'L-Ifirsa tal-Mejda t-Tonda'

Author: Norman C. Borg

Publisher: Horizons Publications / 2025

Pages: 198

Uther Pendragon, King of Britons, and defender of Britain against the Saxons, has died. On Christmas Day, Merlin the Magician gathers many knights outside a church. A sword, stuck fast to an anvil, in turn on top of a marble stone, appears. No knight can remove the sword from the anvil.

After many years, the young Arthur, secretly the son of Uther Pendragon, pulls the sword out of the stone. He becomes king. With the guidance of Merlin, he constructs a round table, at which only the best knights of Britain may sit. 

More and more knights come to join the brotherhood of the Round Table, and each has his own adventures.

Eventually, the holy knight Galahad, the son of Sir Lancelot, comes to Arthur's court. With his coming, all the knights ride throughout Europe in search of the Holy Grail of Jesus Christ. Only five knights see the Grail, Sir Lancelot, Sir Percival, Sir Bors de Gaunnes, Sir Galahad and Sir Gawain.

After the Grail is found, the last battle of the Knights of the Round Table is fought and many knights fall in battle.

In English, King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table was a retelling of the Arthurian legend, principally Thomas Malory's Le Mort d'Arthur.

The book being reviewed today is a further retelling of the King Arthur legend turned into a cohesive story, with beginning, middle and end.

The author of the book being reviewed is a retired teacher who has shared in the publication  of many books, plus some comic strips. He has written many stories for Saghtar, some of which have appeared in collections.

The Maltese used in the book is simple and elegant, an example of a language well used by a master.