The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (Howard Pyle)

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights is the first of an Arthurian quadrilogy by American author and illustrator Howard Pyle. Written in 1903, it largely follows Malory's account but expounds upon it a good deal. In this first volume, we have the following stories:

• The Book of King Arthur 
• how he became king, 
• got Excalibur, 
• married Guinevere, 
• and established the Round Table
• The Book of Three Worthies
• The story of Merlin
• How he was bewitched and ultimately defeated by Vivien
• The story of Sir Pellias
• How he quested for the Queen's honor (arguing that she was the most beautiful in the world, and would fight anyone who said otherwise)
• The story of Sir Gawaine
• How he, to help Arthur, married an old woman who was not what she seemed

Pyle's version differs from Malory's in three main ways:

- it presents Arthur and his court in a better light. The unacknowledged sins I mentioned in Malory's version are much diminished or omitted; here, the court is more of an idealistic model of virtue. There is still pride and a "might makes right" mentality, but it is softened. And, at the end of major story divisions, Pyle often injects a moral.

- it fleshes out the stories. In Malory, you're given little-to-no backstory or explanation for why things happen. In Pyle, you get more: more description, dialogue, character development, and so on. 

- it features more of King Arthur. Older versions of the legend feature surprisingly little of the main character, relegating him to the background after his introduction, and featuring him as present, but often a spectator, until the tragic end. Here, though, Arthur plays a more central and active role.

The language is archaic but easy enough to follow. Pyle's illustrations are great (though my version, from Esprios, had poor renderings of them). (See example of his art below.) I liked how he filled out the stories and improved upon the presentation of virtue. It did get repetitive, and it ended rather abruptly. Overall, it was decent.

image from here

For some reason, only this first book is widely available; the other three are much harder to come by. I'm not sure why, but I have them, and I look forward to reading them.

Rating: A-