Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 13 (of 15), King Arthur (1)

E-text prepared by Christine Aldridge and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
Transcriber's Note:
1. Minor punctuation errors have been corrected.
2. Fifteen spelling errors have been corrected. A complete list is shown at the end of this text.
3. Page numbers appear as placed in the original text. However, where a new chapter begins in the center of a page, the page number has been moved to the chapter head.
Author of Half-Hours with the Best American Authors, Tales from the Dramatists, etc.

FURNESS ABBEY.



Geoffrey of Monmouth, the famous chronicler of legendary British history, tells us,—in reference to the time when the Celtic kings of Britain were struggling against the Saxon invaders,—that there appeared a star of wonderful magnitude and brightness, darting its rays, at the end of which was a globe of fire in the form of a dragon, out of whose mouth issued two rays; one of which seemed to stretch itself beyond the extent of Gaul, the other towards the Irish Sea, and ended in two lesser rays. He proceeds to say, that Merlin, the magician, being called on to explain this portent, declared that the dragon represented Uther, the brother of King Ambrose, who was destined himself soon to become king; that the ray extending towards Gaul indicated a great son, who should conquer the Gallic Kingdoms; and that the ray with two lesser rays indicated a daughter, whose son and grandson should successively reign over Britain. Uther, in consequence, when he came to the throne, had two gold dragons made, one of which he placed in the cathedral of Winchester, which it brightly illuminated; the other he kept, and from it gained the name of Pendragon . The powerful ray represented his great son Arthur, destined to become the flower of chivalry, and the favorite hero of mediæval romance.