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In Book 3 of The Squire’s Tales, a strong-willed girl makes her way to Camelot to demand a champion from King Arthur’s Round Table. She needs a strong knight to deliver her beautiful sister from a recreant knight who refuses to leave their castle in peace until Lady Lyonesse marries him. So Lady Lynet flees in search of help. What she finds is not what she expected.
First, she finds a faery sprite named Robin Goodfellow. Then she becomes the traveling companion of a sardonic dwarf named Roger. After encounters with the “uncanny” squire Terence and his Lady Eileen, and a disastrous debut at King Arthur’s court, Lynet finds a rather unsatisfactory champion on her hands: a kitchen boy named Beaumains, belligerent, proud, and altogether ridiculous. Nevertheless, as Beaumains proves to have the good looks and battle prowess of a true hero, Lynet starts to have feelings for him.
All three of our heroes are put to the test in this story. Beaumains faces a whole succession of recreant knights – or rather, picks fights with them. Lynet discovers things about herself, talents that only the tutelage of the sorceress Morgan le Fay can bring out. The secret of Roger’s identity and background continue to tease and tickle. Surprises of love and jealousy, pride and humility, goodness and evil, honor and unworthiness abound. And finally, this tale reveals the fate of more than one brother of Sir Gawain in ways that may surprise fans of Arthur’s Round Table.
Gerald Morris’ love of these tales is as evident as the zest of his creative freedom. If you love both original fantasy and timeless stories faithfully retold, you have that in common with this author, whose tight and informative Author’s Notes are always worth reading.
