The Book of Arthur also known as the Merlin Continuation is a short story of the earlier days of King Arthur's reign. It is a part of the larger Vulgate Cycle or Prose Lancelot. In this story Arthur is the main focus and the great hero. He has many adventures after getting lost from his group in a tremendous storm, and stops in a small hermitage. While sleeping he began to hear a woman in great distress raving about how she had failed her sister. Shortly after a large band of robbers appear and attempt to rape this young woman, she is strong and thus the robbers become so frustrated that they begin beating her. At this Arthur awakes and hurries to help the young woman. In a matter of minutes he slays all the robbers and hangs their bodies from a tree.
The woman then tells Arthur the reasons behind her distress which included a terrible giant tormenting her sister the Countess of Orofoise. She then explains that if she does not soon find a knight that her land will be lost to the giant. Arthur then decided he should help her and they set off on a journey to Orofoise. They stop first at a great tourney. Arthur is challenged some of the knight in the tourney and quickly defeats and de-horses them all. The duke who was watching this tourney stopped his men from further disgracing themselves by forcing them to allow the king to leave. What appears to be days pass before they come across a strange cry. At first it appears to be that of a human but upon closer observation he discovers a lioness is crying. He then follows the lioness to a large ditch that her cub has fallen into and is covered in fire breathing serpents. The king then save the cub and the lioness follows him for a long time. Once the lioness felt she had gone too far she turned around and went back to her cub.
The next adventure happened in the middle of the knight. The damsel and the king were travel weary and looking for a place to stop for the night when they came across a large fire. The fire belonged to a large band of robbers who were sitting down at a large table for dinner. At first they appear to welcome Arthur and give him no trouble. This was short-lived as some of the robbers began to talk of how all they needed on such a night was the company of a woman. Arthur then began to drive the robbers mad by taking large portions of food and attempting to drink from the main chalice. At this the leader of the band started a food fight with a large leather wine bottle. When the robbers run out of food to throw they draw their swords. The king saw this and quickly killed them all. The king and the damsel then sit down again for dinner with a servant that the king had spared on the damsels wishes. After that they made a large bed under the table by the fire and in the middle of the night the king appeared to be in great discomfort and woke the damsel. She asked what was wrong and he responded that he was in great need of the favors of a woman. The damsel (who is not a virgin) allows the king to have her favors many times throughout the night. When morning broke they split up the treasures in the cave near the robbers’ camp and went on their way. In less than a day they arrived at Orofoise the king is introduced to the Countess. (All the while no one knows who he really is). The countess treats him as an honored guest, feeding and bathing him. The next day the giant arrives to fight this knight and attempts to break down the large gate. Arthur hurried outside and began to fight the giant. It took him a while to find a way to beat him. He first managed to cut off his fist before finally killing the Saxon. The king the rides off as fast as he can from the palace. The damsel who never knew who he was searches for him the rest of her life to no avail.
This story is full of immense amounts of repetition then the full extent of is not known until you have read it as many times as the artist of the following comic. The first of the comic has fully drawn characters because time was not pressing when I started this. Once I realized that this comic was rather large I switched to a more quickly drawn style as you will see in the comic. Please click the link below to go to another link that will open the comic in your browser.