Le Morte D'arthur: Volume 2
1485
Volume II of Malory's immortal work plunges into the legend of Sir Tristram, the knight whose prowess in battle is matched only by his catastrophic devotion to La Beale Isoud. The volume opens with Tristram's daring jousts against King Arthur himself, a thrilling prologue to a tale of honor, rivalry, and doomed desire. As Tristram navigates the treacherous waters of Arthurian politics and passion, he finds himself locked in bitter competition with the pagan knight Palomides, both men vying for a love that will define their lives. Malory weaves martial spectacle with genuine emotional depth, presenting medieval chivalry not as sterileidealization but as a living, bloody, conflicted tradition. This is where the Arthurian legend achieves its full tragic weight: knights who are great in battle yet undone by love, loyalty tested to breaking point, and a world where even victory carries the seeds of ruin. For readers seeking the source text of Arthurian romance, this volume delivers the stories that shaped Western mythology.
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“Yet some men say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had by the will of our Lord Jesu into another place; and men say that he shall come again, and he shall win the holy cross.””
— Sir Thomas Malory
“In the midst of the lake Arthur was ware of an arm clothed in white samite, that held a fair sword in that hand. ””
— Sir Thomas Malory
“For I have promised to do the battle to the uttermost, by faith of my body, while me lasteth the life, and therefore I had liefer to die with honour than to live with shame ; and if it were possible for me to die an hundred times, I had liefer to die oft than yield me to thee; for though I lack weapon, I shall lack no worship, and if thou slay me weaponless that shall be thy shame.””
— Sir Thomas Malory
“Better is peace than ever war.””
— Sir Thomas Malory
“O Merlin", said Arthur, "Here hadst thou been slain for all thy crafts had I not been." "Nay," said Merlin, "Not so, for I could save myself an I would; and thou art more near thy death than I am, for thou goest to the deathward, an God be not thy friend.””
— Sir Thomas Malory
“What... is the wind in that door?””
— Sir Thomas Malory
“Sir Tor dressed his shield, and took his spear in his hands, and the other came fiercely upon him, and smote both horse and man to the earth.””
— Sir Thomas Malory
“And when matins and the first mass was done, there was seen in the churchyard, against the high altar, a great stone four square, like unto a marble stone; and in midst thereof was like an anvil of steel a foot on high, and therein stuck a fair sword naked by the point, and letters there were written in gold about the sword that said thus:”
— Sir Thomas Malory
“...and then the threw the sword as far into the water as he might; and there came an arm and a hand above the water and met it, and caught it, and so shook it thrice and brandished, and then vanished away the hand with the sword in the water.””
— Sir Thomas Malory
