* PASSING OF ARTHUR 14? 



the tree, were, doubtless, the very nails which alone 

 had enabled me or could have enabled any one 

 a few weeks, or a few years before, to climb it. 



It may add a touch of interest to the story to 

 mention that Badbury Rings is identified by Dr 

 Guest with Mount Badon, the scene of the great 

 victory of King Arthur, the national hero of the 

 Britons, over the West Saxons, which delayed the 

 course of their invasion for some thirty years ; 

 and it adds still another touch of interest to record 

 that there is a version of the " Passing of Arthur " 

 which must have been unknown, I think, even to 

 Lord Tennyson. The immortal knight of La 

 Mancha, Don Quixote himself, tells us that King 

 Arthur did not die, but was changed by witchcraft 

 into a raven ; that the day is still to come when he 

 will assume his former shape and claim his former 

 rights ; and that, since that time, no Englishman 

 would that it were true has ever been known 

 to kill a raven, for fear lest he should kill King 

 Arthur! What place could be more appropriate 

 for King Arthur to haunt, during his inter-vital 

 state, than the scene of his great victory, Bad- 

 bury Rings ? Long may he haunt it ! The raven 

 has continued to build, with few intermissions, 

 every year since 1856, either at Badbury Rings 



