King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table

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King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table

Many people have read the legends of King Arthur and his knights. As the leg­ends say, Arthur fought against the Anglo-Saxon invaders. The famous Round Table was used by King Arthur and his knights to show that all were equal.

Here are some of the legends of King Arthur and his knights.

P as t I

King Uther and Merlin

Once there was a king in Brita-in called King Uther. He loved the beautiful princess Igraine, and he wanted to marry her, but she did not love him.

There was a magician named Merlin, who lived in that country. One day Merlin came to King Uther. He said, "King Uther, I will help you. You will marry princess Igraine, and she will have a son. 1 will help you if you give that son to me."

"I will give him to you," said the king.

So King Uther married Igraine, and they had a son. They named the son Arthur. When Arthur was three days old, Merlin came to the door of the king's house. Then King Uther took the child in his arms and went out and gave him to Merlin.

King Uther Calls Great Men

Soon after that, King Uther became very ill. He knew that he was going to die. Then Merlin came to him and said, "Call all your knights and great men and tell them, "My son, Arthur, will be king after me!"

King Uther did that before he died. But all the knights and great men began to fight: each wanted to make himself king. Merlin took Arthur away. He gave the child to a good knight named Sir Ector. Arthur grew up with Sir Ector's son, Kay, and became a man.

One day Merlin went to the archbishop and said, "Call all the great men o! Britain to London. Then they will see the man who will be their king."

All the knights and great men came to London. They went into the church, and the archbishop spoke to them. When they came out of the church, they saw in front of the church door a great stone. There was a sword in the stone, and there was writing on the stone:

All the knights tried, one after another, to take the sword out of the stone; but none of them could do it.

Arthur Becomes King

At the same time there was a great joust in London. All the great knights jousted in it. They began on their horses with spears. Some knights fell off their horses, and then they fought on foot with swords.

Sir Ector went to the joust with Sir Kay and Arthur. The two young men wanted to joust, but Sir Kay had no sword. Arthur said, "There is a sword in a stone near a church. I saw it on the way here. I'll get it and fight with it, and you can have my sword, Sir Kay."

They went to the church. Arthur got off his horse; he took the sword in his hand — and it came out of the stone.

They went back to the field. When Sir Ector saw the sword, he said to Arthur, "You are my king."

They went to the archbishop. Then the archbishop called all the knights and said, "Put the sword back into the stone."

Arthur did so. All the knights tried again to take it out, but not one of them could do so. Arthur took it out again. So they shouted, "Arthur is king! Arthur is king!"

They all went into the church, and the archbishop made Arthur king of Britain.

So Arthur became king. He married the most beautiful lady in England, Princess Guinevere, and she became his queen.

Then Merlin made the Round Table. Each knight had his name written in his place.

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

Part II

In a Castle

Once King Arthur came to a great forest. He was still in the forest when evening came. Then he saw in front of him a castle. As he came nearer, the great door of the castle opened and a lady came out. She said, "I am Queen Annoure and I ask you to slay in my castle. Night is near, and you must have food and bed."

"I thank you," said King Arthur, and he went in.

After they had eaten, Queen Annoure told one of her men to show the king his bedroom.

Next morning Queen Annoure said, "I'll show you my castle and all the beautiful things that 1 have in it. Please come with me.11

They went from room to room, and each room was richer and more beautiful than the last. Queen Annoure was a magician, but King Arthur did not know that. Then the queen said: "See those beautiful gardens and all those green fields. They are all mine. And see that great wall on all sides. Stay here with me and be king of all this. You can't get away: the door of the castle is shut, and there is that great wall on all sides. And my men stand ready to make you stay or to kill you if 1 tell them to do so."

But King Arthur said, "Your men can't kill me and they can't make me stay." Then, with his sword in hand, Arthur went out of the castle. Nobody could stop him.

The Sword Excalibur

When some time passed, King Arthur broke his sword in a fight. Merlin came to him and said, "Come with me, and you will get a bet­ter sword."

After a long time they came to a lake. As Arthur stood by the lake he saw an arm with a sword in its hand come up out of the water.

"Go and take it," said Merlin. "It is the sword Excalibur. It's a magic sword."