Five-minute digest
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights
Summary
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights is the first of Howard Pyle's four Arthurian volumes, drawn chiefly from Malory and told in a deliberately antique English with Pyle's own illustrations. It has two books. The Book of King Arthur opens after the death of Uther-Pendragon, when Britain is torn by rival kings and Merlin sets a sword in an anvil on a marble stone with the words that whoever draws it is rightwise king-born of England. Arthur, raised as the younger son of Sir Ector, draws it to replace his foster brother Kay's broken sword, and his birth is proved by Merlin, Sir Ulfius and Sir Ector; he repeats the miracle before the assembled kings, and some refuse to acknowledge him. In the second part a wounded knight comes to court; Arthur fights the Sable Knight, King Pellinore, and is badly hurt, is healed by a hermit, and receives Excalibur from the arm rising from an enchanted lake. Merlin teaches him that the sheath, which keeps its wearer from bleeding, is worth more than the blade, and that a king's life belongs to his people. In the third part Arthur disguises himself as a gardener's lad at Cameliard to be near the Lady Guinevere, fights for her as an unknown White Champion, defends King Leodegrance against King Ryence and his allies, and is proclaimed. He weds Guinevere and receives the Round Table, made by Merlin for Uther, at which the names of worthy knights appear in gold. The Book of Three Worthies follows. Merlin, wise as he is, is beguiled by the damsel Vivien, sent by Arthur's half-sister Morgana le Fay, and shut away by his own magic; Morgana then contrives to have Sir Accalon fight Arthur with the true Excalibur, and Arthur nearly dies. Sir Pellias takes up a quest for Queen Guinevere, is scorned by the Lady Ettard, betrayed by his friend Gawaine, wounded, and healed and led away by the Lady of the Lake. Finally Sir Gawaine, shamed for slaying a lady in his first quest, redeems himself when Arthur, bound to answer a cruel enchanter's riddle about what women most desire, gets the answer from a hideous old woman who asks a knight for a husband. Gawaine marries her out of duty, and his courtesy reveals her true form. Pyle closes by urging readers to wed inclination to duty.
Top Lessons
Kingship as service
Merlin tells Arthur that his life belongs not to himself but to his people, and Arthur accepts that he must keep the sheath and fight only in earnest. Pyle presents true kingship as responsibility before God rather than personal glory.
Humility before honor
The future king works in a garden in a cap he refuses to remove, and the knights who mock him are made to serve him. Arthur's humility in Part III is the counterpart of his royalty in Part I.
Wisdom can be beguiled
Merlin foresees his fate and still teaches Vivien the magic that binds him. The story warns that knowledge without self-command can be used against the one who has it.
Duty wedded to inclination
Gawaine marries the old woman because Arthur's word requires it, then gives her her will in courtesy. Pyle's closing teaching is that a person finds joy when inclination is wedded to duty.
Verified Quotes
Frequently cited
“Whoso Pulleth Out this Sword from the Anvil That same is Rightwise King-Born of England”
“thou must bear in mind that thou art not as an ordinary errant knight, but that thou art a King, and that thy life belongeth not unto thee, but unto thy people”
“I believe that a knight should fight by means of his own strength, and not by means of magic”
“may He give you Faith (for Faith containeth Truth as a scabbard containeth its sword), and may that Faith heal all your wounds of sorrow as the sheath of Excalibur healed all the wounds of him who wore that excellent weapon”
“That which a woman most desires is to have her will”
“So be it. For since I have taken thee for my wife, so must I show thee respect in all matters; wherefore thou shalt have thy will in this and in all other things”
“for it needs not that a man shall wear armor for to be a true knight, but only that he shall do his best endeavor with all patience and humility as it hath been ordained for him to do”
Medical Lens
Wounds and healing frame the story of Excalibur: Arthur is badly hurt by Pellinore and nursed by a hermit, and the sheath's power to stop all bleeding is the hinge of Merlin's lesson. Later Pellias is wounded and healed by the Lady of the Lake. These are romance healings, not clinical ones, but they show the medieval association of hermits and holy places with care of the wounded.
- Book I, Part II, Chapter Second
Arthur, sorely wounded by the Sable Knight, is carried by Merlin to a forest hermit who tends his wounds.
- Book I, Part II, Chapter Third
Merlin explains that the sheath of Excalibur keeps its wearer from losing a drop of blood.
- Book II, Part II, Chapter Sixth
Pellias, wounded in the forest, is brought to a hermit and then healed by the Lady of the Lake.