Tareas

The coming of Arthur

Merlin the magician and King Uther Pendragon

It was a time of war in Britain. There was much fighting and killing. There were many small kingdoms in Britain and each kingdom had its own king. But no king was strong enough to rule all the land. There was no peace in Britain and the people suffered.

Merlin the magician spoke to the people. ‘one king will come´ hesaid ‘all land will become one kingdom. And one king will rule in one land. There will be peace at last.’

But who was this king? Perhaps it was Uther Pendragon, the king of Winchester. Uther was a strong king with large army. He ruled most of southern Britain only the land of Cornwall, to the far west, had a king as powerful as uther. The king of Cornwall was named Gorlois.

King Uther spoke toMerlin the magician. ‘I will go to Cornwall,’ said uther .I will make peace with king gorlois. I will marry one of his daughters and will have son. Then our son will be king of all Britain.’

Merlin was silent. He looked at king uther. Uther was short but he had a strong body .his hair and eyes were as black as the feathers of a raven. Uther spoke loudly and roughly. Men were afraid of himbecause he was always angry. Uther rode a great warhorse and he carried a heavy sword. He could kill a man with one blow of his sword.

Merlin was the opposite of uther Merlin was tall, but he was not strong .he did not carry sword. Merlin’s hair was as white as the feathers of a swan, but he was not an old man.

No one knew where Merlin came from. Some men said that Merlin come out of the west,from across the sea.

Merlin spoke quietly and said few words .but everyone listened to him when he spoke, because Merlin was wise and clever.

Tell me , magician, said uther .can you look into the future? Can you tell me – will my son be king all Britain ? Merlin was silent. His eyes were the colour of the clear blue sky. He did not look at the king, he looked far away .and there wassadness in Merlin’s eyes when he spoke.

Yes, sire said the magician softly .your son will e king of all Britain. But the unmarried daughter of king Gorlios is very young .she is only child.

Gorlois-king of Cornwall

After many days, king uther came to the land of Cornwall. He rode to tintagel castle, where king Gorlois lived with his wife, Igrayne. The castle was built of black stone and stoodon a high cliff above a dark sea.

Kin uther ,you are welcome. Said gorlois . eat and drink .we will be friends

So uther and gorlois sat in the castle hall and ate and drank. King gorlois was old, grey-haired man, but his wife Igrayne was young very beautiful. Her hair was the colour of gold.

As soon as uther saw igrayne, he looked at no one else. He drank more and more wine and his facebecame red .he stared at queen igrayne .but she would not look at uther. She lowered her eyes .king gorlois looked angrily at his guest.

Tell me ,lady said uther to igrayne ‘how many children do you have ?

Three answered queen igrayne. My two older daughters are married. My youngest is three years old. Her name is Morgana.

Uther drank more wine .I can give you son he said .when kinggorlois heard these words ,he stood up and put his hand on his sword uther pendragon leave my house now he shouted and never return.

Uther stood up slowly .i will leave he said to gorlois but I will return with an army

And so king uther made war against king gorlois. In October uther Is army attacked tintangel castle .but uther could not take the castle –it was too strong.

Igrayne–queen of Cornwall

I do not want Tintagel castle uther said to Merlin . I want queen igrayne .she will be my wife. Winter is coming and my men have little food . I will take the army back to Winchester .but first , I must have igrayne . Help me Merlin .and I will do anything that you said.

Tell your men to leave Merlin said . tell them to move east back towards Winchester .but tell them...