Near the beginning of Morte Darthur, King Arthur is resting at a fountain in the woods when a marvelous animal comes up, drinks from the fountain, and goes back into the woods. No visual description of this beast is given, but it is said that it makes a noise like thirty hounds. Arthur falls asleep and wakes up to this:
"Right so there came a knight on foot unto Arthur and said, 'Knight full of thought and sleepy, tell me if thou saw any strange beast pass this way.'
'Such one saw I,' said King Arthur, 'that is passed nigh two miles. What would ye with that beast?' said Arthur.
'Sir, I have followed that beast long and killed my horse, so would God I had another to follow my quest.'
Right so came one with the King's horse; and when the knight saw the horse, he prayed the King to give him the horse: 'for I have followed this quest this twelvemonth, and either I shall achieve him, or bleed of the best blood in my body.' (His name was King Pellinore that that time followed the Questing Beast, and after his death Sir Palomides followed it.)
'Sir knight,' said the King, 'leave that quest and suffer me to have it, and I will follow it another twelvemonth.'
'Ah, fool,' said the king unto Arthur, 'it is in vain thy desire, for it shall never be achieved but by me, or by my next kin.' And therewith he started unto the King's horse and mounted into the saddle, and said, 'Gramercy, for this horse is my own.'"
First of all, this passage is fascinating in that I have no idea what's going on: what is the questing beast? Why is Pellinore following it so intently? What would happen if Pellinore caught up with the questing beast?
On top of this, Pellinore is an interesting member of Arthurian legend: here he is courteous but businesslike, taking Arthur's horse without a second thought. King Pellinore is a competent fighter, but he is ultimately killed by Sir Gawain in revenge for Pellinore's killing of Gawain's father.
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