Bards -Arthurian sources

[jonwillowpel at juno.com]

Hi everyone this is Willow

I have been doing research into the Arthurian tales and I have made a
strange discovery. In all my years in the SCA I had never read Mallory's
Mort d'Arthur. Mainly because he was after my time period and had made
changes to the stories that didn't reflect my time. I was always finding
bits and pieces of Arthurian tale that made good entertainment but other
people seemed to having problems. I know why now! Mallory kills the
stories. Howard Pyle and Stenbeck go back to the older tales and make
Arthurian tales interesting again. Mallory cuts to much out. His book is
the abridged version. The tale of Lancelot and the hermit is fifteen
pages in the Penguin classics book "The Quest of the Holy Grail" I think
it takes a third of the "Prose Lancelot" in the Vulgate but it is only a
few pages in the Mallory's Mort d'Arthur. This tale explains why Lancelot
leaves the search for the Grail and rushes back to Gweniver and demands
that she gives him the"complete embrace". It is the reason they fail from
grace and in the end cause the downfall of Camelot. Lancelot's failure
reflects the failure of all the knights except the chosen few and
encapsules the disillusionment of all the knights. It was their failure
to be "perfect" and allows the death of the dream.  This story, in my
mind, reflected the mind set of the knights returning from the crusades.
It is very important. Mallory just states that Lancelot talked to the
hermit and thats that. There is nothing to sink your teeth in. 

When I have time, after Midsummer's Ball. I will write a list of all of
the good books I have found for Arthurian stories.

Yours in a tizzy 
Willow
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