granted, as in the story, to the
pure in heart.

In later days, legend said that where Joseph's hermitage had stood,
there grew up the famous monastery of Glastonbury, and it came to
have a special importance of its own in the Arthurian romance. In
the reign of Henry II., by the king's orders, the monks of
Glastonbury made search for the grave of King Arthur, and, in due
time, they announced that they had found it, nine feet below the
soil, the coffin covered with a stone in which was inlaid a leaden
cross bearing this inscription: "Hic iacet sepultus inclitus rex
Arthurius in insula Avalonia." Some, however, suggested that the
monks, less honest than anxious to please the masterful king, had
first placed the stone in position and then found it!

One more feature of the tales remains to be mentioned: their
geography. There is no atlas that will make it plain in all cases; and
this is hardly wonderful, for so little was known of this subject
that, even in the reign of Henry VIII., the learned Lord Berners was
quite satisfied that his hero should journey to Babylon by way of the
Nile! Some of the places mentioned in the stories are, of course,
familiar, and others, less well known, can, with a little care, be
traced; but to identify all is not possible. Caerleon, where King
Arthur so often held his Court, still bears the same name, though its
glory has sorely shrank since the days when it had a bishop of its
own. Camelot, where stood the marvellous palace built for the king by
Merlin, is perhaps the village of Queen's Camel in Somersetshire. If
it is borne in mind that the French call Wales _Pays de Galles_, it is
not difficult to see that North Galis may well be North Wales. Gore is
the peninsula of Gower; Liones probably the land south-west of
Cornwall, now sunk beneath the sea; and Avalonia was the name given to
one of the many small islands of the once marshy, low-lying shore of
Somersetshire, which became afterwards better known as Glastonbury.

Happily, it is neither on their history nor on their geography that
the tales depend for their interest. As long as a story of adventure
thrills; as long as gentleness, courtesy and consideration for the
weak excite respect, so long will be read the tales of the brave times

"When every morning brought a noble chance,
And every chance brought out a noble knight."

STORIES FROM LE MORTE D'ARTHUR AND THE MABINOGION

BOOK I

THE COMING OF ARTHUR