There once was a King who solely ruled England. He never
married, which means he never had kids. One day, when the King fell ill, the
kingdom panicked. Who would be their new King? Who would rule once the King
passed? They had dreaded the day, but never planned anything. Little did they
know, the King had a plan of his own. He
had an incredibly special sword that had been passed down from past generations
of the monarchy. He would meticulously place the sword in a stone that a witch
would enchant. The trick was, whoever could pull the sword out of the stone
would be the next King of England.
His plan was brilliant; he had the witch cast a spell on the
sword. Whoever could pull out the sword would rightfully be the next king. Only
two people in the world knew of this plan. When the King finally passed, the
witch placed the stone in a field that many Knights would pass.
Young Arthur had learned of this sword from his brother,
Ector. Ector was a Knight, and was a tad older than Arthur. One day, the
Knight’s were having a ceremony for the late King. The ceremony was more of a
battle between the knights, but Ector had forgotten his sword. He sent Arthur to fetch it. Arthur ran back
home as fast as he could, but the door was locked. How on earth could he grab Ector’s
sword if the door was locked? Suddenly, he remembered the sword in the stone.
It was simple, he would grab that, give it to Ector, and all would be fine! He
ran over to the sword and it came out easily. He ran to Ector, but Ector
immediately knew something was wrong. That wasn’t his sword. That was the sword
that would make Arthur a king. Ector did not say a word to Arthur; instead he
grabbed the sword and walked away in silence. Arthur followed behind asking his
brother why he was mad.
Arthur followed Ector all the way into the castle, where the
head of the Knights was standing. “I have the sword,” Ector said.
“You were not the one to remove it,” said the head Knight.
Ector handed the sword to Arthur, and the knights all knew. Arthur was the chosen
King for England. Although Ector was
extremely jealous, he was proud of his younger brother’s kind heart. He knew he
would make an excellent king.
Arthur went on to be one of the most beloved and influential
kings. He worked closely with Ector and the Knights, but never lost sight of
who he was. Arthur married and had many children. These children created an
empire of a monarchy for all of England. He had lots of children to make sure no
one would ever have to pull a sword out of a stone ever again. King Arthur went down in history, some think
he was the chosen one, some think he has super human strength.
Author's Note: I tried to keep this as similar to the story as possible, but in a more modern sense. No one really knows how the sword got into the stone, so I created the witch to make it more magical. I also made Ector and Arthur brothers instead of half-brothers for the sake of clarity.
Bibliography: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang, link to the online reading.
Image: Excalibur sword from Flickr.
I love how you kept the integrity of the original story here. This is one of the most classic stories and reading it here just told a little differently was very nice. I also like how Arthur just thinks that the sword in the stone is a good alternative because he was locked out of his house! I laughed out loud at that one.
ReplyDeleteHi Haley,
ReplyDeleteI love what you did with such a classic story. I was originally going to do my storybook over King Arthur stories, so reading your retelling of familiar stories was a treat for me. I have to commend you on your knack for comedic writing. It's a hard style of writing to capture but you did a wonderful job! Thanks for the great read!
Belle
I liked the way you told this story. It was simple, and entertaining. I also enjoy the explanation of how the sword got placed in the stone in the first place. I wish I knew which two people in the world knew of his plan… Besides the witch, was it Merlin? Or do those two people include the king? Anyway, this was a fun read. Nicely done!
ReplyDeleteHey Haley, loved your story. I am a huge fan of origin stories and king Arthur so I was immediately sucked in your story. I loved the explanation of the reason behind the sword being in the stone. I had a little freak out moment when Arthur's brother didn't tell him that what pulling out the sword meant. My only question is that how did the knight know that Ector was not the one who pulled out the sword? Great story!
ReplyDelete