<P> In Arthurian romance , a number of explanations are given for Arthur 's possession of Excalibur . In Robert de Boron 's Merlin , the first tale to mention the `` sword in the stone '' motif , Arthur obtained the British throne by pulling a sword from an anvil sitting atop a stone that appeared in a churchyard on Christmas Eve . In this account , the act could not be performed except by `` the true king , '' meaning the divinely appointed king or true heir of Uther Pendragon . This sword is thought by many to be the famous Excalibur , and its identity is made explicit in the later Prose Merlin , part of the Lancelot - Grail cycle . This version also appears in the 1938 Arthurian novel The Sword in the Stone by British author T.H. White , and the Disney adaptation . They both quote the line from Thomas Malory in the 15th century ; `` Whoso Pulleth Out This Sword of this Stone and Anvil , is Rightwise King Born of all England '' . The challenge of drawing a sword from a stone also appears in the Arthurian legends of Galahad , whose achievement of the task indicates that he is destined to find the Holy Grail , </P>
<P> In Arthurian romance , a number of explanations are given for Arthur 's possession of Excalibur . In Robert de Boron 's Merlin , the first tale to mention the `` sword in the stone '' motif , Arthur obtained the British throne by pulling a sword from an anvil sitting atop a stone that appeared in a churchyard on Christmas Eve . In this account , the act could not be performed except by `` the true king , '' meaning the divinely appointed king or true heir of Uther Pendragon . This sword is thought by many to be the famous Excalibur , and its identity is made explicit in the later Prose Merlin , part of the Lancelot - Grail cycle . This version also appears in the 1938 Arthurian novel The Sword in the Stone by British author T.H. White , and the Disney adaptation . They both quote the line from Thomas Malory in the 15th century ; `` Whoso Pulleth Out This Sword of this Stone and Anvil , is Rightwise King Born of all England '' . The challenge of drawing a sword from a stone also appears in the Arthurian legends of Galahad , whose achievement of the task indicates that he is destined to find the Holy Grail , </P>
who took the sword out of the stone
who took the sword out of the stone
Arthur
Arthur