The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf Read online

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  Author's note

  When Sir Thomas Malory wrote his great collection of Arthurian tales, Le Morte D'Arthur, the world of books was just beginning. It was 1485, the printing press was still a new invention, and readers were neither very sophisticated nor very critical. As a result, Malory could get away with some things that a modern writer would never dream of doing. A modern writer usually makes all the parts of his or her story fit together, but Malory was unconcerned with such bothersome matters. He did whatever he wanted and offered few explanations.

  Nowhere is this tendency more apparent than in Malory's story of Sir Beaumains and Dame Lyonesse in Book VII of the Morte. In this story, a skilled knight called Beaumains conceals his real name and takes a menial job as a kitchen servant—curious behavior that would normally call for some explanation, but Malory never explains. Then, when Beaumains rides off on his quest, he is sometimes accompanied by an unnamed dwarf who knows his true identity, but Malory never bothers to tell who this dwarf is or how he knows Beaumains or why he cares to ride with him. After Beaumains arrives at Lyonesse's castle, a knight with no name appears from nowhere and fights Beaumains for no apparent reason. The nameless knight is defeated, but luckily for him, Lady Lynet appears on the scene and magically cures him, although Malory had not mentioned until this moment that Lynet was an enchantress. Indeed, a modern reader's response to Malory's tales will often be, "Huh?"

  It hardly matters, though. Despite his peculiarities, there is no one like Sir Thomas Malory. To read his book is to enter a splendid, magical, and unfamiliar world. There is some silliness in that world, to be sure, but there is also honor, sacrifice, and love, all presented in Malory's wonderful language. In the Morte, people are not "named," they are "y-clept"; a skilled knight is "passing strong"; a villainous or cowardly knight is a "recreant"; and when someone is very grateful he says with simple dignity, "gramercy."

  It is a pure pleasure and an honor to retell this story from Malory's world, to fill in some of the gaps, and maybe turn a few things upside down. And if I've meddled with Malory somewhat, it has always been with affection and with gratitude to him for creating that world that inspires my own imaginings. Gramercy, Sir Thomas.

  —Gerald Morris

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