King Arthur - Reading Diary B

Today I finished reading the King Arthur unit from the UN-Textbook. The first story in the second half of this unit begins with Sir Galahad traveling to an Abbey where he encounters two other knights. They mention that they are there because there is a shield that no man can hang around his neck for three days without dying. They are there to attempt to wear the shield, and Sir Galahad agrees to attempt it if they fail. This seemed a little odd to me at first, because I would definitely not want to wear a shield that is known for leading people to die, but then it was explained that only the worthiest knight in the world could wear it successfully. The first knight wore the shield out of the abbey and was met by the white knight, which injured him. The shield was returned to Sir Galahad, who happened to be worthy of wearing the shield. He kept the shield, which led him into many adventures, including him even getting the best of his father, Sir Lancelot. The next two stories tell of Sir Lancelot’s vision and Sir Percivale’s journeys. Sir Lancelot had a vision of the Holy Graal as he was outside of a church, but he was too heavy with sin to enter the church. As Sir Lancelot was lying there, another knight took his helmet, his sword, and his horse and left with them. Meanwhile, Sir Percivale was busy trying to track down a man on a black horse, and he ended up in a completely different place where he saved a young lion from a serpent. Eventually, Sir Galahad and his father, Sir Lancelot, encounter each other on a ship and spend months together until they are told they must go their separate ways. Soon, Sir Galahad, Sir Percivale, and Sir Bors find the Holy Graal and take it to a town where they pray to it every day. This story was very long, but I really enjoyed reading it and learning about all of the knights of the round table and their quest for the Holy Graal.

(Painting of Sir Galahad praying to the Holy Graal. Source: Wikipedia)