ABSTRACT
The subject of King Arthur's promised return is tantalizing. On the one hand, the mortally wounded Arthur's departure from this world, borne by grieving women across the waters to the fabled Isle of Avalon, there to be healed by Morgan le Fay, is one of the most evocative features of his legend, and one that has proven highly resistant, moreover, to change. On the other hand, the return promised by such ritualistic preparations has, by and large, remained unfulfilled in Arthurian literature.
