The Ballad of Sir Dinadan

Young Dinadan has no wish to joust or quest or save damsels in distress or do any of the knightly things expected of him. He’d rather be a minstrel playing his rebec and writing ballads. But he was born to be a knight and knights of course have adventures.So after his father forces his knighthood upon him he wanders toward King Arthur’s court in the company of a misguided young Welsh lad named Culloch. There Dinadan meets Sir Kai and Sir Bedivere and the three find themselves accompanying Culloch on the worst sort of quest. Along the way Dinadan writes his own ballads singing of honor bravery loyalty and courtly love—and becomes a player in the pathetic love story of Tristram and Iseult. He meets the Moorish knight Palomides the clever but often exasperating Lady Brangienne and an elvin musician named Sylvanus along with an unusual collection of recreant knights and dimwitted defenders of chivalry. He learns that while minstrels sing of spectacular heroic deeds honor is often found in simpler quieter ways.