The Squire's Tale

Dalton Jordan

3rd block World History

October 13, 2014

Characters to know:

Trevisant- An old Hermit who can read the future

Terence- A young squire

Gawain- A very famous knight

Sir Hautubris- An ignorant knight

Tor- Another knight

King Arthur- the King of England

Plogrun- A dwarf who becomes Tor's squire

Lorie- An ugly woman who turns out to be Terence's half sister

Morgause- Gawain's mother

Ganscotter- Terence's dad

Summary:

This book kicks off in a forest, where Terence lives with the hermit, Trevisant. One day Terence is walking through the woods when he runs into Gawain, who Terence mistakes for a night. Terence then invites Gawain to dinner, and when they get to the Hermit, he tells Gawain to take Terence as his squire, because it is his destiny. He agrees, but before they could depart, Sir Hautubris encounters them and demands soup, when they tell him they are out, he attacks them. Gawain is unarmed and fights Sir Hautubris with only a cooking pot and defeats him.

They set on their way to Camelot and meet Tor, another soon to be knight at the time.Once they reach Camelot, both Gawain and Tor are officially knighted by King Arthur after an encounter with the five kings. Then, a rather ugly woman chases a hound and a hart (a male deer) into the King's court and tells the knights to follow them. Gawain and Terence go after the Hart, while Sir Tor goes after the hound. Gawain finds the hart, but it is dead. Tor only found a dwarf named Plogrun, who becomes his squire.

Then they encounter a silent knight who is cursed, and the curse can only be broken if he is defeated. Soon they come across three ladies and Gawain encounters a vicious young women name Lady Alisoun. But Gawain refuses to fight her and she leaves. They then come across a knight named Sir Pelleas, who is in love with a horrible women named Lady Ettard. They soon find that the two are both ignorant and leave them to be, and lastly, they encounter with Nimue, the lady of the lake. She leaves them and they must find their way to a great enchanter called Ganscotter and his daughter Lorie. It turns out Lorie was the ugly lady. Gawain and Lorie fall in love, but soon they have to depart from one another. 

They are soon back to Camelot and Terence learns that he is the only one who can save King Arthur. He and Gawain soon run into a new silent knight, and Gawains mother, Morgause. Gawain and the silent knight fight one another, Terence pushes Morgause into some sort of pool. Them silent knight dies and they leave back to Camelot, where Arthur thanks them and Terence learns of his dad, it is Ganscotter and his half sister is Lori. 

Quotes:

-"Any clodpole can own armor, and any number of good fighters have to do without it." (page 21)

-""To save a lady, maybe, but why fight a thing like that if you don't have to, that's what i don't know. Live and let live, I say." (page 97)

-"As the sun rises, your strength will rise. At dawn you will gain a new strength, which will reach its peak at noon." (page 15) 

Author and Sources:

Gerald Morris is an American author known for his stories based in the Middle Ages during the time of King Arthur. Collectively called "The Squire's Tales", his series includes The Squire's Tale, The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady, The Savage Damsel and The Dwarf, Parsifal's Page, The Ballad of Sir Dinadan, The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung Cart Knight, The Lioness and Her Knight, The Quest of the Fair Unknown, The Squire's Quest, and The Legend of the King. He was born in Riverside, California, but now lives in Norman, Oklahoma, with his wife and three children. 

Critique:

This was a very well-written book based on the battles of King Arthur during the Middle Ages. It gives the reader great insight to how King Arthur ruled and how things were during the Middle Ages. This book was an overall success due to the implication of historic facts and figures into the novel based on a less experienced level of education.