Essay for Week 11: A Knight's Tale

Armored Knight Mounted on Cloaked Horse by Paul Mercuri(1861) via Wiki Commons 

I absolutely loved the King Arthur Unit! The stories of King Arthur and his knights have always intrigued me. When I was younger, specifically in middle school, I remember grabbing any book in the library with a knight on it just so I could read more about this time where knights went on quests, beautiful princesses, and even magic. My brother and I were also really obsessed with the BBC TV series Merlin. I even took a course last fall that was called Arthurian Legends and Literature. As you can tell I absolutely love the stories of Arthur and his knights, so it is only natural that I chose this unit to read this week.

From what I have experienced, there is a lot of variation with the stories of Arthur. Sometimes Merlin is a character, sometimes he isn't. Sometimes there is a Morgan Le Fey, sometimes she is referred as Morgana. The knights of the round table also vary. Personally my favorite knight is Gawain, but that is just my opinion. I really liked that Merlin was in these stories. Merlin was not in the original stories of Arthur, he was added into the story much later. However, I like the magician and was pleased to see him. I felt so bad for him when he died in The Passing of Merlin. Merlin knew his own death, but was distracted by his girlfriend, Vivien, who led him to his death. That young girl just did not have the patience for the old man. One story I did not really like was The Questing Beast. I mean I liked it, I just did not like part of it. I would hate to know my own fate. I would be trying to avoid my death at all costs. I almost feel like it would take away a lot of the quality of like because you are so worried about dying. We are all going to die in our own time, whenever God has planned for us, so there is no need to worry about the inevitable. 

Storytelling Week 11: Cheating Death

Hello my name is sticker by Eviatar Bach via Wiki Commons

"Hi everyone, my name is Arthur."

"Hello Arthur."

I really hate these meetings. They are supposed to help me, tell my problems to other people who can relate. But no one can really understand me.

"The start of my insanity began when my mentor told me the future. You might think that sounds cool, but it is definitely not. You see my mentor, Merlin, told me how I am supposed to die. I want to change it at all costs."

One of the group members, Robin, raises his hand and asks, "How are you supposed to die?"

Our leader hastens to respond, "Arthur, you do not have to respond! Robin, Arthur will tell us when he is ready."

I shake my head, "Nah, it's okay. I am supposed to die in a battle."

"Well that's easy," Robin says, "just don't fight in battles."

"Easier said than done," I reply, "I am king of my country. I have to lead the battles and protect my people. However, I have been doing everything I can to keep the peace. I made treaties, sent gifts, the whole shebang. It just sucks that no matter what I do I cannot change it. I just wish Merlin would have kept his trap shut."

"Are you sure that Merlin is a reliable source?" the group leader asks. "I mean he might not be all there, if you know what I mean."

Chuckling I respond, "No he definitely is not crazy. I mean he was strange, but his predictions always came true. I mean sometimes he tried to predict the weather. That was always off. He said it was too unpredictable to always get it right. Other than that he was pretty spot on with his predictions of the future. Merlin once told me how he would die. He said he would be buried alive. This actually came true. His legitimately crazy girlfriend was the one who did it. Merlin had this romantic date all planned out and he went into a cave for a little bit to look for something. While he was in there, his girlfriend caused the cave to collapse. I always knew she was trouble. She was a quarter of his age. Obviously she had some sort of twisted reason to be with him. Maybe it was his fame or money? regardless it did not seem to be enough for her."

"Okay.. So Merlin is all knowing. Or was all knowing?" the group leader's face was all red as she continued, "I am sorry Arthur, I can only imagine how difficult all of this is on you."

"Ya," I reply, "At least I will die a heroic death. I guess the only way to move forward is to accept that it is going to happen."

Author's Note: I loosely based this off of The Questing Beast from the King Arthur unit. I decided to write my story based off of the prediction Merlin says near the end of the story about how Arthur is going to die. I know if I were him I would freak out with this news. Therefore, I decided that it would be cool to have him try to discuss his problems with a group of people. Really the only stuff I kept from the original story is how Arthur is supposed to die and how Merlin did die.

Bibliography: The Questing Beast from the King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang (1902)

Reading Diary Week 11: King Arthur

King Arthur Unit

The Drawing of the Sword

This first story really sets the tone for what the rest of the unit will be like. There is so much variation on the legend of Arthur that I was not sure what to expect. In this story, Merlin is present, that is not always the case. I also like that they had the sword in the stone as part of the story. Yet again, with all of the variation, sometimes it is told differently. This story reminded me a lot of the disney movie, except Sir Kay and the Father were really nice in this story. 

The Questing Beast

I honestly think that knowing how you are going to die helps lead to your downfall. If I was Arthur I would be like, "WHY DID YOU TELL ME THIS??" I do not want to know how I am supposed to die because I can see myself getting paranoid and doing everything I can to avoid it instead of living my life to the fullest. I am afraid that is exactly what this Arthur is going to do. 

King Arthur and Morgan Le Fay

I always have preferred the name Morgana to Morgan Le Fay. It always sounded more menacing to me to match her wickedness. Yet again, because the stories vary, I wasn't sure that Morgan would be evil. Sometimes she is actually kind. Given the title of this story, "How Morgan Le Fay Tried to Kill King Arthur," I decided she is most likely evil in these stories. 

The Quest of the Holy Graal

This was very different to all of the other stories in this unit. It was really just informative. It gave some background of the holy graal and that is about it. All the rest have been actual stories.