Of the many literary forms of medieval times, few are more likely to appeal to the modern reader than the so-called Breton lay. Popular tales designed to appeal to an audience less than learned, they strove for many of the same effects as the modern short story - brevity, drama, and quick movement from one climactic scene to another, allowing the teller to catch and hold his audience. There are in Middle English eight tales that purport to be, or to be based upon, Breton lays. Though all have been previously edited, they have never been brought together in to a single volume until now. In the belief that a wide audience will find them appealing, Professor Thomas Rumble carefully edited and introduced the eight Middle English Breton lays. They represent not only a remarkably wide range of the subjects and themes of medieval popular literature, but in a way the very wellsprings of English fiction.