So Arthur took the sword from his brother Kay and he leaped up upon the marble stone. And he set the point of the sword upon the anvil and bare very strongly upon it and lo! the sword penetrated very smoothly into the centre of the anvil until it stood midway deep therein, and there it stood fast. And after he had performed that miracle he drew the sword forth again very swiftly and easily, and then thrust it back again once more as he had done before.
But when Sir Ector beheld what Arthur did, he cried out in a voice of exceeding loudness, “Lord! Lord! what is the miracle mine eyes behold!” And when Arthur came down from the cube of marble stone, Sir Ector kneeled down before him and set his hands together, palm to palm.
But when Arthur beheld what his father did, he cried out aloud like one in a great measure of pain; and he said, “My father! my father! why dost thou kneel down to me?”
To him Sir Ector made reply, “I am not thy father, and now it is made manifest that thou art assuredly of very exalted race and that the blood of kings flows in thy veins, else thou couldst not have handled that sword as thou hast done.”
Then Arthur fell a-weeping beyond all measure and he cried out as with great agony of spirit, “Father! father! what is this thou sayst? I beseech thee to arise and not to kneel unto me.”
So Sir Ector arose from his knees and stood before the face of Arthur, and he said, “Arthur, why dost thou weep?” And Arthur said, “Because I am afeard.”
Now all this while Sir Kay had stood near by and he could neither move nor speak, but stood like one entranced, and he said to himself, “What is this? Is my brother a King?”
Then Sir Ector spake, saying, “Arthur, the time hath come for thee to know thyself, for the true circumstances of thy life have, heretofore, been altogether hidden from thee.
Sir Ector telleth Arthur the circumstances of his infancy.
“Now I do confess everything to thee in this wise: that eighteen year ago there came to me a certain man very wise and high in favor with Uther-Pendragon and that man was the Enchanter Merlin. And Merlin showed me the signet ring of Uther-Pendragon and he commanded me by virtue of that ring that I should be at a certain assigned place at a particular time which he nominated; and the place which he assigned was the postern gate of Uther-Pendragon’s castle; and the time which he named was midnight of that very day.