The Once and Future King and Le Morte Darthur question?

Question

Where and what page number does the Questing Beast appear? Any other information on the Questing Beast would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I've lent out my copy of "The Once and Future King," but Pellinore is carrying its fewmets when he has his duel at the beginning of the book, so the beast is mentioned there.  He finds the beast only after he falls in love and stops chasing it.

It is easier to find in Malory, because you can download Morte d'Arthur from Gutenberg (see below) and then search for the phrase 'Questing beast' or Galtisant, which is its name.  King Arthur encounters the beast in Book I, Chapter XIX.  It is easily identified by the noise it makes in his belly (see quotation).  King Pellinore 'borrows' Arthur's horse to pursue the beast, and we don't hear of it again until Book II, Chapter XII, when it is now Sir Palomides who is pursuing it.  This time there is a desciption:

"AND this meanwhile there came Sir Palomides, the good knight,

following the Questing Beast that had in shape a head like a

serpent's head, and a body like a leopard, buttocks like a lion,

and footed like an hart; and in his body there was such a noise

as it had been the noise of thirty couple of hounds questing, and

such a noise that beast made wheresomever he went."

In Book X, Chapter XIII, Palomides is on its trail again and has become known as 'the knight that followed the Questing Beast.'  Following is one thing, catching another.  If he ever caught it, it is not in the portions of Morte d'Arthur available at Gutenberg.

For symbology, try the second site listed below.