Stories from Le Morte DArthur and the Mabinogion

픺Stories from Le Morte D'Arthur and the Mabinogion

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories from Le Morte D'Arthur and the
Mabinogion, by Beatrice Clay This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
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
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES FROM LE MORTE ***

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jennifer Goslee and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

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 _?neid_, 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 arts, to read and to write, to build houses and to make roads; but at the same time, they unlearnt some of their own virtues and, among others, how to think and act for themselves. For the Romans never allowed a Briton any real part in the government of his