Yvain

I was visiting with my friend Evan a couple weeks ago, and he told me i needed to read this book, so he gave me a copy and i figured i would read it to make him happy. what i actually found was that it is a good book.

It is about King Arthur's knights and how one knight loses his honor. Yvain decides to fight for this knight's honor, he ends up killing the man and falling in love with the widow. they marry and he goes away with a deadline to get back or she vows not to love him anymore. he doesn't come back by the deadline, and when he realizes it, he goes mad. he eventually regains his sanity and finds a lion with a snake biting the end of it's tail. he kills the snake and the lion follows him the rest of the lion's days. Yvain is now known as the knight with the lion. he goes through a series of battles to help poor maidens and he eventually gets his old love back. Yay for love!

the only thing i would find for someone to turn away from this book is that it is an epic poem. written in the 1170s. i actually don't mind it very much, you just have to get used to the way it is formatted and all that jazz. i do recommend it for anyone who wants to be brave enough. a suggestion for it though, if you want to read an epic poem and want to get used to it, they are usually meant to be spoken, so give it a shot and treat it like one long sentence, until you get a period, then start over.