Many knights came to London as requested. After meeting at the Great Church, many of the knights saw a sword stuck in a stone in the courtyard. Inscribed in the stone were the words "Whoso pulleth out this sword is by right the King of England."
For days the men tugged on the sword, but nobody had any luck. Each holiday different men from across England tried to pull the sword out of the stone. Each time they failed. The Archbishop watched as each man pulled at the sword, and eventually he had enough of the foolishness and called it off. He declared that two knights should stand guard at the foot of the sword.
There was to be a tourney to decide who would be the king. Each man should bring his sword and combat would determine the leader. In the group that assembled, there was a man named Sir Ector, his son, Sir Kay, and Kay's foster brother, Arthur. In preparation for the tourney, Sir Kay realized he had forgotten his sword at home and asked Arthur to go retrieve it. Arthur did so and hurried home to grab the sword, but nobody was home to let him inside. Arthur then thought about the sword at the Church and immediately set out to take it. He arrived at the Church and removed the sword from the stone. Arthur then hurried back to his brother Sir Kay and presented the sword to him.
Sir Kay immediately realized it was not his sword and showed his father. Sir Ector inquired about how Sir Kay acquired the sword. Sir Kay informed him that Arthur gave it to him. Sir Ector was curious and asked Arthur the same questions. Arthur told him the story of going to retrieve a sword for Sir Kay, and Sir Ector was amazed. He proclaimed that Arthur must be the King of England.
King Arthur showed the Archbishop that he had retrieved the sword from the stone, and he was then crowned King of England.
King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang (1902)
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