Reading Notes: King Arthur Part A

The Drawing of the Sword

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After King Uther Pendragon died, there was no one to rule the land of Britain. The Merlin, the magician, rode to the Archbishop of Canterbury and together decided that they should meet at the Great Church in London on Christmas morning. On that day, they found a large stone that had a sword embedded in it, which read "Whoso pulleth out this sword is by right of birth King of England". Many tugged at the sword, but none could pull it out. They then decided to hold a tournament where all knights could participate. On the day of the tournament, came Sir Ector with his son Sir Kay and his foster-son Arthur. Sir Kay had left behind his sword so he asked his brother to retrieve it for me, but seeing that he could not find it, he pulled the sword in the stone. When he gave the sword to his brother and he saw the inscription, Sir Kay told his father that has was the rightful king of Britain, but his brother had him swear this upon a holy book. Thus, Sir Kay confessed it had been Arthur who pulled the sword. They then placed the sword back in the stone, and again no one could pull it but Arthur. Sir Ector and Sir Key dropped to their knees, and Sir Ector explained that he was not Arthur's father but that he had been asked by Merlin to care for him and one day Arthur's parentage would become clear. It was then that Arthur was the son of Uther Pendragon and therefore the rightful king. They told the Archbishop what had happened, and again they placed the sword back in the stone, but none but Arthur could pull it. This was repeated again many times, in front of knights and noblemen and all of the subjects, until they all recognized Arthur as their king.

Story Source: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902).