The goodliest fellowship of famous knights
Whereof this world holds record.
TENNYSON

GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO. LTD.
LONDON —— BOMBAY —— SYDNEY

First published January 1905
by GEORGE G. HARRAP & COMPANY
39-41 Parker Street, Kingsway, London, W.C.,
Reprinted: December 1905; July 1906; May 1907;
January 1909; September 1909; July 1910; July 1911;
October 1912; October 1913; March 1915; February
1917; August 1917; May 1918; October 1919;
June 1920; October 1921; October 1922;
June 1923; January 1925; April 1936;
September 1927; October 1928;
January 1930; January 1931;
April 1932

CONTENTS

[INTRODUCTION]
CHAPTER
I. [OF THE BIRTH OF KING ARTHUR]
II. [UTHER'S SON, RIGHTWISE KING OF ALL ENGLAND]
III. [HOW ARTHUR GAT HIS SWORD EXCALIBUR]
IV. [BALIN AND BALAN]
V. [THE NOBLE ORDER OF THE ROUND TABLE]
VI. [THE LADIES' KNIGHT]
VII. [WISE MERLIN'S FOOLISHNESS]
VIII. [A STAG-HUNT AND WHAT CAME OF IT]
IX. [THE TREACHERY OF MORGAN LE FAY]
X. [SIR LAUNCELOT OF THE LAKE]
XI. [A NIGHT-TIME ADVENTURE OF SIR LAUNCELOT]
XII. [HOW SIR LAUNCELOT CAME INTO THE CHAPEL PERILOUS]
XIII. [THE KNIGHT, THE LADY, AND THE FALCON]
XIV. [HOW A KITCHEN-PAGE CAME TO HONOUR]
XV. [HOW SIR GARETH FOUGHT FOR THE LADY OF CASTLE PERILOUS]
XVI. [HOW SIR GARETH RETURNED TO THE COURT OF KING ARTHUR]
XVII. [HOW YOUNG TRISTRAM SAVED THE LIFE OF THE QUEEN OF LYONESSE]
XVIII. [SIR TRISTRAM'S FIRST BATTLE]
XIX. [SIR TRISTRAM AND THE FAIR ISOUD]
XX. [HOW SIR TRISTRAM DEMANDED THE FAIR ISOUD FOR KING MARK,
AND HOW SIR TRISTRAM AND ISOUD DRANK THE LOVE POTION]
XXI. [HOW SIR TRISTRAM DEPARTED FROM TINTAGIL,
AND WAS LONG IN THE FOREST]
XXII. [HOW KING MARK WAS SORRY FOR THE GOOD RENOWN OF SIR TRISTRAM]
XXIII. [HOW SIR PERCIVALE OF GALIS SOUGHT AND FOUND SIR LAUNCELOT]
XXIV. [OF THE COMING OF SIR GALAHAD]
XXV. [HOW THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL WAS BEGUN]
XXVI. [HOW GALAHAD GAT HIM A SHIELD]
XXVII. [SIR GALAHAD AT THE CASTLE OF MAIDENS]
XXVIII. [SIR LAUNCELOT'S REPENTANCE]
XXIX. [SIR PERCIVALE'S TEMPTATION]
XXX. [THE VICTORY OF SIR BORS OVER HIMSELF]
XXXI. [HOW SIR LAUNCELOT FOUND THE HOLY GRAIL]
XXXII. [THE END OF THE QUEST]
XXXIII. [SIR LAUNCELOT AND THE FAIR MAID OF ASTOLAT]
XXXIV. [OF THE GREAT TOURNAMENT ON CANDLEMAS DAY]
XXXV. [QUEEN GUENEVER'S MAY-DAY RIDE AND WHAT CAME OF IT]
XXXVI. [OF THE PLOT AGAINST SIR LAUNCELOT]
XXXVII. [HOW SIR LAUNCELOT DEPARTED FROM THE KING
AND FROM JOYOUS GARD]
XXXVIII. [HOW KING ARTHUR AND SIR GAWAINE INVADED
SIR LAUNCELOT'S REALM]
XXXIX. [OF SIR MORDRED'S TREASON]
XL. [OF ARTHUR'S LAST GREAT BATTLE IN THE WEST]
XLI. [OF THE PASSING OF KING ARTHUR]
XLII. [OF THE END OF THIS BOOK]

ILLUSTRATIONS

[KING ARTHUR ] (W. B. Margetson) Frontispiece
[THE DEDICATION] (J. Pettie, R.A.)
[MERLIN AND NIMUE] (Burne-Jones)
[SIR TRISTRAM AND THE FAIR ISOUD ] (D. G. Rosetti)
[SIR GALAHAD ] (G. F. Watts)
[SIR LAUNCELOT AT THE CROSS] (Stella Langdale)
[ELAINE] (J. M. Strudwick)
[THE PASSING OF ARTHUR ] (Stella Langdale)

"We have from the kind Creator a variety of mental powers, to which we must not neglect giving their proper culture in our earliest years, and which cannot be cultivated either by logic or metaphysics, Latin or Greek. We have an imagination, before which, since it should not seize upon the very first conceptions that chance to present themselves, we ought to place the fittest and most beautiful images, and thus accustom and practise the mind to recognise and love the beautiful everywhere."
Quoted from Wieland by Goethe in his Autobiography

Introduction