The Story of King Arthur and his Knights
“Now, in the days of King Uther-Pendragon, there sat seven-and-thirty
knights at the ROUND TABLE. And when King Uther-Pendragon died, he gave
the ROUND TABLE unto his friend, King Leodegrance of Cameliard.
“And in the beginning of King Leodegrance’s reign, there sat
four-and-twenty knights at the ROUND TABLE.
“But times have changed since then, and the glory of King Leodegrance’s
reign hath paled before the glory of thy reign, so that his noble Court
of knights have altogether quitted him. Wherefore there remaineth now
not one name, saving only the name of King Leodegrance, upon all those
fifty seats that surround the ROUND TABLE. So now that ROUND TABLE lieth
beneath its pavilion altogether unused.
“Yet if King Leodegrance will give unto thee, my lord King, that ROUND
TABLE for a dower with the Lady Guinevere, then will it lend unto thy
reign its greatest glory. For in thy day every seat of that TABLE shall
be filled, even unto the SEAT PERILOUS, and the fame of the knights who
sit at it shall never be forgotten.”
“Ha!” quoth King Arthur. “That would indeed be a dower worthy for any
king to have with his queen.”
[Sidenote: _King Leodegrance bestows the Round Table upon King Arthur._]
“Then,” King Leodegrance said, “that dower shalt thou have with my
daughter; and if it bring thee great glory, then shall thy glory be my
glory, and thy renown shall be my renown. For if my glory shall wane,
and thy glory shall increase, behold! is not my child thy wife?”
And King Arthur said: “Thou sayest well and wisely.”
Thus King Arthur became the master of that famous ROUND TABLE. And the
ROUND TABLE was set up at Camelot (which some men now call Winchester).
And by and by there gathered about it such an array of knights as the
world had never beheld before that time, and which it shall never behold
again.
Such was the history of the beginning of the ROUND TABLE in King
Arthur’s reign.
[Illustration] Chapter Sixth.
_How King Arthur Was Wedded in Royal State and How the Round Table Was
Established._
And now was come the early fall of the year; that pleasant season
when the meadow-land and the wold were still green with summer
that had only just passed; when the sky likewise was as of
summer-time--extraordinarily blue and full of large floating clouds;
when a bird might sing here and another there, a short song in memory of
spring-time, when all the air was tempered with warmth and yet the
leaves were everywhere turning brown and red and gold, so that when the
sun shone through them it was as though a cloth of gold, broidered with
brown and crimson and green, hung above the head. At this season of the
year it is exceedingly pleasant to be a-field among the nut-trees with
hawk and hound, or to travel abroad in the yellow world, whether it be
a-horse or a-foot.
Now this was the time of year in which had been set the marriage of King
Arthur and the Lady Guinevere at Camelot, and at that place was
extraordinary pomp and glory of circumstance. All the world was astir
and in a great ferment of joy, for everybody was exceedingly glad that
King Arthur was to have him a Queen.
[Sidenote: _How Camelot town was adorned._]
In preparation for that great occasion the town of Camelot was bedight
very magnificently, for the stony street along which the Lady Guinevere
must come to the royal castle of the King was strewn thick with
fresh-cut rushes smoothly laid. Moreover it was in many places spread
with carpets of excellent pattern such as might be fit to lay upon the
floor of some goodly hall. Likewise all the houses along the way were
hung with fine hangings of woven texture interwoven with threads of
azure and crimson, and everywhere were flags and banners afloat in the
warm and gentle breeze against the blue sky, wherefore that all the
world appeared to be alive with bright colors, so that when one looked
adown that street, it was as though one beheld a crooked path of
exceeding beauty and gayety stretched before him.
Thus came the wedding-day of the King--bright and clear and exceedingly
radiant.
King Arthur sat in his hall surrounded by his Court awaiting news that
the Lady Guinevere was coming thitherward. And it was about the middle
of the morning when there came a messenger in haste riding upon a
milk-white steed. And the raiment of that messenger and the trappings of
his horse were all of cloth of gold embroidered with scarlet and white,
and the tabard of the messenger was set with many jewels of various
sorts so that he glistened from afar as he rode, with a singular
splendor of appearance.
So this herald-messenger came straight into the castle where the King
abided waiting, and he said: “Arise, my lord King, for the Lady
Guinevere and her Court draweth nigh unto this place.”
Upon this the King immediately arose with great joy, and straightway he
went forth with his Court of Knights, riding in great state. And as he
went down that marvellously adorned street, all the people shouted aloud
as he passed by, wherefore he smiled and bent his head from side to
side; for that day he was passing happy and loved his people with
wonderful friendliness.
Thus he rode forward unto the town gate, and out therefrom, and so came
thence into the country beyond where the broad and well-beaten highway
ran winding down beside the shining river betwixt the willows and the
osiers.
[Sidenote: _Of the Court of the Lady Guinevere._]
And, behold! King Arthur and those with him perceived the Court of the
Princess where it appeared at a distance, wherefore they made great
rejoicing and hastened forward with all speed. And as they came nigh,
the sun falling upon the apparels of silk and cloth of gold, and upon
golden chains and the jewels that hung therefrom, all of that noble
company that surrounded the Lady Guinevere her litter flashed and
sparkled with surpassing radiance.
For seventeen of the noblest knights of the King’s Court, clad in
complete armor, and sent by him as an escort unto the lady, rode in
great splendor, surrounding the litter wherein the Princess lay. And the
framework of that litter was of richly gilded wood, and its curtains and
its cushions were of crimson silk embroidered with threads of gold. And
behind the litter there rode in gay and joyous array, all shining with
many colors, the Court of the Princess--her damsels in waiting,
gentlemen, ladies, pages, and attendants.
So those parties of the King and the Lady Guinevere drew nigh together
until they met and mingled the one with the other.
[Sidenote: _King Arthur greets the Lady Guinevere._]
Then straightway King Arthur dismounted from his noble horse and, all
clothed with royalty, he went afoot unto the Lady Guinevere’s litter,
whiles Sir Gawaine and Sir Ewaine held the bridle of his horse.
Thereupon one of her pages drew aside the silken curtains of the Lady
Guinevere’s litter, and King Leodegrance gave her his hand and she
straightway descended therefrom, all embalmed, as it were, in exceeding
beauty. So King Leodegrance led her to King Arthur, and King Arthur came
to her and placed one hand beneath her chin and the other upon her head
and inclined his countenance and kissed her upon her smooth cheek--all
warm and fragrant like velvet for softness, and without any blemish
whatsoever. And when he had thus kissed her upon the cheek, all those
who were there lifted up their voices in great acclaim, giving loud
voice of joy that those two noble souls had thus met together.
Thus did King Arthur give welcome unto the Lady Guinevere and unto King
Leodegrance her father upon the highway beneath the walls of the town of
Camelot, at the distance of half a league from that place. And no one
who was there ever forgot that meeting, for it was full of extraordinary
grace and noble courtliness.
Then King Arthur and his Court of Knights and nobles brought King
Leodegrance and the Lady Guinevere with great ceremony unto Camelot and
unto the royal castle, where apartments were assigned to all, so that
the entire place was alive with joyousness and beauty.
[Sidenote: _King Arthur and the Lady Guinevere are wedded._]
And when high noon had come, the entire Court went with great state and
ceremony unto the cathedral, and there, surrounded with wonderful
magnificence, those two noble souls were married by the Archbishop.
And all the bells rang right joyfully, and all the people who stood
without the cathedral shouted with loud acclaim, and lo! the King and
the Queen came forth all shining, like unto the sun for splendor and
like unto the moon for beauty.
[Sidenote: _Of the feast at the King’s castle._]
In the castle a great noontide feast was spread, and there sat thereat
four hundred, eighty and six lordly and noble folk--kings, knights, and
nobles--with queens and ladies in magnificent array. And near to the
King and the Queen there sat King Leodegrance and Merlin, and Sir
Ulfius, and Sir Ector the trustworthy, and Sir Gawaine, and Sir Ewaine,
and Sir Kay, and King Ban, and King Pellinore and many other famous and
exalted folk, so that no man had ever beheld such magnificent
courtliness as he beheld at that famous wedding-feast of King Arthur and
Queen Guinevere.
* * * * *
And that day was likewise very famous in the history of chivalry, for in
the afternoon the famous Round Table was established, and that Round
Table was at once the very flower and the chiefest glory of King
Arthur’s reign.
For about mid of the afternoon the King and Queen, preceded by Merlin
and followed by all that splendid Court of kings, lords, nobles and
knights in full array, made progression to that place where Merlin,
partly by magic and partly by skill, had caused to be builded a very
wonderful pavilion above the Round Table where it stood.
[Sidenote: _Of the pavilion of the Round Table._]
And when the King and the Queen and the Court had entered in thereat
they were amazed at the beauty of that pavilion, for they perceived, an
it were, a great space that appeared to be a marvellous land of Fay. For
the walls were all richly gilded and were painted with very wonderful
figures of saints and of angels, clad in ultramarine and crimson, and
all those saints and angels were depicted playing upon various musical
instruments that appeared to be made of gold. And overhead the roof of
the pavilion was made to represent the sky, being all of cerulean blue
sprinkled over with stars. And in the midst of that painted sky was an
image, an it were, of the sun in his glory. And under foot was a
pavement all of marble stone, set in squares of black and white, and
blue and red, and sundry other colors.
In the midst of the pavilion was a Round Table with seats thereat
exactly sufficient for fifty persons, and at each of the fifty places
was a chalice of gold filled with fragrant wine, and at each place was a
paten of gold bearing a manchet of fair white bread. And when the King
and his Court entered into the pavilion, lo! music began of a sudden for
to play with a wonderful sweetness.
Then Merlin came and took King Arthur by the hand and led him away from
Queen Guinevere. And he said unto the King, “Lo! this is the Round
Table.”
Then King Arthur said, “Merlin, that which I see is wonderful beyond the
telling.”
[Sidenote: _King Arthur is seated at the Round Table._]
After that Merlin discovered unto the King the various marvels of the
Round Table, for first he pointed to a high seat, very wonderfully
wrought in precious woods and gilded so that it was exceedingly
beautiful, and he said, “Behold, lord King, yonder seat is hight the
‘Seat Royal,’ and that seat is thine for to sit in.” And as Merlin