Audiobook · read by volunteers
King Arthur and His Knights
Maude L. Radford Warren (1875–1934)
Read by Robin Cotter · 21 chapters · 4 h 19
About the book
From the boy who draws a sword from a stone to the king who must face his own end, this collection tells the great adventures of King Arthur in a form that younger listeners can follow. Maude L. Radford Warren retells how Arthur became king, how he won the sword Excalibur, and how the Knights of the Round Table gathered at Camelot. Sir Lancelot, Queen Guinevere and the quest for the Holy Grail all find a place, along with feasts, tournaments, enchantments and moments of sorrow. The tone is simple and direct, and the pace is lively. In 21 chapters and just over four hours, one LibriVox volunteer carries the listener through these legends. It is an accessible introduction to one of the great stories of European tradition, with plenty of adventure for younger listeners.
Introduction
The stories of King Arthur have been told and retold for more than a thousand years. They draw on Welsh and French tradition and on the English medieval compilation of Sir Thomas Malory, whose Le Morte d’Arthur was printed in 1485. Over the centuries the legend has attracted poets, painters and storytellers, from the medieval romances to Tennyson’s Idylls of the King in the nineteenth century.
Maude L. Radford Warren, who lived from 1875 to 1934, was an American educator and writer. Her King Arthur and His Knights, published in 1903, is a retelling intended for young readers, and it sets out the principal episodes of the legend in clear prose. It begins with Arthur’s rise to the throne and follows him through the winning of the sword Excalibur, the great feast that follows, the marvellous adventures of the knights, the sorrows that come with betrayal and, finally, the end of his reign. Along the way come Sir Lancelot, the Knights of the Round Table, Queen Guinevere and the search for the Holy Grail.
The retelling aims to be accessible rather than exhaustive, and it passes over much of the complexity of the medieval sources. It is a good first book for someone who does not know the legend, and it gives a sense of its main shape. The 21 chapters run for about four hours and twenty minutes, all read by one volunteer. The result is a warm, gently paced introduction to the legend of Camelot. The stories are told simply, so that children can follow the main events without difficulty, while adult listeners may enjoy meeting familiar names again.
Public domain
Maude L. Radford Warren died in 1934: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text