The Mabinogion - The Immortal Sir Kai

I had mentioned before how The Mabinogion’s stories contained a lot of gruesomeness. What I did not have time or space to mention, however, was that as I was reading the book, the majority of that violence seemed to be aimed at one character: Sir Kai.

Now, Sir Kai (also spelled Kay, Cei, or Cay depending on translation and author’s spelling preference) is the foster-brother of King Arthur himself. Anyone who’s read T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone (or seen the Disney movie, which is fairly accurate despite lacking the thematic depth of White’s prose) may remember that Arthur, although heir to the crown of England, was raised by rather mediocre knight named Sir Ector and everyone was ignorant of Arthur’s true birthright until he pulled out the sword in the stone. Sir Ector’s own son, Kai, although generally characterized as a bully or boor, is made knight of the Round Table upon his foster-brother’s ascension to the throne.

His role in these stories is usually negative—he serves as the brutish muscle, the hotheaded person picking fights and challenging duels, or mocking the new Camelot arrivals even though they are really diamonds in the rough who will show him up with their superior deeds of valor and questing. However, I’ve always felt sorry for him, and feel he gets a bad rap.

Sir Kai can’t really be a villain. When his dorky adopted brother turned out to be king of all the land, he doesn’t seem to be jealous, but in fact is one of Arthur’s most loyal supporters. Arthur at least seems to trust him, making him not only a member of the elite Round Table, but also seneschal (steward) of Camelot and his second-in-command. On the rare times Arthur is away fighting, Sir Kai is the one in charge.

On top of that, even though Sir Kai may be temperamental and bullying, he certainly gets beaten up enough himself:

            “And then came Sir Kai, and spoke to Peredur rudely and angrily; and Peredur took him with his lance under the jaw, and cast him from him with a thrust, so that he broke his arm and his shoulder-blade, and he rode over him one-and-twenty times.”

Let’s take a quick injury inventory quick:

1)     Lance to the jaw

2)     Cast off his horse

3)     Broken arm

4)     Broken shoulder-blade

5)     Trampled 21 times under a horse bearing a knight who is probably in full, heavy armor

Sir Kai has to be dead, right?

“And while he lay thus, stunned with the violence….”

Wait, how is he even alive?

“And when they came there, they thought that Kai was slain; but they found that if he had a skilful [sic] physician, he yet might live.”

Hm. Skillful physician in the dark ages? Sounds legit.

At least a later part of the narrative tries to give some explanation for how Sir Kai survives getting beat up by every Main Character New Knight that shows up in Camelot:

“Kai had this peculiarity, that his breath lasted nine nights and nine days under water, and he could exist nine nights and nine days without sleep. A wound from Kai’s sword no physician could heal. Very subtle was Kai. When it pleased him he could render himself as tall as the highest tree in the forest.”

Well, aside from being subtle—which seems almost like the storyteller was being sarcastic—that explains a lot about Sir Kai’s magical immortality. Or at least how the physicians were fooled into thinking they were skilful.