Chapter 1
In olden days, Britain was not a powerful country. It had been divided into small kingdoms. These kingdoms were ruled over by kings. The name of one such king was Uther. He was a benevolent, truthful and justice-loving king. The name of his wife was Igraine. Both the King and the Queen were spending their days peacefully. They were very loyal to their subjects. The subjects, in turn, obeyed their every order. Those were the days when the kings kept themselves busy fighting amongst themselves. Each one of them wanted to show his supremacy over the other.
Time passed by. Queen Igraine gave birth to a baby-boy. The baby-boy was named Arthur. There was atmosphere of happiness in and around the palace. Arthur had a pleasant face. His hair was golden and eyes were big and blue. In all, he was a fair-complexioned baby who was strong too. Both King Uther and Queen Igraine were on cloud nine. Their ecstasy knew no bounds. Arthur was bubbly and had rosy lips. One day, a magician by the name Merlin came to the palace of King Uther. Arthur was by then three days old. With both palms joined in utter reverence he uttered, “Your Highness! I am magician Merlin. I have come here on purpose. If your Majesty permits me, I shall speak my mind.”
Hearing of the words of the magician King Uther said to him, “O Magician! Say whatever you want to Utter. Don’t fear anybody here. You are free to express yourself without any hesitation.”
Magician Merlin uttered thus, “Your Highness! Baby Arthur has become three days old. But I wonder this palace is not fit for him to live in. He has to be raised in the house of one of your brave knights. Only then will he be able to become a brave king.”
Hearing of the words of Merlin King Uther was very much surprised. He asked the magician in wonder, “But whom can I trust? I don’t see anybody is capable of bringing up my baby-boy like his own son.”
The magician paused a little bit and then uttered, “Your Majesty! I have a name in my mind. I think he will be capable of raising your baby to your fullest satisfaction.” The King asked him in amazement, “O dear! Tell me who that knight is. I shall do as you tell me as it is the question of the safety of my baby.”
Magician Merlin thus uttered, “None other than Sir Ector! He is faithful and loyal. Moreover, he is your true friend. Without any hesitation you can hand over your baby to him. He is very much capable in every respect.”
The King observed, “So be it! I act upon your advice. If you so wish, I have no problem as I have faith in you.” Saying so he handed the baby across to Magician Merlin.
King Uther was very much aware of the fact that he would not be there in the world to see his son, Arthur, ride his first horse or brandish his first sword. He thought he had better hand over his son to his faithful knight who was quite young and energetic. The knight was in the prime of his youth. He could train child Arthur better in all war tactics.
Magician Merlin having wrapped the baby in his cloak slipped away from the palace under the blanket of darkness. None could notice him while he was leaving the palace.
From there, Merlin straightaway reached the house of Sir Ector. Giving him the baby he said to Sir Ector, “Here is the baby-boy of King Uther and his Queen Igraine. Raise him as your own son and train him efficiently in all the disciplines of warfare.”
Sir Ector accepted the baby-boy gladly and uttered, “As you wish, Sir. This baby-boy will be brought up very much to your wish. I shall leave no stone unturned in raising this baby to my fullest capacity and capability. Rest assured the baby will earn name and fame when he grows up.”
After handing over the baby to Sir Ector Merlin returned to the palace of King Uther. He started living there. After a few days, King Uther fell seriously ill. The physician who attended upon him said to the Queen, “Dear lady! His living days are numbered. He won’t live more than a week.”
Hearing of the words of the physician Merlin approached the King and said, “Your Highness! It is high time you should call all your knights, barons and great men and declare that the heir-apparent of this kingdom would be none other than your son, Arthur. Act quickly, otherwise your son will be in distress.”
King Uther at once ordered all the knights and barons to gather around him. Then the King declared, “My end is nearing. After my death my son Arthur would be the next king without any opposition.”
Saying these words the King breathed his last. Now the barons and the knights were not ready to accept child Arthur as their new king. Each of them wanted to become the next king of Britain.
A pall of gloom descended upon the palace. But the knights and the barons had no pity for the death of their king. They began to fight among themselves for the crown. In the absence of a new king tyranny and anarchy prevailed over the kingdom. None obeyed the law of the land. There was atmosphere of chaos and confusion all around. With every passing day things went from bad to worse. Fifteen years went by in such fashion. The Britons were passing through a bad phase of life. There were sorrow and trouble for them. In the house of Sir Ector child Arthur by now had attained manhood. But he was unaware of the origin of his birth. Under the able leadership and guidance of Sir Ector Arthur had become a highly skilled warrior.
Sensing the opportune time the wise old Merlin said to himself, ‘It is the appropriate time to bring Arthur to the palace. Thinking so he went over to the Archbishop (head of church) and uttered, “Sir! Please call all the barons and the knights here, and declare that Arthur would be their next King.” The Archbishop did as he was told. All the knights and the barons gathered together outside the church. The Archbishop called them inside and spoke to them. Thereafter, each of them left the church one by one. When all of them reached outside, they saw in front of the door a marble stone. It had a steel anvil upon it. A naked sword was there in the anvil. The hilt of the sword carried some writing in gold letters. The writing read thus—
“Attention! In order to be the rightful king of Britain one has to pull out the sword from this stone.”
Each of the knights tried his level best but all in vain. None could pull out the sword. The Archbishop was seeing all this. He was very much pleased in his heart of hearts. He knew that only Arthur would be able to perform this spectacular feat. He uttered in a low voice, “He has not come as yet. Had he been here the situation would have been different.”
After some time he turned to the knights and the barons, and said to them, “Dear! All of you should stay in London and joust (to fight on horseback using a lance in order to try to knock the other warrior off his horse). Make it a tournament so that you may stay together. Mind it no person should be stopped from pulling out the sword.”
Acting upon the advice of the Archbishop the knights conducted a great joust in London. The knights of other kingdom too were invited to take part in the contest. The names of the invitation reached Sir Ector as well. He along with his own son, Sir Kay, and Arthur went to take part in the competition. Both Sir Kay and Arthur were in their teens and excited to take part in the joust. While they were on their way to the joust-site, Sir Kay all of a sudden exclaimed, “Oh no! I have forgotten my sword at the lodgings.”
After a while, he said do Arthur, “Dear brother, if you don’t mind, would you go back and bring my sword? I can’t proceed without my sword.”
Arthur as obedient he was, readily accepted to ride back and fetch his brother’s sword. He at once turned back and rode off towards the lodgings. To his utter surprise, there was none in the lodgings. All the doors were locked. Everyone had gone to watch the tournament.
Arthur said to himself, ‘What should I do now? Should I return without the sword or should I wait here for somebody to come?’ An idea struck to his mind. He thought, ‘I can give my sword to Sir Kay. He needs it more than I.’ Thinking so he rode back as hurriedly as he could. The horse was running with the speed of the wind. As the horse rode past the churchyard, Arthur all of a sudden pulled the reins of his horse. The horse stopped at once. He dismounted from his horse and went over to the steel anvil wherein there was a naked sword. Seeing the sword Arthur exclaimed with surprise, ‘Wow! What a beautiful mighty sword! I had better pull it out and give it to Sir Kay. He will be very delighted to possess it.’
Thinking so he grabbed the mighty handle of the sword with both his hands and pulled it out with all his might. The sword came out without much difficulty. After getting the sword Arthur felt elated. He jumped onto his horse and rode off towards the joust-site. After reaching Sir Kay he handed over the sword to Sir Kay who was on cloud nine. Sir Kay at once recognized the sword and turned to his father, “Dear Father! Now I have this sword. It means I am the new ruler of Britain.”
Sir Ector was utterly surprised seeing the sword there in the hand of Sir Kay. He asked, “Dear Son! But how have you got this sword? If I am not mistaken, this must be the handiwork of Arthur.”
Sir Kay observed, “Yes father, you are very much right. Arthur has given me this sword just now.”
Sir Ector turned to Arthur and asked, “Dear son! How did you get it?”
Arthur without any hesitation replied, “Dear father, while I was returning past the churchyard, I saw this sword in the steel anvil. So, I pulled it out to be given it to my brother, Sir Kay.” Hearing of the words of Arthur Sir Ector was beside himself with joy. He said to Sir Kay, “Dear, your brother Arthur is the real king of this land. We both should kneel down before him.”
Saying these words both Sir Ector and Sir Kay bowed in front of Arthur. They were all praise for their new King. Seeing his brother and father kneeling down before him Arthur was overwhelmed with emotion. He uttered, “O dear father and brother! You are my loved ones. Why do you bow in front of me? It hurts me a lot. Please don’t do this.”
Hearing of the words of Arthur Sir Ector realized that it was the opportune time for him to tell Arthur the real story of his birth. Gathering courage he observed, “Dear Arthur, you are not my real son. I adopted you long time ago. Your father was King Uther and your mother was Queen Igraine.” Saying these words Sir Ector told him the entire story. Having known about his real parents Arthur felt disappointed and dejected. He was crestfallen. He fell into an abyss of despair. He started weeping inconsolably. Sir Ector patted his back out of affection and said, “Be a god lad; don’t weep over your past. Try to live in the present, for tomorrow comes in the form of present. Do promise me that you would rule over your subjects in an efficient manner. You would prove yourself to be an able administrator.”
Arthur made a promise to Sir Ector that he would leave no stone unturned in proving himself an able ruler and administrator.
Thereafter, all of them went over to the Archbishop who called all the knights and the barons. When all of them gathered together in the churchyard, the Archbishop said to them, “Listen carefully. Your next king would be Arthur.”
Hearing of the words of the Archbishop all the knights and the barons flew into a rage. Just then, Merlin the magician appeared there and said to Arthur, “Dear son, put the sword back into the steel anvil.” Arthur did as he was told.
The knights and the barons felt surprised and shocked. They all asked in one voice, “What does it mean? Does it convey that Arthur would be the king?” Merlin at once pointed to some words written at the bottom of the stone. Then he addressed the gathering, “Let me tell you very clearly what is written on the stone. Would all of you like to lend your ears to me? I read out in a loud voice—whosoever pulls out the sword from the steel anvil shall be the rightful heir to the throne of Britain.”
The knights said to Merlin, “It is a child’s play to pull out the sword from this stone. Let us try once again.”
Saying so all the knights and the barons one by one tried once again. But all their efforts proved an exercise in futility. On the other hand, Arthur once again pulled out the sword from the steel anvil with great ease. Merlin felt pleased. He said to the assembly of the knights and the barons, “Look this is the quality of true king. You must all be very anxious to know who this Arthur is. Well, Arthur is the son of King Uther and his Queen Igraine. When Arthur was born, I discovered by foresight that somebody had plotted inside the palace to put an end to him.”
“As a true loyal friend of King Uther, I suggested to him to shift child Arthur somewhere else. The King acted upon my sound advice and allowed me to take the child away from the palace to the house of Sir Ector, King’s long-term friend. There, Sir Ector raised the child as his own son. This is how I was able to save child Arthur. Now, he has fulfilled the condition; he is very much capable of being crowned the next king of Britain.”
But the knights and the barons were bent upon having their say. They didn’t see eye to eye with Merlin. One of the old and powerful knights observed, “O Merlin, how can we accept an unknown youth to be our next king? How can you say that the blood of King Uther is running through his veins. Do you have any proof to validate your statement?”
Then, King Lot of Orkney came forward and said angrily, “No Merlin, every Tom, Dick and Harry can’t be our king. Arthur seems to be a street urchin. How can he rule over us?”
Then came forward King Mark of Cornwall. He too uttered in an angry tone, “What nonsense this is! You are making a mockery of courageous people like us. Your declaration seems to be a cock-and-bull story. It is a white lie which has no legs to stand upon.”
But Merlin was more than a watch for all of them. He observed, “Keep cool, O knights and barons. It is no deceit. I am speaking the truth, and only truth. Each and every word of my story is true. There is not an iota of falsehood in it. Well, feast days are approaching. The same test of grit and courage can be had on the next three feast days.”
“If only Arthur is successful in pulling out the sword he shall be the rightful king of Britain.” The knights and the barons agreed to the suggestion of Merlin. Very soon, the feast of Candlemas came. Each and every knight and baron was put through the test of grit. But all of them failed in their job. Only Arthur succeeded in pulling out the sword. Next, there came Easter feast. The same thing happened their. Only Arthur did his job in great fashion. All the knights and the barons tried level best but to no purpose. They couldn’t even budge the sword an inch from its position. The third and final test was to take place on the feast of Pentecost. A large crowd gathered outside the church. With great elan and ease Arthur pulled out the sword in one jerk and whirled it round his head. The croud was on cloud nine. They shouted gleefully, “Long live our king Arthur! May God grant him all the riches of the world! May he conquer the entire world!”
Once again it was the victory of Arthur. The knights and the barons hung their heads in shame. They felt ashamed of their misdeed. They too accepted Arthur as their new king. They lay prostrate at the feet of Arthur and begged their forgiveness for doubting his power. Arthur patted their backs and hugged them to his bosom. Thereafter, he addressed the gathering, “O dear friends! I Arthur, son of King Uther and Queen Igraine, take pledge today that I shall be over loyal to my land. I shall try my level best to drive out the enemies from our land and establish the reign of truthfulness and nobility.”
Thereafter, Arthur was taken inside the church where he was crowned the new king of Britain.
