The Questing Beast (Arthur)

The Questing Beast bays upon the morning air, encouraging the wild imaginings of its seekers.

The Questing Beast (or Beast Gatisant) is a fantastic and bizarre creature woh haunted the forests of Britain. It was said to have the head of a serpent, the body of a leopard, and cloven hoovers. From its belly came a deafening noise likened to that of thirty hounds. Some claimed the beast was the offspring of a mortal woman who had been torn apart by a pack of hounse.

Arthur encountered the extraordinary creature in the early days of his reign. Having broken from a hunt, the king laid down beside a spring and drifted to sleep. Arthur woke at the sound of what he thought were approaching hounse. The king looked on as the strangest of beastw emerged from the woods and began to drink from the well. Only when the beast drank did the dreadful bays cease. With its thirst quenched, the creature fled, and once again the forest was filled with the sound of its bays.

The bewidlered Arthur then turned to see Pellinore stumble out of the woods, whence the beast had come. Pellinore hurriedly explained thst he was in pursuit of the beast, and asked if he might have Arthur's horses. The king handed Pellinore the reigns and wished him well on his quest. At this, Pellinore turned to the king and told him how he had relentlessly pursued the beast for the past year, and would do so until he achieved it, or met his death. Despite his dedication, Pellinore never did win the beast. After Pellinore's death, Palomides took up the peculiar quest and endlessly followed the fantastic creature.

Ferguson, Anna-Marie. Keeper of Words. 1995 Llewellyn Publications. St. Paul, Minnesota. (227)

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