The Once and Future King

Sir Lionel returns next with his tale. When his brother, Sir Bors, came upon Lionel being beaten by two knights, he chose to rescue a maiden instead. Afterward, Bors, thinking Lionel was dead, took him to an abbey to be buried. Bors then faced a moral dilemma: make love to several women—Bors was chaste—or let them die. He chose his own chastity.

When Lionel recovered from his beating, he sought to kill Bors for leaving him to die. Bors, however, would not fight his own brother. Just as Lionel was about to deal a death blow, God intervened, and the brothers reconciled. When Lionel agonizes about two other men he killed in the process, Guenever suggests their deaths were “the best thing for them” (449).

Sir Aglovale, Pellinore’s son, returns, seeking vengeance against the Orkney clan for killing his father. Arthur warns him that if he kills Gawaine and the others, it will only perpetuate the blood feud. He pleads with Aglovale to end the cycle of killing.

Aglovale then tells of his adventures. His brother, Sir Percival, was bidden to join Galahad on the quest, but when Galahad rode off, Percival was left on his own. He encountered a wicked fairy who gave him a horse, which carried him to a desert. There, he helped a lion escape from a serpent. He then met a woman. They drank wine and were about to make love when Percival remembered his chastity and balked. After, he boarded a magic boat carrying Bors, and they sailed off together. Meanwhile, Percival’s sister, a nun, had a vision. Together with Galahad, she joined Bors and Percival aboard the magic boat. When they discovered the sword of King David, she wove a “girdle” for Galahad and hung the sword upon his waist. Percival’s sister died in their final adventure before returning. As he ends his story, Aglovale asks to dine with the Orkneys the following night, and Arthur understands he means to forgive his enemies.

Gradually, more knights return, but Lancelot is not among them. Rumors abound of his death, and despair settles over the court. One day, however, Lancelot returns, haggard and weary. He reports that Percival, Galahad, and Bors have found the Grail but that it cannot return to Camelot. Further, while Bors will eventually return, the other two never will.

The next morning, Lancelot tells his story. On his way to Pelles’s castle, he jousted with Galahad, and his son unseated him. A young woman approached and hailed Galahad as the “best knight of the world” (462). His pride wounded, Lancelot rode off, taking refuge outside a chapel that he could not enter. He woke from a dream to find his armor and weapons gone. Without his honor or status, he had nothing left. After a dark night of the soul, he found himself refreshed by the sound of birdsong. He realized that “you couldn’t get unless you gave” and confesses all of his sins (464). Thinking his soul cleansed, he retrieved his arms and joined a tournament, but he was beaten once again. He realized he was still guilty of pride. Rather than feel bitter about his string of defeats, however, he thanked God for the “adventure.”

Lancelot was instructed in a dream to board a ship, and the next morning, a boat arrived on the shore. It was filled with sumptuous sights and smells (and the body of Percival’s sister), and he boarded the vessel. After a month, Galahad joined him, and Lancelot kissed his son’s sword. Arthur, interrupting Lancelot’s account, is indignant at his great captain’s subservient gesture. Lancelot continues, explaining that they sailed to an island where a white knight called for Galahad alone to join him; Lancelot knew he was being taken to the Grail. The boat then bore Lancelot away to a dark castle guarded by lions. He entered and passed through a series of doors until he discovered a chapel. Inside were Bors, Percival, Galahad, and the Grail; however, Lancelot was forbidden from entering. When he tried, he was struck mute.

The narrator notes that Guenever is a “real” person, complex and contradictory, defying easy labels. What finally breaks her is never having a child and having to sit on the sidelines while Lancelot rides off on his adventures. Now that Lancelot has returned, she resolves to be patient. Lancelot tells her they can never be together the way they once were, but Guenever, thinking he will eventually change his mind, waits quietly.

After nearly a year, Guenever grows tired of waiting and suggests Lancelot go away for a time. He bows to her wishes and leaves the next morning.

Arthur’s court has experienced too much death, infighting, and betrayal. With the ultimate quest fulfilled, it is left with “gossip, fashion, malice” (477). Guenever deals with her loneliness by indulging in the trappings of youth. One night, she hosts a dinner party, hoping to smooth relations with the Orkney clan, but a relative of Pellinore, still bitter about his murder, poisons an apple meant for Gawaine (it kills another knight by accident). Guenever is accused of the crime and must find a champion to fight for her honor (she is unpopular, so there are no volunteers). In the absence of Lancelot, she begs Bors to fight for her, and he reluctantly agrees.

Before the trial-by-battle, Bors finds Lancelot and urges him to return and fight for Guenever. He does so—disguised as Bors—and defeats the queen’s accuser.

Merlyn’s lover, Nimue, possessing his insight, arrives at court and verifies Guenever’s innocence. The queen, however, grows increasingly furious at Lancelot’s rejections. She claims she hasn’t loved him since the Grail quest and that she currently has a much younger lover. Behind her anger, however, is grief.

In honor of Guenever’s acquittal, Arthur arranges a tournament near Pelles’s castle. Guenever forbids Lancelot from being in such close proximity to Elaine. He agrees to honor her wishes, but then, not wanting to be left alone with him, she changes her mind. Lancelot rides to the castle, intent on catching up Elaine on their son’s exploits, but she misinterprets his return, saying, “You will be staying here for good now” (489).

Lancelot is his old fighting self again, and he bests every knight he faces until, set upon by three knights, he is wounded. He recovers but is reluctant to tell Elaine that he never meant to stay. Still, he agrees to wear her “token” in the tournament. When Guenever hears about that, she feels even more betrayed. Lancelot makes a pretense of affection with Elaine, but when she suggests that they are now together permanently, he realizes he must tell her the truth.

When Elaine hears the truth, she dies by suicide. She is loaded on to a “death barge” and floated down the river. When Guenever hears of her death, she asks Lancelot, “Why were you not kinder to her?” (494).

Lancelot is mistakenly wounded in a wood one day but continues to participate in tournaments. Arthur, feeling the tension and anger of his court, challenges Lancelot and tries to hurt him in earnest. White speculates that Arthur is seeking his own death so Lancelot and Guenever may be together. Regardless, neither man is harmed, and their relationship returns to its former camaraderie.

However, Lancelot rekindles the Orkney resentment by defeating all the brothers, including Mordred. Meanwhile, a knight named Sir Meliagrance, who is deeply in love with Guenever, kidnaps her one day. She manages to send a messenger to Lancelot, and he and Arthur ride to her rescue.

Meliagrance, realizing Lancelot is on his way, sets an ambush. Lancelot walks into it, and his horse is injured; however, he commandeers a cart and rides to the castle. When Lancelot gets past the gate, Meliagrance says that if Guenever appeases her rescuer, he will release her. When she sees Lancelot, all her anger and bitterness dissolves, and she silently concedes to his love for God over her. Seeing this, Lancelot can no longer resist his love for her.

Guenever spends the night in the castle, and the next morning, Meliagrance finds blood in her bed. Assuming it’s the blood of one of her wounded bodyguards (it is actually Lancelot’s), he accuses her of treason (i.e., adultery) against the king. He challenges Lancelot to trial-by-combat, but before the duel, Meliagrance traps Lancelot in a dungeon.

Once again, Lancelot escapes captivity to fight on Guenever’s behalf. When Meliagrance is unhorsed and refuses to fight any further, Lancelot offers to fight with partial armor and one arm tied behind his back. Meliagrance accepts, and Lancelot promptly slays him.

Lancelot and Guenever reunite as lovers, and Arthur’s court enjoys a brief return of peace and prosperity. One day, a Hungarian knight, Sir Urre, arrives. Having been cursed by a witch with wounds that never heal, he seeks the best knight in the world for a cure. Arthur decides to give each knight a chance but wants to give Lancelot the spotlight for one final miracle. Lancelot, fearing he is no longer pure of heart, tries to avoid the test, but his king calls, and he answers. He whispers a prayer, and Urre is healed. The court rejoices. Lancelot weeps.