King Arthur lay at Camelot upon a Christmas-tide, with many a gallant
lord and lovely lady, and all the noble brotherhood of the Round Table.
There they held rich revels with gay talk and jest; one while they would
ride forth to joust and tourney, and again back to the court to make
carols;[0] for there was the feast holden fifteen days with all the
mirth that men could devise, song and glee, glorious to hear, in the
daytime, and dancing at night. Halls and chambers were crowded with
noble guests, the bravest of knights and the loveliest of ladies, and
Arthur himself was the comeliest king that ever held a court. For all
this fair folk were in their youth, the fairest and most fortunate under
heaven, and the king himself of such fame that it were hard now to name
so valiant a hero.