The Legend of King Arthur
The commonly agreed tale of King Arthur is as follows: aided by the magic of the wizard Merlin, King Uther Pendragon assumed the appearance of King Gorlois of Cornwall in order toseduce Ygraine, the wife of Gorlois. From this union Arthur was born, earning the undying hatred of his step-sister, the enchantress Morgan Le Fay. Removed by Merlin into the keeping of Sir Hector of the forest Sauvage, as a youth he became king by doing what no one else could do: pulling the sword Excalibur from the stone into which Uther had plunged it as he died. Gaining allegiance of many unruly knights, Arthur established his court at Camelot. He married Guinevere, and set about establishing the kingdom. As his fame grew, more knights joined him, including Lancelot, Perceval, Galahad, Gawain, and Bedivere. These were the knights of the Round Table. For a time then land flourished. The Holy Grail appeared at Camelot, leading to a great quest by all the knights for this elusive object. Meanwhile the appearance of Arthur's eligitimate and incestuous son, Mordred (his mother was Morgause, a sister of Morgan Le Fay, thus a half sister of Arthur), the affair of Guinevere and Lancelot, and the petrification of Merlin in a crystal cave, all contributed to the decline in the fortunes of the land, a decline symbolised by Arthur's own loss of power even Grail-Quest led to the deaths of many knights.
Lancelot, Gawain, Perceval, Bors, and Galahad came close to the Grail, but only Galahad (Lancelot's son) gained the true vision of it, thus passing away from this world. Summoning up all his strength as Mordred invaded, Arthur defeated his son's army at Camlan. He killed Mordred but himself was mortally wounded. Three mysterious queens came on ablack barge and took him to Avalon to be healed.
It is said that one day he will return when the land needs him. So he is known as Rex Quondam Rex Futurus-'The Once and Future King'.