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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.

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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."

There was a boat at the side of the lake. King Arthur got into the boat and went and took the sword.

"No man can kill the man who has this sword," said Merlin.

There was a queen named Morgan le Fay. King Arthur did not know that she was a magician and a bad woman. He thought that she was good, not bad, and that she was his friend.

One day he went out riding in the forest. He took his spear, but he did not want to take his sword. He gave Excalibur to Queen Mor­gan le Fay, saying, "I will come and get it on my way back."

When night came, Arthur lost his way in the forest. He saw a little light and rode to it. Then he saw that the light was in a beautiful ship on a lake. The ship was near the side of the lake, so he went on to the ship, and he saw food and drink on the table and a bed, all ready.

"I'll stay here," he said. "In the morning I'll find my way back, and get Excalibur, and go home."

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

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King Arthur in the Castle of Sir Darnas

So King Arthur ate and slept in the ship. But when he woke, he saw that he was not in the ship. He was in a little room with a very small window. The door was shut: he could not get out. There were three other men in the room. They were knights.

One of them said: "This is the castle of Sir Damas. He is a very bad knight. He caught us and put us here, saying, 'You may go out if you fight for me. If you do not fight for me, you will stay and die here."'

Men came and led Arthur into a great hall in which Sir Damaiwas sitting.

"Will you fight for me?" Sir Damas asked.

King Arthur said, "I'll joust for you if you give me those three knights. After I have fought for you, we shall all go back to our homes."

"Yes," answered Sir Damas. "You can have the three knights if you fight for me."

Then a man came into the hall and said, "Queen Morgan le Fay sends King Arthur his sword, Excalibur."

King Arthur was very glad to have his sword. Now he was ready to joust.

King Arthur Fights Sir Accolon and Comes Against Sir Damas

When Arthur came out to the field, he saw another knight waiting there. His face was hidden so that Arthur could not see it.

The fight began. King Arthur was unhappy: his sword did not help4 him, it broke and he knew that this sword was not Excalibur.

The other knight said, "Say that you have lost the fight, and I will not kill you."

"No!" shouted Arthur. He hit the knight on the helmet with his broken sword — so hard that the knight fell down and his sword fell from his hand. Arthur quickly took the knight's sword. It was Excalibur!

Arthur said, "Tell me who you are. What is your name?" The knight answered, "I am Sir Accolon, Knight of the Round Table."

"Why have you fought against me, your king?" He answered: "I didn't know that you were King Arthur. I thought that you were Sir Damas. Queen Morgan le Fay said to me, 'King

Arthur is in the castle of Sir Damas. You must go and fight Sir Damas and save your king.' And she said, 'Here is King Arthur's sword, Ex­calibur. Take it for the fight so that you may save your king.'"

King Arthur rode with Sir Accolon and the three knights against Sir Damas. There was a great fight, which King Arthur won.

Sir Damas was brought before the king. "Why did you do this thing?" said King Arthur.

"Queen Morgan le Fay told me to do it," answered Sir Damas.

Then the king said, "You are not knight. You will not have a sword. I take from you your castle and all that you have and give them to your younger brother, he is much better than you."

Morgan le Fay was at Camelot (the beautiful city built by King Arthur with Merlin's help) while Arthur was away. She heard that King Arthur was alive. She went to Queen Guinevere, King Arthur's wife, and said, "I must go back to my own country. My people want me to go back to them."

Queen Guinevere answered, "Don't go. The king will soon be here. He will be glad to see you." (Queen Guinevere did not know what Mor­gan le Fay had done!)

"No! No!" said Queen Morgan le Fay. "I must go. I must go now." And she rode away alone on her black horse.

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

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Gareth Comes to King Arthur

One day King Arthur was sitting with Queen Guinevere and all his knights at the Round Table, and a big, strong young man came into the hall.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" asked King Arthur.

"My name is Gareth. I have come to ask you for a thing," he said. "I ask that I may eat and drink here every day for one year."

The king said, "Yes, you may do that. You'll be with Sir Kay and do what he says."

Sir Kay, who was now a knight of the Round Table, looked at the young man and said, "That man is not a knight. If he is a knight or the son of a knight, why doesn't he ask for a horse and armour. He is some farm boy. He will have food and work with my men."

"Well," said the young man; "I must do what Sir Kay says. I'll work and eat with his men."

Linet Comes to Ask King Arthur's Help

After one year the young man, Gareth, came again into the great hall where King Arthur sat with his knights. There was a beautiful lady standing in front of the king. She said: "O King, my name is Linet. I have come to ask your help. My sister has been taken away by four knights to their castle. They call themselves Morning, Noon, Evening and Night. Send one of your knights to save her."

Gareth cried out, "O King, may I go?"

"Yes, Gareth," said King Arthur, "you may go."

The king gave Gareth armour, and he rode away with Linet.

Soon they came to a river. Near it there was a red tent, and in front of the tent there was a man in blue armour. This was the knight who called himself "Morning".

Gareth and the knight fought on their horses with spears. Then they took their swords. At last Morning lay on the grass at Gareth'sfeet.

"Don't kill me!" he cried.

The sun was hot when Gareth and Linet came to a river. There Gareth saw Noon.

"Who are you?" cried Noon.

"King Arthur has sent him to fight you," said Lady Linet. "He has fought your brother, and now he has come against you."

Noon rode his horse into the river, and they fought there with swords, in the water.

Gareth wounded Noon with his sword four times, and he fell from his horse into the water. Gareth took Noon's shield, and they rode away.

It was now afternoon. They came to a hill, and from the top of the hill Gareth looked down on a great river.

They rode down the hill. Then Gareth saw a man standing by the river. His Armour was red, and on his shield there was a red evening , sun. They came up to the man and Linet said to him, "This is a boy » whom King Arthur has sent. He has fought your two brothers, and now he has come against you."

Evening rode at Gareth, but Gareth's spear caught him and threw him from his horse.

They fought with swords. Evening came at Gareth. He tried to hit Gareth on the helmet. But the sword hit Gareth's sword, and Eve­ning's sword broke in his hand. Then Gareth took Evening in his arms and threw him down into the river.

The Black Knight

When the sun went down, Gareth and Linet saw a castle standing up against the sky. In front of the door of the castle there was a black tent. Gareth called, "Ho, there! Come out!"

A light was seen in the tent, and lights came into the windows of the castle. Then out from the tent there came a knight in black ar­mour, riding on black horse. On his shield was the picture of a dead man's head. Linet was afraid: she shut her eyes.

Gareth rode at the knight and attacked him with his spear. When Linet opened her eyes, she saw Gareth standing over the black knight. Gareth opened the black knight's helmet, and there he saw the face of a young boy.

"O knight," cried the boy, "do not kill me! My brothers made me do it. They wanted to make men afraid to come to the castle."

Gareth helped him to stand up, and then they went into the castle, and Linet found her sister. Gareth brought the two sisters to Camelot.

Then Gareth asked the third thing of King Arthur, and Arthur gladly gave it to him: he made Gareth a knight of the Round Table.