(3.7) “Galahad and the Grail” – The Wasteland, Section 1

(3.7) “Galahad and the Grail” – The Wasteland, Section 1: Galahad and Gawaine. 

Book Three: “The Achievement of the Grail“ (by “book” is meant a large section in this installment of Guite’s Arthuriad).

Stave Seven: “The Wasteland” (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; this chapter has three sections: Galahad and Gawain; Into the Wasteland; and The Three Trials).

“The King Arthur 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.” (Malcolm Guite).

What is a ‘Wasteland’ in the King Arthur legends? The Wasteland was a stretch of land that was haunted by a curse, a bewitched place where creation was broken, not functioning as the Creator intended.  The Wasteland is a place where creation is groaning and yearning to be healed. Dr. Guite describes the Wasteland this way in this chapter of his book… “A cursed place full of horrors, dried up springs, madness everywhere, without hope, love or grace;” “A wasted land where every field lay grey and barren, all unhealed;” “There was scarce a blade of grass, where noxious fumes choked its travelers;” “Where there were withered and leafless trees with hollow trunks;” Where sterile silence reigns and without birdsongs;” “A Kingdom of the Dead, as though kind nature left her throne, and for the kinship once we’d known left nothing but a heap of stone and left us all, all alone in dreariness and dread;” “Where all is silent and bleak, and cannot tell the living from the dead;” “It seemed the sun shrunk to a disc around which dark grey fog swirled.”  So the Wasteland was a place of lifeless devastation, a desolate region in which nothing was green or growing. The Wasteland was a mirror opposite of Shalom, which is a place where there is flourishing, completeness and wholeness, a land where there is natural harmony, fulfillment, health, and abundant well-being; a place that enjoys the vitality needed to thrive and flourish; a land of tranquility, freedom from disquiet and disorder, reconciliation, and integrity where everything functions together as it should.

Section 1: Galahad and Gawaine.

A Noble Knight Bewitched. The three Knights of the Grail… Galahad, Percivale and Sir Bors… came to the end of a wooded forest and stood aghast at the sight before them, “a wasted land where every field lay grey and barren, all unhealed.” Suddenly a well-beaten knight with a defaced shield and rusted armor rode furiously toward the three knights. When this piteous knight approached the three knights, he accused them of haunting the wasteland, of harassing him on every side, and taunting him for his sinful ways. The haunted knight immediately attacked the three Knights of the Grail without another word and surprisingly knocked Sir Bors to the ground. The mysterious broken knight then foolishly challenged Galahad in a fierce battle, at which time the strange knight was thrown to the ground, grievously wounded, and was so weakened that he was unable to remove his faceguard to identify himself. Galahad removed the aggressive knight’s faceguard and was shocked to see none other than a fellow knight of the Round Table, the beloved Sir Gawaine himself!
Sir Gawaine. He is a key character in the King Arthur saga, and is none other than King Arthur’s nephew and closest friend. Gawaine is the youngest knight of the Round Table, much loved by Arthur, and one of the most trusted knights of them all. He is famous for his physical skills, especially in combat as a brave warrior, and for his overall commitment to the chivalric virtues. When the Grail appeared at Camelot early in this stage of the story, Gawaine is not satisfied with merely glimpsing a Grail that is covered in a veil, and he desperately wants to witness it in full detail. So he rather rashly commits to the Quest for the Grail and invites the other knights to join him. Many others volunteered to join Gawaine in his impetuous vow, all of which leaves Arthur with mixed feelings. Arthur knew that if they were to remain honorable in their knighthood, they must remain faithful to their vow. On the other hand, King Arthur not only will dearly miss his beloved Gawaine, but also the Round Table, “<em>the fairest fellowship on earth, the comfort of my heart and hearth, the flower of chivalry</em>.” Arthur knew that this may be the last time all his knights were all together, and he weeps as he tells his nephew Gawaine that he just might have vowed this Quest in vain. Arthur fully realized that this Quest may signal the end of the era.
Gawaine Explains Himself. Sir Gawaine explained to the knights that he was bewitched and under a spell that has brought him madness and hate for everyone he meets in the Wasteland. But he was much weakened and wounded by Galahad, and has surely recognized him by Galahad’s Sword of Adventure from the floating marble stone in Camelot. Gawaine then prophesied that Galahad’s blessed word would henceforth not harm but only heal, and that his sword from then on would make “the Sign of the Cross in honor of the Savior who died, broke hell’s gate, and took away our guilt.” Gawaine then implored the three knights to depart from the cursed wasteland, for it was full of horrors, dried up springs, madness everywhere, and without hope, love, or grace of any kind.

Sir Galahad Responds. Galahad then encouraged Gawaine by proclaiming to him that the worst is over, that he has successfully escaped to the safety of his fellow knights. Galahad explained that God has called him to this wasteland on a mission, and so cannot leave, “For I must hear this land’s lament and feel its pain within, and will eventually by God’s grace bring healing” to the land and to the great Castle’s King Pelles. Much will be revealed, says Galahad, when they come before the Grail. Galahad then rejoiced that Gawaine’s wound will be healed as well, for every wound from this Sword of Adventure will be healed, and all the misery that it has made will be unmade. “The false will fail, recoil, and fade, and fall before the true!” Sir Galahd then binds the wounds of Gawaine, sent him to the castle of the Golden Knight and the healed maiden for restoration until the time for his return to King Arthur’s court in Camelot. Galahad then requested of Gawaine that he report to King Arthur everything that has happened, so Arthur knows that the Knights of the Grail are “still faithful to the Quest.”