The Drawing of the Sword
Long ago, after King Uther Pendragon died, an age of darkness filled England. People were starving, criminals were left unpunished, and there was no end in sight for there was no ruler. Then, one day a giant stone with a sword inside appeared outside of the Great Church in London. Etched on the sword was "The one who pulls out this sword shall be the new king of England." People went crazy over this, resulting in a tournament to see who could remove the sword.
Arthur, a young boy was the foster son of Sir Ector and foster brother of Kay. It was the day of Kay's knighting and Arthur had forgotten his sword. Feeling horrible, he rode home to fetch his sword. On his way, he ran into an odd looking tree that was very large and had a door on it. His curiosity led him to knock on the door to see who lived there. An old man opens the door and says hello, followed by asking what the boy wanted. Arthur explains that he was fascinated by the tree and had to meet the interesting person who lived inside. "Well thank you, my name is Merlin," the old man said. Arthur was shocked, as he has only heard stories of him. Merlin liked Arthur's enthusiasm so much that he vowed to be his mentor. Merlin sensed that this boy was special.
After meeting Merlin, he rushed off to get Kay's sword. A half of an hour later, Arthur returned with his sword and told Kay that he met Merlin and that he would be his mentor. Kay refused to believe him and told him he was stupid. The tournament to remove the sword was the next day so they went to bed early to get some rest.
The tournament was packed. People from all over England came to try to pull out this sword. Arthur never thought he had a chance to pull the sword out, but decided to try anyways. The day went on and no one could pull out the sword, not even the biggest and strongest of knights. After Sir Ector and Kay failed to remove the sword, Arthur got his shot. He walked up to the sword and pulled as hard as he could thinking that it would require a lot of force. The sword came out of the stone as if the stone was a sheath to the sword, sending Arthur falling to the ground. All of London was in attendance and was in shock. Arthur was crowned King of England that very day. He would go on to have many adventures with Merlin and become the best king of all time.
 |
| (The Sword in the Stone) |
Author's Note
My version of the story is very similar to the original version. The biggest difference in my story was that he met Merlin on his way to fetch Kay's sword. In the original, the sword said that whoever pulled out the sword was the King by birthright, meaning that they were a child of King Uther Pendragon. Arthur was given to Sir Ector by Merlin when he was a child, and Merlin told him that you would know who his father is when the time comes. The time came when Arthur removed the sword, and he realized that he was the son of King Uther Pendragon. I decided to have Arthur remove the sword in front of a huge crowd for the first time, rather than having him pull it out without anyone looking at first and having to prove to everyone that he really did it. I tried to make it similar to the movie. I chose the picture from the Sword in the Stone movie because that was how I pictured Arthur. Just ignore the fact that the sword was in an anvil instead of a stone.
Bibliography
Title: The Drawing of the Sword
Author: Andrew Lang
Year: 1902
I really liked your version of the Sword and the Stone. I hadn't heard this story in a long time and so it was really fun to read your version of it. I really liked the change that you made to the story where Arthur pulls the sword out of the stone in front of a huge crowd. I could just imagine how shocked he and everyone else must have been in that moment! I think your story could benefit from the addition of a little more detail. It is such a great story and using more active verbs, and describing more about the scene and the emotions and thoughts of the characters and the crowd would really bring your story to life. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI liked your story a lot, Michael! I did the King Arthur unit as well, although I did my storytelling on Morgan le Fay's assassination plot! Regardless of that, I liked the way your story played out. You did a good job of making Kay out to be the big brother who won't listen to his younger brother. It all flowed together nicely, so great job!
ReplyDeleteI love The Sword and the Stone, so I was super excited to read your retelling of it. I thought the changes you made added to the story in a great way, but I agree with Madeline, I think that some more description could have made it really come alive for the reader. Overall, I think you did a great job!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story. I also read the King Arthur unit (last week, though), and I also did my storytelling on it! Anyway, I like how you changed the original story here to fit how you think it should have been told. It was nice to read a slightly different take on the original story. Good job on this!
ReplyDelete