LADY OF THE LAKE

In combat with another knight Arthur breaks the sword that he pulled from the stone. Merlin takes him to a lake where a hand rises from the water holding Excalibur, the sword that the Lady of the Lake has been keeping for him. The Lady of the Lake, also known as Viviane or Nimuë, is an enchantress who lives in a castle beneath a lake surrounding the island of Avalon. According to legend, she is most famous for giving Arthur the magical sword Excalibur, for fostering Sir Lancelot after his father’s death and for imprisoning Merlin in a tree. She has been associated with a Celtic goddess and with stories of water fairies and her story may have combined several stories about ladies of lakes. She is mentioned in old French poems in the 12th century and in a French prose cycle of Arthur stories in the 13th century.