In this chapter, Sir Kay enters the tournament of royal folk prior to the
drawing of the sacred sword from the stone. In battle, Sir Kay dominates
many high ranked men, until he is fighting Sir Balmorgineas. During this
fight, Sir Kay breaks his sword upon a hard blow on Balmorgineas, so he
orders his brother and esquire-at-arms, Arthur, to “make haste” get him a
new one. Arthur questions Kay on where to find a sword and Sir Kay says to
try searching the pavilion. So, Arthur runs to his father, Sir Ector’s pavilion.
The young man then finds that the competitors in the tournament have taken
them all! So, Arthur stops and says to himself, “Where will I find a sword for
my brother? How about the sword in the stone lying in the pavilion! But, it
will be heavily guarded more than likely, so I will have to move quickly!”
Arthur then sprints to the cathedral and sees the shining sword in the stone
sitting right there, unguarded! So, Arthur bends his back and grabs the knob
of the sword and lo! It came out with ease! Arthur worries that others will
punish him if they see him with the sword, so he wraps it in his cloak and
flees back to the tournament. At the tournament, Sir Kay asks Arthur
immediately to see the sword for himself. Off the top of the bat, he notices
that it was the beloved sword from the stone! Sir Kay says, “Where hath you
get this sword!” Arthur tells him about his search and Sir Kay gets an idea.
He was going to claim the sword for himself and take credit for drawing it
from the anvil! This negative scene ends Chapter First and later on in the
story, you will learn how Sir Kay is proved not to have drawn it.