further adventures from the Round Table
I absolutely adore Morris' take on the Round Table tales. They are the kinds of books I can't help but sit down and read immediately, whether it's the library or the bookstore. With this story he tells a slightly different version of the questing knight so familiar to Arthurian cycle readers. And he again manages to turn the familiar inside out or upside down, focusing on minor characters and pushing more well-known elements into the background. This might have been the quest for the Holy Grail entirely, instead of in part, if placed in any one else's hands. But like the Pythons showed us 20-odd years ago, sometimes the journey and its side-trips are more entertaining than the supposed goal.
And so we have the story of the naively innocent Fair Unknown, Beaufils, who crosses paths with many of Arthur's knights while hunting for his father who is said to be one of their number. He's unprepared for the world beyond his woods, and his perspective on the shenanigans he encounters are funny and insightful. Of course he has a run-in with Gawain and Terrence, and their fairy world. And by the end of the story, I think Beaufils provides a new definition of what a holy quest for a holy grail can be.
