Базовый курс английского языка - Эккерсли К.Э.
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FRIEDA: Why was it round? Had that any special meaning?
MR. EVANS: Yes, it was to show that no knight, not even the King himself, was "head of the table"; all were equal and the King was just "first among equals". You can still see the table-a great round piece of wood hanging on one of the inner walls of Winchester Castle. But though 600 places in the British Isles claim some memory of him, he is for ever essentially the hero of Wales, and it's rather significant that the Welshman who became King of England, Henry VII, called his eldest son Arthur. I think Arthur's name is so widespread throughout England, and the Continent, too, because Welsh bards in Norman times and before that, travelled about singing the songs and telling
1 In Arthur's time Monmouthshire was part of Wales.
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the stories about him. Those stories were gathered together by Sir Thomas Malory1 and it is from his Morte d Arthur that all the later writers and poets have drawn the materials for their stories and poems.
FRIEDA: Could you tell us one of the stories of Arthur and his Knights.
MR. EVANS: There's hardly anything that a Welshman likes better than telling a story-unless it's listening to one; and I'm a Welshman.
And this is the story he told us:
The Story of Sir Galahad
One day as King Arthur sat in his Court at Caerleon surrounded by the Knights of the Round Table a servant entered and said, "Sir King, I have seen a strange sight. As I walked along the bank of the river I saw a great stone, and it floated on the water. There was a sword through the stone and the handle of the sword was thick with precious stones." When they heard this, the King and all the Knights went to see this strange thing. It was just as the servant had said: moreover, when they looked more closely they read the words on the sword: "No one shall draw me out of this stone except the knight at whose side I am to hang. And he must be the best knight in the world." The knights asked Sir Launcelot to draw the sword, for he was known as the best knight in the world. But Sir Launcelot said: "The sword is not for me. I dare not try to take it." Many of the knights tried, but none could draw out the sword. So they returned and took their places again at the Round Table.
No sooner were they seated than the door opened and an old man, dressed in white, entered the hall, followed by a young knight in red armour, by whose side hung an empty sword-sheath.
The old man bowed low to the King and said, "Sir, I bring you a young knight, Sir Galahad; through him Britain shall win great glory; and he shall see the Holy Grail." "The Holy Grail!" said the knights, their faces full of awe, for the Holy Grail was the cup from
1 About 1470
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which Christ had drunk at the Last Supper. It had been brought to Wales by Joseph of Arimathea, but because of man's sinfulness it had been taken from human sight. None of the knights had seen it, for it could be seen only by the pure in heart, and all of them had sinned.
When the feast was over, the King took Sir Galahad to see the sword in the stone. "I will try to take the sword," said Sir Galahad, "for, as you see, my sword-sheath is empty." He seized the handle of the sword and drew it easily from the stone and placed it in his sheath. While they were all filled with surprise, a lady came to them, riding on a white horse, and said, "I am sent to bring you word, О King, that great honour will be done to you and all your knights. Today the Holy Grail will appear in your hall." Then she rode away and no one could ask her any further questions.
That evening as each knight sat in his seat round the table there was a noise of thunder, so great that the whole palace seemed to shake, and there came into the hall a great beam of light, brighter than any of them had seen before. The light touched them all, and a sweet scent was in the air. And in the beam was the Holy Grail. But no one could see it except the pure-hearted Sir Galahad. They all sat silent with amazement and awe until Arthur rose and gave thanks to God for the vision that had come to them.
Then Arthur's nephew, Sir Gawain, stood up and said that he would make a vow to go for a year and a day in search of the Holy Grail. Immediately other knights, a hundred and fifty in all, rose up and swore to do the same; and among them was Sir Galahad.
King Arthur was full of sorrow at this. His knights would wander into far-off countries; many of them, he knew, would forget that they were in search of the Holy Grail, and would go on other adventures and never return. Meanwhile, the heathen enemies from whom he had protected his land would come again to conquer him. Turning to Sir Gawain he said, "Nephew, you have done wrong, for by your act I have lost the noblest company of knights that ever brought honour to any country in Christendom; for I know that you knights, whom I have loved as my life, will never again all gather together in this hall." The knights, too, were filled with sorrow, but they could not break their vows.
