEN XXXIII. HOW SIR GAWAIN
DEFIED SIR LAUNCELOT XXXIV. HOW KING ARTHUR AND
SIR GAWAIN WENT TO FRANCE
BOOK XI.--THE MORTE D'ARTHUR
XXXV. MORDRED THE TRAITOR XXXVI. THE BATTLE IN THE
WEST XXXVII. THE PASSING OF ARTHUR XXXVIII. THE
DEATH OF SIR LAUNCELOT AND OF THE QUEEN

INTRODUCTION
Among the stories of world-wide renown, not the least stirring are
those that have gathered about the names of national heroes. The
_Æneid_, the Nibelungenlied, the Chanson de Roland, the _Morte
D'Arthur_,--they are not history, but they have been as National
Anthems to the races, and their magic is not yet dead.
In olden times our forefathers used to say that the world had seen nine
great heroes, three heathen, three Jewish, and three Christian; among
the Christian heroes was British Arthur, and of none is the fame greater.
Even to the present day, his name lingers in many widely distant places.
In the peninsula of Gower, a huge slab of rock, propped up on eleven
short pillars, is still called Arthur's Stone; the lofty ridge which looks
down upon Edinburgh bears the name of Arthur's Seat; and--strangest,
perhaps, of all--in the Franciscan Church of far-away Innsbrück, the
finest of the ten statues of ancestors guarding the tomb of the Emperor
Maximilian I. is that of King Arthur. There is hardly a country in

Europe without its tales of the Warrior-King; and yet of any real Arthur
history tells us little, and that little describes, not the knightly
conqueror, but the king of a broken people, struggling for very life.
More than fifteen centuries ago, this country, now called England, was
inhabited by a Celtic race known as the Britons, a warlike people,
divided into numerous tribes constantly at war with each other. But in
the first century of the Christian era they were conquered by the
Romans, who added Britain to their vast empire and held it against
attacks from without and rebellions from within by stationing legions,
or troops of soldiers, in strongly fortified places all over the country.
Now, from their conquerors, the Britons learnt many useful