(2.3) “Galahad and the Grail” – Galahad & the Naiad (this post is in process and incomplete at this time)
(2.3) “Galahad and the Grail” – Galahad & the Naiad. (this post is in process and incomplete at this time)
Book Two: “Adventures of the Quest“ (by “book” is meant a large section in this installment of Guite’s Arthuriad).
Stave Three: “Galahad and the Naiad” (a “stave” is an old-fashioned term for the stanza of a poem, a verse in a song, or a chapter in a long story). For the first time in this volume, Dr. Guite decided to separate the stave into sections… The Spirit of the Stream; the Naiad’s Lament; The Necromancer; the Tyrant Revealed; the Golden Key; Upstream; and Galahad Takes Sail. The author also chose to add to King Arthur’s legend by expanding the story of the water nymph and the Necromancer that leads up to the Enchanted Ship.
Why is Malcolm Guite retelling the King Arthur saga, no less in the form of English ballads? He has gone on record as saying… The KA mythical tales echo something real about sin, redemption, and the hope that was broken in us and in the world that can be made whole again… Every generation that asks good questions of King Arthur legends gets good answers… The modern world could use a resurrection of the ideal of chivalry and honor… Ancient myths and stories aren’t just relics of a pre-modern imagination, they are carriers of truth we’ve forgotten how to see with modern eyes… Legends like these don’t distract us from the real world, they reveal it… These stories restore the spiritual elements that have been shorn away, and they renew their deepest meaning. The English ballads were composed in a poetic form that were made to be sung or chanted out loud. They are rhythmic and musical, and one gets the sense that with ballads, “the poem on the page is lying asleep. And the job of the reader is to wake it up and breathe into its being by reciting it out loud, because that physicality of sound and breath and speech is what it’s made for… Above all, enjoy it. Poetry is meant to give pleasure.” It’s clear that composing this first installment of the King Arthur saga was a labor of love for Malcolm Guite, and that, as he put it, “This is the tale that makes my heart rejoice.”
Characters and Elements in this Chapter of Malcom Guite’s Retelling of the King Arthur Saga:
(1.) Naiad – Based on ancient Celtic folklore, a naiad was a freshwater nymph, a water spirit-maiden who presides over their own particular body of fresh water, such as a lake, stream, river, or spring. A naiad’s life force was believed to be bound to whichever specific body of water they inhabited. This aquatic female spirit is dependent on the life and health of her water-home in such a way that if the water dries up or is polluted in some way, then the naiad will perish along with the water. As with other mythological spirits in nature, the naiad could be either benevolent and well-meaning with humans, or could turn dangerous when feeling life-threatened.
(2.) Necromancer – This ancient occult term comes from “necros” which means corpse/dead body, and “manteia” which means divination. This term refers to someone who practices witchcraft, black magic, or one who is familiar with the dark arts. Necromancers were known to communicate with the spirts of the dead, for purposes of fortunetelling or the discovery of hidden knowledge. Necromancers were heavily involved in casting spells, sorcery, and enchantments on humans. Any involvement with the occult or the spirit world was considered an abomination to God, and guilty parties in the biblical world were summarily executed: “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 18:9-12). An abomination was God’s official word for any activity that God considers morally disgusting; a detestable behavior; any action or attitude that is loathed with a passion by God; behavior that God has judged as spiritually abhorrent and unacceptable; something that God hates and finds deeply repugnant; something that is deeply offensive to God’s sensibilities; any action or attitude that God thinks is repulsive, revolting and utterly alien to God’s nature. So, in real life, any occult activity is nothing to experiment with or be curious about. It is spiritually deadly. Unfortunately, in a supremely weak moment, King Saul tried to use the Witch of Endor to summon the spirit of prophet Samuel from the dead, and the very next day he died. (1 Samuel 28).