Traditional Tales

Whiston Junior and Infant School Year 6 have been learning about

The Legend of King Arthur.

It was a cold night in Britain during the times known as the middle ages. Uther, a man of high rank, paced anxiously in his home. He had just learnt that there might be a plot to kill Arthur, his beloved son. It was a well known rumour that Arthur might be king. Merlin took good care of Arthur for his friend Uther and hid Arthur so that he wouldn’t get killed. When Uther died Merlin had to take full responsibility of Arthur.

Soon Merlin felt that Arthur needed to be with another family. He knew he couldn’t return the baby to Uther after Uther was killed in the plot. So Arthur got put up for adoption, although he was still a baby. His new father had a son called Kay who was older than Arthur and loved to be in tournaments. One day the town crier came and announced that there was going to be a tournament in London soon. Arthur was excited for his brother, and couldn’t wait for the day. The next day, the family set of to the tournament in London.

On their way they walked past the graveyard and spotted a sword stuck in a stone. But this sword was no ordinary sword, it had jewels covering the handle and the blade was so shiny you could see your reflection in it. Arthur had never seen such a sword in his life and all that he could do was stare at it. He wanted to go and pull it out for a surprise for Kay. Instead he stayed inside the carriage. Because he didn’t know where the tournament was and he didn’t want to get lost in an unfamiliar town.

Arthur waved to strangers on his way into town. He was relieved when he finally reached their stop. When Arthur and his family put up their tent they went to watch Kay in his tournament. Then Kay realised he had forgotten his sword. Arthur knew it was Kay’s lucky sword, then with hearing Arthur ran back to the tent to fetch Kay’s sword. He stumbled along the way to get his sword on the way he stopped and noticed the sword in the stone again in the churchyard. Then he saw the writing on the stone:

Whoever shall pull this sword from this stone shall be the rightful king.

Arthur thought nothing as he stood on the stone and pulled. To his surprise it came right out. But Arthur scratched his head and wondered why it was so easy to get out. Arthur granted the inscription a hoax and carried on looking for Kay’s sword. He came back to the tournament and handed Kay his sword.

The next day Arthur returned to the churchyard to see the sword again. To his surprise there was a tournament there too. He arrived just in time to hear Merlin read aloud to the audience the description on the stone. Strong knights pushed to the front of the line to take their turn.

With hearing this, Arthur got in line to try. Everyone laughed when he stepped up to take his turn. They thought that it was a stupid idea to have such a young boy try to pull the sword from the stone. However, Merlin stood silently and unnoticed to everyone as he eagerly watched Arthur. Despite, the laughter Arthur effortlessly pulled the sword from the stone. No one believed it and made Arthur pull the sword numerous of other times. They all agreed that Arthur was the real king, Even though they didn’t exactly want a little boy running the country. With this Merlin, who had the idea to elect king this way in the first place, graciously stepped up and crowned Arthur the rightful king.

In the years to come, the people gladly accepted Arthur as King. He also made a promise to make England a better place. Everyone loved Arthur