The Junior Classics, vol 4 | Page 3

off their skill in public. We must remember that there were no big
open-air theatres in those days, such as the Greeks had, no public races
or trials of strength such as the Greeks held in the stadiums, nor were
there chariot races or fighting gladiators such as the Romans had at an
earlier day. Tournaments or jousts were the big public entertainments,
and you will find a famous description of one by Sir Walter Scott in
Ivanhoe, in the volume "Stories that Never Grow Old," the tournament
of Ashby-de-la-Zouche. In it you will find a clear description of how
the field of contest was laid out, of the magnificent pavilions decorated
with flags, and the galleries spread with carpets and tapestries for the
ladies.
The same qualities that made a manful fighter then, make one now: to
speak the truth, to perform a promise to the utmost, to reverence all
women, to be constant in love, to despise luxury, to be simple and
modest and gentle in heart, to help the weak and take no unfair

advantage of an inferior. This was the ideal of the age, and chivalry is
the word that expresses that ideal. In all our reading we shall perhaps
find no more glowing example of it as something real, than in the
speech of Sir Jean de Vienne, governor of the besieged town of Calais
who, when called upon by King Edward III of England to surrender
unconditionally, replied:--
"We are but a small number of knights and squires, who have loyally
served our lord and master as you would have done, and have suffered
much ill and disquiet, but we will endure far more than any man has
done in such a post, before we consent that the smallest boy in the town
shall fare worse than ourselves."
And this story you can find in the volume "Tales of Courage and
Heroism," entitled "The Noble Burghers of Calais."
WILLIAM PATTEN.

THE STORY OF KING ARTHUR
This great treasure-house of stories is to the English race what the
stories of Ulysses and Aeneas were to the Greeks and Latins, a national
inheritance of which they should be, and are, proud.
The high nobility, dauntless courage and gentle humility of Arthur and
his knights have had a great effect in moulding the character of English
peoples, since none of us can help trying to imitate what he admires
and loves most.
As a series of pictures of life in the Middle Ages the stories are of the
greatest value. The geography is confused, as it is in the Iliad and the
Odyssey, and facts are sometimes mixed up with magic, but modern
critics believe there was a real Arthur, who lived about the year 500
A.D.

OF ARTHUR'S BIRTH AND HOW HE BECAME KING
Retold by Beatrice Clay
Long years ago, there ruled over Britain a king called Uther Pendragon.
A mighty prince was he, and feared by all men; yet when he sought the
love of the fair Igraine of Cornwall, she would have naught to do with
him, so that, from grief and disappointment, Uther fell sick, and at last
seemed like to die.

Now in those days, there lived a famous magician named Merlin, so
powerful that he could change his form at will, or even make himself
invisible; nor was there any place so remote that he could not reach it at
once, merely by wishing himself there. One day, suddenly he stood at
Uther's bedside, and said: "Sir king, I know thy grief, and am ready to
help thee. Only promise to give me, at his birth, the son that shall be
born to thee, and thou shalt have thy heart's desire." To this the king
agreed joyfully, and Merlin kept his word: for he gave Uther the form
of one whom Igraine had loved dearly, and so she took him willingly
for her husband.
When the time had come that a child should be born to the king and
queen, Merlin appeared before Uther to remind him of his promise; and
Uther swore it should be as he had said. Three days later, a prince was
born, and, with pomp and ceremony, was christened by the name of
Arthur; but immediately thereafter, the king commanded that the child
should be carried to the postern-gate, there to be given to the old man
who would be found waiting without.
Not long after, Uther fell sick, and he knew that his end was come; so,
by Merlin's advice, he called together his knights and barons, and said
to them: "My death draws near. I charge you, therefore, that ye obey
my son even as ye have obeyed me; and my curse upon him if he claim
not the crown when he is