King Pellinore has fallen in love with the middle-aged daughter of the Queen of Flanders; he had met her while he and the other two knights were hunting the Questing Beast. Leaving the beast to run off through the forest, Pellinore and the others embark on the floating barge they come across, since it is unseemly to refuse an adventure when it presents itself. They are taken north to the Out Isles north of Britain, where they are met by the people of Lot and Orkney. Queen Morgause invites them to hunt the unicorn, with herself as the version that is traditionally used as bait. They agree but are unsuccessful. Gawaine and his brothers decide to catch a unicorn themselves to fetch their mother’s attention. They force the kitchen maid, Meg, to go with them for bait. In the forest, the boys tie Meg to a tree by her braids and hide in the bushes to wait. The unicorn approaches and lays his head on Meg’s lap. Agravaine attacks and kills the unicorn, though Meg and the other boys try to stop him. Meg is untied and runs off, and Gareth follows her, overwhelmed at the horror of what they have done. Agravaine tries to butcher the unicorn but makes a mess of it. He decides to cut off the head and take it back to his mother. By the time they return home, the unicorn head is a mess. The boys try to show Morgause the head, but she just passes them by. That night, when she discovers what they have done, she whips them, not for the tragedy of the death of so beautiful and innocent an animal as the unicorn, but for her unsuccessful day with the knights.

Arthur sits with Merlyn and Kay, planning the battle at Bedegraine. Kay points out that there will be much jealousy on the part of the knights, so Arthur suggests having a round table, with no position of precedence. When Kay objects that there would be fifty yards of wood in the middle, Arthur says that it will be a circular table, with space in the middle for servants. Each knight will have his own chair with his name magically written on it by Merlyn. Kay also suggests that there will be feasts on holy days, at which the knights will relate their adventures. Merlyn says that King Leodegrance has such a table, which is convenient since Arthur will eventually marry his daughter Guinevere. Arthur does not like hearing about the future, since it confuses him. He tells Merlyn that he has thought of a good reason to start a war, that if a man comes up with a good way for people to live but the people will not accept it, war can be used to force them to live the new way of life. Merlyn tells him of a future Austrian (Hitler) who fought such a war, but it brought the world into chaos. Also, Jesus had a plan but did not force it on people, but only made it available.