Page 44 - Exercise 2A

Page 44 - Exercise 2A

Sir Bedivere and Excalibur

Long, long ago there lived a famous king. His name was Arthur and he was the king of the Britons. King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table fought many battles. Arthur’s last battle was against his own son, Mordred, at Camlan. The armies started fighting early in the morning and the battle lasted all day. When they finished fighting, Mordred was dead and the king was badly wounded. Only one of Arthur’s knights survived - Sir Bedivere.

After the battle of Camlan, Sir Bedivere took the wounded king to the island of Avalon. Ihe island was in the middle of a lake. Arthur knew the lake well. He remembered the day when he received his magic sword, Excalibur, from die Lady of the Lake. ‘That was a long time ago,’ he thought. Then he said to Sir Bedivere: ‘I need to return Excalibur to the lake before I die! But he was too weak to move, so the knight offered to take the sword. ‘Throw the sword out into the middle of the lake,’ said the king. Sir Bedivere promised to do it. The knight stood on the shore of the lake and looked at Excalibur. It was such a beautiful sword. He couldn’t imagine throwing it away. He decided to keep it. On the way back to the king, he stopped to hide the sword in the bushes. ‘Have you done it?’ asked King Arthur, when the knight returned. ‘Yes, Your Majesty,’ said Sir Bedivere.

The king smiled. ‘Tell me,’ he said. ‘What did you see?’ ‘Nothing,’ said the knight.

The king stopped smiling. ‘You didn’t throw the sword into the lake,’ he said. ‘Go back and do it.’

Sir Bedivere didn’t want to throw the sword into the water, but he agreed to do it and went back to the lake. He picked up the sword and started to throw it, but he couldn’t do it. He hid the sword again and went back to the king. Again the king asked him: ‘What did you see?’ ‘Nothing happened,1 he said. ‘The sword just fell into the water.1 King Arthur was very angry. He refused to believe the knight’s story. ‘I see that I must do it myself,’ he said, and he tried to stand up.