King Arthur
The Drawing of the Sword
This was
the first story and arguably the most important because the events that occur
led to the coronation of Arthur. After the passing of King Uther Pendragon,
Britain was left with no ruler and laws were being broken left and right with
no consequence. One day appeared a sword in a stone with the words, "Whoso
pulleth out this sword is by right of birth King of England," engraved on
the blade. Every knight tried, but they all failed. Arthur was the foster son
of Sir Ector and foster brother of Sir Kay. Merlin gave him to Sir Ector when
Arthur was a child and told him that he would know who his father was when the
time came. It turns out that Arthur's father was King Uther Pendragon and is
why Arthur could pull out the sword. I like to think that it was Arthur's
selfless act of wanting to get the sword for his foster brother, Sir Kay, which
led to him being able to pull out the sword. Every knight wanted the sword for
himself so that they could become King, however, Arthur just wanted to get it
for Sir Kay because he was unable to retrieve his other sword.
The Sword Excalibur
King
Arthur is extremely lucky to have Merlin as such a close friend. Nearly dying
in battle, he lost his sword and would need another. Merlin then led King
Arthur to a lake that had a sword being held up by the Lady of the Lake's arm.
His good fortune continues and he gets Excalibur. I thought it was interesting
how Merlin asked him, which he liked best, the sword or the scabbard. He was going
to have both regardless, but asked it anyways. Merlin disagreed when King
Arthur answered the sword, saying that it is worth ten swords because it
protects him. I tend to agree with him except for the fact that it is
Excalibur.
The Round Table
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| (King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, by Evrard d'Espinques) |
The Round
Table is iconic and is one of the first things I think of when I think about
the stories of King Arthur. I enjoyed this story much like the others and
it shows how gracious and genuine Arthur is. He also seems to be very emotional
not only in this story, but the others as well. I think the people love him
most for his emotion and sincere statements, such as when he stuck by his word
that he would give any man the gift he should ask for, and made young Tor a
Knight of the Round Table. A round table is a great way to encourage discussion
because everyone can see each other and there are no ends. This makes King
Arthur even more likable because he treats everyone as if they are the same level as him.
I was looking for another post to comment on, and I saw this one and thought I would mention that I think your formatting is a little off on your posts. The text in most of this post is black, but the bottom is white, which is much easier to read than the black on the dark background. I’d just make sure to preview your post before you publish it to make sure you don’t have any weird formatting things like this happening!
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