pomp and ceremony.

Merlin told Arthur to ask from Guinevere's father, whose name was
Leodegrance and who was himself a king, a marvelous round table that he
possessed. This table had magic powers, said Merlin, and Arthur would
add greatly to the strength of his kingdom by possessing it. The table
had many marvelous properties,--and the chairs that went with it were
equally marvelous. The names of those who should sit in them appeared
in letters of gold when such knights approached, and disappeared again
when they rose to depart. There was also a seat richer than the rest
for the King himself--and another chair, wonderfully carven and wrought
with gems, that was called the "Seat Perilous," where even Arthur might
not sit--for that chair was reserved for the knight who should look
upon the "Holy Grail," a vessel containing the blood of Christ that had
been taken to Heaven on his death. It could only be beheld by the
purest knight that went in quest of it, which Arthur could not do,
because he must rule his kingdom.

Then Arthur gathered all the best knights in the realm about him and
they were called "the Knights of the Round Table" and they bound
themselves by vows to noble deeds and gallant conduct, to redress
wrongs, to think no evil or allow it to appear in any guise at the
Round Table. And through the deeds of his knights of the Round Table
Arthur's name became even greater in his kingdom than it had ever been
before.

But little by little doubt and suspicion began to appear among Arthur's
knights, and these were fostered by the evil plots of Arthur's nephew,
Modred. Above all, Modred hated a knight named Sir Lancelot, who, with
the exception of the King, was the bravest knight in Britain. Sir
Lancelot was loved by Queen Guinevere, and loved her in return. And
through Modred's schemes it befell that fighting commenced between
Lancelot and other knights of the Round Table, in which many were
slain. And then the whole kingdom of Britain was torn apart and
Arthur's former glory was lost; and at last the unhappy King even found
himself at war with his former friend, Sir Lancelot himself, who had
stolen the love of the Queen.

After bitter fighting Sir Lancelot went back to his own country of
Brittany, taking Queen Guinevere with him, beyond the sea, and Arthur
pursued him there. And while Arthur was laying siege to Sir Lancelot's
castle, the false knight Modred rose against Arthur in his own country,
hatching a reb