“Lancelot and Guenever were sitting at the solar window. An observer of the present day, who knew the Arthurian legend only from Tennyson and people of that sort, would have been startled to see that the famous lovers were past their prime. We, who have learned to base our interpretation of love on the conventional boy-and-girl romance of Romeo and Juliet, would be amazed if we could step back into the Middle Ages - when the poet of chivalry could write about Man that he had 'en ciel un dieu, par terre une deesse'. Lovers were not recruited then among the juveniles and adolescents: they were seasoned people, who knew what they were about. In those days people loved each other for their lives, without the conveniences of the divorce court and the psychiatrist. They had a God in heaven and a goddess on earth - and, since people who devote themselves to godesses must exercise some caution about the ones to whom they are devoted, they neither chose them by the passing standards of the flesh alone, nor abandoned it lightly when the bruckle thing began to fail.” LoveArthurian LegendLancelotGuinevere Book:The Candle in the Wind Source: The Candle in the Wind
“Guenever never cared for God. She was a good theologian, but that was all. The truth was that she was old and wise: she knew that Lancelot did care for God most passionately, that it was essential he should turn in that direction. So, for his sake, to make it easier for him, the great queen now renounced what she had fought for all her life, now set the example, and stood to her choice. She had stepped out of the picture. Lancelot guessed a good deal of this, and, when she refused to see him, he climbed the convent wall with Gallic, ageing gallantry. He waylaid her to expostulate, but she was adamant and brave. Something about Mordred seems to have broken her lust for life. They parted, never to meet on earth.” LoveArthurian LegendLancelotGuinevere Book:The Book of Merlyn Source: The Book of Merlyn
“The Chevalier Mal Fet. What a romantic name! What does it mean?’ ‘You could make it mean several things. The Ugly Knight would be one meaning, or the Knight Who Has Done Wrong.’ He did not tell her that it could also mean the Ill-Starred Knight – the Knight with a Curse on Him.” Arthurian LegendArthurianLancelot Book:THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING Source: THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING
“He seldom sat down, but strayed about with anxious movements, picking things up and setting them down without looking at them, walking to windows and looking out but seeing nothing.” Arthurian LegendArthurianLancelot Book:THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING Source: THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING