The Arthurian legends have a long and complicated history. Originally Celtic tales, as we can still glean from The Mabinogion, the stories in Medieval times became the working clay of traveling minstrels who used and mixed them with other stories from continental Europe as they saw fit. Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote his The History of the Kings of Britain in 1136, and gave us Merlin and the story of the dragons (as well as King Lear).
This material along with all the songs and ballads in turn came to Thomas Malory in 1485. Malory had the difficult job of sorting, selecting and combining centuries of different material. And to be honest, when he did this he usually threw out the fantastic stuff. That sounds ridiculous when you think of Merlin and Excalibur, etc. but there was so much more he did not keep such as the Giant of St. Michael’s Mount, for instance. Malory was more interested in knights and regular valor and not much of supernatural fan unless it was of a religious nature.
Despite this, to my surprise, some good monsters got left in. They are buried away among countless tales of battles but they are still lurking there for you to find.
The Horse Fiend
After a battle with a false knight, Percival sleeps and wakes to find a woman. She makes a pact with him that if he does what she says he can have a most beautiful horse. This black steed throws him off when he makes the sign of the cross, then leaps into a river and explodes in flames. The beast is a fiend as was the woman.
“At that he was full glad, and promised as she asked. Then anon she came again, with a great black steed, strong and well apparelled. So Sir Percival mounted, and rode through the clear moonlight, and within less than an hour had gone a four days’ journey, till he came to a rough water that roared; and his horse would have borne him into it, but Sir Percival would not suffer him, yet could he scarce restrain him. And seeing the water so furious, he made the sign of the cross upon his forehead, whereat the horse suddenly shook him off, and with a terrible sound leaped into the water and disappeared, the waves all burning up in flames around him. Then Sir Percival knew it was a fiend which had brought him the horse; so he commended himself to God, and prayed that he might escape temptations, and continued in prayer till it was day. ” (Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory)
This story seems to be related to the tale of the Irish Pooka, which lures people to ride it then leaps into a pond and drowns them.
The Giant Serpent
After the incident with the Horse Fiend, Percival finds himself in a valley with a giant serpent attacking a lion. He decides to intervene and cuts the serpent’s head off. The lion is so grateful he follows the knight around like a puppy. Shades of “Androcles and the Lion”.
“Then he saw that he was on a wild mountain, nigh surrounded on all sides by the sea, and filled with wild beasts; and going on into a valley, he saw a serpent carrying a young lion by the neck. With that came another lion, crying and roaring after the serpent, and anon overtook him, and began to battle with him. And Sir Percival helped the lion, and drew his sword, and gave the serpent such a stroke that it fell dead. Thereat the lion fawned upon him like a dog, licking his hands, and crouching at his feet, and at night lay down by him and slept at his side. ” (King Arthur and His Knights by Sir James Knowles)
Giant snakes will become a staple of Fantasy fiction, partly through the fiction of Robert E. Howard. It is interesting that Malory did not make the serpent a “dragon” but just a giant snake. Nobody seems to ask why giant snakes or lions are in England.
The Fiend in the Tomb
While on the quest for the Holy Grail, Sir Galahad hears of a shield that can only be possessed by its true owner or else the bearer dies within three days. The shield belonged to King Evelake who received it from Joseph of Aramathea. He goes in search of the shield. What he finds instead is a tomb haunted by a fiend because the body buried there belongs to an evil non-Christian. Galahad defeats the fiend by his sheer holiness and has the body removed.
“…But Galahad was nothing afraid, but lifted up the stone; and there came out so foul a smoke, and after he saw the foulest figure leap thereout that ever he saw in the likeness of a man; and then he blessed him and wist well it was a fiend. Then heard he a voice say Galahad, I see there environ about thee so many angels that my power may not dere thee{sic} Right so Sir Galahad saw a body all armed lie in that tomb, and beside him a sword. Now, fair brother, said Galahad, let us remove this body, for it is not worthy to lie in this churchyard, for he was a false Christian man…” (Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory)
An unusual tale to find in Malory who seemed to leave out all the monsters but in once again he wanted to show how holy Galahad was. This will happen again…
The Lady Fiend
Percival meets another looker with a sad tale (not having learned his lesson from the Horse Fiend) and dines with her and eventually ends up in bed with her. (As most men do before intercourse) he makes the sign of the cross and the pavilion they are lying in explodes in a cloud of smoke. She, too, was a fiend.
“…and therein was a gentlewoman of great beauty, and she was clothed richly that none might be better…And then two squires were commanded to make a bed in midst of the pavilion. And anon she was unclothed and laid therein. And then Sir Percivale laid him down by her naked; and by adventure and grace he saw his sword lie on the ground naked, in whose pommel was a red cross and the sign of the crucifix therein, and bethought him on his knighthood and his promise made to-forehand unto the good man; then he made a sign of the cross in his forehead, and therewith the pavilion turned up-so-down, and then it changed unto a smoke, and a black cloud, and then he was adread …” (Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory)
Arthurian tales of purity were popular with the Victorians who wrote out all the good bits. Books of this sort were meant for children. The message this tale sends is pretty obvious — don’t sleep with strange women out of wedlock, etc. Monty Python does a great send-up of this kind of thing when Sir Galahad the Pure (Michael Palin) ends up in a castle full of young, amorous women in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
The Questing Beast
The Questing Beast has the head of a serpent, the spots of a leopard, the legs of a lion and the feet of a hart. It gets its name from the sound it makes which is a barking or yelping noise. Arthur falls asleep beside a stream then sees the beast. In the oldest version it is small, foxlike and white. The sound of its rumbling is explained as the creature’s own offspring inside eating away at it. (This beast is a symbol of Christ and the noise is his power over the old religions.) Another origin of the monster is a princess who wanted her own brother to fall in love with her slept with a demon to work the spell. In the end the brother is charged with her rape and is killed. The sister bears the terrible beast. The story is a warning against incest (which Arthur has unwittingly committed with Morgaine and will beget Mordred.) Sir Pellinore and his family have always hunted the creature but never succeeded in catching it.The Questing Beast may have been the medieval version of the Giraffe.
“So the king saw the hart enbushed, and his horse dead, he set him down by a fountain, and there he fell in great thoughts. And as he sat so, him thought he heard a noise of hounds, to the sum of thirty. And with that the king saw coming toward him the strangest beast that ever he saw or heard of; so the beast went to the well and drank, and the noise was in the beast’s belly like unto the questing of thirty couple hounds; but all the while the beast drank there was no noise in the beast’s belly: and there.with the beast departed with a great noise, whereof the king had great marvel. And so he was in a great thought, and therewith he fell asleep. Right so there came a knight afoot unto Arthur and said, Knight full of thought and sleepy, tell me if thou sawest a strange beast pass this way. Such one saw I, said King Arthur, that is past two mile; what would ye with the beast? said Arthur. Sir, I have followed that beast long time, and killed mine horse, so would God I had another to follow my quest. Right so came one with the king’s horse, and when the knight saw the horse, he prayed the king to give him the horse: for I have followed this quest this twelvemonth, and either I shall achieve him, or bleed of the best blood of my body. Pellinore, that time king, followed the Questing Beast, and after his death Sir Palamides followed it. ” (Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory)
The Questing Beast dates back to earlier French cycles such as Perlesvaus and the Post-Vulgate Suite du Merlin from the 13th Century. Malory includes the beast but places it in a different part of the story. T. H. White uses Pellinore’s fruitless quest for humor in The Once and Future King, making the beast the symbol of the pointless quest. On the TV show Merlin (BBC) the Questing Beast’s bite is said to be deadly.
Luckily, later writers did not use Malory alone to tell their versions of the Matter of Britain, and this meant some of the magic and monsters crept back in. Perhaps Malory thought his version would be the definitive one (and in some ways it is) but like the tales of Robin Hood, the Arthurian legends are too big to be contained by one author. As always, bring on the monsters….
