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[grand triumphant music]
[dramatic music]
[light music]
- [Leonides] Good day, sir knight.
- Good day.
I seek King Arthur's court.
- You have not much farther to travel.
- Thank you.
What's your name, old man?
- I am known as Leonides, the hermit.
My cave is on the crest above the rocks.
From it you can see the
spires and towers of Camelot.
- Then my journey is almost over.
Which road, Leonides?
- That one.
But why go you to King Arthur's court?
- I seek to join the
Knights of the Round Table.
- I thought as much.
Well if you hurry you
can dine at the castle.
There will be birds and
joints of flesh and pasties
by the score, all stuffed with forest meat
and flavored with herbs
of the richest kind-
- Please, stop.
- Did I perhaps arouse in you a sinful
and fleshly appetite?
- No, but my horse is hungry
and the talk about food might upset him.
But who comes here?
- They are knights of King Arthur's court.
- Good day, Sir Knight,
you travel to Camelot?
- I do.
- Who are you?
- I am Sir Lancelot of the Lake.
I seek to join the Knights
of the Round Table.
- I am Sir Kay.
Sir Christopher, Sir
Lionel of the Round Table.
- I don't know your name or your shield.
- I come from afar.
- [Sir Lionel] You seem somewhat shabby
to appear at King Arthur's court.
- My armor was battered
in honorable combat.
- Yet your shield is not scratched.
- This was not the shield
I carried into battle.
- [Sir Lionel] Exactly.
- What are you hinting at, Sir Lionel?
- That perhaps you changed your shield
in order to change your identity
after having fled from a battle, or worse.
- Worse?
What on earth could be worse than that?
- I ask you to take back your suggestion,
it casts a doubt on my honor.
- I take back nothing
until you explain why
you changed your shield.
- This knight seems most
anxious to avoid a fight.
- I wish that our paths had not crossed
on this pleasant morning.
- I don't doubt that.
- I came in peace to join the Round Table.
I sought no fight.
- Explain about your shield.
- I have already explained.
You force my hand.
- You needn't fight, you know.
You can always use the excuse
that you're wounded, your armor-
- I would just make one request.
I would fight on foot
for my horse is weary.
- We are challenged.
I supposed one of us has to fight him.
- Our squires are not far away,
when they come along
we'll pitch a pavilion
and prepare for combat.
- I'm ready now.
- Which one of us do you wish to fight?
- All three of you.
- Very well, which one of us
do you wish to fight first?
- All three of you at once.
I have no wish to dally over this affair,
I might miss the midday meal at Camelot.
[dramatic music]
- You should not have said
that about the midday meal.
They are very angry.
- Exactly, Leonides.
And angry men fight like fools.
[suspenseful music]
[swords clanging]
[fighters shouting]
Ha ha!
[swords clanging]
[fighters grunting]
- I yield.
[mysterious music]
[grand music]
[mysterious music]
[dramatic music]
[dramatic suspenseful music]
[expl*si*n popping]
[mysterious music]
[gentle music]
[mysterious music]
[dramatic music]
- Sire.
[gentle music]
[footsteps tapping]
- Good King Arthur,
Knights of the Round Table.
I have a prediction.
[expl*si*n popping]
Before the sands will
have fallen to the bottom
of the glass there will
appear at this court
seeking a place at the Round Table
a knight so powerful that he fights
with the strength of three men.
- Be more tidy with your magic.
- How do you know this, Merlin?
- Fathoming the secrets of the
stars, I fell into a trance
and in a vision I saw this
knight approaching Camelot.
[tongue clicking]
Does my news disturb you?
- Forgive Sir Gawain.
His brother lies upstairs, sorely wounded.
None of us has yet recovered
from the terrible battle last week
against King Gwyl of Latham.
- Perhaps I should withdraw
and take my glass with me.
- No.
If your prediction is accurate,
this knight will arrive most fortunately.
So many empty seats.
[solemn music]
So many noble knights,
gone from us forever.
- The w*r against King
Gwyl was a just one,
and our victory glorious.
- We are plagued with the unkingly thought
that neither side emerges victorious
from such a bloody battle.
- My lord, Queen Guinevere.
[gentle music]
- Our heart is heavy, Gawain.
Your brother, Sir Darus is dead.
- Fie!
I know who cut my brother down.
- How so?
- This piece of steel
was found in his wound.
It comes from the sword
of the most formidable
of King Gwyl's knights.
He who wore the red plume.
- I remember him well.
The red plume was
everywhere in the battle.
And its owner inflicted
grievous losses upon us.
- Sir King, I ask a boon.
- Speak, Gawain.
- To go on a quest, seek out
this knight of the red plume,
fight him to the death,
and thus avenge my brother.
- This boon we grant you, Gawain.
[footsteps tapping]
The sand's run out, Merlin.
Where is this champion knight who fights
with the strength of three men?
- He will arrive.
[triumphant music]
[footsteps tapping]
- Why do you return so soon, Sir Kay?
- We have been overcome in combat, sire.
We return as prisoners.
- Were all three of you
overcome by one man?
- Yes, by one formidable knight.
- Honest fight, 't'were
only fair to mention.
- Our captor requests
an audience, Sir King.
- Send him in.
Sire, observe the glass.
[mysterious music]
[grand music]
- My lord king, I am Sir
Lancelot of the Lake.
- We were expecting you.
Your coming was predicted
by Merlin the magician.
You hold three of my
knights prisoners by combat.
What ransom must I pay for them?
- If you will accept me as
a Knight of the Round Table
and judge me only by the
deeds I do henceforth,
then I will gladly yield the prisoners.
- Our ranks are thin, Sir Lancelot.
A man of your prowess
would be welcome indeed.
But there is much about
you yet to be proved.
Prowess in combat means nothing
unless that prowess is used to
uphold the laws of chivalry.
- It was to uphold those laws
that I came here, Sire.
- We rule that you'll be
given a fair trial. Come.
Will you swear to revere our royal person?
Will you ride abroad,
redressing human wrongs?
Will you be valiant,
courteous, and merciful?
Will you serve and
defend women of all ranks
in every kind of need?
- [Lancelot] I will.
- Then prove yourself worthy
and you shall take a place
at the Round Table among
these most noble knights.
[dramatic music]
[dramatic music]
[anvil clanging]
- Master armorer.
[steam hissing]
Another challenge for
your art, Master Mark.
This is Sir Lancelot of the Lake.
- Yeah.
- His equipment is
badly in need of repair.
- Who mended this last, an apprentice?
- No, I did.
It was in the midst of a battle.
- Ah.
- Don't worry, he growls and complains
but he's the best armorer in the land.
- What concerns me most is my sword.
- Oh, well that'll have to
be heated and beaten out.
- I can't believe there's
anything dishonorable about him.
- If he is an enemy, then we must know it.
Will you help me?
- Yes, I should like to know the truth.
- Then I must have that
sword before it is reforged.
- Do you mind if I watch while you do it?
The proper balance of my
sword is important to me.
- Sir Lancelot.
- [Lancelot] My lady.
- As you are a stranger in Camelot,
I thought it only courteous
to show you something
of your new surroundings.
- My lady, I, I should be most honored.
It's only a sword, do as you think fit.
[dramatic music]
- Give me that!
[dramatic music]
[gentle music]
- The king brought me up here
on the day I came to Camelot.
The day of our marriage.
- It's very beautiful.
It had long been my dream to kneel
and pay homage to King Arthur.
- He is a great man.
- Yes, he is.
I think the reason is
that he inspires loyalty.
- That is true.
Once having known him
it becomes unthinkable
that one could be disloyal
to him in any way.
- It would be quite impossible.
- Sir Lancelot, are you
pledged to the service
of any young damsel?
- I came to Camelot with a free heart.
- There are many fair ladies in Camelot.
It will be your privilege to champion one.
You shall meet them soon.
- I'd rather not.
- But why?
- Well, I may never be a
Knight of the Round Table.
- Is there any reason
why you should not be?
Anything you have not told
us that would disqualify you?
- Nothing that I know of, Lady Guinevere.
- My lord!
It is proof, sire.
Sir Lancelot is the
knight with the red plume.
He is responsible for
many of those empty seats.
He and he alone slew my brother.
I intend to k*ll him.
- Hold, Sir Gawain.
He is hardly rested from his travels.
- I count each minute lost
that my brother's death stands unavenged.
You granted me a boon, sire.
- 'Tis true, I gave you my word.
The battle then will be this afternoon.
[sword clanging]
- May I intrude, Master Merlin?
I see you are at work.
- Part of my work is
to consult with knights
who seek my aid.
They often come up here
asking for prophecies.
- I'm not interested in any
new prophecies just now.
I'd like to know how you
reached your last one
about my arrival.
My destination was known only to myself.
May I ask how you reached your
decision that I was coming?
- I have a reputation as a magician.
- I know. I would still like-
- Something else disturbs
you, Sir Lancelot?
- Yes.
You were writing as I entered.
- True.
- This parchment is completely blank,
there's nothing written on it.
- An excellent precaution
against inquisitive visitors,
wouldn't you say?
- I've never seen a
fruit like this before.
- It was brought to me
from the Iberian Peninsula.
It is called lemon.
Any other questions?
- A few.
Do you believe in magicians?
- I believe in myself, a man's
peace of mind demands that.
- I won't gain much enlightenment
if I have to depend on your
answers to my questions.
This mirror is most inconveniently located
for looking at oneself.
- I am long past the age of such vanities.
- But it is ideally
placed for, shall we say-
- What?
- Receiving light signals
from some distant point?
Merlin, are you acquainted
with one Leonides,
the hermit at the crossroads?
- Lancelot, it is not
only your skill at arms
that makes you a most unusual knight,
but I hope you have one other virtue.
Discretion.
- Enough not to make the
enemy of a master magician.
I won't say a word.
- Lancelot!
[dramatic music]
To the death.
- Why do you challenge me, Gawain?
- You are the knight in the red plume.
I have proof that you k*lled my brother.
[dramatic music]
[dramatic suspenseful music]
[dramatic music]
[hooves thudding]
- It grieves me to decree
a fight unto the death,
yet I cannot deny Sir
Gawain's right of challenge.
If you are indeed the red plumed knight
who slew his brother.
Do you deny the charge?
- I do not deny it.
- Then let the battle begin.
[dramatic music]
[dramatic suspenseful music]
[dramatic suspenseful music]
[dramatic suspenseful music]
[crowd gasping]
[quiet tense music]
[dramatic suspenseful music]
[dramatic music]
[Guinevere gasping]
[dramatic music]
[jousting pole thudding]
[dramatic music]
[dramatic suspenseful music]
[swords scraping]
[swords clanging]
[dramatic suspenseful music]
[swords clanging]
[quiet tense music]
[swords clanging]
[dramatic suspenseful music]
[swords clanging]
[crowd gasping]
[dramatic suspenseful music]
[quiet tense music]
- Sire!
With your permission
I would spare the life
of this great knight.
Sir Gawain and I have no
real reason to be enemies.
- But did you not k*ll
Sir Gawain's brother?
- Sir Darus and I fought
as honest knights,
each defending his king.
Sire, I must explain.
I am the son of King Ben of Benwyck.
When I was 12 years old,
my father lost a w*r.
Before he charged into
that last, hopeless battle,
he made me swear an oath.
I swore to seek my
father's friend King Gwyl
and serve him as a true son.
Thus when you, King
Arthur, fought King Gwyl,
I found myself arrayed in battle
against the Knights of the Round Table.
- But when you come here
seeking to join the Round Table,
are you not betraying your
sacred vows to King Gwyl?
- During the battle King
Gwyl was badly wounded.
On his deathbed, he
released me from my oath.
Then I came here, free at
last to serve the cause
that has for so long
been closest to my heart.
[crowd cheering]
- Quickly.
Bring the leech to attend
to the wounds of Sir Gawain.
Knights of the Round Table!
I order you to assemble in the
great hall within the hour.
[triumphant music]
Can anyone offer reason why Sir Lancelot
should not be accepted as a
Knight of the Round Table?
- My lord, I feel that forces
powerful and mysterious
are about to show us a sign.
[mysterious music]
Observe.
- Kneel.
I proclaim you, Sir Lancelot of the Lake,
a Knight of the Round Table.
By custom, you are entitled
now to ask one boon,
which I will grant if it be in my power.
- Sire, a knight is not yet fully armed
until he wears the favor of a lady fair.
- Certainly you have the
right to champion a lady
and dedicate your deeds to her
when you have chosen her.
- I have already chosen, Sire.
I would champion Queen Guinevere.
- I am sure that Queen
Guinevere will take great pride
in being championed by so noble a knight.
[triumphant music]
[light music]
♪ Now listen to my story ♪
♪ Yes, listen while I sing ♪
♪ Of days of old in England ♪
♪ When Arthur was the king ♪
♪ Of Merlin the magician ♪
♪ And Guinevere the queen ♪
♪ And Lancelot the bravest knight ♪
♪ The world has ever seen ♪
♪ In days of old ♪
♪ When knights were bold ♪
♪ His story's told ♪
♪ Of Lancelot ♪
♪ He roamed the wilds of England ♪
♪ Adventures for to seek ♪
♪ To rescue maidens in distress
and help the poor and weak ♪
♪ If anyone oppressed you ♪
♪ He'd be your champion ♪
♪ He fought a million battles ♪
♪ And he never lost a one ♪
♪ In days of old ♪
♪ When knights were bold ♪
♪ His story's told ♪
♪ Of Lancelot ♪
♪ In days of old ♪
♪ When knights were bold ♪
♪ His story's told ♪
♪ Of Lancelot ♪
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