ARGUMENT
i, Sir Palamede, the Saracen knight, riding on the shore of Syria, findeth his father’s
corpse, around which an albatross circleth. He approveth the vengeance of his peers.
ii, On the shore of Arabia he findeth his mother in the embrace of a loathly negro
beneath blue pavilions. Her he slayeth, and burneth all that encampment.
iii, Sir Palamede is besieged in his castle by Severn mouth, and his wife and son
are slain,
iv. Hearing that his fall is to be but the prelude to an attack on Camelot, he maketh
a desperate night sortie, and will traverse the wilds of Wales.
y. At the end of his resources among the Welsh mountains, he is compelled to put
to death his only remaining child. By this sacrifice he saves the world of chivalry.
vi. He having become an holy hermit, a certain dwarf, splendidly clothed, cometh to
Arthur’s court, bearing tidings of a Questing Beast, The knights fail to lift him, this
being the test of worthiness.
vii. Lancelot findeth him upon Scawfell, clothed in his white beard. He returneth,
and, touching the dwarf but with his finger, hurleth him to the heaven,
viii. Sir Palamede, riding forth on the quest, seeth a Druid worship the sun upon
Stonehenge. He rideth eastward, and findeth the sun setting in the west. Furious he
taketh a Viking ship, and by sword and whip fareth seaward.
ix. Coming to India, he learneth that It glittereth. Vainly fighting the waves, the
leaves, and the snows, he is swept in the Himalayas as by an avalanche into a valley where
dwell certain ascetics, who pelt him with their eyeballs.
x. Seeking It as Majesty, he chaseth an elephant in the Indian jungle. The elephant
escapeth ; but he, led to Trichinopoli by an Indian lad, seeth an elephant forced to dance
ungainly before the Mahalingam.
xi. A Scythian sage declareth that It transcendeth Reason. Therefore Sir Palamede
unreasonably decapitateth him.
xii, An ancient hag prateth of It as Evangelical. Her he heweth in pieces.