Story #1 "The Sword in the Stone"

The Story

"The Sword in the Stone," the Disney version, starts out with background information. The current king of England had died and the land was filled with fighting.  The country was left without a king.  People didn't know who would be their leader.  One night a sword stuck in a stone magically appeared in a church yard.  Engraved on the sword were words saying that "whosoever pulled this sword from this anvil would be right wise king of England."  Knights and nobles tried and tried to pull the sword of the stone but none were successful.  Soon the sword was forgotten.

Next, Arthur, also known as "Wart,"  is seen running in the forest looking for his step-brother, Kay's, lost arrow.  Wart can't find the arrow and stumbles upon Merlin's house.  Merlin has been expecting him and packs up his house to leave.  Merlin moves into the Wart's house and begins teaching him to read and write, preparing him.  Along the way, they have many misadventures.  The Wart and Merlin get turned into fish, squirrels, and birds.

The Wart gets to be Sir Kay's squire for an upcoming tournament that is to decide who will be the King of England.  Moments before Kay is scheduled to compete in the competition, he realizes that his sword is missing.  He sends the Wart out to look for another sword.  The Wart runs around panicking because he can't find one anywhere.  He sees a sword sticking in a stone in a church yard.  He runs over and pulls the sword out of the stone and runs back to the competition.

When he hands the sword to Kay, he sees the inscription near the handle.  He gripes at the Wart for stealing someone's sword and orders him to return.  Other people see that the sword is "the sword" and follow him back to the church yard.  The Wart puts the sword back and many men try to pull it back out.  None can do it.  Then the Wart tries again and removes the sword with ease.  Everyone sees that the Wart is meant to be king and bow before him.  At the end of the movie, Merlin returns and comforts Arthur because he is scared of ruling all of England.

The Commentary

Disney's "the Sword in the Stone" has always been one of my favorite movies.  I love how Merlin and the Wart get into all kinds of trouble over their adventures.  I haven't seen many versions of King Arthur stories that really focus on the sword in the stone.  The movie "Excalibur" shows Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, shoving his sword into a stone just before he dies.  Then one day in the future Arthur finds it and pulls it out.

The Disney version focuses so much on Arthur's childhood and upbringing.  No other versions do that.  Because of this movie, I have been interested in stories of King Arthur.  Disney movies are a great way to get a little bit of folklore in with a great movie with cute characters and songs.  I watched "The Sword in the Stone" again today and found myself singing along with the songs and remembering which parts are my favorite.

The story of how King Arthur became king must have been very important for the people that believed in his legend.  Since he was such a magnificent leader with an outstanding reputation, it only fits that the way he came to power be outrageous and over the top.  People like to hear unbelievable stories that make people they admire seem even better.  A story that comes to my mind in our country is George Washington and his father's cherry tree.  Even though we now know it's not true, for a long time people believed that story.  They wanted to believe Washington was such a great man that he never told a lie even when he was a child.

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