Houghton Mifflin Company
Boston 2006
For
Laura Crouch
Bill Mitchell
John D. W. Watts
Copyright © 2006 by Gerald Morris
All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce
selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company,
215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
The text of this book is set in 12.5-point Horley Old Style.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Morris, Gerald, 1963–
The quest of the Fair Unknown / by Gerald Morris,
p. cm.
Summary: Having grown up in an isolated forest, Beaufils sets off for Camelot
to find his father and winds up undertaking quests with Sirs Gawain and Galahad,
visiting various hermits, and traveling to the fairy world.
ISBN 0-618-63152-6
[1. Knights and knighthood—Fiction. 2. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction.
3. Identity—Fiction. 4. Gawain (Legendary character)—Fiction.
5. Galahad (Legendary character)—Fiction. 6. Humorous stories.] I. Title.
PZ7.M82785Que 2006 [Fic]—dc22 2005034850
ISBN-13:978-0618-63152-0
Manufactured in the United States of America
MP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
II A TRUE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT 19
III A CHAIR, A SWORD, AND A PLATTER 38
IV QUESTING 61
V THE CARL OF CARLISLE 83
VI HOLY MEN LIKE FLEAS 107
VII THE LABORIOUS SAINT 129
VIII THE TESTING OF SIR BORS 146
IX THE BLOOD OF A MAIDEN 172
X A KISS FOR THE DRAGON 199
XI CARBONEK 218
XII TRANSFORMATIONS 230
AUTHOR'S NOTE 261
For this soul had to go forth to perform a deed so heroic and so rare—namely to become united with its Divine Beloved—and it had to leave its house, because the Beloved is not found save alone and without, in solitude.
—Dark Night of the Soul
Saint John of the Cross, 1542—1591