Storytelling Week 11: Cheating Death

Hello my name is sticker by Eviatar Bach via Wiki Commons

"Hi everyone, my name is Arthur."

"Hello Arthur."

I really hate these meetings. They are supposed to help me, tell my problems to other people who can relate. But no one can really understand me.

"The start of my insanity began when my mentor told me the future. You might think that sounds cool, but it is definitely not. You see my mentor, Merlin, told me how I am supposed to die. I want to change it at all costs."

One of the group members, Robin, raises his hand and asks, "How are you supposed to die?"

Our leader hastens to respond, "Arthur, you do not have to respond! Robin, Arthur will tell us when he is ready."

I shake my head, "Nah, it's okay. I am supposed to die in a battle."

"Well that's easy," Robin says, "just don't fight in battles."

"Easier said than done," I reply, "I am king of my country. I have to lead the battles and protect my people. However, I have been doing everything I can to keep the peace. I made treaties, sent gifts, the whole shebang. It just sucks that no matter what I do I cannot change it. I just wish Merlin would have kept his trap shut."

"Are you sure that Merlin is a reliable source?" the group leader asks. "I mean he might not be all there, if you know what I mean."

Chuckling I respond, "No he definitely is not crazy. I mean he was strange, but his predictions always came true. I mean sometimes he tried to predict the weather. That was always off. He said it was too unpredictable to always get it right. Other than that he was pretty spot on with his predictions of the future. Merlin once told me how he would die. He said he would be buried alive. This actually came true. His legitimately crazy girlfriend was the one who did it. Merlin had this romantic date all planned out and he went into a cave for a little bit to look for something. While he was in there, his girlfriend caused the cave to collapse. I always knew she was trouble. She was a quarter of his age. Obviously she had some sort of twisted reason to be with him. Maybe it was his fame or money? regardless it did not seem to be enough for her."

"Okay.. So Merlin is all knowing. Or was all knowing?" the group leader's face was all red as she continued, "I am sorry Arthur, I can only imagine how difficult all of this is on you."

"Ya," I reply, "At least I will die a heroic death. I guess the only way to move forward is to accept that it is going to happen."

Author's Note: I loosely based this off of The Questing Beast from the King Arthur unit. I decided to write my story based off of the prediction Merlin says near the end of the story about how Arthur is going to die. I know if I were him I would freak out with this news. Therefore, I decided that it would be cool to have him try to discuss his problems with a group of people. Really the only stuff I kept from the original story is how Arthur is supposed to die and how Merlin did die.

Bibliography: The Questing Beast from the King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang (1902)