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| Did King Arthur really exist? |
The story of King Arthur is one that has been told for hundreds of years. There have been poems, books and even films made of his life, all of them telling the story a little differently.
The basic story is this. There was aswordstuck in a stone. Thelegendsaid that whoever could remove the sword would become King of England and save the country. Manybrave knightstried to pull the sword out, but they all failed. One day, a young boy called Arthur was walking past the stone. He didn't know it, but he was in fact the son of an old king. He pulled the sword out of the stone and became the new King of England.
The stories of Arthur as King aretalesof bravery andnobility. His closestadvisorwas Merlin, a powerfulwizard. Arthur lived in a castle called Camelot with his beautiful wife, Guinevere. In the castle he had a round table, where he sat with his knights. It was round so that there was no one atthe head of the table(which is where the most important person would usually sit) and Arthur and his knights were allequal.
Arthur, with his famousmagicalsword Excalibur, and his closest knights Sir Lancelot and Sir Galahad, fought against the forces ofevilin England. These were led by Arthur'shalf-sister, Morgan, who was awitch. After manybattles, there was only one left to fight. Arthur and his knights finally won the battle against Morgan'sarmy, and England was safe! However, Arthur had been hurt, and was dying. He threw his sword into a lake, where the magical Lady of the Lake could look after it, and then he died. He was buried in Avalon, in the south-west of England. According to the legend, Arthur will rise again to save England if it is ever in danger in the future.
But did Arthur reallyexist? Some say he was aRoman, others say aBritonfighting theinvading Saxons, but there is noproofof his existence. But perhaps this doesn't matter. The story of a great, noble and brave king, who died to save his country, is one that people of all generations find fascinating, even today.
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