The Sword and the Stone

Several more little children had joined in during Merlin's first story, and all of them were anxiously awaiting his next story. Merlin couldn't help but smile looking out at his young attentive crowd. "You ask me what happened to Author. Well I'll tell you. Sir Ector took the baby back to his house where he and his wife took care of him and raised him. They weren't exactly your model parents, however. You see, they treated Author more as a slave than one of their own children. He was lucky to have me as his tutor....."


"Good day, Sir Ector," said Merlin as he was approaching Sir Ector, who was standing outside his house. "It's a lovely day we were having. I had the most delightful conversation with a squirrel about an hour ago over by the brook. He sure is a character, I tell you what. What surprises me is that he can always find his nuts. I have a hard enough time remembering where I put my glasses. Is Arthur ready for his lessons?"

"He should be in a little bit. He should be about finished sweeping the house. Just make sure he's back in time to do the dishes and wash the horses."

"Yes, will do. Do you mind if I go inside and find him? Then we could start right away, and he would have enough time to sweep the dirt of the grass," said Merlin jokingly.

"That's not a bad idea, Merlin. I bet I would have the greenest grass around if I had him do that! I'll add it to his chore list," said Sir Ector in all seriousness.

Merlin just looked at him with a surprised look on his face and then went inside to find the now fifteen-year old Arthur. "There you are, Arthur. I had a nice little talk with your guardian outside. I'm going to go ahead and apologize to you now for what's going to happen later."

"Did you give him another idea for a chore?" said Arthur with a whining voice.

"Possibly," said Merlin with a guilty tone in his voice. "That doesn't matter right now. Has he told you the news yet?"

"What news?" asked Arthur.

"He hasn't told you yet! Arthur, King Uther is dead! He died in his sleep. They found his body this morning after he missed breakfast."

"How did you find this out, Merlin? Did a little bird tell you?" asked Arthur jokingly.

"No! Actually it was a skunk that had gotten chased out of town, but that's not the point! The king has died with no publicly known heir to take his place! Needless to say, things have gotten pretty crazy," said Marlin. "Are you almost done? We have a lot of things to discuss."

"Yeah Let's go. I'm tired of being in this stupid house," said Arthur.

When they had walked a little ways away, Merlin began his lesson. He talked about how a good king puts the needs of the people above everything else, how greed often leads to the a king's downfall, and how a king should treat everyone as equals no matter their status. By treating people as equals, a king can gain more respect and loyalty from those in his kingdom. Arthur still didn't know that he was the son of the late King Uther.

"Why are you telling me this, Merlin?" asked Arthur. "I'm not a king!"

"Well, you for sure don't look like one. You a scraggly, thin, clumsy boy, but you are a king." Merlin could tell that Arthur didn't understand. "You are the only heir to the throne. You are King Uther's son. Since he has now died you are now the king! Well, as long as you can pull that sword out of that stone up there." Merlin pointed to a place on top of a small hill where there was a large crowd of people.

Arthur stood there shocked, with his mouth hanging wide open, unable to move himself. Merlin saw this, got behind him and started pushing the young Arthur up the hill and past the crowd. All the strongest men in the kingdom were there trying to pull the sword from the stone, but they all failed. Merlin pushed him to the stone. All eyes were on Arthur. Most were laughing at him while the rest were yelling at him. "There's no way he can do it," said a voice from the crowd.

"He'll kill himself trying,"said another.

Merlin gave him one final push toward the stone. Arthur hesitated for a while. Then he put his hand on the sword's hilt, and suddenly a wave of strength and confidence came over him and he pulled the sword form the stone. That young, underweight, boy had become the next king. Merlin looked around and saw the astonished face of Sir Ector. Sir Ector had realized that Arthur wasn't going to be coming back home.


"So that little boy had become the next king?" asked a little girl from Merlin's growing audience in the town square.

"Yes, he did," said Merlin with a smile on his face. "He really did."


Author's Note: Merlin's audience in the town square has gotten a little bit larger since his first story, but it's still all little children that are just running around while their parents are shopping. In this story Merlin has gone to Sir Ector's house to tutor Arthur. Little did Arthur know that it was going to be his last day as a servant in the house of Ector. In the original story the son of Sir Ector, Kay, sends Arthur to go find a sword for Sir Ector. I chose to change it and have Merlin give more of a "last lecture" in a since, giving Arthur advice of how to be a good king and a good leader before he goes and pulls the sword. That is always how I like to picture this part of the story. Arthur always seems to be portrayed as a young, weak, scraggly looking kid who doesn't look like he could be a king. I thought it was important to keep that aspect of the story because if he was strong and powerful he would have been treated differently as a child, which would have changed his personality. I think that King Arthur got his best traits as a king during this time in his life. He knew what it was like to be at the bottom of society, which helped him relate to the people.

First Image: Merlin tutoring the young Arthur.
Second Image: Arthur pulling the sword from the stone.

"The Drawing of the Sword" by Andrew Lang, from King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table (1902)