You know of course about the Sword in the Stone. You have heard the story of how King Arthur, when he was a boy, was chosen High King of Britain because he was able to draw from the stone a sword which no-one else could move. But that is neither the beginning nor the end of the story of the sword. King Arthur never used the sword. He fought his battles with Excalibur, the sword given to him by the Lady of the Lake. That was because the sword in the stone was more than magical, it was sacred. It was the Sword of Truth. And this is how it came to be in the world. In this lively translation the author has attempted to reconstruct the 5th century book that is at the heart of Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur and set it in its proper historical and religious context.