_Only the wise and God fearing should be chosen as rulers of the
people._
A long time ago the king and queen of England had a little son.
When the boy was a baby a great enchanter came to the king and
said: “You must have some one to take care of your child.” So the
king gave the baby to Merlin who took it off with him and gave it
into the care of a good man named Sir Ector who christened the baby
with the name of Arthur. Arthur grew up strong and good and became
a man brave and powerful.
At last the old king died and all the lords of the kingdom tried
to take his place. They did not think of Arthur who was the king’s
son, and who now ought to be king in his father’s place. So Merlin
went to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and told him to summon all
the lords to London on Christmas, and that some miracle would be
performed to show who should be king.
So the archbishop did as Merlin advised, and on Christmas all the
lords came to London. They went into the church and said their
prayers, and then they beheld in the churchyard a great stone in
which a sword had been stuck hard and fast, and on the stone were
the words: “Whoso pulleth out the sword from the stone is king of
all England.” One by one they tried to pull out the sword, but not
one of them could move it.
On New Year’s Day Sir Ector came to London bringing Arthur with
him. He heard about the stone and the sword and saw all the lords
and knights in their games, and heard that none of them could move
the sword. Sir Ector’s son was with him also, but had no sword to
join in the games with the knights.
“I will get my brother a sword,” said Arthur, and straightway
drew the sword out of the stone with great ease. They were all
astonished. Arthur put the sword back into the stone, and still
none could pull it out but he. Time and time again he did this
until they all cried out: “Arthur shall be king of England!”
Then all the people knelt down and declared they would serve and
obey Arthur as king. Sir Ector told them that Arthur was the son
of the king who had died, and was king by right of birth anyway,
and that the miracle of the sword coming so easily out of the stone
into Arthur’s hand was the judgment of Heaven in his favor.
At this all the people shouted again, “Long live King Arthur.” Then
Arthur took the sword and placed it on the altar of the church,
meaning that he dedicated himself and the sword to the service of
God.
After he became king he set about righting all the wrongs that had
been done since the death of his father. He gave back land and
money that had been taken from orphans and widows, and changed all
the bad laws into good ones. Thus at the very beginning he was
known as “Good King Arthur.”