Galahad and the Grail – Beginning in the Middle

Galahad and the Grail – Beginning in the Middle.

Book One: The Coming of Galahad (the first of three books in this first installment of Malcolm Guite’s Arthuriad).

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.”

Prelude: Dr. Guite introduces his massive retelling of the King Arthur saga by revealing what inspired him to begin composing his Arthurian ballads in the first place. Writing his spare 3-page Prelude in the form of an English ballad prepares the reader for the 314-page saga that follows. Guite describes here how a distant song in his imagination, from a land he had once known, was calling to him as he was enjoying a walk in the woods during a light rain. He discusses how it seemed to be a musical summons that sang to him, “Poet, take up the tale!” Guite was instructed in this song to tell the tales of the wounded king and the Holy Grail, of the knights and chivalry. He was told to sing of Merlin and Logres, of courtesy and grace. He was implored to awaken the wisdom hiding in these ancient tales that lie like hidden treasure. Dr. Guite closed his Prelude with these inspiring words… “So I have taken up the tale, to tell it full and free. The tale that makes my heart rejoice, I tell it, for I have no choice – I tell it tell another voice takes up the tale for me.”  

Stave One: The Childhood of Galahad (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).

** Starting in the Middle: Dr. Guite, in the tradition of many writers, chose to begin his ambitious retelling of King Arthur with the defining story that lies in the middle of the whole saga… The Holy Grail. This is the hinge element, he said, that defines the whole narrative. The Grail is the middle story that divides the legend into before and after. It’s like the birth of Christ that divides all of human history into before and after, the Grail is the key part of the King Arthur legend that is the reference point for everything that occurs before it and after it. All the action before the Grail leads up to and anticipates it. And all the action after the Grail issues forth from and makes sense of it. So Dr. Guite begins the legend of King Arthur with the story of the Holy Grail, and of course we couldn’t hear that tale without its main character Galahad, the Knight of the Grail.

The Main Characters and Elements introduced in this first Chapter of the Book:

(1.) Elaine – She is the kind and wise mother of a gifted young boy named Galahad. She and her son lived with her father, a mysterious king named Pelles, in his strangely cursed castle. She raised her son Galahad in the Christian faith, but never divulged who his father was. She allowed Galahad to wander everywhere he wanted in and around the castle, except that he was forbidden from exploring the Wasteland outside the castle. Like the castle itself, the lands in Pelles’ kingdom were cursed, barren, and completely unfruitful.

(2.) King Pelles – He was the father of Elaine, thus the grandfather of Galahad. Pelles was grievously wounded years earlier by a knight named Balin who cut Pelles deeply with the magical spear from the castle’s chapel during a fierce battle between Balin and Pelles. Pelles’ wound refused to be healed and he remained helpless, as was the Wasteland that was cursed at the same time as the wounding. The spear’s stroke simultaneously ruined Pelles as well as the land, revealing a mystical relationship between king Pelles and the land, and so between humanity and nature.

(3.) Balin the Knight – As an honorable knight of the Round Table, Balin went off in search of adventure and a worthy quest, when he fell into battle with a man who Balin had to kill in self-defense. This man who was killed had a brother named Pelles, who naturally sought to avenge his brother’s death. While Pelles and Balin were in a fight to the death, Balin’s sword was shattered and unusable. So Balin tried to find anything in this strange castle that would help him defeat this strong opponent Pelles. Balin found a blood-stained spear in the castle’s chapel and picked it up, ignoring loud voices that begged him not to use that particular spear. So Balin thrust a deep stroke into Pelles’ thigh with tht spear that maimed Pelles and left him helpless and unable to defend himself. Balin departed. The “Dolorous Stroke,” the death-dealing cut from the seemingly magical spear affected the king’s realm as well as his own body. All the lands in Pelles’ kingdom became a cursed wasteland. It turns out that without Balin even being aware of it, that special spear was the very lance used to cut deeply into Christ’s side on the Cross. The blood-stained Spear of Christ was being carefully guarded in Pelles’ castle, and was not to be used in any way. If used, it was prophesied that profound disaster would follow, which proved to be true.

(4.) Merlin – He was mostly a pre-Christian wizard who could work miracles, as well as a Christian advisor to kings and a wise counselor to those lucky enough to be chosen by him for special protection and guidance. Merlin in early folklore was probably a combination of a Welsh prophet in the Christian tradition with a magical miracle-worker in pagan history.

(5.) Galahad – He was a gifted young boy with dreams of heroic knighthood, raised by a wise mother and helpless grandfather in a cursed castle. As Galahad roamed freely around the castle grounds, he wanted to be just like the famous knight Lancelot wielding his imaginary sword to combat evil. Galahd developed a godly conscience in his youth and longed to “set things right” when he saw firsthand the wounded grandfather king and the cursed wasteland outside the castle. Galahad earnestly prayed “that Christ might one day send someone to heal Pelles and the land” and “turn the darkness bright.” Little did Galahad realize that he was being groomed to be that very person.

(6.) The Sacraments – Galahad felt most at home in the castle’s Chapel where priests were always ready to serve him in any way they could. It was in this Chapel where Galahad smelled the holy incense, listened to heavenly music, watched the sacred candles burn with “Pentecostal fire,” and “sensed the Holy One, so present in the Mass.” Galahad fully participated in the extraordinary spiritual power hidden in the sacraments. A word here is in order as we consider the nature of sacraments in the Christian life… The physical elements above are the raw materials used in the Christian Church by the Holy Spirit to bring God’s very presence to us on earth. There are varying views of what a sacrament in the Church is, and how many of them there are. The actual word “Sacrament” is a legal term, “sacramentum,” which in Latin means “sacred vow.” It referred to the solemn vow a man would make when entering the Roman military, as well as the oath of honesty one would declare in the Roman courts. The early Christians adapted the term to designate the vows a person would take when being baptized into the Faith in a faith community. Soon other aspects of this commitment to Jesus would be called sacraments as well, such as foot washing, the Lord’s Supper, a special blessing on someone, and even marriage. The Latin Bible translated the Greek word “mysterion”, or mystery, for the Latin word “sacramentum” in various passages in the epistles. The Church then identified many special acts of commitment and discipleship as sacred mysteries of the Faith, or sacraments, such as baptism, confession and healing with anointing oil. Because there is a mystery involved, there may be no perfect definition to sacrament, but perhaps these descriptions will help us get a handle on what a sacrament is in the life and ministry of the Christian church:

… Outward signs of inner grace;

… Sacred mysteries to convey grace to our souls;

… Material forms of grace for our spiritual benefit;

… Visible symbols of the reality of God;

… Vehicles of God’s grace to enable believers to grow in being sanctified;

… Earthly materials by which divine life is given to us;

… A physical sign of a spiritual reality;

…The material elements that unite us into a spiritual union with Christ;

… God’s gifts of Himself in created matter for our transformation;

… When God’s grace elevates nature into being vehicles of God’s presence;

… When God’s gift of the Holy Spirit transforms matter for our own transformation;

… When God’s Spirit brings divine life to tangible elements for our benefit;

… The physical elements that are inspired by the Spirit to bring God’s influence upon us.

… Material objects that are channels God’s energy and power to believers in the Church;

… Tangible elements that bring sanctifying grace to believers;

… Created elements that usher us into participation in the divine life;

… Signs of grace entrusted to the Christian Church by which spiritual life is strengthened and empowered.

(7.) Nature – Galahad also sensed the Lord’s presence in creation. He heard God’s voice in the air, in quiet woods, in the lowly grass and the flowing streams. It’s not clear if Galahad experienced this oneness with God in nature within his vivid imagination, or more literally in those pockets of creation around the castle that was somehow not cursed by the Dolorous Stroke. Right from the beginning of the King Arthur legend, though, the relationship between creation and humanity is mystically intimate and profoundly interconnected. The curse on one was actually a curse on them both. Both creation and mankind shared the curse together and will also share in their reconciliation. Both curses will be lifted together, and both will be healed by the Chosen One in due time.

(8.) Nacien – One day, when Galahad was 15 years old, a mysterious hermit came to the castle and spoke to Elaine and Galahad with what appeared to be spiritual authority. Later in the story, Nacien was identified more clearly as a prophet in the Holy Spirit and the Priest of the Grail. But for now, Nacien was someone who commanded attention and was accepted as a messenger from God. He instructed Elaine and Galahad to first kneel and pray as he fervently prayed over them… that they both would be protected and granted inner peace; that they would be empowered and shaped by the Holy Spirit; that God’s love would be released upon them. Nacien then prophesied that a special knight would one day return and “bring healing light and life.” He then instructed them to leave the castle and travel for three days to a holy place where they will witness a group of worshipping maidens who “will carry the light of heaven” and point directly to “Heaven’s Child.” This will be the beginning, Nacien explained, of the end of Balin’s Dolorous Stroke. Little did Elaine and Galahad realize that Nacien was directing them towards King Arthur and the Quest for the Holy Grail, the Cup of Christ from the Last Supper representing the very presence of Christ Himself. Elaine and Galahad obeyed every instruction of Nacien to the letter. And that’s how this first chapter in King Arthur’s legend concludes.