bellsclarke:“In the midst of the lake Arthur was ware of an arm clothed in white samite, that held a

bellsclarke:“In the midst of the lake Arthur was ware of an arm clothed in white samite, that held a fair sword in that hand. ” //Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’ Arthur (1/?)In Arthurian romance, a number of explanations are given for Arthur’s possession of Excalibur. In Robert de Boron’s Merlin, Arthur obtained the throne by pulling a sword from a stone. However, in what is called the Post-Vulgate Cycle, Excalibur was given to Arthur three times, once when it was pulled from the stone, once by an unnamed Lady of the Lake sometime after he began to reign, and once in a battle from Nyneve, an incarnation of the Lady of the Lake. Generally, the Lady of the Lake is seen as a benefactor of Arthur, giving him the sword when his original one is damaged. She calls the sword “Excalibur, that is as to say as Cut-steel.”In Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, Mordred, Arthur’s incestuous son by his half-sister, mortally wounds him in battle, and as the king is dying, he commands one of his knights, Bedivere, to cast Excalibur into the lake. Bedivere initially does not throw the sword in the lake, but instead hides it behind a tree. He confesses his reluctance to Arthur, then returns to the lake and throws in his own sword instead of Excalibur. Bedivere once again relays his disobedience to Arthur, who requests the sword be returned to the lake for a third time. When Bedivere finally throws Excalibur back in the lake, it is retrieved by the hand of the Lady of the Lake. The hand shakes the sword three times and then vanishes back into the water. A barge appears, carrying ladies in black hoods, who take Arthur to the Isle of Avalon, where he was allegedly healed of his wounds, but never seen again. xxx -- source link

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