the Celtic custom of fosterage the infant is intrusted to Sir Ector
as his dalt, or foster-child, and Uther falls in battle. Arthur is
later approven king by the adventure of drawing from the stone the
magic sword that no other king could move. This adventure answers to
Sigmund's drawing the sword from the Branstock, in the Volsunga Saga,
"Now men stand up, and none would fain be the last to lay hand to the
sword," apparently stricken into the pillar by Woden. "But none who
came thereto might avail to pull it out, for in nowise would it come
away howsoever they tugged at it, but now up comes Sigmund, King
Volsung's son, and sets hand to the sword, and pulls it from the
stock, even as if it lay loose before him." The incident in the
Arthurian as in the Volsunga legend is on a par with the Golden
Bough, in the sixth book of the AEneid. Only the predestined
champion, such as AEneas, can pluck, or break, or cut the bough -


"Ipse volens facilisque sequetur
Si te fata vocant."


All this ancient popular element in the Arthur story is disregarded
by Tennyson. He does not make Uther approach Ygerne in the semblance
of her lord, as Zeus approached Alcmena in the semblance of her
husband, Amphitryon. He neglects the other ancient test of the
proving of Arthur by his success in drawing the sword. The poet's
object is to enfold the origin and birth of Arthur in a spiritual
mystery. This is deftly accomplished by aid of the various versions
of the tale that reach King Leodogran when Arthur seeks the hand of
his daughter Guinevere, for Arthur's title to the crown is still
disputed, so Leodogran makes inquiries. The answers first leave it