افسانه شاه آرتور 

LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR 

خواندن داستان های انگلیسی مهارت های شما و دایره واژگانی شما در زبان انگلیسی را چندین برابر میکند . این بار با داستان شاه آرتور در خدمت شما هستیم .

آرتور پندراگون فرزند خوانده مرلین جادوگر در یک دوره ناشناخته بین قرن ششم تا شانزدهم میلادی بر بریتانیا فرمانوایی کرده است؛ او نخستین پاشاه بریتانیا بوده است که میز گرد معروف شوالیه ها را ساخت و آنها را در کنار خود جای داد تا با کمک آن ها در سراسر سرزمین نظم و آرامش فراهم کند.

داستان ها و افسانه ای مختلفی از آرتور بیان شده است مثلا کشیدن شمشیر افسانه ای از دل سنگ و…

LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR

AND HIS COURT

THE COMING OF ARTHUR
” Who should be king save him who makes us free ?
“
TENNYSON.
WHEN Uther Pendragon was king in Britain, there lived in that country a wonderful magician named Merlin. Now this Merlin, though not a bad man, was at one time persuaded to help the king do an evil deed.
In return for this help Merlin exacted a promise from Uther that when a son should be born to the king, he Merlin should be allowed to have the child and rear him as he should choose.

The magician could read the future, and of course knew that a little prince would be born. He also knew that the king would die shortly, and that great dangers awaited his heir. Maybe it was for this reason that the old magician made Uther promise to give the future prince to him that he might protect the lad in his tender years and prepare him to be king. Whatever was Merlin’s reason for wanting possession of the prince that was to be, one thing is sure it was a good reason, as was afterwards proved. Time passed on, and a son was born to the king; but instead of the little prince’s birth being heralded abroad amid the rejoicings of a glad people, the infant heir to the proudest throne in Britain was slipped by night out of the castle gates, and given to Merlin to be carried away; and nobody was told that a future king had come into the wrorld. King Uther trusted Merlin. He believed that the mighty magician would care for his son, and would in time bring Arthur (for sothe child was named) to the throne which was rightfully his.

And Merlin proved worthy of that trust. He gave the child to a good old knight, Sir Anton, to rear, and himself watched over the boy through all the dark days and through all the glorious days which followed. Nor was Merlin’s the only hand that guided the uncertain steps of Arthur’s youth. There came to the child from time to time three beautiful and mysterious queens, who taught him many wonderful things. But greatest among all the friends of his boyhood was the ” Lady of the Lake ” she who is said to have known ” a subtler magic than Merlin’s own.” No mere mortal was she, but a mystic being who dwelt down in the blue depths of the lake, and had ” power to ‘walk the waters like our Lord.” When Uther Pendragon died, the unhappy land was for many years ravaged by rival knights, each of whom struggled to make himself king. It was during this dark period that Arthur, all unconscious of his kingly origin, grew up to his splendid manhood : grew up to catch the sunlight of a brighter day in his tresses, and the blue truth of Heaven in his eyes. And no man save Merlin knew him to be King Uther’s son. He who told me this story says that once, when Arthur and Merlin were walking along the shore, the young prince complained that he had no weapon ; when suddenly from out the bosom of the lake there rose a mighty arm, holding a splendid sword. Arthur rowed across and took the brand. And when he examined the bright, jeweled hilt, he found written on one side, ” Take me,” but when he turned the other side he read, ” Cast me away.” And his face was very sad till Merlin said, “Take thou and strike; the time to cast away is yet far off.” Arthur took the sword and called its name ” Excalibur” cut steel. Now when the time was ripe for Arthur to be declared king, Merlin advised the quarreling lords and barons to gather together on a certain day in the largest church in London, to see if God would not show them who should be king. The people respected and feared the old magician; so at his suggestion a mighty concourse gathered on the day appointed, to wait for a sign from God. When mass was ended lo ! Merlin stood before them with Arthur at his side. He placed the young prince on a high seat and proclaimed to the people: “Here is Uther’s heir, your king!’ Then were there loud shouts of denial from each who would himself be king, and a hundred voices cried, ” Away with him ! No king of ours ! ‘But Merlin by his magic caused Arthur to be crowned, and as ” the savage yells of Uther’s peerage died,” Arthur’s warriors cried, ” Be thou the king, and we will work thy will who love thee ! ‘ Then the people went down on their knees ; and, lifting up their eyes, they beheld a sight so passing fair and wonderful that a hush fell upon the throng.

In the center of the dais sat the fairhaired, god-like King. Through the casement above him three rays of light flamecolor, green, and azure fell upon three fair queens who had silently taken their places about him. No one knew whence they had come ; but they were ever by Arthur’s side in time of need. Merlin, the enchanter, stood beside him ; and also near the King, “clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,” was the Lady of the Lake. Before Arthur, at his crowning, was borne his sword, Excalibur, the brand which she had given him. Those who were truest and best, the flower of Britain’s chivalry, crowded about the King on his coronation day and desired that he knight them with his wonderful sword, Excalibur. As Arthur looked upon them, his own truth and purity seemed mirrored in their faces ; for one who saw it says, ” I beheld, from eye to eye, through all their order, flash a momentary likeness of the King.” Then in low, deep tones the young King administered to them the oath of knighthood. So sacred and so exalted were the vows which he required of them that, when they arose from their knees, their faces bore witness to the solemnity of the ceremony. Some were deadly pale, some flushed, and others dazed “as one who wakes half-blinded at the coming of a light.”

No wonder the knights paled or flushed at the sacredness of their vows ; for kneeling at the feet of Arthur they swore by the cross of Chris “To reverence the King, as if he were Their conscience, and their conscience as their king, To break the heathen and uphold the Ch’rist, To ride abroad redressing human wrongs, To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it, To lead sweet lives in purest chastity.” ” The coming of a light ‘ indeed ! The coming of Arthur was the coming of Godlike manliness to an age of barbarity and sin. Well might old Merlin and you and I and all the world exclaim, ” O true and tender ! O my liege and King ! O selfless man and stainless gentleman ! ‘