Don Quuixote

Don Quixote is a middle-aged gentleman from the region of La Mancha in central Spain. Obsessed with the chivalrous ideals touted in books he has read, he decides to take up his lance and sword to defend the helpless and destroy the wicked. After a first failed adventure, he sets out on a second one with a somewhat befuddled laborer named Sancho Panza, whom he has persuaded to accompany him as his faithful squire. In return for Sancho’s services, Don Quixote promises to make Sancho the wealthy governor of an isle. On his horse, Rocinante, a barn nag well past his prime, Don Quixote rides the roads of Spain in search of glory and grand adventure. He gives up food, shelter, and comfort, all in the name of a peasant woman, Dulcinea del Toboso, whom he envisions as a princess.
On his second expedition, Don Quixote becomes more of a bandit than a savior, stealing from and hurting baffled and justifiably angry citizens while acting out against what he perceives as threats to his knighthood or to the world. Don Quixote abandons a boy, leaving him in the hands of an evil farmer simply because the farmer swears an oath that he will not harm the boy. He steals a barber’s basin that he believes to be the mythic Mambrino’s helmet, and he becomes convinced of the healing powers of the Balsam of Fierbras, an elixir that makes him so ill that, by comparison, he later feels healed. Sancho stands by Don Quixote, often bearing the brunt of the punishments that arise from Don Quixote’s behavior.
The story of Don Quixote’s deeds includes the stories of those he meets on his journey. Don Quixote witnesses the funeral of a student who dies as a result of his love for a disdainful lady turned shepherdess. He frees a wicked and devious galley slave, Gines de Pasamonte, and unwittingly reunites two bereaved couples, Cardenio and Lucinda, and Ferdinand and Dorothea. Torn apart by Ferdinand’s treachery, the four lovers finally come together at an inn where Don Quixote sleeps, dreaming that he is battling a giant.
Along the way, the simple Sancho plays the straight man to Don Quixote, trying his best to correct his master’s outlandish fantasies. Two of Don Quixote’s friends, the priest and the barber, come to drag him home. Believing that he is under the force of an enchantment, he accompanies them, thus ending his second expedition and the First Part of the novel.
The Second Part of the novel begins with a passionate invective against a phony sequel of Don Quixote that was published in the interim between Cervantes’s two parts. Everywhere Don Quixote goes, his reputation—gleaned by others from both the real and the false versions of the story—precedes him.

As the two embark on their journey, Sancho lies to Don Quixote, telling him that an evil enchanter has transformed Dulcinea into a peasant girl. Undoing this enchantment, in which even Sancho comes to believe, becomes Don Quixote’s chief goal.
Don Quixote meets a Duke and Duchess who conspire to play tricks on him. They make a servant dress up as Merlin, for example, and tell Don Quixote that Dulcinea’s enchantment—which they know to be a hoax—can be undone only if Sancho whips himself 3,300 times on his naked backside. Under the watch of the Duke and Duchess, Don Quixote and Sancho undertake several adventures. They set out on a flying wooden horse, hoping to slay a giant who has turned a princess and her lover into metal figurines and bearded the princess’s female servants.
During his stay with the Duke, Sancho becomes governor of a fictitious isle. He rules for ten days until he is wounded in an onslaught the Duke and Duchess sponsor for their entertainment. Sancho reasons that it is better to be a happy laborer than a miserable governor.
A young maid at the Duchess’s home falls in love with Don Quixote, but he remains a staunch worshipper of Dulcinea. Their never-consummated affair amuses the court to no end. Finally, Don Quixote sets out again on his journey, but his demise comes quickly. Shortly after his arrival in Barcelona, the Knight of the White Moon—actually an old friend in disguise—vanquishes him.
Cervantes relates the story of Don Quixote as a history, which he claims he has translated from a manuscript written by a Moor named Cide Hamete Benengeli. Cervantes becomes a party to his own fiction, even allowing Sancho and Don Quixote to modify their own histories and comment negatively upon the false history published in their names.
In the end, the beaten and battered Don Quixote forswears all the chivalric truths he followed so fervently and dies from a fever. With his death, knights-errant become extinct. Benengeli returns at the end of the novel to tell us that illustrating the demise of chivalry was his main purpose in writing the history of Don Quixote.

REFERENCE: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/donquixote/summary.html

THE MYTH OF DAEDALUS & ICARUS

Daedalus was a highly respected and talented Athenian artisan descendent from the royal family of Cecrops, the mythical first king of Athens. He was known for his skill as an architect, sculpture, and inventor, and he produced many famous works. Despite his self-confidence, Daedalus once committed a crime of envy against Talus, his nephew and apprentice. Talus, who seemed destined to become as great an artisan as his uncle Daedalus, was inspired one day to invent the saw after having seen the way a snake used its jaws. Daedalus, momentarily stricken with jealousy, threw Talus off of the Acropolis. For this crime, Daedalus was exiled to Crete and placed in the service of King Minos, where he eventually had a son, Icarus, with the beautiful Naucrate, a mistress-slave of the King. Minos called on Daedalus to build the famous Labyrinth in order to imprison the dreaded Minotaur. The Minotaur was a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. He was the son of Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, and a bull that Poseidon had sent to Minos as a gift. Minos was shamed by the birth of this horrible creature and resolved to imprison the Minotaur in the Labyrinth where it fed on humans, which were taken as "tribute" by Minos and sacrificed to the Minotaur in memory of his fallen son Androgenos. Theseus, the heroic King of Athens, volunteered himself to be sent to the Minotaur in the hopes of killing the beast and ending the "human tribute" that his city was forced to pay Minos. When Theseus arrived to Crete, Ariadne, Minos's daughter, fell in love with him and wished to help him survive the Minotaur. Daedalus revealed the mystery of the Labyrinth to Ariadne who in turn advised Theseus, thus enabling him to slay the Minotaur and escape from the Labyrinth. When Minos found out what Daedalus had done he was so enraged that he imprisoned Daedalus & Icarus in the Labyrinth themselves. Daedalus conceived to escape from the Labyrinth with Icarus from Crete by constructing wings and then flying to safety. He built the wings from feathers and wax, and before the two set off he warned Icarus not to fly too low lest his wings touch the waves and get wet, and not too high lest the sun melt the wax. But the young Icarus, overwhelmed by the thrill of flying, did not heed his father's warning, and flew too close to the sun whereupon the wax in his wings melted and he fell into the sea. Daedalus escaped to Sicily and Icarus' body was carried ashore by the current to an island then without a name. Heracles came across the body and recognized it, giving it burial where today there still stands a small rock promontory jutting out into the Aegean Sea, and naming the island and the sea around it after the fallen Icarus.
REFERENCE: http://www.island-ikaria.com/culture/myth.asp

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table Le Morte d'Arthur tells the story of King Arthur and his Knights at the Round Table. Arthur, who is son of King Uther Pendragon but was raised by another family, takes his rightful place as king when, as a boy, he is able to pull the sword called Excalibur from the stone. Although he rules wisely and is counseled by Merlin the magician, Arthur makes enemies of other kings and is often at war.
When Arthur marries Genevere, her father gives Arthur the Round Table, at which 150 men can sit. Genevere, who is often present at the convening of the Round Table, acts as a moral compass for the knights, rewarding knights who behave well and chastising those who choose poorly. Malory specifically relates the stories of Sir Gawain, Sir Tor, and Sir Pellanor as a means of introducing the concept of chivalry. Arthur is nearly betrayed by his sister Morgan le Fay, but he is helped by Nineve, a sorceress who learned her magic powers from Merlin before killing him. Arthur then fights the Romans when Emperor Lucius of Rome demands that Arthur bow to him. Although the war requires several battles, Arthur and his knights win and return to Guinevere and the other wives. Soon after, Launcelot establishes himself as the greatest knight in all the world by his virtue, loyalty, and bravery. At the same time, Sir Gareth, Gawain's brother, proves valiant in his adventures. Tristam (also known as Tristan), who is son of King Melyodas de Lyones and the sister of King Mark of Cornwall, is then introduced, and his adventures unfold. He kills Sir Marhault to free his uncle from a debt owed to King Angwyssh of Ireland, and then falls in love with Isode (also known as Isolde), Angwyssh's daughter. Isode marries Tristam's uncle Mark, but Tristam and Isode remain lovers. Tristam is exiled by Mark, which means he can no longer use his true identity; thus, he fights as The Knight with the Black Shield. Tristam duels and beats many of Arthur's knights, but is eventually thrown in prison and becomes ill. He escapes and eventually meets and fights Launcelot in a duel predicted by Merlin. They become the best of friends. Launcelot, who is in love with and completely loyal to Guinevere, rides one day in search of adventure. He kills a dragon, sees the Grail, and is tricked into lying with Pellas' daughter Elayne, with whom he has a son, Galahad. Guinevere, upon hearing of the affair, has Launcelot banished from court; Launcelot then wanders from place to place in his grief. Elayne, through her father, heals Launcelot through the Grail, and he eventually returns joyously to Camelot and the Round Table. Launcelot introduces his son, Galahad, to the court, and Galahad takes the Sege Perilous, the seat at the Round Table that no knight has been worthy enough to fill. Galahad also draws the sword from the floating stone, establishing him as the best knight in the world, but also accepting the sword's curse — that it will later cause a grievous wound. Most of the knights then set out separately on Grail Quest. During the Quest, Launcelot, Percival, and Bors experience deep religious conversion, while Ector and Gawain are told by a hermit that they are not pure enough to achieve the Grail Quest. Galahad, Percival, and Bors meet up and continue the Grail Quest, but they are briefly parted. Launcelot and Galahad continue to the Grail at Castle Corbenic, where Launcelot is shown to be unworthy of the Quest. When Sir Evelake dies after his embrace with Galahad, Galahad is identified as the knight who will achieve the Grail Quest. Galahad is made a king who dies shortly thereafter, while Percival becomes a hermit. Bors returns to King Arthur's court. Launcelot also returns to the court and continues his love for Guinevere. After a series of trials, Guinevere is convinced of Launcelot's love for her. Although Arthur knows of the affair and overlooks it, he is prompted by Aggravain and Mordred (Arthur's son by Lot's wife) to take action; Guinevere is sentenced to be burned at the stake. Launcelot rescues her and takes her to his castle, Joyous Gard, but in the battle, Launcelot kills Gareth and Gaheris, who are at the execution but are unarmed. Launcelot returns Guinevere to Arthur, but Launcelot is banished, along with his followers. Gawain swears vengeance for the death of his brothers and insists that Arthur attack Launcelot. Arthur agrees, but while Arthur and Gawain are away, Mordred makes himself King of England, claims Guinevere as his wife, and attacks Arthur's army. Gawain is mortally wounded and warns Arthur in a dream not to continue the battle. Through a misunderstanding, however, the battle continues; Arthur kills Mordred but is mortally wounded by him, as Merlin has prophesied. Launcelot and Guinevere both die of illness soon after, and Constantine becomes king. The Round Table is disbursed.

REFERENCE: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/l/le-morte-darthur/book-summary

The Quest for the Holy Grail

The Holy Grail has become a central theme in Arthurian literature. Some historians have traced its association with Arthur as far back as some of the earliest legends about him. But the Grail first began to shine as a major Christian symbol in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, particularly with the circulation of the Vulgate Cycle, written by an unknown author.
On the eve before Pentecost, a beautiful woman came to Arthur's castle, and asked Lancelot to follow her into the forest. Lancelot, always the chivalrous knight, agreed, and the two went out. They rode until they came to a nunnery. As they entered it, Lancelot saw that two of his cousins, Sir Bors and Sir Lionel, were already there. Then the nuns brought out a young man and asked Lancelot to knight him. Lancelot agreed, and the youth was knighted. The next day, as he and his cousins were riding back to Arthur's castle, Sir Bors remarked that the young man had looked so much like Lancelot, it must have been his son by Elaine.
When Lancelot returned to Camelot, the knights were all summoned to meet at the Round Table. As he took his seat, he saw that there was now an inscription above the Siege Perilous. It read:
“Four Hundred and Fifty Years Have Passed Since The Passion Of Our Lord Jesus Christ: And On The Day Of Pentecost This Seat Shall Find Its Master.”
As their meeting began, an elderly knight entered the hall. With him was the young man Lancelot had knighted the evening before. He was Galahad, Lancelot's son by Elaine. He took his rightful place at the Siege Perilous.
Shortly later, an image of the Holy Grail appeared, floating over the table. It was a sign. It was time for Arthur and his knights to seek out the Grail.
In the adventure that followed, Galahad quickly proved himself to be the greatest knight of all time. Whereas his father had been charismatic and charming, Galahad was pure of heart, and refrained from much temptation in order to pursue more heavenly ideals.
Many of Arthur's knights sought out the Grail, but most returned badly wounded, or worse. Then three knights went out in search of it: Sir Bors, Sir Perceval, and Sir Galahad. They traveled to Corbenic by ship to seek out Galahad's grandfather, King Pellés.
When the knights arrived, they were met by a host of Galahad's family from Elaine's side. Then, King Pellés brought out a sword that had been broken in three pieces. When Galahad held them, the sword became whole again. It was a sign. Galahad was given a vision, and he was shown wonders beyond any mortal men can imagine. When he came out of his trance, he knew what had to be done.
The Grail was in Britain, he said. But Camelot was unworthy of it. The knights were to take the Grail to the holy city of Sarras in the Middle East, to fulfill God's will.

When the three knights returned to their ship, they found the Grail already waiting for them there. They took it to the city of Sarras, just as they had been instructed. There, a great light appeared in the sky, and the Grail was lifted up into Heaven, forever beyond the reach of men.
Of the three knights who had ridden out in search of the Grail, only Sir Bors returned to Camelot to tell of what had happened. For Sir Perceval was moved by all he had seen, and chose to live out the remainder of his days as a hermit living in the forests outside Sarras. And Sir Galahad, having seen his vision of the Grail, died shortly after. For he gave up his life so he could remain pure.
REFERENCE: http://www.heroofcamelot.com/legend/holy-grail

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
It’s Christmas time at King Arthur’s court, and all the knights and ladies have gathered to celebrate and feast. Arthur, however, refuses to eat until he has witnessed something marvelous or heard a great adventure story. Luckily, just when everyone’s sitting down to eat, a mysterious, gigantic stranger with emerald-green skin and clothing bursts into the hall. As if that weren't weird enough, he's riding a gigantic green horse and carrying an elaborately-decorated axe.
The Green Knight announces that he’s come to test the honor of the legendary knights of the round table, and proposes a game: he will withstand a single axe-blow from the hands of one knight, as long as that knight agrees to meet him in a year and a day to receive an axe-blow in return. Stunned by the total weirdness of his request, no one volunteers.
The Green Knight mocks them cruelly, calling out Arthur himself to take up the challenge. But before Arthur can strike a blow, his nephew, Sir Gawain, declares that it’s shameful for the king to have to participate in such a silly game. So Sir Gawain volunteers himself.
Gawain brings the axe down on the Green Knight, chopping his head off. Instead of dying, the Green Knight picks up his own head, turns it to face the court, and tells Gawain to meet him at the Green Chapel in a year and a day. He gallops out of the hall on his horse as the members of the court try to pick their jaws up off of the floor.
The seasons pass, and soon it’s the holiday season again. Gawain leaves King Arthur's court on All Saint’s Day in search of the Green Chapel. He rides through enchanted lands teeming with marvels, battling monsters, and withstanding extreme cold and snow as he travels. As Christmas approaches, Gawain is relieved to see a huge, well-protected castle in the middle of an enchanted forest. When he arrives there he is warmly welcomed and invited to spend the holidays, enjoying the rich hospitality of the magnificent lord and his beautiful lady.
After the Christmas feasting, Gawain gets ready to leave, but the lord persuades him to stay by saying that he can guide Gawain to the Green Chapel. The lord proposes a game, moreover: as Gawain lounges inside by the fire all day, the lord will ride out to hunt. At the end of the day, the two will exchange whatever they’ve won. Gawain happily agrees to the game, impressed by the lord’s love of merriment and games.
The next morning, as the lord rides out in pursuit of deer, Gawain sleeps in late. He’s awoken by the lady of the castle. She says she's come to enjoy the company of a knight with such a wonderful reputation. They chat for a bit, and then the lady gets up to leave. But before she goes, she surprises Gawain by doubting that he’s really the Gawain she’s heard so much about. When Gawain asks why, she replies that a man with a reputation for being a ladies' man would never depart from a lady without kissing her. Especially when her flirtatious behavior has indicated she’s willing. Taking the hint, Gawain kisses the lady, who then departs.
When the lord returns to the castle that night, he presents Gawain with a multitude of well-dressed deer, for which Gawain exchanges the kiss he’s received from the lord's wife. Gawain and the lord continue the same game for the next two days. The lord hunts a boar and a fox while Gawain flirts with the lady of the castle. Gawain then exchanges the kisses he receives for the animals the lord has killed.
On the last day of the game, however, the lady convinces Gawain to accept something else as a "lover’s token": a green girdle, or belt, which she claims will make the wearer invincible, unable to be killed. Gawain realizes that this is just the thing to save his life during his impending meeting with the Green Knight. When the lord of the castles comes home at the end of the day, Gawain breaks the rules of the game and doesn't exchange the green girdle.
The next morning, Gawain rides out of the castle with a guide, who points him to the Green Chapel. The guide begs Gawain to reconsider, because the man who guards it is so dangerous. When Gawain reaches the clearing, all he sees is a small mound with patches of grass on it. He assumes this must be the chapel. He hears a noise like someone sharpening a blade. He calls out to the sharpener to come meet him.
The Green Knight emerges with his huge axe, and commends Gawain for keeping the terms of the agreement. He moves to strike the first blow, but stops his hand when Gawain flinches. He chews Gawain out for being a sissy. After Gawain promises to flinch no more, the knight moves to strike a second blow, but again stops his hand. This time he claims he was testing to see if Gawain was ready. Finally, the Green Knight strikes a third blow. This time, the axe breaks the skin but doesn't decapitate Gawain. (Whew!) Gawain leaps up and arms himself, telling the Green Knight that he has met the terms of the agreement and will now defend himself if threatened.
Laughing, the Green Knight explains to Gawain that he is actually the same lord of the castle where Gawain spent his holidays. The first two blows, he claims, were in return for the way Gawain returned the kisses of his wife, following the rules of their game as an honest man should. The third blow, he says, was for Gawain’s failure to return the green girdle to him on the last day. But because Gawain’s failing was only because he wanted to save his life, and not because he's just dishonorable, the Green Knight forgives him. He leaves Gawain with only with a scar and a girdle as a reminder of his very human sin.
Sir Gawain, however, is totally mortified. He asks the man’s name and learns that he is Lord Bertilak. His powers come from Morgan le Fay, who is King Arthur’s aunt and a powerful sorceress. She enchanted Bertilak and sent him to King Arthur’s court to test the honor of the knights there and to frighten Queen Guinevere.
Refusing Bertilak’s offer of further hospitality, Gawain returns to Arthur’s court. He tells the story of his adventure, and declares that he will wear the girdle for the rest of his life as a reminder of his failure. The court, however, laughs at Gawain and proposes to all wear a similar girdle for his sake. This tradition is carried down through generations and becomes a symbol of honor.
REFERENCE: http://www.shmoop.com/sir-gawain-green-knight/summary.html

The Song of Hiawatha

Should you ask me, whence these stories?
Whence these legends and traditions,
With the odors of the forest
With the dew and damp of meadows,
With the curling smoke of wigwams,
With the rushing of great rivers,
With their frequent repetitions,
And their wild reverberations
As of thunder in the mountains? I should answer, I should tell you,
"From the forests and the prairies,
From the great lakes of the Northland,
From the land of the Ojibways,
From the land of the Dacotahs,
From the mountains, moors, and fen-lands
Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
Feeds among the reeds and rushes.
I repeat them as I heard them
From the lips of Nawadaha,
The musician, the sweet singer." Should you ask where Nawadaha
Found these songs so wild and wayward,
Found these legends and traditions,
I should answer, I should tell you,
"In the bird's-nests of the forest,

In the lodges of the beaver,
In the hoof-prints of the bison,
In the eyry of the eagle! "All the wild-fowl sang them to him,
In the moorlands and the fen-lands,
In the melancholy marshes;
Chetowaik, the plover, sang them,
Mahng, the loon, the wild-goose, Wawa,
The blue heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
And the grouse, the Mushkodasa!" If still further you should ask me,
Saying, "Who was Nawadaha?
Tell us of this Nawadaha,"
I should answer your inquiries
Straightway in such words as follow. "In the vale of Tawasentha,
In the green and silent valley,
By the pleasant water-courses,
Dwelt the singer Nawadaha.
Round about the Indian village
Spread the meadows and the corn-fields,
And beyond them stood the forest,
Stood the groves of singing pine-trees,
Green in Summer, white in Winter,
Ever sighing, ever singing. "And the pleasant water-courses,
You could trace them through the valley,
By the rushing in the Spring-time,
By the alders in the Summer,
By the white fog in the Autumn,
By the black line in the Winter;
And beside them dwelt the singer,
In the vale of Tawasentha,
In the green and silent valley. "There he sang of Hiawatha,
Sang the Song of Hiawatha,
Sang his wondrous birth and being,
How he prayed and how be fasted,
How he lived, and toiled, and suffered,
That the tribes of men might prosper,
That he might advance his people!" Ye who love the haunts of Nature,
Love the sunshine of the meadow,
Love the shadow of the forest,
Love the wind among the branches,
And the rain-shower and the snow-storm,
And the rushing of great rivers
Through their palisades of pine-trees,
And the thunder in the mountains,
Whose innumerable echoes
Flap like eagles in their eyries;--
Listen to these wild traditions,
To this Song of Hiawatha! Ye who love a nation's legends,
Love the ballads of a people,
That like voices from afar off
Call to us to pause and listen,
Speak in tones so plain and childlike,
Scarcely can the ear distinguish
Whether they are sung or spoken;--
Listen to this Indian Legend,
To this Song of Hiawatha! Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,
Who have faith in God and Nature,
Who believe that in all ages
Every human heart is human,
That in even savage bosoms
There are longings, yearnings, strivings
For the good they comprehend not,
That the feeble hands and helpless,
Groping blindly in the darkness,
Touch God's right hand in that darkness
And are lifted up and strengthened;--
Listen to this simple story,
To this Song of Hiawatha! Ye, who sometimes, in your rambles
Through the green lanes of the country,
Where the tangled barberry-bushes
Hang their tufts of crimson berries
Over stone walls gray with mosses,
Pause by some neglected graveyard,
For a while to muse, and ponder
On a half-effaced inscription,
Written with little skill of song-craft,
Homely phrases, but each letter
Full of hope and yet of heart-break,
Full of all the tender pathos
Of the Here and the Hereafter;--
Stay and read this rude inscription,
Read this Song of Hiawatha!

REFERENCE: http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=62