When I was in third grade, I read my first King Arthur book. The first chapter, I remember distinctly, talked about Joseph of Arimathea and how he made his way over to Britain with the Grail. The second chapter talked about Vortigern trying to sacrifice the boy Merlin and Merlin showing him the red and white dragons instead. After that, it went into the usual Uther-and-Ygraine, sword in the stone, etc.
I thought that book was awesome, and I’ve never been able to find it again. I recently came across the Rosemary Sutcliff trilogy, which reminds me of that childhood book (the reading level is about right – I was a pretty good reader), but the first chapter is about Vortigern, not Joseph of Arimathea (still, that’s closer than most King Arthur books, which usually begin with Uther), and I am pretty sure it was a single book, not a trilogy. Does anyone have any idea what that book could have been?
The story of Joseph bringing the Grail to Britain was apparently originated by Robert de Boron, a medieval French poet. He links Joseph, Vortigern, Merlin, and Arthur. I can find no evidence that this linkage exists in any modern work, and the original was not translated in its entirety until 2005.
I had a book from the 20s/30s that had belonged to my father as a kid, it was something about King Arthur and it had the red/white dragons and all … it was part of the same sort of book as a Robin Hood, and now I need to find them online … my parents house burned and a lot of books died.
It’s been a long time since I read it and it doesn’t sound like it matches the OP, but I do believe the Mists of Avalon briefly links Joseph of Arimethea to the Grail and to the Glastonbury Tor (IIRC which I might not at all )
Yep, you do recall correctly. The Mists of Avalon does indeed make mention of Joseph, but I don’t believe it’s very long, nor does Joseph himself make any appearance. Marion Zimmer Bradley has written a number of prequels, however (IMO, none of them as good as Mists), in which he might have more of a role. But these don’t sound like what the OP is looking for, at least to my recollection.
It certainly was not Morte d’Arthur. I would have been about… seven? I was an advanced reader, having read Lord of the Flies at about the same age. But… nooooo. Not Morte. Actually never read it in full. Should put that on the list after I finish Proust.
It sounds like Green Smoke by Rosemary Manning, but I’d guess you’d remember all the stuff about the dragon who acts as the narrator in that story, and I’m not sure that it’s ever been published in the US.
E-Sabbath, I’m so glad someone besides me has read this book. I was starting to feel like I was hallucinating it!
It is definitely not Malory, which would have been too difficult for even the precocious third-grader I was, and Malory also begins with Uther, not Joseph or Vortigern. Or Mists of Avalon, which I have read, and remember being the longest book I had ever read up to that point (I’m pretty sure I read it too early in my life to get it at all… maybe I should go look it up again). Or Green Smoke, though that sounds like a lot of fun.
Nametag, that is very interesting about Robert de Boron. I will have to look his stuff up. I think I wasn’t quite clear, however – I didn’t mean to imply that Joseph and Vortigern were somehow linked (which I don’t remember them being in the book in my OP; Joseph was linked to the Grail and Vortigern to Merlin, but I don’t think Merlin was really linked to the Grail), and I think Joseph has been mentioned in Arthurian retellings since at least de Boron’s time (e.g, he’s mentioned in the Sutcliff retelling in my OP, which was published in 1981). Vortigern has been showing up since Geoffrey of Monmouth, of course.
I looked at my mom’s edition of The boy’s King Arthur and there was no mention of Joseph of A. or Merlin’s boyhood. BUT there was a note saying that some introductory material had been removed for that edition (Scribner Illustrated Classics, a very common one).
So I looked up the full textonline. There is quite a bit of introduction that explains all the different texts about Arthur, starting with Geoffrey of Monmouth and going through all the history. Joseph and Merlin are in this introduction, though Joseph doesn’t get much press. It looks as though there may have been an illustration of him, though.
I wish they did put that tale in more often, about the Grail and the Glastonbury Thorn and all that–I think it’s a really great story.
Joseph of Arimathea is certainly mentioned in many stories of King Arthur (Heck, he’s even mentioned in Monty Python and the Holy Grail). I don’t think any of the ones I have in my collection start off with his story, though.
Even though my original question hasn’t been answered yet, this is still totally cool. (One of the reasons I was asking is because I was looking for a good Arthurian retelling for the kids of a friend, and so all the suggestions you’ve been giving are still good ones!)
It’s not Mary Stewart, though I indeed have read and loved those as well. That Boy’s King Arthur link is great (though again, not quite right). I am always a sucker for any King Arthur retelling where they’ve actually read Geoffrey of Monmouth.
Well, I suppose there’s always “A Samurai Cat in King Arthur’s Court”. Do you recall if Joseph of Arimathea flew the Grail to England in the Holy Spad?
My parents had a set of books called “Children’s Classics”. They were all bound in red leather. They had black-and-white line drawings in each chapter, and every few chapters they would have a color plate, usually a reproduction of some classic painting. Among the books in the series were Heidi, Black Beauty, Robinson Crusoe,Alice in Wonderland, The Arabian Nights, King Arthur, and Robin Hood. The more recent novels showed their author’s names, but AN, KA, and RH were uncredited. Does that sound familiar?
The King Arthur volume had Joseph of Arimathea, Vortigern, and Lancelot’s childhood with the Lady of the Lake.
Howard Pyle did versions of King Arthur and Robin Hood. I have often wondered if the “Children’s Classics” series used his books.
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