The sword in the stone

I should stop referring to this sword as ‘Excalibur’ as the majority of the re-tellings feature Arthur breaking this sword in his fight with Pellinore and later recieves Excalibur from the :ady in the Lake. Although Boorman’s movie had her magically repair excalibur. Arthur finding the sword is a curse as much as a blessing in my mind – the sign of troubles to come as well as the glory – hence the menace.