Stories of King Arthur's Knights, Told to the ChildrenMacgregor, Mary
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Stories of King Arthur's Knights, Told to the Children
Macgregor, Mary
Arthur, King -- Juvenile literature; Arthurian romances -- Adaptations
And Geraint never again thought that Enid loved the gay lords and
ladies at King Arthur's court better than she loved him.
Then they went back to their own land. And soon the people knew
that Prince Geraint had come back a true knight, and the old
whispers that he was a coward faded away, and the people called him
'Geraint the Brave.'
And her ladies called Enid, 'Enid the Fair,' but the people on the
land called her 'Enid the Good.'
LANCELOT AND ELAINE
Her name was Elaine. But she was so fair that her father called her
'Elaine the Fair,' and she was so lovable that her brothers called
her 'Elaine the Lovable,' and that was the name she liked best of
all.
The country people, who lived round about the castle of Astolat,
which was Elaine's home, had another and a very beautiful name for
her. As she passed their windows in her white frock, they looked at
the white lilies growing in their gardens, and they said, 'She is
tall and graceful and pure as these,' and they called her the 'Lily
Maid of Astolat.'
Elaine lived in the castle alone with her father and her two
brothers, and an old dumb servant who had waited on her since she
was a baby.
To her father Elaine seemed always a bright and winsome child,
though she was growing up now. He would watch her serious face as
she listened to Sir Torre, the grave elder brother, while he told
her that wise maidens stayed at home to cook and sew. And he would
laugh as he saw her, when Sir Torre turned away, run off wilfully
to the woods.
Elaine spent long happy days out of doors with her younger brother
Lavaine. When they grew tired of chasing the butterflies and
gathering the wildflowers, they would sit under the pine-trees and
speak of Arthur's knights and their noble deeds, and they longed to
see the heroes of whom they talked.
'And the tournament will be held at Camelot this year,' Lavaine
reminded his sister. 'If some of the knights ride past Astolat, we
may see them as they pass.' And Elaine and Lavaine counted the days
till the tournament would begin.
Now Arthur had offered the prize of a large diamond to the knight
who fought most bravely at the tournament.
But the knights murmured to each other, 'We need not hope to win
the prize, for Sir Lancelot will be on the field, and who can stand
before the greatest knight of Arthur's court?'
And the Queen heard what the knights said to each other, and she
told Lancelot how they lost courage and hope when he came on to the
field. 'They begin to think some magic is at work when they see
you, and they cannot fight their best. But I have a plan. You must
go to the tournament at Camelot in disguise. And though the knights
do not know with whom they fight, they will still fall before the
strength of Lancelot's arm,' added the Queen, smiling up to him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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