Читать книгу Английские легенды / The English Legends - С. А. Матвеев, Сергей Александрович Матвеев - Страница 4

in which Uther Pendragon died, Arthur pulled a sword from a stone and became King

Two years after Arthur was born, king Uther Pendragon fell gravely sick. Meanwhile a great deal of his enemies gathered forces against him, and started a great battle, and slain many of his people.

“Sir,” said Merlin, “You cannot win a war lying here sick; you should go to the field of battle. Even if you have to ride in a horselitter, but you must be there in person[9], and then will you have your victory.”

Uther did like Merlin told him. He gathered his men and, travelling in a horse-litter, led them to battle. And that day Sir Ulfius and Sir Brastias did many great deeds of arms, and king Uther’s men won the battle and slain many of his enemies. And then Uther returned to London and made great joy of his victory.

But then he was even more sick. For three days and three nights he couldn’t talk, so his lords and barons were in great sorrow and asked for Merlin’s counsel.

“There is no cure for that,” said Merlin, “It is in the hands of God. But come to Uther tomorrow morning, and God and I will make him speak.”

The next morning all the lords and barons came with Merlin to Uther’s chamber.

“Sir,” said Merlin, “Is it your will that after your death your son Arthur will become king of this realm?”

Then Uther Pendragon turned so that everybody could see him and spoke.

“I give him God’s blessing and mine”, he said, “and bid him pray for my soul, and righteously and worshipfully claim the crown, or he will lose my blessing.”

Having said that, he yielded up the ghost[10], and then he was buried as a king should be. The queen Igraine made great sorrow, and with her all the barons.

Then a troubled time came to the kingdom. No one knew about Arthur, and everybody was thinking that they could start a war and claim the crown for their own. Then Merlin went to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and counseled him to send for all the lords of the realm, and all the knights, so that they would come to London by Christmas. And since Jesus was born on that night, as a merciful king of mankind, he would show some miracle to reveal who should be the rightful king of this realm.

So the Archbishop, by the advice of Merlin, sent for all the lords and knights, asking them to come to London by Christmas. So on Christmas, in the greatest church of London, everybody came to pray. And when matins and the first mass[11] were done, everybody could see in the churchyard across the altar a great stone, and in the middle of it stood an anvil of steel a foot on high[12], and there was a sword between the stone and the anvil. And letters that were written in gold about the sword said this: “Who pulls this sword out of this stone and anvil, is the rightful king of all England.”

The people told it to the Archbishop, but he forbade trying to take the sword out before the Christmas high mass was finished. After that, a great many knights and lords tried to get the sword, but no one could move it. “He who could pull the sword is not here,” finally said the Archbishop, “but God will make him known. But this is my counsel that we let ten honourable knights guard the stone at all times.”

So they put ten knights to guard the stone at all times, and sent criers all over the realm to say that everyone is welcome to come to the church on New Year’s Eve to try and take the sword. On that day, a big jousting tournament was held, so all the barons and knights went there. Sir Ector decided to come as well, bringing with him his son Sir Kay that was made knight shortly before that, and his nourished brother[13] Arthur. When they were riding to the jousts-ward, Sir Kay noticed that he had forgotten his sword at home. He asked young Arthur to go and bring this sword to him, because he wanted to fight in the tournament.

Arthur went back, but everybody left home, so he could not get in and bring Sir Kay’s sword. He didn’t want to come back with empty hands, because he didn’t want his brother to miss the tournament.

“I know a sword nearby,” thought Arthur,“that I can bring to Sir Kay so that he would have a sword to fight with.”

So Arthur went to the churchyard. No one was guarding the stone and the anvil, because all the knights went to the tournament. Arthur took the sword by the handles and easily pulled it from under the anvil.

“Now I have a good sword for Sir Kay,” he said.

So Arthur brought the sword to his brother. Sir Kay immediately recognized the sword. He came to Sir Ector and said, “See, father, this is the sword from the stone. Therefore I am the rightful king of this land.”

Sir Ector recognized the sword, too. He took Arthur and Sir Kay back to the church, and asked Sir Kay to swear on the Book and answer, where did he get the sword.

“My brother Arthur gave it to me,” said Sir Kay.

“How did you get this sword?” Sir Ector asked Arthur.

“Sir, I will tell you,” Arthur replied. “When I came home, I saw that no one was there, so I couldn’t get Sir Kay’s sword. I didn’t want him to miss the tournament[14], so I came here and pulled this sword from the stone without any trouble.”

“Did you see any knights guarding the sword?” Sir Ector asked.

“No,” Arthur said.

“Now,” said Sir Ector to Arthur, “I understand that you must be the rightful king of this land.”

“Why me?” said Arthur.

“Sir,” said Sir Ector, “It is the will of God, because the man that can pull this sword from the stone should be the rightful king of this land. Now let me see if you can put the sword back into the stone and then pull it out again.”

“With ease,” said Arthur, and put the sword back into stone. Sir Ector tried pulling the sword out, but couldn’t, and neither could Sir Kay. Then Arthur pulled it out again with ease. Sir Ector and Sir Kay kneeled before Arthur.

“Alas,” said Arthur, “my dear father and brother, why do you kneel before me?”

“No, lord Arthur, it is not so,” said Sir Ector, “I was never your father, and you are not of my blood, but of higher blood that I thought.”