The heavy floes and hummocked blocks, so beautiful and peaceful—looking only a few days before, now assumed a totally different aspect. The sea was gradually rising, a swell perceptible, and the ship bumping with increasing thuds against these rolling spur-projecting dangers.

in tail — subject to such a limitation

Outside this Pratchettian sub-genre it is actually rare to come across novels that treat Arthurian material from a humorous perspective.

Have the increases in ordinary fares begun to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs?