The Story of Galahad
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Sterling, Mary Blackwell. The Story of Galahad: Retold from Le Morte D'Arthur of Sir Thomas Malory and the Original Stories by Mary Blackwell Sterling. Ill. William Ernest Chapman. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1908.
Mary Blackwell Sterling retells Malory's story of the quest for the Grail by Lancelot, Bors, Percival, and Galahad and Galahad's achieving of the Grail. She includes, as does Malory, much of the history of the Grail and the symbolic objects related to it: Joseph of Arimathea's adventures in Sarras and his coming to Britain, the story of the red-cross shield and the sword destined for Galahad, and the account of the construction of Solomon's ship. Chapman adds seven color illustrations depicting key moments or events in the story, such as the coming of the Grail to Camelot and Galahad's vision of the Grail. Also illustrated is the giving of the 'golden girdle' to Galahad for the sword he obtains on Solomon's ship, a girdle woven for him by Percival's sister.
This book reflects the interest in 'moral chivalry' as a model for the young. Sterling writes in her introduction that 'The pageantry of knighthood has passed from us, but the ideals it stands for are lived over again by each child, and they are in part for him the foundations of the true courtesy and virtue of our social life.' (In 1911, Chapman also illustrated Sterling's The Story of Parzival the Templar, which is based not on Malory but on Wolfram von Eschenbach.)
