King Arthur — The Boy Who Did Not Know He Was King
Last Friday, Arthur drew the sword from the anvil.
He did not know what he had done.
That may be the most remarkable part of the story.
The great sword had been set into the anvil before the cathedral, and the inscription had declared that whoever could draw it forth would be the rightful king of Britain. Knights had tried. Great men had tried. No one had succeeded.
Arthur had not even been trying to become king.
He had been looking for a sword for his foster brother, Sir Kay.
And now the impossible had happened.
The boy had drawn the sword.
But there was still one thing that had not happened.
Arthur had not yet learned who he was.
Sir Kay's Temptation
When Arthur returned with the sword, Sir Kay recognized it immediately.
He knew what it meant.
Arthur did not.
For a moment, Kay considered claiming the honor for himself. Arthur was young and innocent. He might never understand the significance of what he had done.
But the truth could not be hidden for long.
Sir Ector, the man Arthur had always regarded as his father, saw the sword and demanded to know where it had come from.
Kay finally confessed.
Arthur had drawn it.
Then Sir Ector took Arthur to the anvil.
“Do it again.”
Arthur obeyed.
He placed the sword into the anvil.
And once more he drew it out.
There was no longer any doubt.
The boy who had lived quietly in Sir Ector's household had accomplished what no other man in Britain could accomplish.
But now came the greater revelation.
A Father Tells the Truth
Sir Ector looked upon Arthur.
And then he did something that makes this scene so memorable.
He knelt before him.
Not because Arthur had suddenly become different.
Arthur was still the same young man.
The same boy who had served Kay.
The same boy who had run errands.
The same boy who had gone looking for a sword because his brother needed one.
But Sir Ector now knew something Arthur did not know.
Arthur was not his natural son.
Long before, Sir Ector had been entrusted with the boy.
Arthur was the son of Uther Pendragon, the former King of Britain.
His true identity had been concealed from him.
He had grown up without knowing that he was heir to a kingdom.
And now the secret could no longer remain hidden.
Sir Ector told him the truth.
Arthur was not merely Sir Ector's foster son.
Arthur was the rightful King of Britain.
Imagine that moment.
A young man goes out to find a sword for his brother.
He returns having discovered that he is a king.
Arthur's First Response
What I particularly like about Howard Pyle's telling is that Arthur does not suddenly become filled with pride.
He is bewildered.
He has not spent his childhood dreaming of a crown.
He has not been secretly preparing himself for greatness.
He has simply lived the life that was given to him.
And now, without warning, he discovers that his entire identity has been larger than he knew.
There is something deeply appealing about that.
Arthur's greatness does not begin with ambition.
It begins with faithfulness.
He was faithful in the small task before him.
His brother needed a sword.
Arthur went to find one.
He did not know that God—or, in Pyle's medieval world, Providence—was leading him toward something far greater.
The Man Who Knelt
Sir Ector then asked Arthur to remember him as his father, even though he was not Arthur's natural father.
That is another beautiful element in the story.
Sir Ector had not merely raised Arthur.
He had loved him.
He had protected him.
He had given him a home.
And when the truth was finally revealed, Sir Ector did not cling to his position as Arthur's father.
He honored the truth.
He recognized the king.
The scene reminds us that true fatherhood is not merely a matter of blood.
It is also a matter of love, faithfulness and sacrifice.
Sir Ector had done his part.
Now he was willing to step aside and let Arthur become what he had been born to be.
The Secret of the Boy
There is something else here worth noticing.
Arthur's identity was real before he knew it.
He was the king before he understood that he was the king.
The sword did not make him royal.
It revealed what was already true.
That distinction is important.
Sometimes we imagine that our identity depends upon our accomplishments, our recognition, our position or the opinion of other people.
Arthur knew none of those things.
He was not king because people had begun calling him king.
He was king because that was who he was.
The sword merely revealed it.
A Different Kind of Greatness
This is one reason the Arthur story has endured.
The boy who becomes king does not begin by seeking power.
He begins by serving someone else.
He is an esquire before he is a king.
He carries another man's sword before he possesses the sword of a king.
He obeys before he commands.
And when his true identity is finally revealed, he must learn how to carry the responsibility that comes with it.
That is a very different picture of greatness from the one our world often gives us.
The world says:
Make yourself important.
Arthur's story begins:
Be faithful where you are.
The crown comes later.
But There Is a Problem
Of course, drawing the sword does not settle everything.
Arthur has been revealed as king.
But Britain already has kings and powerful men.
There are rival claims.
There are men who will not willingly surrender their power to an unknown young man.
Arthur has the right to the crown.
But having the right to something and actually possessing it are not always the same thing.
The next chapter will bring the great lords and kings of Britain to the sword.
They will try to draw it.
They will fail.
And then Arthur will stand before them.
The boy who did not know he was king will have to become a king in the sight of the whole kingdom.
But for this moment, let us pause with the scene between Arthur and Sir Ector.
A father looks upon the boy he has raised.
The boy discovers who he really is.
And the father kneels.
The story has moved from the drawing of a sword to the revelation of an identity.
And Arthur's adventure as king is about to begin.
And Arthur sat/Crowned on the dais, and his warriors cried,“Be thou the king, and we will work thy will/Who love thee.”
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Idylls of the King
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