The Lady of the Lake presented the sword, Excaliber, to Arthur when he became the King. Using her own magic, she embedded the blade in a boulder with the hilt sticking out.
Arthur, The King
Merlin announced that anyone who wanted to be king could try to extract the sword from the stone. However only one person was qualified to do that and everyone in the kingdom must recognize him as the king without question.
Many men lined up and tried to force the sword out of its boulder without success. But when a young man named Arthur pulled Excaliber from the stone, it verified his rightful claim to the throne in front of everyone so that no one else in the kingdom could contest it.
Arthur's Death
After the battle of Camlann, where Arthur’s illegitimate son, Mordred, had mortally stabbed him, the wounded King Arthur went to the Isle of Avalon to die. Here he returned Excaliber to the Lady by throwing the sword out over the lake. As it fell, a female arm rose out from the dark depths of the water. The hand caught the sword and withdrew back into the lake with it. Excaliber was never seen again.
The Celtic Triple Goddess
The three Queens who took Arthur to his final resting place in Avalon represented the Triple Goddess. The Lady of the Lake represented the Water Goddess, one aspect of the Triple Goddess. She was the Celtic Water Goddess, Coventina, and was also known as Nimue or Vivienne.
The Wishing Well Tradition
Water deities or water nymphs lived in the lakes, rivers and streams. They gave water its life, or its supernatural ability to flow. The Celts prayed to these water spirits for luck and threw offerings of golden objects into the water. The Lady of the Lake preferred golden ornaments, jewelry and weapons to any other gifts. This was the origin of the wishing well tradition that we know today.
Archaeologists have found hundreds of golden coins, daggers, figurines, and weapons in the streams, ponds and rivers of the UK. They have recovered a wealth of ancient golden offerings especially from the Thames River near London.
“Lady Luck”
The Lady of the Lake is the friend of poker players, casino gamblers and those who bet on horse races because she represents “Lady Luck.” Frank Sinatra had a hit when he sang “Luck Be A Lady Tonight.” The song was written for the Broadway musical “Guys and Dolls.”
Sir Lancelot
The tales of King Arthur portray her as Sir Lancelot’s foster mother. She raised him in her lake at Avalon, and she was revered by the Knights of the Round Table.
Merlin's Downfall
The Lady stole Merlin’s place in Arthur’s court. Merlin first met her at the Fountain of Barenton in Brittany. Nimue made an indelible impression on him and he fell deeply as well as deadly in love with her. Since she wanted to learn all of Merlin’s magic, he took her on as an apprentice and a lover.
Once Merlin, the sorcerer, had taught her all of his magic, she eventually excelled and became even more skilled at magic than the master, himself.
Merlin’s Fate
Now that Nimue knew it all, she had no further need for Merlin. Indeed she didn’t want any magical competition so she undermined him at Arthur’s court. Once she gained the King’s confidence, Nimue banished Merlin to a crystal prison where he remains entombed today.
Source:
Celtic Myths And Legends by Peter Ellis; Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1999
Diane Evans - I am a retired civil engineer as well as a member of Sisters in Crime and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
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