Arthur's kingdom was the most
unpeaceful
of all.
Tennyson
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. ]
Suddenly, however, old Merlin, the wizard who had been King Uther's
magician, appeared one day in the royal council hall with a handsome
young man, Arthur, and declared him to be the king of the realm. Arthur
was crowned and for a time the nobles were quiet, for he ruled with a
strong hand of iron, put down all the evils in his kingdom and
everywhere gave it peace and order. People in every part of the island
sent for him and his knights, begging him to come to help them out of
their difficulties. But presently the nobles became troublesome again;
they said that Arthur was not the true king, that he was not the son of
Uther and that, therefore, he had no right to reign over them. So there
was fighting and unrest again, and in the midst of it Leodogran, the
king of the Land of Cameliard, asked Arthur to come with his knights and
drive away the enemies besetting him on every side. The country of
Cameliard had gone to waste and ruin, because of the continual warfare
that was waged with the kings that lived in the little neighboring
countries and a mass of wild-eyed foreign heathen peoples who invaded
the land. And so it happened that Cameliard was ravaged with battles,
its strong men were cut down with the sword and wild dogs, wolves, and
bears from the tangled weeds came rooting up the green fields and
wallowing into the palace gardens. Sometimes the wolves stole little
children from the villages and nursed them like their own cubs, until
finally these children grew up into a race of wolf-men who molested the
land worse than the wolves themselves. Then another king fought
Leodogran, and at last the heathen hordes came swarming from over the
seas and made all the earth red with his soldiers' blood, and they made
the sun red with the smoke of the burning homes of his people.
Leodogran simply did not know which way to turn for help until at last
he thought of young Arthur of the Round Table who recently had been
crowned king. So Leodogran sent for Arthur beseeching him to come and
help him, for between the men and the beasts his country was dying.
[Illustration: PRINCESS GUINEVERE.
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. ]
Suddenly, however, old Merlin, the wizard who had been King Uther's
magician, appeared one day in the royal council hall with a handsome
young man, Arthur, and declared him to be the king of the realm. Arthur
was crowned and for a time the nobles were quiet, for he ruled with a
strong hand of iron, put down all the evils in his kingdom and
everywhere gave it peace and order. People in every part of the island
sent for him and his knights, begging him to come to help them out of
their difficulties. But presently the nobles became troublesome again;
they said that Arthur was not the true king, that he was not the son of
Uther and that, therefore, he had no right to reign over them. So there
was fighting and unrest again, and in the midst of it Leodogran, the
king of the Land of Cameliard, asked Arthur to come with his knights and
drive away the enemies besetting him on every side. The country of
Cameliard had gone to waste and ruin, because of the continual warfare
that was waged with the kings that lived in the little neighboring
countries and a mass of wild-eyed foreign heathen peoples who invaded
the land. And so it happened that Cameliard was ravaged with battles,
its strong men were cut down with the sword and wild dogs, wolves, and
bears from the tangled weeds came rooting up the green fields and
wallowing into the palace gardens. Sometimes the wolves stole little
children from the villages and nursed them like their own cubs, until
finally these children grew up into a race of wolf-men who molested the
land worse than the wolves themselves. Then another king fought
Leodogran, and at last the heathen hordes came swarming from over the
seas and made all the earth red with his soldiers' blood, and they made
the sun red with the smoke of the burning homes of his people.
Leodogran simply did not know which way to turn for help until at last
he thought of young Arthur of the Round Table who recently had been
crowned king. So Leodogran sent for Arthur beseeching him to come and
help him, for between the men and the beasts his country was dying.
[Illustration: PRINCESS GUINEVERE.
