Easton High School - Eastonia Yearbook (Easton, ME)

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2 E-ASTONQIA and on down to the water's edge. There he saw upon a Wave a ship in the shape of a dragon, bright from stem to stern with shining people. Then suddenly it disappeared, but still Merlin watched the waves until the ninth brought to his very feet a naked babe. Quickly he stooped and caught the child and cried, The King! Here is an heir for Uther. Merlin carried the naked one to Uther and told him of the Ending of the little one. The King, re- joicing over his divine gift of an heir, then died. The other legend is that Uther had engaged in War with a petty king of England and had slain him. He then married the widowed Wife of his victim and she raised him a son whom they named Arthur. Whichexier one of these legends may have been true, the wise old philosopher Merlin cared for the little prince and when he had become a man he made hiin ruler over his rightful kingdom. The young king planned to establish a kingdom of justice. honor and purity, and in order to accomplish this, he brought together a band of the noblest knights, known as the Round Table. Among these we still read won- derful accounts of Galahad, Lancelot, Tristram, Percival and Gareth. To belong to this Round Table was the envy of every young knight, although each one admitted had to take an oath To reverence the King, as if he were their conscience, and their conscience as their King, To break the heathen and uphold the Christ, To ride abroad redressing human wrongs, To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it, To honor his own word as if his God's, To lead sweet lives in purest chastity, To love one maiden only, and cleave to her, And worship her by years of noble deeds, Until they won her. Aftl1llY,S object was to do justice always to whoever came and asked it of him. This we can see, as in the case of Lynette, asking him for his bravest knight, and at the time when a lady came to him crying, A boon, Sir King. Thy father Uther has taken from my husband his prop- ertyf' Arthur then asked her if she preferred gold or the

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EASTONIA PUBLISHED ANNUALLY BY THE STUDENTS OF EASTON HIGH SCHOOL EASTON, MAINE . . . APRIL 1911 SUBSCRIPTION: FIFTEEN CENTS PER COPY K A IX ri Ii 5 A Q i f Tif' X im m uilrsiiggfrliln ,I '--- 1' ' J! -:ny GX '-J QAQ' KING ARTHUR About 449 a band of Teutons, called Jutes, left Den- mark, landed on the Isle of Thanet and began the conquest of Britain. Warriors from the tribes of the Angles and the Saxons soon followed and drove westward the original in- habitants of Britain. Many stories are told of how brave kings met these invading tribes and tried to force them back. Perhaps the hero best known in these legends is Arthur, a prince of the Britons. There are two legendsabout the birth of King Arthur. One is that when Uther, the King of Britain, was dying, he was very anxious for an heir, and prayed for several days that he might know who his successor would be before he died. The night when Uther passed away, just before he died, Merlin left him moaning and wailing for an heir. He passed through the castle gateway into the dismal night

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EASTONIA 3 property. On her reply he restored to her her field and three times the gold for Uther's use. That stern rebuke given to the vile Mark when he sent the shining cloth of gold, in order to win Arthur's consent to belong to the band of pure knights, the Round Table, proves that he could not be bribed with gifts, however rich. Arthur married Guinevere, the fair daughter of Leodo- gran, the King of Cameliard. For a time they were both very happy for all deceit had vanished from his kingdom. But after a time Guinevere began to deceive the King, now the downfall of 'this wonderful kingdom had begun. The Queen had fallen in love with Lancelot, the bravest knight in Arthur's court. So strong was her love that re- ports of it spread over all the land. After some time the good King learned of this disgrace and it was the greatest blow that could come to his long cherished plan of establish- ing a perfect kingdom, Then Guinevere fled and Arthur waged war against Lancelot. In one of these battles he was mortally wounded by Modred, a wicked knight, and this brought about the fulfillment of the prophecy of his death. Wheii a young man King Arthurt was engaged in battle with Lancelot, and Merlin and he were riding along a lake one day when they saw a hand clothed in white sannnite holding up out of the water a sword, and they saw a lady who said she lived in a castle under tl1e lake. She told them to take a barge and row out to the sword and take it. This King Arthur did, when he had taken it the arm disappeared. On one side of the sword was the in- scription Htake me on the other side Cast me away. Wlien Arthur felt that he was going to die, he told Bedivere, his oldest knight, to take his sword HExcalibur and cast it back into the lake from which he had taken it. Bedivere took it and reached the lake, but having within him a desire to keep it, he hid it and returned to Arthur. The King then asked him what he had seen, but Bedivere replied, I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, And the