The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

Because of the unrest among the barons, Arthur decides to stabilize his rule by marrying to ensure an heir. He is determined to wed Guinevere even though Merlin tries to discourage the match by predicting that the queen will betray Arthur with his best friend: “You do not want advice—only agreement” (78). As a wedding present, Guinevere’s father gives Arthur a huge round table, which Arthur will use to seat his most formidable knights.

While the marriage feast is in progress, a white stag charges into the great hall followed by a white female hound and a pack of black dogs. A knight manages to capture the white hound and runs off with it, as the stag escapes with the black dogs in pursuit. A woman on horseback arrives to demand the return of her brachet—the white female hound. Arthur seems disinclined to help until a knight on a warhorse gallops in and seizes the lady’s bridle, leading her away: Merlin says, “You cannot know a venture from its beginning […] Greatness is born little. Do not dishonor your feast by ignoring what comes to it. Such is the law of quest” (82). Arthur dispatches three knights on three separate missions to resolve the matter:

And he instructed Sir Gawain to hunt down the white stag and bring it to the feast. And he sent Sir Torre to find the knight who took the white brachet. Sir Pellinore was given the order to search out the lady and the forceful knight and return them to the court (82-83).

The story now shifts to Sir Gawain’s adventure. As he pursues the white stag, he encounters several knights who challenge him to battle. He defeats them all and goes on his way. When he corners the stag in a nearby castle, its owner kills some of Gawain’s hounds. Gawain then kills the knight and accidentally kills a lady who came to the knight’s aid. Gawain returns to Camelot in disgrace: “Guinevere set an eternal quest on Gawain that during his whole life he would defend all ladies and fight in their cause. And she further commanded that he should be courteous always and he should grant mercy when it was asked” (87).

The narrative now turns to Sir Torre’s quest to return the missing brachet. After several encounters with knights who challenge him to joust, Torre tracks down the thief and recovers the brachet. As he’s about to return to Camelot with the dog and the thieving knight, a damsel asks a favor. She says the knight killed her brother, and she demands his head. When the knight tries to escape, Torre kills him and takes his body and the brachet back to Camelot. Merlin says, “He went on his quest with no help and no retainer. Pellinore, his father, gave him an old horse and Arthur worn-out armor and a sword. But this is nothing to what he will do, my lord. He will be a brave and noble knight” (91).

The third part of the story follows Sir Pellinore’s quest to find the missing lady. He’s so intent on his pursuit that he refuses to stop along the way to help a damsel and a wounded knight. The damsel curses him and says that someday he’ll be in a similar predicament and won’t find help either. As the wounded knight dies in her arms, the damsel kills herself in a fit of despair. Pellinore tracks the missing lady to a valley where two knights are fighting over her. One claims to be her kin while the other asserts his right to abduct her by force of arms. Pellinore fights both of them and kills the abductor. The kinsman yields and allows the lady, whose name is Nyneve, to be taken back to Camelot.

On their return journey, Pellinore and the lady come upon the place where the damsel and her knight died. Pellinore expresses remorse that he didn’t stop to help and asks a nearby hermit to bury their bodies. Back in Camelot, Merlin reveals that the damsel was Pellinore’s own daughter and that her curse will be fulfilled when Pellinore’s best friend fails him in his hour of need. Once the quests of the wedding feast conclude, the knights of the Round Table take an oath to be merciful, to defend the honor of women, and never to fight in an unjust cause: “And every year at the high feast of Pentecost they renewed the oath” (98).