The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

John Steinbeck
Ed. Chase Horton

In a corner lay the giant's hoard. Gold and silver, jewels and bright cloth, crucifixes of precious things and chalices set with rubies and emeralds, and along with these colored stones and pieces of broken glass from church windows and quartz and knobby crystal and shards of blue and yellow pottery--a mighty mixture of great wealth and great nonsense. And Sir Marhalt, looking at the heap, said sadly, "Poor thing. He didn't know the difference. He coudln't learn to steal only valuable things as civilized men and women do."

Can you imagine the Tales of King Arthur told with the burnished dust of Steinbeck? If only he had finished them. But writers write in the mystery and no one more so than Steinbeck. So who's to say why he never did. But he managed to get through a good half of the King Arthur stories, and what good stories they are. In Steinbeck these stories become clear as the round stones beneath a mountain creek. Rinsed and smoothed and formed by water down to solidity. These stories are beautiful. There are weariness and joy, sadness and rage, cheer and darkness, and all the stories are sharp as Excalabur. Read these stories to your kids, throw away the trash that's peddled now days. Read these stories to your kids and you will set them on the path to becoming men and women. Read these stories to your kids while they are young and small so their imaginations can take full hold of them and swing with full might.