Produced by D Alexander, Peter Vickers, Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: THREE TIMES THEY BROKE SPEARS] TALES FROM TENNYSON BY MOLLY K. BELLEW EDITOR OF "TALES FROM LONGFELLOW" "DICKENS' CHRISTMAS STORIES FOR CHILDREN" ETC., ETC. ILLUSTRATED BY H. S. CAMPBELL NEW YORK AND BOSTON H. M. CALDWELL CO. PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1902 BY JAMIESON-HIGGINS CO. CONTENTS. The Coming of King Arthur 9 Gareth and Lynette 29 The Marriage of Geraint 46 Geraint's Quest of Honor 64 Merlin and Vivien 85 Balin and Balan 95 Lancelot and Elaine 104 The Holy Grail 119 Pelleas and Ettarre 132 The Last Tournament 142 The Passing of Arthur 150 To my Young Readers. Alfred Lord Tennyson was the typically English poet, and none, perhaps not even Shakespeare, has appealed so keenly to the human heart. No other man's poems have caused as many readers to shed tears of sympathy nor have awakened higher sentiments in the human heart. The critics agree in pronouncing him the ideal poet laureate. In his "Idylls from the King" are found the loftiest and proudest deeds of English history and even in the retelling of these in prose the high spirit that is an inspiration to the noblest deeds cannot fail to be preserved. MOLLY K. BELLEW. THE COMING OF KING ARTHUR. Over a thousand years ago everybody was talking about the wonderful King Arthur and his brilliant Knights of the Round Table, who everywhere were pursuing bold quests, putting to rout the band of outlaws and robbers which in those days infested every highway and by-way of the country, going to war with tyrannical nobles, establishing law and order among the rich, redressing the wrongs of women, the poor and the oppressed, and winning glorious renown for their valor and their successes. That was in England which at that time was not England as it is today, all one kingdom under a single ruler, but was divided into many bits of kingdoms each with its own king and all warring against each other. Arthur's kingdom was the most unpeaceful of all. This was because for twenty years or more, ever since the death of old King Uther, the country had been without a ruler. Old King Uther had died about a score of years before without leaving an heir to the throne, and all the nobles of the realm had immediately gone to war with one another each trying to get the most land and each trying to get the throne for himself. [Illustration: OLD MERLIN APPEARS.]