A Knight's Tale - an allegory.

[William King]

It wasn't easy to find, when he started this journey it was as if he had launched himself off a precipice, not knowing what unseen dangers might be lurking there. Although protected by his shining armour, something he had grown more and more to rely upon, but even so, he was not certain it would protect him.

The first place he came to was a large city filled with wondrous things and inhabited by hundreds of people. The knight, having a noble soul, trusted all those whom he encountered, but this was sometimes misplaced. However, he was largely rewarded by those he met in the city, but not so the rulers, who it seemed had become somewhat corrupt and authoritarian. They ruled their subjects with an iron fist, and sort out personal glory. A certain fear pervaded the streets where many things happened in secret, thus keeping most of the citizens in the dark. Gathor was the name of that place on a continent the other side of a vast ocean.

The brave knight continued his journey, both at home and aboard. There were welcoming respites, as well as dead ends that led to nowhere. After a long and arduous path, a path which had included battles, the worst of which had been with the rulers of Gathor, from which city he had been exiled for a time.  Finally, he crossed the distant continent to find a magnificent castle rising before him, which to his great surprise was open and inviting. This he thought must surely be a place of gentle folk, of honest, righteous people, who would welcome the wanderer. And so it proved to be, a place ruled in benevolence by the dynasty of Roland, not a huge castle, but a wonderful sanctuary. At last, he thought, he must have reached his destination, a reward in itself.