When I was a kid I had an illustrated children's version of the Legends of King Arthur, which started my fascination with Arthurian lore. One of my favorite stories from that book was the part where Arthur gets Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake. Later, Merlin tells him that the sword's scabbard is more valuable than the sword itself, because it prevents the carrier from losing blood. What is interesting to me now as an adult is the inherent "sense" of such stories -- how as children, or fantasy readers, we're willing to accept the ring of truth in certain claims or turns of phrase, sometimes without being able to explain why.
In the past year I've been lucky to stumble upon a site run by author L. R. Tourmaline, the Arthurian Preservation Project (arthurianpreservationproject.tumblr.com) which is a highly accessible, extensively fact-checked directory of all sorts of Arthurian media, including "intro" guides for folks looking to get into reading some of the source texts for the first time.
Interesting! Thanks, Evelyn! Be sure to check out "The Sword and the Scabbard, or Which Do You Prefer?" and the rest of the stories now!
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