Le Morte Darthur, Chapter 362 summary

What happens

1. Sir Galahad reaches a white abbey and meets King Bagdemagus and Sir Uwaine, who explain the shield’s danger.
2. After Mass, a monk warns that only the world’s worthiest knight should wear the white shield with its red cross.
3. Bagdemagus admits he is not the best knight but takes the shield, leaving Galahad waiting for news.
4. Near a hermitage, a knight in white pierces Bagdemagus’s shoulder and takes the shield from him.
5. The white knight tells the squire that the shield belongs only to Galahad and orders him to deliver it.
6. The squire brings Bagdemagus to an abbey, where his wounds receive care and he barely survives.

In this chapter

What to notice

The knight makes the shield’s rightful ownership explicit. Bagdemagus’s defeat confirms that merely taking it does not make someone fit to carry it.

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