Kadir, Al.—The night on which the Koran was sent down to Mohammed. Al Kadir is supposed to be the seventh of the last ten nights of Ramadan, or the night between the twenty-third and twenty-fourth days of the month.
Kay.—A foster brother of King Arthur, and a rude and boastful knight of the Round Table. He was the butt of King Arthur’s court. Called also Sir Queux. He appears in the Boy and the Mantle, in Percy’s Reliques. Sir Kay is represented as the type of rude boastfulness, Sir Gawain of courtesy, Sir Launcelot of chivalry, Sir Mordred of treachery, Sir Galahad of chastity, Sir Mark of cowardice.
Kehama (kē-hä´mä).—A Hindu rajah who obtains and sports with supernatural power. His adventures are related in Southey’s poem entitled The Curse of Kehama.
Kenilworth.—A novel by Sir Walter Scott. This is very superior to The Abbot and The Monastery. For interest it comes next to Ivanhoe, and the portrait of Queen Elizabeth is lifelike and correct. That of Queen Mary is given in The Abbot. Full of courtly gayeties and splendor, the novel contains the unhappy tale of the beautiful Amy Robsart, which cannot fail to excite our sympathy and pity.
Kent, Earl of.—A rough, plain-spoken, but faithful nobleman in Shakespeare’s King Lear, who follows the fallen fortunes of the king, disguised as a servant, under the assumed name of Caius.
Kenwigs (ken´wigz).—A family in Dickens’ novel Nicholas Nickleby, including a number of little girls who differed from one another only in the length of their frilled pantalets and of their flaxen pigtails tied with bows of blue ribbon.
Kilkenny Cats.—Two cats, in an Irish story, which fought till nothing was left but their tails. It is probably a parable of a local contest between Kilkenny and Irishtown, which impoverished both boroughs.
Kilmansegg, Miss.—An heiress with great expectations and an artificial leg of solid gold, in Hood’s poem, A Golden Legend.
King Horn.—A metrical romance which was very popular in the thirteenth century. King Horn is a beautiful young prince who is carried away by pirates; but his life is spared, and after many wonderful adventures he weds a princess, and regains his father’s kingdom.
King Lear.—A tragedy by Shakespeare whose hero is a fabulous or legendary king of Britain. He had three daughters, and when four score years old, wishing to retire from the active duties of sovereignty, resolved to divide his kingdom between them, but was persuaded to disinherit Cordelia. The beauty of the play is the exquisite character of Cordelia, who is a “perfect woman.”