双语故事:亚瑟称王

How Arthur Become King

Arthur\'s father was King Uther Pendragon, who fell in love with Igrayne, the wife of the Duke of Cornwall. With the aid of Merlin, a powerful magician, Uther took the form of the duke and so Igrayne became pregnant with Arthur. After Arthur was born, the magician Merlin gave him to a man named Hector to be raised as Hector\'s own son. Arthur grew up without knowing that he was the son of the king. When Arthur was a young man, his father, Uther Pendragon, died. People were worring about who whould be the next king, when a strange stone was discovered. Firmly fixed in the stone was a sword with these words on its handle: "I am great Excalibur, and at the King\'s side I am to hang." All the nobles agreed that whoever should be able to draw out the sword from the stone should be the next king. Many people tried, but nobody succeeded. Finally Arthur came and quite easily pulled the sword from the stone. Now people were convinced that Authur was pointed out by Heaven as their king.

Then with the help of the great magician Merlin and his powerful sword Excalibur, Arthur led his armies to many victories over Britain\'s enemies. After that, Britain had a long period of peace and security. Arthur married the beautiful Princess Guenevere. Later, he set up the Round Table as a meeting place for his knighgts. Arthur had several places for living. His favorite was Camelot, a castle in southern English.

亚瑟的父亲是个国王，叫尤瑟·潘德拉贡。尤瑟看上了康沃尔公爵的妻子伊伦，于是靠魔法师墨林的帮助，化做公爵的模样接近伊伦，生下亚瑟。亚瑟出生后，墨林把他交给一个叫赫克托的人，要他把亚瑟当做自己的儿子抚养。亚瑟长大后并不知道自己的身世。他的父亲尤瑟去世时，人们为何人继位一事发愁。此时，有人发现一块巨石，巨石中插着一把宝剑，剑柄上刻有铭文：“我叫埃克斯卡利伯，将悬于国王身边。”贵族们商定，能将剑从石中取出者为王。许多人尝试拔剑，但剑死死地卡在石头里，没有人成功。最后轮到亚瑟，他稍一用力，就把剑抽了出来。这时人们相信亚瑟称王是天意。

靠着魔法师墨林的协助，加上手里握着威力巨大的神剑埃克斯卡利伯，亚瑟多次打败不列颠的敌人，使自己的人民一度过上安宁的生活。亚瑟王娶了一个美貌的公主叫圭内维尔。他还造了一个巨大的圆桌，作为与众骑士聚会之处。亚瑟有几处居所，但他的宫廷设在英格兰南部一个叫做卡米洛的地方。