5 10 A rolling organ-harmony Swells up, and shakes and falls. So pass I hostel, hall, and grange; By bridge and ford, by park and pale, Until I find the Holy Grail. casques, helmets; brands, swords; meres, lakes; Holy Grail, in the old legends, the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper; stoles, scarfs worn by priests over the surplice; copses, woods or thickets; hostel, old form of hotel, an inn; hall, here used for castle or dwelling of the rich or noble, as contrasted with grange, a farmhouse; pale, inclosed ground. 1. Read the poem carefully. the knight went in search? 2. What was the Holy Grail of which What did you learn of Galahad in the story of Arthur? 3. The old legends tell us that the Grail could be found only by a knight who had never done any wrong. Read the two lines of the poem that show that Galahad was such a knight. 4. What vision did he see? 5. Read again the first four lines of the poem and the last six. See if you can tell from these lines what the real meaning of the poem is. Learn these lines by heart. Punctuation: The Comma in a Series. - Read carefully the line "So pass I hostel, hall, and grange." What is told you about hostel? about hall? about grange? When several words are used in the same way, as in the above sentence, they form a series. How are the words in the series separated? Underline the words that form a series in the following sentences, and notice how they are separated: 1. Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night Sailed off in a wooden shoe. 2. Honor the old, instruct the young, consult the wise, and bear with the foolish. 3. Early to bed and early to rise Makes a man healthy, and wealthy, and wise. 4. Dear, gentle, patient, noble Nell was dead. Rule. Words or groups of words used in a series should be separated by commas. Study the sentences given above and write them from dictation. 35 THE ADVENTURE OF SIR GARETH It was King Arthur's custom at Pentecost not to sit down to meat till he had seen or heard some strange adventure. Now it fell out in a certain year that Sir Gawaine, looking out of a little window before noon, saw three men and a dwarf riding. Of the three, one was 5 taller by a cubit than his fellows. Thereupon said Sir Gawaine to the King, "Sire, you may go to your meat with a good heart, for here without doubt is an adventure such as you desire." And so indeed it was. Anon there came into the hall the three men, and he 10 that was so much bigger than his fellows leaned upon their shoulders. And all that sat in the hall and at Pentecost time the Round Table was ever full-said he was as fair and goodly a youth as ever they had seen. Broad was he in the shoulders and of a seemly countenance, and his hands were the fairest and biggest that ever man saw; but he walked as though he could not 5 bear himself up of his own strength. So the three came to the dais, and there the tall youth lifted himself, and stood straight and said to the King: "Sire, I pray that God bless thee and this fair company of the Round Table. I am come to pray three gifts of One gift I will ask of you now, and two I will ask 10 you. at this time next year." "Ask," said the King, " for you shall have." So the tall youth said, "I pray you now that you grant me meat and drink sufficient for me for twelve months," for he made pretense that he was faint with long hunger. Nay, my son," answered the King, "that is but a small thing. Ask something better, for I am persuaded that you come of an honorable house, and will show yourself 5 worthy thereof." But the young man would have nothing else, neither would he tell his name, for though of noble birth he had vowed that he would serve a twelvemonth as a servant in Arthur's halls before he revealed who he was. 66 10 "That is passing strange," said the King, "that so goodly a man knows not his own name." Then he called Sir Kay, the seneschal, and charged him to give the stranger meat and drink of the best, and of all things that he might need. But Sir Kay was scornful of him, 15 saying, "I warrant that he is but a churl, and will never be of any account. Surely, had he been gently born, he would have asked for a horse and armor and not for meat and drink. And as he has no name I will call him Fairhands, and I will bring him into the kitchen, where 20 he shall have pottage every day, so that in twelve months he shall be fat as a hog." Sir Gawaine liked not this mocking, and said to Sir Kay, "Let be; I will warrant that the youth is worthy." "That cannot be," answered Sir Kay; "as he is, so has 25 he asked." And the same he said to Sir Lancelot, for Lancelot also had a good esteem of the youth. So Fairhands went to the farther part of the hall, and sat down among the boys and ate his meat. And when, after meat, Sir Lancelot would have him come to his chamber, he would not — no, nor to Sir Gawaine's, though 5 he also would have shown him kindness. So for a twelvemonth's time he abode in the kitchen, and had his lodgings with the boys, performed faithfully whatever Sir Kay put upon him, and never did evil to man or child. But ever, when there was any jousting of knights, he was 10 there to see; nor was he backward if there was any playing of games, and he could cast an iron bar or a great stone farther than any by two yards at the least. The feast of Pentecost next following the King kept 15 in right royal fashion, as was indeed his wont, nor did he sit him down to meat till he was assured of hearing some adventure; and the adventure was this. A damsel came into the hall, and saluted the King, and prayed him that he would help her. "What need 20 you?" said he. "I have a sister," answered the damsel, "that is a lady of great honor, and she is besieged in her castle by a tyrant, so that she cannot go forth. Knowing, therefore, that you have a very goodly company of knights, I come to ask your help." 25 "What is this lady's name?" said the King. The damsel answered, "That I may not tell, but the tyrant that oppresses her is called the Knight of the Marshes." |