"Found ye any knights about this sword?" said Sir Ector.
"Nay," said Arthur.
"Now," said Sir Ector to Arthur, "I understand ye must be king of this land."
"Wherefore I," said Arthur, "and for what cause?"
"Sir," said Ector, "for God will have it so, for there should never man have drawn out this sword, but he that shall be rightways king of this land. Now let me see whether ye can put the sword there as it was and pull it out again."
"That is no mastery," said Arthur, and so he put it in the stone; therewithal Sir Ector essayed to pull out the sword and failed.
"Now essay," said Sir Ector unto Sir Kay. And anon he pulled at the sword with all his might, but it would not be.
"Now shall ye essay," said Ector to Arthur.
"I will well," said Arthur, and pulled it out easily. And therewithal Sir Ector knelt down to the earth, and Sir Kay. "Alas," said Arthur, "my own dear father and brother, why kneel ye to me?"
"Nay, nay, my lord Arthur, it is not so. I was never your father nor of your blood, but I wot well ye are of an higher blood than I weened ye were." And then Sir Ector told him all, how he had taken him for to nourish him, and by whose commandment, and by Merlin's deliverance. Then Arthur made great doole when he understood that Sir Ector was not his father.