Week 11 Reading Diary, Continued: King Arthur

Unit: Reading for Week 11 is King Arthur: Stories of Arthur along with tales of his knights and their quest for the Holy Grail.


Source: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902). 

Sir Galahad by Arthur Hughes

 Sir Galahad and the White Knight

•  I've noticed that in a lot of stories like this really convenient things happen.  Sir Galahad needs a shield and somebody give him one that only he can wear.

Sir Lancelot's Vision

•  I noticed that the Holy grail is spelled Graal in this story.  I wonder if this is just an older spelling.

The Adventure of Sir Percivale

•  "so that he fell dead to the earth, and Sir Percivale fell with him; then the Knight rode away."  I don't know why, but this part of the story stood out to me.  Named characters and knights don't fall as often in movies or modern stories, it's usually people like the 'red shirts.'

Sir Lancelot and the Five Hundred Knights

•  It is interesting that the other knight way able to fight so long that Sir Lancelot was to tired to even lift this arm.

Sir Gawaine and the Hermit

• I think it is interesting that Charity, fasting, and truth are lumped together.  I don't tend to think of fasting is a virtuous trait, (not that it is bad, just don't see why it is seen as something valuable).

The Adventure of Sir Bors

•  I think this story chose an interesting way for Sir Percivale and Sir Bors to meet up.  I know these are snippets of a larger stories, so it's something a little confusing to follow these mini tales.

Sir Galahad and the Mysterious Ship

•  I liked the line, "Thou man which shall enter this ship beware thou be in steadfast belief; if thou fail, I shall not help thee."  It's always interesting to see how characters react to scenarios like this.

Sir Lancelot and Sir Galahad

•  I think it is cool and interesting that Sir Lancelot finds Sir Percivale's sister, and that he finds her journal. 
• They chose to stay and live in the ship for half a year, an interesting choice.

Sir Galahad and the Graal

•  I'm a little surprised somebody managed to actually find the graal's location. 
• I also did not expect Galahad to die during this journey. 

The End of Arthur

•  This story I am familiar with, that Mordred and Arthur kill each other. 
• I like that Excalibur was returned to where it came from. 

Week 11 Reading Diary: King Arthur

Unit: Reading for Week 11 is King Arthur: Stories of Arthur along with tales of his knights and their quest for the Holy Grail.

Knights of the round table by Evrard d'Espinques

Source: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902).

The Drawing of the Sword

• I knew Arthur was the son of Uther, and I knew he pulled the sword out of the stone. I guess I never realized that the stone could only be pulled out by one with the right blood instead of by someone who would make a good king.

The Questing Beast

• This section talks about how Merlin would have failed if not his obedience to Merlin's orders. Obedience in an interesting choice of work to use here.
• This story has the first mention of Morgan Le Fay “your sister shall have a child who shall destroy you and all your knights.”
• Lots of foreshadowing at the end of this story. Merlin has many prophecies.

The Sword Excalibur

• Somebody asking for a favor at an unknown time is always an ominous things, many characters in stories blindly agree to a future favor.

The Round Table

• This is an interesting story. Not a whole lot happens but it ties many pieces of the large story together. It talks about how Arthur got the round table and how he came to marry Guenevere.
• Sections like these, which fill in the gaps, are important to a story.

The Passing of Merlin

• Merline falls in love with a women, nobody is safe from their own heart.
• Even when people know prophesies, know bad tings that will happen to them, they are unable to change the course of events. Sometimes by trying to change things, they actually trigger the events themselves. I've always found it interesting when a prophesy only comes to pass because people knew about the prophesy.
• Vivian in the name of the women who tricks Merlin.

King Arthur and Morgan le Fay

• Morgan hates Arthur because he killed a knight who she loved.
• Morgan Le Fay steels only the scabbard of Excalibur, which is what Merlin told Arthur was the valuable part.
• Morgan is a very powerful magician if she can turn herself and all her men into blocks of marble.
• Morgan tried to kill Arthur by giving him an enchanted mantle covered in jewels.

The Quest of the Holy Graal

• The knights of the round table neglected many of their other duties to pursue to holy grail.
• There are conflicting stories about what the grail is.

The King's Pilgrimage

• It is interesting that half of the time Arther is refereed to as the king. To me this is a little confusing, because there have been other kings, and there are other kings in other lands.
• This story is interesting, because it is unclear is part of this story is a dream.

The Coming of the Holy Graal

• An image of the holy grail presents itself to king Arthur and the knights of the round table.
• All 150 knights of the round table decide to quest for the holy grail.