The Story of King Arthur and His Knights

The book begins by telling how young Arthur pulled a sword out of an anvil, how he learned of his royal lineage, and how he thus became king.

King Arthur loses to his enemy, King Pellinore, and suffers many wounds. Merlin advises Arthur to seek Excalibur. The Lady of the Lake instructs Arthur on how to earn the sword, and, following her instructions, he takes Excalibur. He then meets Pellinore again, and with Excalibur's magic, he wins against him. The two thereafter make amends and become friends.

King Arthur is captivated by the Lady Guinevere, the daughter of his friend, King Leodegrance, and in an attempt to win her love visits Cameliard, the castle where Lady Guinevere resides. With Merlin's help, he disguises himself as a peasant and works as a gardener below her tower. Meanwhile, King Ryence threatens Leodegrance for much of his lands, and also for the notorious Duke of North Umber being able to marry Guinevere. The Duke torments the people of Cameliard by parading in front of the castle, calling for someone to challenge him at arms. Arthur, though unrecognized by others, accepts the challenge and defeats the Duke. He then goes traveling through the country and runs into Sir Geraint, Sir Gawaine, Sir Ewaine, and Sir Pellias. He defeats them all in battle and demands them to be servants unto the Lady Guinevere. Shortly after, he returns to Cameliard, donning his peasant costume once more. He is just in time for another challenge by the Duke, and Arthur chooses to take on the challenge. Unrecognized, he forces the knights to obey to him. After he finds his armor, Arthur asks to be Guinevere's champion. She then gives him her necklace. He and his knights defeat the Duke and his companions. After the battle, Arthur reveals himself to King Leodegrance, and asks for the hand of his daughter.

Merlin is bewitched by an aspiring, young sorceress named Vivien, a friend of Queen Morgana le Fay. Morgana seeks revenge against Arthur because he did not choose her son, Sir Tor, to be a member of the Round Table. Merlin, being infatuated with Vivien, teaches her all of the sorcery he knows. Vivien then gives Merlin a sleeping potion forcing him into a deep sleep which gives her the opportunity to cast a spell on him so he can no longer move. Merlin, shortly before his death, prophesizes that Arthur is in trouble, and his dying wish is that Vivien would save Arthur. Vivien proceeds to have Merlin buried alive but promises to aid King Arthur. Meanwhile, King Arthur and Sir Accalon, meanwhile, become lost while hunting. While searching for their way out, they see a ship coming to shore. The ship is run by fairies, and they offer Arthur and Accalon a feast and comfortable quarters for the night. Arthur awakes a prisoner in the dungeon of Sir Domas le Noir, which is full of miserable knights and even some ladies. The only way to escape is to fight a battle against Sir Domas's brother, Sir Ontzlake. Arthur agrees. Meanwhile, Accalon awakes in a beautiful, strange land with a fair maiden. She asks him to fight for Sir Ontzlake against Sir Domas and offers Excalibur as a reward if he accepts. Accalon agrees. This turns out to be a plan by Morgana to end Arthur's life. Arthur and Accalon, not recognizing each other, fight a very bloody and harsh battle. They both end up near their deaths; Vivien soon leads them to a nunnery. Through sorcery and concoctions, she leads Arthur to good health once again, though he must rest for a while. When Arthur asks Vivien to treat Accalon, she lies and says she has no more of her concoction. Accalon passes away from his wounds. Morgana steals the sheath of Excalibur while Arthur rests, and she drops the sheath back into the lake whence he obtained it. Once Arthur awakes he is outraged, and he, Vivien, and his men go searching for her. Morgana transforms herself into a rock, yet Vivien recognizes her and begs Arthur to kill her. Arthur, however, forgives his sister. Vivien is mad at Arthur for this and remains vengeful.

While the Queen and her court, including Sir Pellias, went out maying, a damsel named Parcenet approaches them. She explains that she came to see if the Queen was more beautiful than her Lady Ettard, who is reputed in her area to be the most beautiful woman in the world. Sir Pellias agrees to go to Grantmesnle, the home of Lady Ettard, to settle the matter with her knight, Sir Engamore of Malverat. As Parcenet and Sir Pellias journey to Grantmesnle, they venture into the legendary Forest of Adventure, a place rumored to always bring some kind of adventure to a knight. There they found a sad old woman who sat by a stream of water. She asks for help in crossing the stream, as it is very violent and she is feeble. Sir Pellias kindly helps the old woman onto his horse and then passes the stream. As Sir Pellias helps the old woman down from the horse, she transform into the Lady of the Lake. The Lady gave him a beautiful, magical necklace which makes the wearer adored by all who see him. Later he gives the necklace to Lady Ettard. Under the spell of the necklace, Sir Pellias becomes deeply infatuated with Lady Ettard. However, once Sir Pellias took off the necklace, Lady Ettard felt no love for him whatsoever. Sir Pellias humiliates himself trying to see the Lady Ettard who abandoned his affections. Sir Gawaine, meanwhile, is told by the Lady of the Lake to go to Grantmesnle to help bring sense into Sir Pellias. Sir Pellias accepts his help, and they devise a plan, but Sir Gawaine is, too, charmed by Lady Ettard. Sir Pellias and Sir Gawaine have a fight, where Pellias, although victorious, is wounded by Gawaine. Pellias, nearly dying, is brought to the chapel of a healing hermit. The Lady of the Lake comes. First, she takes the necklace with the charms. She then revives Pellias with a potion. Although Pellias is revived, he is no longer fully mortal, but instead half-mortal and half-fairy. The Lady of the Lake and Sir Pellias go to their fairy city hidden on the lake, where they are married.

During a procession of King Arthur and his Court, they saw a beautiful dog pursuing a likewise beautiful deer. Immediately after, they saw a knight and a lady attacked by another knight who, having struck the knight of the lady, took her captive. Upon King Arthur’s request, Sir Gawaine and his brother went off to discover the meaning of these events. Gawaine and his brother eventually arrived at a castle where they saw the dog had been slain by arrows. In a rage, Gawaine pursued the deer into the castle courtyard and killed it perceiving that the dog died because it pursued the deer. The lady of the castle became greatly distressed over her slain deer, so the lord, Sir Ablamor, challenged Gawaine to a fight. Gawaine bested Ablamor but didn’t kill him. Because Gawaine showed him mercy, Ablamor invited him to dine in his castle and explained the meaning behind the strange events. Sometime earlier, Ablamor’s brother’s wife had gone out riding with Ablamor’s wife when they came across a woman, she turned out to be the sorceress Vivien, who gave them the dog and deer. Ever since then, the two brothers had been at odds because the dog continually pursued the deer. During the day of the Court’s procession, Lord Ablamor saw his wife’s deer being chased by his brother’s wife dog and became greatly angered. When he also saw his brother and his brother’s wife riding not far behind, Ablamor concluded that the pursuit of the deer was on purpose and struck his brother and took his wife captive. Gawaine returned to King Arthur’s court and related these events to him. Shortly after these events, King Arthur went off seeking adventure. After becoming lost in a forest, he and his esquire reached a castle where they sought shelter. There they met an old knight who challenged King Arthur to a test of courage. The challenge was to see who could survive after getting their head cut off. To the surprise of Arthur, who struck first, the old knight lived. The old knight said he would spare King Arthur’s life if after a year and a day Arthur returned and answered a riddle. After the year had passed and King Arthur sought in vain for an answer to the riddle, he set out to fulfill his promise. On the way, he met an old woman who promised to tell him the answer to the riddle on the condition that she would get to marry a knight of his court. The old woman also told him that the old knight was kept alive by an enchanted necklace. King Arthur agreed to the old woman’s condition and defeated the old knight. In keeping his promise, King Arthur brought the old woman to his court and allowed her to choose a knight to marry. She chose Sir Gawaine which is upsetting to him. After they marry, she tested Gawaine and when he proved to be a worthy knight, she revealed herself as a Lady of the Lake.