HOW ARTHUR BECAME KING

Only the wise and God fearing should be chosen as rulers of the people.

A long time ago the king and queen of England had a little son. When the boy was a baby a great enchanter came to the king and said: “You must have some one to take care of your child.” So the king gave the baby to Merlin who took it off with him and gave it into the care of a good man named Sir Ector who christened the baby with the name of Arthur. Arthur grew up strong and good and became a man brave and powerful.

At last the old king died and all the lords of the kingdom tried to take his place. They did not think of Arthur who was the king’s son, and who now ought to be king in his father’s place. So Merlin went to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and told him to summon all the lords to London on Christmas, and that some miracle would be performed to show who should be king.

So the archbishop did as Merlin advised, and on Christmas all the lords came to London. They went into the church and said their prayers, and then they beheld in the churchyard a great stone in which a sword had been stuck hard and fast, and on the stone were the words: “Whoso pulleth out the sword from the stone is king of all England.” One by one they tried to pull out the sword, but not one of them could move it.

On New Year’s Day Sir Ector came to London bringing Arthur with him. He heard about the stone and the sword and saw all the lords and knights in their games, and heard that none of them could move the sword. Sir Ector’s son was with him also, but had no sword to join in the games with the knights.

“I will get my brother a sword,” said Arthur, and straightway drew the sword out of the stone with great ease. They were all astonished. Arthur put the sword back into the stone, and still none could pull it out but he. Time and time again he did this until they all cried out: “Arthur shall be king of England!”

Then all the people knelt down and declared they would serve and obey Arthur as king. Sir Ector told them that Arthur was the son of the king who had died, and was king by right of birth anyway, and that the miracle of the sword coming so easily out of the stone into Arthur’s hand was the judgment of Heaven in his favor.

At this all the people shouted again, “Long live King Arthur.” Then Arthur took the sword and placed it on the altar of the church, meaning that he dedicated himself and the sword to the service of God.

After he became king he set about righting all the wrongs that had been done since the death of his father. He gave back land and money that had been taken from orphans and widows, and changed all the bad laws into good ones. Thus at the very beginning he was known as “Good King Arthur.”