Product Description

Bun Bendle introduces us to his very first story, called The Sleeping Sword, written after he suddenly became blind. Nothing's been the same since Bun dived off a quay and hit his head on a rock. What he can't bear to tell anyone is that as well as his sight, the accident seems to have wiped out parts of his memory. In despair, he contemplates suicide, but the love of his great friend Anna saves him. His friends petition for him to be able to stay on his home island of Bryher in the Scilly Isles, and not be sent away to school. Calling his father in for tea one day, Bun falls through a cavity under the field. His father's tractor rumbling towards him just manages to stop, inches away. The cavity is a tomb, containing an ancient and beautiful sword and shield. Bun is immediately drawn to them, and as he holds the sword, Bedivere, a knight of the Round Table appears and commands him to take it to King Arthur. Taking Anna on his quest, Bun finds a galleon waiting at the quay to them to the king. Bun suddenly remembers their meeting before, told in Arthur, High King of Britain, and Arthur stands before them, a warrior reunited with his shield and his sword, Excalibur. Arthur reveals his purpose; Bun must drive Excalibur back into the stone until it is time for the king to come again. Bun and Anna return to Bryher on the ghost ship, hardly believing what has happened around them. The next morning Bun wakes to find his sight restored, the sword and shield safely in the cavity in the field and Anna totally unaware of the previous night's events. So Bun concludes his story, proud to have written such a long one, and Anna loves it. Bun strolls off to the field towards his father's tractor, and suddenly falls down a cavity. The tractor is rumbling towards him...and he knows everything he's dreamt is about to come true.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #256781 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-06
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Customer Reviews

A story within a story within a story
Interweaving the story of a blind boy who lives on the Scilly Isles, with the myth and truth of King Arthur, Michael Morpurgo takes the reader deep inside the mind of a boy who seems ordinary but is really anything but. The story is told by the boy, Bun, in the first person, as his own true story that becomes a story from his imagination about discovering a very special sword and shield in a tomb on his father's farm. But within that story he dreams another story about the quest he is compelled to take on because of that sword and shield ... confused yet? I read it to my nine-year old son and he enjoyed it but I'm not sure how much of it he understood. I certainly found it difficult to know what layer of the story we were within. The confusion was not helped by the unconventional typeface that the publisher has chosen to typeset it in.

If your child is fascinated by the legends of King Arthur, they will probably enjoy this but they will definitely need a certain literary maturity to gain much out of it.

A review from Kieran, aged 10
This book is about a boy called Bun who ends up blind after hitting his head on a rock. He falls into a hole with a sword and a shield in it. Bun has a dream about his friend and him bringing the sword, Excalibur, back to Arthur. When he wakes he is not blind any more.

I enjoyed reading this book even though the plot and the language were hard to understand at times.It made me realise it must be terrible to be blind.

Good book
Given the numerous excaliber references in leterature these days, it's refreshing to read a new take on it. Very well done, he keeps the pace flowing and the reader enraptured.

**A book I would also recommend is The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. This, the first installment of The Morcyth Saga is a great beginning for a new author. Battles, magic, gods, secret passages and intrigue, all the elements of a classic epic fantasy! Any fantasy reader will enjoy it.