• Seeing two dragons fight (or in some stories, having a vision of two dragons), Merlin tells Uther that he is represented by the red dragon and his descendants would drive the Saxons (represented by the white dragon) out of England. Uther takes the surname Pendragon (head of the dragon).

• Arthur was the first born son of King Uther Pendragon and the Lady Igraine (who was not his wife).

• He was the child of magic when Merlin allowed Uther Pendragon to disguise himself.

• Merlin sent Arthur away to be raised in the countryside by Sir Ector away from the evils of court and politics.

• Uther married the Lady Igraine.

• Some stories give Arthur one half-sister (Morgan le Fay) and others give him three (Margawse, Elaine, and Morgan le Fay).

English School/The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Image

Uther died and the kingdom fell to rebellion and fighting.

Merlin told the Archbishop of Canterbury to invite all the warlords to London for Christmas and an altar (or rock or anvil, depending on the story) appeared with a sword in it.

The inscription said that whoever pulled the sword out would be king, but none of the warlords could.

Later (weeks, months or years later depending on the story), Sir Ector and his son (Kay) came to fight in a jousting tournament.

Arthur's foster brother (Kay) left his sword behind, so Arthur, pulled the sword out of the stone and ran to give it to Kay.

When everyone saw what he had done, the common people demanded that Arthur be crowned king. (The warlords were not as happy.)

Arthur is given no choice, he is forced to take the throne and given the job of bringing peace and happiness to a warring world.

Six warlords and 3,000 knights attacked Arthur. They wanted a more experienced king. Arthur, peasants and 300 knights defeated the rebellous army.

The six warlords found five more allies, and they attacked again, this time with 50,000 men. By now, Merlin had talked 10,000 French horsemen to join, but Arthur was still outnumbered. He still won.

Merlin was captured by three warriors, including King Pellinore, and Arthur rode to his rescue (although Merlin ended up rescuing Arthur with a sleep spell after Arthur's sword broke).

Before Arthur, the kingdom was divided between different kings (warlords), but he united England, Scotland and Ireland to hold off attacks from the French and Saxons.

Howard David Johnson

Merlin guided Arthur from the time before he was born. He took the infant Arthur away from Uther and Igraine so he would be raised in a more moral home.

He advised teenage Arthur, helping him and gathering alliances so that Arthur could hold the throne.

He warned Arthur that the man who would kill him had already been born. Arthur called for all the royal children who had been born May 1st. He hoped to raise the children to be allies, but the ship crashed killing all the children except Mordred (the son of either Margawse or Morgan le Fay depending on the version).

When Arthur went to rescue Merlin from the king/warlord Pellinore, his sword was broken. Arthur took him to a lake. A woman held up a sword in a scabbard.

Arthur rowed out and promised the woman any one favor she asked for, and the woman gave him Excaliber.

The sword could never lose a battle, and anyone who held the scabbard could never be wounded.

Morgan le Fay's female servants tricked Arthur into drinking a potion. First, Morgan le Fay had a plot to get Arthur and a friend to kill each other by using magic so they wouldn't recognize each other. When that failed, Morgan le Fay tried to steal Excaliber. Arthur slept with the sword, so she could only steal the scabbard.

How Sir Bedivere Cast the Sword Excalibur into the Water, by Aubrey Beardsley (1894)

In one version of the story, a young Arthur (still living with Sir Ector and a bullying older foster brother) has to chase a hawk into the woods. When darkness falls, the foster brother, Kay, runs for home. Arthur is terrified, but he stays in the "Forest Sauvage" looking for the lost and possibly injured hawk. That's when he meets Merlin who becomes his teacher.

Arthur also faces darkness as he's dying. Knowing that his kingdom will fall apart as warlords fight over Excaliber, he asks Sir Bedivere to throw it back into the lake. Sir Bedivere is afraid to throw such a powerful weapon away, so he takes it, hides it under a bush, comes back, and lies to Arthur. However, when Arthur asks what happened when Bedivere threw the sword, Bedivere could only say that it sank into the water. Arthur knew he was lying and told him to go back and actually throw the sword in this time. Arthur only dies once Bedivere comes back and tells Arthur that a woman's hand rose from the water to catch the sword and pull it into the water. Arthur now knows his kingom is safe and he dies. His last thoughts when facing the ultimate darkness are about the safety of his people and his kingdom.

from Disney's The Sword in the Stone

When Arthur was seduced by his half sister in disguise (either Morgan le Fay who wanted to have the heir or Margawse whose husband was one of the defeated warlords who had sent her to spy), Arthur gave in to the temptation, and that resulted in the birth of Mordred who was destined to defeat him.

When Morgan le Fay captures Arthur and one of her maidens offers to let him out of a dungeon if he will fight the good Sir Ontzlake, Arthur agrees (others knights in the dungeon have been resisting the temptation to make this deal for years). This leads Arthur to fight his friend Sir Accolon thinking he is Ontzlake because of Morgan le Fay's magic, and during this period, Arthur loses that scabbard that would have kept him safe from harm.

It seems like Arthur fails the epic hero test because he doesn't resist temptation, although some say he manages to resist temptation when he puts the law and justice above his love for his wife (but I'm not buying it).

John Spencer-Stanhope's Morgan le Fay

Arthur earns so much power that he eventually leads an army to attack Rome. He defeats England's former conquerer and demands a tribute from the empire.

When his wife is found having an affair with Lancelot, Arthur is forced to choose between justice and personal wants. Unlike every king before him, he has learned that even a king or queen is not above the law. He allows the court to condemn Guinevere as an adultress (although Lancelot saves her from execution).

Charles Ernest Butler/The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images

Before Arthur, kings ruled through power. Arthur introduced the idea that even a king had to do the right thing (although he failed to do the right thing often enough).

He ended the rule of the Saxons over the people of England and defended the borders of the island. He also ended years of civil wars and rival warlords who had torn the kingdom apart and led to pointless battles and many deaths.

Camelot, Alan Lee / Illustration, 1984

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur

http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/kids/arthur_life.html

http://classiclit.about.com/od/kingarthur/fr/aafpr_arthur.htm

http://www.arthurian-legend.com/summary-mort-darthur-00.php

http://www.arthurian-legend.com/summary-mort-darthur-01.php

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/4186/Arthur/htmlpages/kingarthurfaq5.html

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/The-Once-and-Future-King-Summary-and-Analysis-of-Volume-1-The-Sword-and-the-Stone-Chapters-22-24.id-105,pageNum-55.html