(2.3) “Galahad and the Grail” – Galahad & the Naiad

(2.3) “Galahad and the Grail” – Galahad & the Naiad. 

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 short 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.”

New Characters Introduced in this Chapter of Dr. 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.) The White Hart – Also known in literature as the White Stag, we find here another otherworldly creature that is rooted in the ancient Celtic folklore. The elusive White Hart had golden antlers, glowed like the purest silver, and was often accompanied by four golden lions who served as bodyguards of some sort. This legendary Hart served many purposes in numerous legendary myths… the entrance into an enchanted world of adventure; the call to a spiritual awakening; the knight’s firm nudge out of comfortable courtly life into a transformative quest; the signal for a knight to engage in a challenge to his chivalry, courage, and moral purity; a symbol of spiritual redemption and Divine guidance; an unerring inspiration and guide during an important quest; a messenger of the Holy Spirit that is able to speak into a knight’s deepest longing for a transcendent life. In some ancient tales, the White Stag even represents Christ Himself, the mystical presence of God who is impossible to fully grasp but a faithful guide along the way. The White Hart enjoyed another interesting spiritual symbol… that of being a snake-eater, a serpent killer who engages in spiritual warfare and able to render the demons powerless.

(3.) 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).

(4.) Solomon’s Ship – This is a mystical ship envisioned in a prophetic dream of Solomon in which he was to build an eternal boat for the travels of a distant ancestor who would be the purest and greatest warrior in the world. He constructed it with wood that would never rot and silken sails that would never be corrupted. He was instructed to place within it a sacred bed made with wood from the Garden of Eden’s Tree of Life, the sword of King David, and Solomon’s own royal crown. Solomon was warned not to enter this ship because it wasn’t meant for him, so he pushed it out to sea unmanned to await the fulfillment of its mission. The legend seems to be that this ship was self-propelled, despite the need for it to have sails.

Brief Summaries of Each Section of this Chapter: 

Part One: “The Spirit of the Stream.” Galahad is hot on the trail to see the Holy Grail and is unsuccessful thus far. He even thought he saw the shadow of the famous White Hart who might guide him to the end of the Quest, but even that was of no help. And yet, while traveling through these strange forests and wild hinterlands, Galahad faithfully kept his code of chivalry and knighthood, as “courageous as a lion and as tender as a child.” At one point he stopped to take a drink from a burbling brook with his horse, and as he touched the water he heard the sound of a sad lady singing a mournful lament. He lifted his head to see the source of this sorrowful song, and there appeared a lovely maiden dressed in flowing green and blue clothing, singing a melody that seemed from heaven itself. Galahad recognized this maiden as a water spirit, a naiad, the Spirit of the Stream, “as lovely as the dawn, as though the living stream itself had taken human form.” 

Part Two: “The Naiad’s Lament.” The mournful water spirit is lamenting that her pure stream has been polluted with filth, poisoned so badly that “the good earth weeps, and the dark shadows blight my streams.” She grieves over her violated waters, and fears that “the dread Necromancer dares pursue his evil schemes.” The Naiad is filled with remorse, because “the soul that is damned” has poisoned her water-home that will never be pure again. And once that happens, her own life is over. Galahad immediately realizes the water from this stream is unfit to drink, and sadly observes all the dead wildlife that lay on the stream’s banks. He then assures the water spirit he will come to her aid and enable her to see her beloved stream run pure once again. He asked her where this dastardly villain lives, and she tells her story… This villain was once a pure knight who decided to turn his heart to evil. This evil man was once full of goodness but has decided to join with evil. She explained to Galahad that this dark knight won her heart when he was on the good side, but then became cruel to her and all the surrounding countryside. The Necromancer imprisoned her and then built a steel machine with a “cruel water wheel,” an engine that churned and polluted her pure stream. And now, she told Galahad, this evil man controls her and the running of the stream, and has chained her life to his with a hidden iron key. His power over her and the waters will continue until someone can find this magical hidden key.

Part Three: “The Necromancer.” Galahad’s courage comes to the surface as he tries to cheer up the water spirit, telling her that they will immediately go to the dark knight’s castle, face him down and defeat him, and find that key. And then Galahad’s profoundly hopeful words flow from his tongue… “He may have sought to dam the source and triumph for a while, but there’s a Source behind the source which no man can defile.” The Naiad is emboldened by his words as they approach “the gloomy castle gate, all wreathed in acrid smoke, for deadly fumes assailed them there and made them retch and choke.” The author composed quite a glimpse of hell itself with Christ storming its gates with the sound of a horn, shades of Gabriel’s triumphant shofar! The gate that pride built crumbled to the ground at the sound of Galahad’s horn. But then a mechanical voice bellows from a nearby tower, “a grinding sound, a weird and sickening screech, a strange metallic speech.” The fearsome Necromancer arrogantly staggers into view with authority, expecting to intimidate Galahad and the Naiad who had just crashed his gates to the ground. But Galahad fearlessly stands strong and bravely yells to the dark knight that “pride precedes a fall!” The duel is on as they fight each other to the death while the Naiad holds her breath, wondering at the sight before her, where light is clashing with darkness.

Part Four: “The Tyrant Revealed.” Galahad is victorious, with the Necromancer lying helpless on the ground gasping with his dying breaths. Galahad decides to remove the dark knight’s faceguard to see his evil face, and was shocked to see, not a human face, but “springs and bolts and cogs and wheels all rusty, worn and stained. And from his fallen form there came a sad mechanic sound, the sound of dark machinery all slowly winding down.” Galahad then astutely observed that “where he set his mind and heart, his soul flowed in their wake, for sometimes we ourselves become the idols that we make!” After explaining to the Naiad that the only thing keeping the knight whole was his love for her, but then he foolishly rejected that part of himself, and “his mechanistic will became a clockwork soul.” Galahad and the water maiden searched throughout the dark knight’s castle for that magic key that would liberate her from the Necromancer’s powers once and for all, and in the process were able to free many helpless prisoners in the castle. Galahad closes this section with these encouraging words of counsel to Naiad that seem to point to the Holy Spirit, “Draw up from deep within yourself the hidden flow and force – the wellspring of your inner life, the Source behind the source!” 

[Just a Thought about this Section: It’s easy to see Dr. Guite’s observations in this Necromancer character… Guite has expanded on his thoughts concerning the new Industrial Revolution of this era, much like William Blake did in the early 1800’s with his description of the first Industrial Revolution and its “dark Satanic mills.” Many agree with Guite as he reflects that the more we depend on machines as our savior, the more devoted we are to invest in machines and let them do our thinking for us; the more we love them and expect them to love us back, the more we strip ourselves of our humanity. Dr. Guite, as with so many of us these days, suspect that the mechanization of humanity results in our being dehumanized. The more we allow machines to control us, the less we are able to have control over our world, including the industrial greed that has a tendency to destroy the natural world for the sake of progress. As Rev. Dr. Patick Henry Reardon stated in his commentary on Psalm 115:8… “These idols, ‘the work of our hands’, are perfectly imperfect. They are infinitely nothing; there is simply no limit to their imperfection and nothingness. And what becomes of those who devote their lives to the making of these idols? They too become nothing: ‘Those who make them are like them; and so is everyone who trusts in them.’ Those who make them become like them, as this verse clearly states.” Once we allow machines to completely dehumanize us, it is inevitable that instead of a human face we have “springs and bolts and cogs and wheels all rusty, worn and stained. And from his fallen form there came a sad mechanic sound, the sound of dark machinery all slowly winding down.”]

Part Five: “The Golden Key.” After exulting in her new-found freedom, an ancient door suddenly appeared between Galahad and the Naiad, inscribed with a message asking who might have the courage to find and use the magic key. The Naiad inexplicably found that she had two keys in her grasp, a heavy iron key in her left hand and a glittering golden key in her right hand. Galahad announced to the water maid that now is her opportunity to use the golden key to open the door, to heal the land, and to continue the sacred quest. So the water spirit gathered the courage to unlock the door and walk through the doorway, only to disappear from sight.

Part Six: “Upstream.” After disappearing from Galahad and the Necromancer’s dark castle, the Naiad found herself in the midst of a flowing stream of pure waters. These waters called out to her, beckoning her to swim upstream in order to discover “the Source behind the source, the Dream within the dream… to follow the hidden way.”  The water maiden’s life-stream was made of light as she moved upstream against the current toward the rising sun. She continued to flow with her lifeforce until she indeed did find, at the Source of the stream, a sacred well that sang to her of life-giving refreshment and healing, of peace and freedom. The singing voice of the stream now took up residence within the Naiad’s heart, encouraging her to completely join herself now with the flowing stream, and asked her to sing to others of its life-giving powers. But that’s not all the singing stream entreated of the water spirit…. Go to that lonely knight and bless him, sang the living waters.

Part Seven: “Galahad Takes Sail.” At that moment, Sir Galahad experienced an otherworldly dream in which he was surrounded within a golden light and a living stream as it flowed through a valley. In this dream, Galahad listened intently to the Naiad’s joyful song as the sparkling stream continued to low. The gladsome song beckoned to Galahad to continue the Quest as the water maid thanked him for setting her free to bless that land, to heal the stream, and that he has liberated her with such courtesy, courage and grace. She entreated Galahad to “Ride on!” and continue this sacred quest, promising that he would finally be successful in discovering “where water turns into wine.” So Galahad swiftly rode onward, singing the Naiad’s songs in his heart and finding many more adventures. Eventually he met up with two knights and engaged them in battle, emerging the victor against both. He would discover later that these two knights were none other than two other knights of the Round Table, Sir Percival and Sir Lancelot. As Percival lay wounded, he wondered if this victorious knight might perchance be young Galahad with the magic Sword. Lancelot was completely unaware that this duel in which he was defeated, the only time he has ever tasted defeat, was in fact a battle with his only son, sir Galahad. Galahad raced quickly away from the scene of these battles, afraid he might shame them if he stayed to gloat or claim victory. After a while, Galahad came to an ancient sacred shrine by the side of the road, where he stopped and prayed for God’s guidance. During his prayers, a beautiful maiden appeared alongside him and pointed out an enchanted ship with silken sails in a nearby harbor. The maiden explained that this was Solomon’s ship, and that Sir Bors and Sir Percival awaited him there. She revealed to Galahad that his Quest was now nearing the end. Galahad submitted to the maiden’s directions as she leads him down a narrow path to the hidden bay where the ship was moored. They both climbed aboard the Enchanted Ship, hoisted its sail, and quickly found the strong wind that would take them west and continue the Quest for the Holy Grail.