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Bridge of Death monty python and the holy grail 591679 800 4411271399897

The mysterious and feared Bridge of Death was an old, almost collapsing rope bridge built over the Gorge of Eternal Peril. Appearing in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, if someone wanted to go over the Gorge of Eternal Peril, he had to cross the bridge, but before this, had to answer three of the scary and mean bridgekeeper's questions - if he failed, he was thrown into the gorge by magic. After they read the location of the Holy Grail, King Arthur and his knights had to cross the bridge. Approaching the bridge, Sir Lancelot the brave agreed to be the first to face the bridgekeeeper's questions, as Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot didn't have as much courage. The bridgekeeper turned out to be the same old man who once led them to Tim the Enchanter and he asked Lancelot these questions:

Bridgekeeper: What is your name?

Lancelot: My name is Sir Lancelot of Camelot.

Bridgekeeper: What is your quest?

Lancelot: To seek the Holy Grail.

Bridgekeeper: What is your favourite colour?

Lancelot: Blue.

Bridgekeeper: Right. Off you go.

Of course, Lancelot managed to cross the bridge, and, seeing how easy the questions are, Sir Robin eagerly went second. His first two questions were the same as for Lancelot- but the third wasn't as easy: what is the capital of Assyria? Robin, startled, said that he doesn't know, and a moment later he was thrown into the gorge with a scream. Sir Galahad, the chaste, went third. His questions were all the same as for Lancelot- but when he answered the same as Lancelot, saying that his favourite colour is blue, he then quickly tried to correct himself and say yellow, but that didn't save him from being thrown into the chasm for his small mistake. King Arthur was the fourth- the first two questions were the same as for Lancelot, Robin and Galahad, but the third was: "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" Arthur asked which kind of swallow: African or European, and when the bridgekeeper answered "I don't know that", he was thrown into the gorge himself meaning that the bridgekeeper did not properly specify the question.

After this, Arthur, and the last knight, Sir Bedevere, the wise, crossed the collapsing, old Bridge of Death without any more questions.

Trivia[]

  • The question "What is the Capital of Assyria?" is actually a trick question. There were 6 different capitals of Assyria, which in chronological order are: Assur, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, Assur (again), Nimrud, Dur-Sharrukin, Nineveh, and Harran. Moreover, the question was phrased in the present tense, and in 932 Assyria no longer existed as a country. The region formerly constituting Assyria was under the control of the Abbasid Caliphate, so its capital was actually Cairo. Of course, this film makes no pretence of being historically accurate (for example, if Arthur existed he would actually have lived in the Dark Ages), so it's possible Assyria still exists in this universe.
  • As well as being the first to cross the bridge, Sir Lancelot was the only one to have answered all the questions he was given correctly and allowed to cross the bridge without any other means.
    • Sir Robin and Sir Galahad weren't able to cross after they got one question wrong, which resulted in them getting thrown into the gorge.
    • King Arthur and Sir Bedevere were able to cross after the bridgekeeper was asked a question by Arthur he didn't know the answer to, which resulted in him getting thrown into the gorge himself.
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