#uwain

[illustratus]

Quest for the Holy Grail - The Failure of Sir Gawaine; Sir Gawaine and Sir Uwaine at the Ruined Chapel.

[blogdemocratesjr]

The Ordeal of Owain by Leonora Carrington

There is a great difference between a coward and a hero; for the coward seated beside the fire talks loudly about himself, holding all the rest as fools, and thinking that no one knows his real character. A hero would be distressed at hearing his prowess related by some one else. And yet I maintain that the coward is not wrong to praise and vaunt himself, for he will find no one else to lie for him. If he does not boast of his deeds, who will? All pass over him in silence, even the heralds, who proclaim the brave, but discard the cowards.

...

“My lady,” [Yvain] said, “one should have mercy on a sinner. I have paid dearly for my foolishness, and I am glad to have paid. Folly caused me to stay away, and I acknowledge my guilt and wrong. I’ve been very bold to dare come before you now, but if you will take me back, I’ll never do you wrong again.

—Chrétien de Troyes. “Yvain, the Knight of the Lion”

[blogdemocratesjr]

The Dream of Rhonabwy

The Dedication by Edmund Blair Leighton

And this tale is called the Dream of Rhonabwy. And this is the reason that no one knows the dream without a book, neither bard nor gifted seer; because of the various colours that were upon the horses, and the many wondrous colours of the arms and of the panoply, and of the precious scarfs, and of the virtue-bearing stones.

—The Dream of Rhonabwy