- This book was very dramatic. It starts out with Mordred and Agravaine planning to overthrow King Arthur. They plan to use Lancelot and Guenever's affair to split Arthur and Lancelot apart. Mordred knows that Arthur is nothing without Lancelot there to defend him.
- Then we go back to Lancelot and Guenever. Lancelot wants to start things up again with Guenever but she is shy to the idea. While they were discussing it Arthur comes in to tell them a story.
- The story was of how he and Morgause came to have Mordred and how he dried to drown him in hopes of forgetting he was ever born. That plan worked against Arthur as Morgause found Mordred alive and raised him to despise his father.
- Mordred and Agravaine tell Arthur to his face about Lancelot and Guenever. They do no want a trial by combat because they know they would lose. Instead they want a trial by jury where they can prove the affair.
- Gareth warns Lancelot about Agravaine and Mordred but Lancelot blows him off. He had beated bigger and better men before why worry now, right?!? Agravaine, Mordred and some other knights came like Gareth had warned and Lancelot proceeded to kill all of them but Mordred.
- Guenever was proven guilty and was sentenced to be burned to death. King Arthur sad at the state of his wife did what he did in state of justice. How could he expect his people to follow justice if he couldn't?
- Just in the nick of time as Arthur had hoped Lancelot came and whisped Guenever off to the Joyous Gard castle. While rescuing Guenever, Lancelot had killed Gaheris and Gareth on accident, a move that would haunt him till his death.
- With Guenever feeling bad about the stir that she caused in Englad she applies to the Pope for a peace treaty. Arthur is allowed to take Guenever back and Lancelot is banished from England. Before he leaves Lancelot says that if Guenever is ever in trouble he will come back to rescue her.
- Gawaine was all Arthur had left and Lancelot had killed his brother so they set out to fight Lancelot. Arthur left Mordred in charge of Camelot while he was gone. Nobody really liked Mordred and Guenever was affraid of him. He threatened her and then told her of his plan to announce the kings death so that he could be the king of England and marry her.
- Guenever escapes and sends word to Arthur who gathers up his knights, including Lancelot to come back to England and fight against Mordred.
- Gawaine had been badly hurt from previous battles and from fighting with Lancelot. Before he died he wrote to Lancelot forgiving him for the death of his brothers and asking for his prayers.
- Arthur during the battle with Mordred relays all of his ideas onto a little page boy of 13 named Tom. He told Tom that he was counting on him to grown up and tell everyone of his plans in hopes someone would go and run with them again.
- Before Arthur died he thought back on his childhood when Merlyn had taught him through animals. He thought about when the round table would once again come about and the world would be at peace with no boundaries worth fighting for!
Reactions/Reflection
- I found this book very dramatic. There was alot of killing and betrayal. It kept my attention though and I liked that!
- One story that I had to find more information about was the Countess of Henneberg and her 365 children. I could not beleive that story when I read about it! 365 childred in 365 minutes. That is just insane!
- Throughout all four of these books I have learned that your actions effect everyone around you and down the road too. You start out with one man killing another for his wife and three or four generations down the road you still have people fighting about something that they don't even know happened. If you can hear me out on this one it is sort of a form of stereotyping. Because, for instance, you are a child of Lot's you must hate the Pellinore's beacause King Pellinore killed Lot accidentally in a tournament one time. Stuff like that, that could be forgiven and forgoten and that would be the end of it. But no! the grudge must go on.
- I have to wonder what happened in England? I know that Arthur died but what happened to Lancelot and Mordred and Guenever? Did Lancelot suceed in killing Mordred and saving Guenever once again?
- I liked how T.H. White named the chapters after something that you didn't get until the end of the book. I found myself constantly thinking what does the title have to do with anything. Then I would get it at the end of the book and it would make perfect sence.
- I was surprised at how much I enjoyed The Once and Future King. There were some boring times when the changes in the table were being described and things of that sort but overall I found this a very interesting story and I may seek into reading the whole of Le Morte d' Arthur.
Vocabulary
Interesting Words
- Fylfot - device used to fill the lower part of a painted glass window.
- Rheumaticky - come to suffer from an illness.
- Acolytes - one who attends or assists.
- Crosier - a staff resembling a shepherd's crook carried by bishops and abbots as a symbol of office.
- Indefatigable - incapable of being fatigued.
- Inextricable - forming a maze or tangle from which it is impossible to get free.
Words I Did Not Understand Or Know
- Bourgeois - marked by a concern for material interests and respectability and a tendency toward mediocrity.
- Muscovite - a native or resident of the ancient principality of Moscow or of the city of Moscow.
- Elation - to fill with joy or pride.
- Trousseau - the personal possessions of a bride usually including clothes, accessories, and household linens and wares.
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