King Arthurs Knights | Page 7

the sword point was but the width of a palm in the stone, not the
mightiest of them could move it by the breadth of a hair.
King Mark of Tintagel was the last of them who had to stand back at
length, baffled and raging inwardly. Many were the evil looks that
would have slain Arthur as he stood among his friends.
Then a cry came from among the common people, and so strong was it
that the nobles looked as if they hated to hear it.
'Let Arthur draw the sword!' was the call from a thousand throats.
The venerable archbishop came and took Arthur by the hand, and led
him towards the sword. Again the young man held the rich pommel
with his single hand, and that which none of the forty-nine great men
could do, he did as easily as if he but plucked a flower.
A fierce cry leaped from among the thousands of the common people.

'Arthur shall be our King!' they cried. 'Arthur is our King! We will no
longer deny him!'
Many of the princes and barons cried out with the commons that this
was their will also; but eleven of the most powerful and ambitious
showed by their arrogant and angry gestures that they refused to own
Arthur as their lord.
For a long time the uproar raged, the cries of the common folk
becoming fiercer and more menacing against the counter cries of the
eleven kings and their adherents.
At length from among the people there came the governor of London,
who, in his rich robes of office, leaped upon the stone where but lately
the sword had been.
'My lords, I speak the will of the commons,' he cried, and at his voice
all were silent. 'We have taken counsel together, and we will have
Arthur for our King. We will put him no more in delay, for we all see
that it is God's will that he shall be our King, and who that holdeth
against him, we will slay.'
With that he got down from the stone, kneeled before Arthur, put the
keys of the city in his hands, and rendered homage unto him. The great
multitude kneeled likewise, bowing their bare heads, and cried him
mercy because they had denied him so long.
Because they feared the great multitude, the eleven kings kneeled with
them, but in their hearts was rage and rebellion.
Then Arthur took the sword between his hands and, going into the
church, he laid it on the high altar, and the archbishop blessed him.
Then, since Arthur was as yet unknighted, King Kador of Cornwall,
who was brother of King Uther, made him a knight.
Standing up in the sight of all the people, lords and commons, Arthur
laid his left hand upon the holy relics; then, lifting up his right hand, he
swore that he would be a true king, to stand forth as their ruler in

justice and mercy, to keep them from oppression, to redress their
wrongs, and to establish right throughout the length and breadth of his
dominions.
Men went forth from the church in great joy, for now they had a king
they loved, and they felt that the land was safe from civil strife and the
griefs of war.
When Arthur in his palace at London had received the homage of all
the lords and princes from the lands south of Humber, he appointed his
officers. Sir Kay he made seneschal or steward, and Sir Baudwin was
made constable, and Sir Ulfius he named chamberlain of his court. By
the counsel of Merlin he made Sir Bedevere Warden of the Northern
Marches, for the lands of the eleven kings lay mostly in the country
north of Trent, and though those princes had yielded lip service to
Arthur, Merlin knew that in their hearts they nurtured the seeds of
conspiracy.
King Arthur made a progress through all his territories, staying at the
halls of those who did service for the lands they held of him, and he
commanded all those who had suffered evil or wrong to come to him,
and many came. The king's wrath when he heard a tale of women and
orphans wronged or robbed or evilly treated by proud or powerful lords
and knights, was terrible to see. Many were the pale captives he
released from their deep dungeons, many were the tears he wiped away,
and hard and heavy was his punishment of evil lords who thought their
power would for ever shield them from penalty for their cruelties and
oppression.
When this was done, he caused a proclamation to be uttered, that he
would hold his coronation at the city of Caerleon-upon-Usk, at the feast
of Hallow-mass then following; and he commanded all