Hello everyone, and welcome back to famous Brits under the Microscope. Hello Anlan.
Hello everybody.
So who are we going to talk about today? Who's the famous character?
Well, I thought now that it's getting a bit darker and the nights are getting longer, especially here in Beijing. I thought now would be a good time to share a few stories to gather round the heating and to hear some stories.
Sounds great! So is this someone from British folklore?
Yes. So this is the first British hero from folklore and his name is King Arthur.
亚瑟王，I'm sure even if you're not into fantasy literature, you probably have heard of that name. To be honest, what I know about King Arthur, I think I read something about it when I was younger. But now all these names get mixed up: King Arthur, I remember Camelot, I remember Excalibur, Merlin, but they all get mixed up.
Well, that's understandable. There's actually lots of versions of the story. So you've seen it in books or films, and the story is always a little bit different.
Can't wait to hear it.
This story, I'm actually gonna be telling you, is probably one of the most common versions. It begins: Arthur was the son of king Uther Pendragon, who died when he was very, very young. When the king died, Arthur was looked after by the magician Merlin.
Merlin就是梅林吧。They are tons of like TV shows and movies about Merlin, the magician.
There's actually one that's recently only just been on air called Merlin.
So what did this magician do?
Well, according to the tale, Merlin used his magic to put a sword in a stone and declared that whoever can pull the sword out would become king.
And woah-Lah, of course King Arthur pulled out the sword and became king.
Yeah, so that's what's known as the sword in the stone.
石中剑，我记得后面还有一把剑。I remember there's another sword later. And? So he was the king and then?
Well, Arthur married Guinevere and then set up his castle of Camelot.
Oh, so Camelot is the name of his castle. Is that the place where he gathered all these knights?
Yep, absolutely! It was the Camelot, according to the tale, that Arthur set up the Round Table.
圆桌骑士。How did he select these knights?
Well, they were all the bravest knights of the land who made up the Knights of the Round Table. So they used to go on quests.
Going on quests, I've heard that in gaming. So what does that actually mean?
Well, you go on a quest to find something or to defeat someone. Actually you said about gaming, the idea originally comes from King Arthur, the idea of a knight going on a quest.
So all of these gaming design, all of these especially fantasy games, a lot of them are based on the idea of players, they group together and then they go on quests. Interesting! So it's kind of like just a joint problem solving process. It's like the modern day team work, isn't it?
Well, pretty much.
I remember one very famous knight of the round table called Lancelot?
So Lancelot was the most famous of all the knights. According to the tale, he actually fell in love with the queen Guinevere. And according to some versions of the story, they had an affair.
How did King Arthur react to that?
Well, not very well. And according to the tale, that's when the downfall of Camelot began.
I wouldn't be surprised, but where did the magician Merlin, where did he go?
Merlin still acted as an adviser, and one of the tales is that Merlin used his magic to get the sword, Excalibur.
Excalibur, 圣剑！It's like the holy sword.
Yes, and this sword he got from the lady of the lake.
Lady of the lake, 湖中女妖。What's so special about this Excalibur? Is it like a magical sword?
Some of the tales say it was magical; some just say it was a very good sword. But there was something magical about it of where it came from. The lady of the lake lived in the lake; it was a spirit of the lake. However, as I was saying about the downfall of Camelot, according to the tale, Excalibur was taken by Arthur's son Mordred, so that he could become king.
So it's a father - son battle then.
King Arthur fought and killed Mordred, but in the process, King Arthur died of his wounds.
Pity, such a legendary character just killed by his son. And what happened to the Excalibur?
According to the tale, Excalibur is still in the lake. It was thrown back into that lake from where it came from, and was returned to the lady of the lake.

I think a lot of gamers out there, a lot of people who play games, they are not unfamiliar with the word Excalibur. If in Chinese they are sometimes called 湖中剑or 圣剑. And they have a few games, quite famous games centered around Excalibur.
Yeah, and once Excalibur was thrown back, that was the end of Camelot. That was the end of the dream. And King Arthur was buried on the island of Avalon.
Isn't Avalon the land of the fairies? And it's like their idea of the utopia, the heaven, so to speak.
Kind of, it's a little bit unclear what they mean by Avalon. Some people actually think it's a place in England.
So that was the end of King Arthur.
Not according to the tale. The tale is that king Arthur will return when Britain needs him again. So on his tomb, according to the story, is written the once and future king.
The once and future king. So it's kind of like a spiritual symbolism for the Brits.
Well yes. According to the tale if England or Britain ever needs king Arthur again, he will return.
Sounds a bit scary actually. So was king Arthur based on a real person? Where did this whole folklore come from?
No one really knows. Lots of people have been discussing this question. There are loads and loads of different parts of the story that come from older British legends. For example, throwing swords into lake is actually a Celtic tradition.
Why did they do that?
Because they believed that the gods like the lady of the lake lived in lakes.
So you throw it at them.
No, you offer the most precious things you have.
It's like an offering.
It is an offering. Unfortunately they also used to offer people as well.
Actually that's not that uncommon in the ancient beliefs, but there was no written records about King Arthur then.
No. Many scholars argue that he's based on a real figure from the Dark Ages, so around 500 AD. But as you say, there were no records or writing, so no one really knows.
That obviously, for the stories to be passed on, it can't just be verbal. When was it first written down?
It was first written down in 1100, so at least 600 years after the event. So probably what happened was, it was lots of different stories that all came together.
I guess, during which time, during this six hundred years or so, it was just like basically kids get around and listen to the tale of king Arthur.
Pretty much. And its influence is still very much visible, especially the idea of chivalry.
Chivalry, 骑士精神，spirit of the knights. Is it the whole idea of like knights they're brave and then whoever they serve and also they protect women?
Yeah. So the idea that men need to be brave, to be polite, protect women, honest and loyal as well, all come from the idea of being gallant or being brave.
Gallant, I like that word. It's got a very nice sounding to it. You hear sometimes people have discussions in some movies or TVS and then sometimes people would comment saying, oh, I'm glad the spirit of chivalry is not dead. So that whole comment is about, I'm glad there are still chivalrous men that believe in some old traditional ideas of being gallant, being loyal and brave.
Our ideas of politeness, our ideas of what is right and what is wrong comes a lot from chivalry. So the idea of being a gentleman, the idea of gentleman originally comes from chivalry.
所以这种英伦绅士，很多是从king Arthur and the knights of the Round Table 来的。
And the stories that were told to the children.
Is it also about saving damsel in distress? 有英雄救美的情结。
Yeah, according to the story, it's all about you have to protect and save women.
I guess nowadays they would say like women do not need to be rescued. Then chivalry is probably seeing as more sexist. But I like the basic idea, being polite, being decent to people.
Yeah.
OK. That was a very interesting talk with Anlan about King Arthur and if you have ever heard of this tale or if you have anything to share to offer, feel free to leave us a comment in a comment section. We'll see you next time.
Bye.
Bye.

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