King Arthur - Reading Diary A

For this week's reading diary, I chose to read the tale of King Arthur. I had heard parts of this story before, such as Arthur pulling the sword from the stone when nobody else could, and that is what the first story was about. After Arthur pulled the sword from the stone on several different occasions, the people finally recognized him as king. In the second story, Arthur is hunting some unknown beast when his horse falls dead under him. Arthur wants to continue hunting the beast, but another man who had been hunting the beast for a year took the available horse before Arthur could mount it. Merlin then came to speak to Arthur, but he was in the form of a boy. Arthur is confused at first, as this boy knows everything about him, but eventually Arthur learns that it is in fact Merlin. Merlin explains to him how he knows everything, adding that Arthur will die a noble death during battle. The next story was about King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur. I did not know much about the sword or how King Arthur came to be in possession of it, so this story was interesting to me. I thought it was a little odd that a “lake lady” gave him the sword, and how she made him promise to give her a gift when she asks it. I also thought it was interesting that he had to choose between the sword and a scabbard, and even though Merlin told him the scabbard was the wiser choice, Arthur chose the sword anyways.  

(Image of Arthur taking the sword from the lake lady. Source: Wikipedia)