Thursday, March 19, 2009

9th Grade Summary of 'The Story of King Arthur and His Knights' pages 1-47

In the comments section of this post, I have posted the summary of pages 1-47. It is your responsibility to copy this into your notes by Monday of next week. 
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Miss Jones said...

Summary- p.1-12
There was once a great king named Uther-Pendragon. He ruled over all of England and over all the other smaller kings in England. He was a just and good king., and he had two men that helped him rule well—Merlin the magician, his counselor and Sir Ulfius, who helped him make decisions during times of war. Uther was married to a woman named Igraine, and she had two daughters named Margaise and Morgana. Her daughters were married to two kings—King Lot and King Urien.

Igraine and Uther had a baby boy, and soon after that, Merlin had a vision that told him that Uther was going to die from a fever. Merlin advised that Uther hide the baby because if Uther did in fact die, then the baby would be in great danger since many kings would want to kill him and take the throne. Uther followed Merlin’s advice and he had the baby taken away from him. Soon after that, Uther got sick and died, and all of England became chaotic. There were many knights and barons who robbed the common people as they traveled on the road. Sometimes, they would take people hostage and when they couldn’t pay, they would kill them!

England was lawless and dangerous, and it was so terrible that the Archbishop called Merlin to him and asked him for advice. Merlin told him not to worry because soon there would be a king who would rule England better than Uther had. The Archbishop asked Merlin how he would find that king, and Merlin said that he would design a test to make sure that the right man was chosen for the kingship. He put an anvil on a gigantic block of marble and then magically plunged a beautiful shiny sword halfway through the anvil and marble. On the sword there was an engraving that said that whoever pulled the sword out rightfully deserved to be the king of England.

In order to get many people to take this test, the Archbishop sent out a mandate inviting everyone to a grand tournament that was to occur in London at Christmas time. The mandate informed everyone about the contest and everybody was so excited and wondered who would become the king—many thought that King Lot or King Urien had a good chance to be the king since they were related to Uther through marriage.

When Christmas came, thousands of people traveled there, including a wealthy, noble, and respected knight named Sir Ector. Sir Ector had two sons: Sir Kay, a brave and strong knight who was very respected for his ability in war, and Arthur, who served as Kay’s squire (servant). Sir Kay really wanted to participate in the events of the tournament because he wanted to gain honor and wealth for himself and for his family, so he asked his father if he could participate and his father gave him permission.

Ps.13-27

In the list (fake battle) that the Archbishop had set up, lots of knights, kings and Sir Kay participated in the contest. There were crowds of people gathered to watch and participate. Sir Kay was great knight that he had won almost every battle that he had competed until he met Sir Balamorgineas in the sword contest.

Sir Kay had tried his best when he does the battle with Sir Balamorgineas. He and Sir Balamorgineas were angry at each other because they both really want to win. Sir Kay attacked Sir Balamorgineas’s head and knocked him out, but unfortunately his sword got broken in half. Therefore he commanded Arthur to get a new sword for him from his father’s pavilion.

Arthur went to his father’s pavilion but there was no sword for Sir Kay. At that instant Arthur remembered that there was a sword in the anvil. He went to the anvil and pulled out the sword. This sword was a special sword because Merlin had put magic on it. Anyone who pulled out the sword from the anvil would be the perfect king of all England. Arthur pulled out the sword from the anvil easily and smoothly, but he didn’t understand the amazing thing that he had done.

Arthur gave this sword to his brother, Sir Kay. Sir Kay knew the significance of this sword. He knew that if someone had pulled out the sword from anvil, he deserved to be the king of all England. Sir Kay wanted to become king. He told Arthur to keep the secret, because Arthur didn’t know the significance of the sword. Sir Kay took the sword to Sir Ector.

pp.27~33

Sir Ector asked Sir Kay to put the sword back into the anvil since it would prove that he had pulled it out. Sir Ector, Kay and Arthur went to the place where the anvil was located. Because Sir Kay was not the one who drew the sword out from the anvil, so he could not put the sword back into the anvil again. He thought he could do it because Arthur had done it, so he expected that it would be simple for him, but it wasn’t at all. When Arthur saw this and confessed that he drew the sword out of the anvil and he put the sword back into the anvil. He did this many times. (P.27~28-Jessie)

After Arthur put the sword back into the anvil and drew the sword out from the anvil, Sir Ector knew that Arthur is the one who will be the king of all over the Britain. He kneeled down before Arthur. Arthur was surprised because his father kneeled down before him. He said why do you kneel down to him? And Sir Ector told him about his birth. One night long ago Merlin and Sir Ulfius came to Sir Ector and they gave him a baby who was Arthur and then they said that Sir Ector needed to raise this kid as his own and also they told him that he must not tell anyone about it. Sir Ector did not know for sure about Arthur’s real father, but he said that now he suspected that Arthur was from the royal line. (pp.29~30-Rebekah)

After he knew that he was not a son of Sir Ector, Arthur became very sad because he thought he would lose his father. Then Merlin, the magician and Sir Ulfius, the well-known knight came and Sir Ector told them that Arthur was the one that Merlin gave Sir Ector 18 years ago. Merlin said that he had watched him for a long time, and he even saw how Arthur drew the sword out. Merlin also told him that he would be the most famous and good king that ever lived in Britain. Later Arthur appointed Sir Kay to be Seneschal of all this realm and Sir Ector to be his father until the day of his death. After 5 years later, Sir Ector died. (pp.31~33-David)

p. 33-47-
The time for the great competition finally came at Christmas time, and many kings were there to try pulling out the sword from the anvil so that they could become the overlord of England. Thousands of people participated the competition to be a king of England, but everyone couldn’t pull out the sword from the anvil. Especially King Lot tried to take out the sword from the anvil, but he couldn’t even move the breadth of a hair so he was very angry. The reason for this is he thought he was going to be a king of England. King Lot and the other kings complained to the Archbishop and they said that they believed Merlin had set it up to make them seem foolish. They told the Archbishop to choose a king from their group, and the Archbishop said he would do that if nobody appeared within a thousand seconds. Then Arthur came forward and everyone was shocked to see someone so young, but still many thought he was attractive. Arthur pulled the sword out many times and everyone was so shocked and excited—everybody cheered very loudly! Many people were happy that he was to be the next king, but many of the kings thought that maybe someone had gotten Arthur into power through a trick. They were really jealous of him and didn’t want to obey someone so young. Finally, after Arthur pulled the sword out again several times, everyone decided that he deserved to be the Overlord of England, so he began to rule England. However, because Arthur was so young, he had to start his rule with wars against the kings who didn’t want to follow him. Howard Pyle ends the chapter with a blessing for his reader, praying that God will give them the strength to gain success even in difficult circumstances, just as Arthur had pulled out the sword from the anvil.

Thursday, March 19, 2009
Anonymous said...

In Rebekah's, 'one night long ago'? hmm...Arthur was a baby one night long ago?

Friday, March 20, 2009
Anonymous said...

In Rebekah's: Sir Ector already knew that Arthur was Uther Pendragon's son because when Merlin gave the baby, he showed the king's ring to Sir Ector.

Friday, March 20, 2009
Miss Jones said...

First of all, please remember to put your name on your comments-- if you simply publish them anonymously, I won't publish them.

When Sir Ector sees the royal signet ring, he knows that he must obey the command no matter what (bottom of page 29), but actually, he did not know for sure that Arthur was Uther's son. He knew that the baby was special, but he wasn't one hundred percent sure about who that baby was (bottom of page 30)

Yes, Arthur was a baby one night long ago-- it's referring to the time that Merlin and Ulfius came to Sir Ector-- they came one night a long time ago, and yes, at that time, amazingly, Arthur was a baby. It's amazing how time works!

Friday, March 20, 2009

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