Little is known about Sir Thomas Malory, who lived in the fifteenth
century. We only learn that he was a Welshman, a man of heroic mind
who, as an old writer relates, 'from his youth, greatly shone in the
gifts of mind and body.' Though much busied with cares of state, his
favourite recreation was said to be the reading of history, and in this
pursuit 'he made selections from various authors concerning the valour
and the victories of the most renowned King Arthur of the Britons.' We
know, further, that these selections or tales were translated mostly
from poems about Arthur written by old French poets in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries, and that Sir Thomas Malory finished his translation
in the ninth year of King Edward the Fourth (1469). This, of course,
was before printing was introduced into England, but no doubt many
written copies were made of the book, so as to enable the stories to be
read to the lords and ladies and other rich people who would desire to
hear about the flower of kings and chivalry, the great King Arthur.
When, in 1477, Caxton set up his printing press at Westminster, the
_Morte D'Arthur_ was one of the books which then saw the light of day.

The _Mabinogion_, which contains other tales about King Arthur, is a
collection of old Welsh romances. Though our earliest collection of
them is to be found in a manuscript written in the thirteenth or
fourteenth century, some of them are probably as old as the time when
Welshmen clothed themselves in the skins of the beaver and the bear,
and used stone for their tools and weapons.

It may be that, when you get older, you will go back to the two books I
have mentioned, and you will find them so fascinating that you will be
impatient of any other book which pretends to tell you the same tales.
But until that time arrives, I hope you will find the stories as I have
told them quite interesting and exciting.

HENRY GILBERT.

_June_ 1911.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. HOW ARTHUR WAS MADE KING AND WON HIS KINGDOM 1

II. SIR BALIN AND THE STROKE DOLOROUS 32

III. HOW LANCELOT WAS MADE A KNIGHT. THE FOUR WITCH QUEENS,
AND THE ADVENTURES AT THE CHAPEL PERILOUS 52

IV. THE KNIGHT OF THE KITCHEN 72

V. HOW SIR TRISTRAM KEPT HIS WORD 101

VI. THE D