|
My summary begins
after the death of
Uther Pendragon
when Arthur is King and he has established Camelot and the
round table.
Arthur is in London and while there he receives news that
King Rience of North Wales
had gathered knights and invaded his land, killing many of his subjects.
Arthur is upset and outraged, the knight tells him that his people put up
quite a big resistance, and so Arthur decides to go back to Camelot where he
will hold council on how next to proceed.
Arthur arrives back in Camelot and a strange unnamed woman who was sent by
the
Lady Lile of Avelion meets him, she is dressed richly and carries with
her a large sword. This confuses Arthur, so he asks her why she is carrying
a weapon with her. She then explains the sword has caused her much grief but
she cannot be rid of it unless a completely pure, virtuous knight can draw
it from its scabbard. She says that King Rience had told her there were good
knights at Camelot and one of them most likely would be able to draw the
sword. Arthur hearing this is eager to attempt to draw the sword, he decides
he will go first, not because he thinks he is the best knight but to set an
example for all the other knights who may try after him.
He tries and the sword will not
be drawn from its
scabbard by him. He pulls very hard but the woman tells him that he
doesn’t need to pull hard because the person meant to draw the sword will do
it with little effort. Arthur then decides to hand the task over to his
barons and knights to try, the woman warns them to be sure they are not
tainted with treachery, guile or shame if they desire to try. She also said
they must be free of treachery and have good family on both there mother and
fathers side. All the knights come forward and try but none succeed, the
woman is disappointed but tells them that they are all good knights but none
of them are pure enough to draw the sword. And so ends the first chapter.
By: Stephanie Smith, Class of 2007
|
