Reading Notes: Lang's Tales of the Round Table B

Source: The End of Arthur from King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang

So, we're finally at the end of Arthur's journey! Everything that I read about King Arthur absolutely drives me crazy. I was going to do one of the sections on Galahad because as far as the knights go, he's one of the better ones (at least in my opinion.) I chose to do the ending simply because of its iconic nature. I've spent a lot of time through the years reading about Arthur's life. I've read other versions of it before, but this particular one is new to me.

Basically, it opens with Arthur receiving a fatal wound from Mordred and he knows that it's his time to go. Bedivere, who is a nice and good boy, is crying and weeping. Arthur tells him to knock it off and to take Excalibur and return it to the lake. Bedivere doesn't do this because he feels like it will do not good. The sword is expensive and nice. I wonder if he feels like more people will find it and use it for destruction. He hides it under a tree and returns to Arthur, who knows he didn't do his job. Bedivere does this another time before Arthur gets mad at his disobedience.

When he throws the sword, a hand catches it and it goes back. It was cool. He goes back to Arthur, who is now surrounded by weeping women. He goes to Avalon and, like, presumably that's where he dies. Guinevere hears news of his wounds and becomes a nun in another town and is sad all the time. Lancelot goes to see her, but she turns him away. Guinevere dies six years after and I believe she's buried next to Arthur. Lancelot lives like a hermit and doesn't eat anything until he also dies. Sir Bors goes to see him and so does Sir Ector de Maris. The latter only says nice things about Lancelot and his knightly abilities and his status as a lover, which interesting considering his adultery, but I get it. It was a good ending.

I liked the part with Sir Bedivere and Arthur a lot. I don't believe that Bedivere's disobedience was performed maliciously. I mean, it wasn't portrayed that way in the reading at all, but I would like to see more of the why behind his actions. It's nice to see why his knights care about him so much. I also like the idea of them being fallible. There was a huge culture of knight being goodly and pure, but they were just people. I think a lot of the charm from these stories is that behind the magical setting and crazy situations, they're relatable characters.

The Death of King Arthur by James Archer (Wikimedia Commons)