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Knights and Legends

melon24

melon24

Devoted Cultist
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Messages
164
I am not sure if this is the right forum for this but:

In the Gog Magog hills near Cambridge , there is a place called Wandlebury Ring, a Neolithic Hill Fort, although much more than this. If you go to the Modern Antiquarian website (link below) it gives some good information

Anyhow:

"Legend tells of a Knight sleeping in the hill. He can be called on a night of the full moon by shouting "Knight, knight, come forth and fight" But it is not recommended, as when the knight awakes, it is for a fight to the death."

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/2125

Haven't tried it myself ( :!: )but I do love this place, I can recommend it to anyone visiting.
 
On a similar note, I believe that there is a legend that King Arthur and his knights are in an underground cavern somewhere sleeping and will awake when their country needs them. I read this in an old boys' annual many years ago. The story went that a yokel discovered the chamber and the sleeping knights. A large sword, Excalibur, was affixed to the wall and when the yokel tried to remove it the sleepers began to awake. Alarmed, the man replaced the sword and fled.
 
In Denmark it is said the legendary king Holger Danske is sitting asleep under a castle, Rosenborg I think, and will wake up to fight if Denmark is ever threathened. He didn't do much about WWII.
 
corsair2000e said:
On a similar note, I believe that there is a legend that King Arthur and his knights are in an underground cavern somewhere sleeping and will awake when their country needs them. I read this in an old boys' annual many years ago. The story went that a yokel discovered the chamber and the sleeping knights. A large sword, Excalibur, was affixed to the wall and when the yokel tried to remove it the sleepers began to awake. Alarmed, the man replaced the sword and fled.
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There's a Richmond (Yorkshire) version.

Potter Thompson, Potter Thompson!
If thou hadst drawn the sword or blown the horn,
Thou hadst been the luckiest man e'er was born.

There's a Northumbrian version

'O woe betide that evil day
On which the witless wight was born
Who drew the sword - the garter cut,
But never blew the bugle-horn.'
Click to expand...

Somerset and Alderly edge versions of the legend.

Item 100 on here: http://www.celticgrounds.com/chapters/e ... dia/s.html
 
In southwest Colorado near the Four Corners region, there's a small mountain range that according to legend is a giant, slumbering Ute Indian chief who will wake up to defend his people in time of need.
 
i was told a version of the aruthurian legend by my nan, many years ago, and she claimed he was waiting somewhere in north wales, i was taken up this mountain as a kid and was convinced at the time i had espied a glimpse of excalibur lying in the ruins of an old building...
 
There's quite a few of these type of stories from all over Europe. This site has a pretty good overview

Sleeping Heroes Link

In fact the parent site (Link!) is generally a pretty good read...

Cheers,
Tim
 
While not exactly a legend or myth, I read in a book many years ago about a family who came upon a lake while exploring a forested area somewhere in England. It's rather hazy now but something led them to believe that this was where the Lady of the Lake resided--perhaps they saw the arm holding Excalibur in the lake but I can't remember. Later, when trying to locate the lake again, they couldn't find it.

Rather vague but it was a long time ago I read about it.
 
While not exactly a legend or myth, I read in a book many years ago about a family who came upon a lake while exploring a forested area somewhere in England. It's rather hazy now but something led them to believe that this was where the Lady of the Lake resided--perhaps they saw the arm holding Excalibur in the lake but I can't remember. Later, when trying to locate the lake again, they couldn't find it.
Click to expand...

Hmm, that sounds familiar.

*Z goes off to consult her dusty tomes*

Yep, here we are. The now legendary "Phenomena: A Book Of Wonders" contains a newspaper story about the Swain family who, while driving round back roads in the New Forest, encountered a lake which had in it a boulder with a sword embedded in it. They tried to return, but were never able to find it again. When the piece was written, in '69 they had been out looking for it every 3 weeks for the past 17 years. I remember being fascinated by the story when I first read it (probrably in the early 90's), co I always wondered if they ever found it, or if they were still looking...
 
Back on the subject of the Knights sleeping under England's hills, South Shropshire has Wild Edric.
Apparently, Wild Edric lead the men of Shropshire against William the Conquerer when he besieged Shrewsbury, but then suddenly surrendered, and is therefore condemned to haunt the lead mines in the Stiperstones.
Edric, his wife Lady Godda and his men are said to ride out across the hills in times of national danger, in the direction of the enemy country
 
ZVZ__ said:
The now legendary "Phenomena: A Book Of Wonders" contains a newspaper story about the Swain family who, while driving round back roads in the New Forest, encountered a lake which had in it a boulder with a sword embedded in it. They tried to return, but were never able to find it again. When the piece was written, in '69 they had been out looking for it every 3 weeks for the past 17 years. I remember being fascinated by the story when I first read it (probrably in the early 90's), co I always wondered if they ever found it, or if they were still looking...
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This was mentioned on this forum about four years ago! (I knew I'd seen it before!)
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewt ... 7103#47103
 
King Arthur, John Lennon, Che Guevara and Alan Bennnet are asleep underneath Woodhouse moor in Leeds, and will ride out on 1000cc racing Nortons when Britain is again in mortal danger.

A false Bennet has been administering to Britain's need for wistful northern rememberings, and acutely observed social satire, since 1997.

Just thought you should know.
 
Thanks for providing the source and details for the lake story. It is a very curious tale. One would think that if a lake with a boulder in the middle in which a sword was imbedded was real, it would surely be documented somewhere, as it sounds like some kind of monument to King Arthur. Hmmmm...
 
ZVZ__ said:
Back on the subject of the Knights sleeping under England's hills, South Shropshire has Wild Edric.
Click to expand...

I love the fact that while reading up on Wild Edric, the book I was checking gave his name as Edric Salvage. I assume they mean "Edric the Savage" rather than "Edric the Found-in-International-Waters-and-Recovered-Under-Maritime-Law" ... Although that would make the story even more intriguing ;)

Cheers,
Tim
 
A Glimpse of Avalon

'Ere it is, then:

The London Daily Mirror, 10 November 1969:

John Swain and his wife Christine will drive 100 miles next weekend -- in search of a phantom lake. The trip will be roughly their 250th in a quest that has gone on for seventeen years. The mist-shrouded lake the Swains are seeking has a boulder in its center. Embedded in the boulder is a sword.

Mr. Swain, a 52-year-old petrol station attendant, his wife and their sons Ted, 28, and Chris, 29, know the mystery lake exists. They’ve seen it. They were on holiday when they came across it near Beaulieu Abbey in Hampshire’s New Forest. Ted and Chris were aged eleven and twelve at the time.

Mrs. Swain said yesterday at her home in Ilminster, Somerset:

“We were driving down some little, off-beat lanes on a picnic trip when we saw the lake. Then we saw the boulder and the sword about fifty yards from the shore. We thought it was some sort of memorial to King Arthur. We were all fascinated by the scene.”

That fascination has never diminished. About once every three weeks for seventeen years the Swains have driven to the new forest hoping to rediscover their lake.

Mr. Swain said: “I’m certain that what I saw was real. We’ve done everything possible to find the lake. We’ve made hundreds of inquiries and read countless books. . . We’re beginning to wonder if we aren’t crazy.”

One thing the Swains are sure of -- their search goes on until they clear up the mystery.
 
If memory serves me correctly, the newspaper report posted by Amarok was quoted word for word in Phenomena. I suppose after searching for 17 years it might be reasonably expected that the lake could be found if it was there to find or if they were, indeed, searching in the correct area. Pity they didn't take a photograph.
 
Perhaps what the Swains saw was part of a film set, or even an artisitic 'happening', that was removed shortly afterwards.
 
rynner said:
Perhaps what the Swains saw was part of a film set, or even an artisitic 'happening', that was removed shortly afterwards.
Click to expand...

That is a possibility. The report does not say if there was an island in the middle of the lake on which the boulder was positioned or if the boulder was just sticking up out of the water. I would suspect the latter from reading between the lines. I don't recall any scene from a film in which a boulder with a sword imbedded in it was featured but that's not saying too much. If it was a set or temporary artistic piece, would the Swains recognize the lake minus boulder if they saw it again? I would have thought that possibly they would, since they would surely have recognized the surroundings in which the lake was situated. Still, an interesting suggestion.

Incidentally, I've not been able to find any follow-up on the Swain case--a common fault with the Phenomena book--so we shall perhaps never discover if they ever found the lake or not.
 
corsair2000e said:
If it was a set or temporary artistic piece, would the Swains recognize the lake minus boulder if they saw it again? I would have thought that possibly they would, since they would surely have recognized the surroundings in which the lake was situated.
Click to expand...
I was going to suggest that trees might have been cut down, or other trees might have grown larger over time, hence changing the appearence of the place, but
About once every three weeks for seventeen years the Swains have driven to the new forest hoping to rediscover their lake.
Click to expand...
so I guess that idea is ruled out.

But if they visited every three weeks they must have covered the whole area several times over. So either their geographical abilities are abysmal, or the sword and boulder were removed, or - er - something more spooky... :shock:
 
rynner said:
corsair2000e said:
If it was a set or temporary artistic piece, would the Swains recognize the lake minus boulder if they saw it again? I would have thought that possibly they would, since they would surely have recognized the surroundings in which the lake was situated.
Click to expand...
I was going to suggest that trees might have been cut down, or other trees might have grown larger over time, hence changing the appearence of the place, but
About once every three weeks for seventeen years the Swains have driven to the new forest hoping to rediscover their lake.
Click to expand...
so I guess that idea is ruled out.

But if they visited every three weeks they must have covered the whole area several times over. So either their geographical abilities are abysmal, or the sword and boulder were removed, or - er - something more spooky... :shock:
Click to expand...

Yeah, if they visited every 3 weeks or so, barring a very sudden change, you'd expect the surroundings not to really change too much by natural means.

I have read accounts of houses being seen then not being able to be found again, the inference being that a timeslip or some such other exotic phenomenon was at play. However I vividly recall a case from a quite recent book about strange disappearances in which a house glimpsed from a car or bus could be found again. An older book, however, had presented the same case and also solved the riddle with a very mundane explanation. It my well be that the Swains were not looking in the right location. I don't think it's clear how long elapsed between spotting the lake and their first attempt to visit it again. I guess this one will remain unsolved unless more information comes to light.
 
Re: The Horn/Sword reference... I remember reading some local legends pamphlet as achild that had a variant of the sleeping hero legend based in Arthur's (No relation?) Seat in Edinburgh. Here a door opened into the hill to reveal the sleeping knights (unnammed), a sinister guardian, a sword and a horn. Prompted to choose a weapon, the unsuspecting abductee played it pacifist and chose the horn - only for the guardian to explain that this would wake the knights up, leaving him undefended...
 
Weirdstone

These legends probably inspired Alan Garner's "Weirdstone of Brisigamen," as it starts out with a wizard guarding sleeping knights, but a passing peasant mucks it up. I recommend the book as being the perfect cross-pollination of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter! (An answer I came up with after being asked if there were more books like LotR and H. Potter about.)
 
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