Arthurian Arthurian legend is folklore created by Geoffrey of Monmouth a monk, his chronicle of the Kings of Britain depicted the

tales of King Arthur and his Knights but no other sources could verify his account. This then started the legend of king Arthur. King Arthur is a symbol of British heroism in a time when England was constantly being attacked; he represented a powerful force to be reckoned with. King Arthur is named in 12 battles by Nennius, Michael Wood from the BBC explains that one man could not possibly have fought in all of them. The 12 battles are in fact the first signs of a legend.(Wood, M 2011)This shows that Britain wanted to represent King Arthur as a powerful warrior in battle if he was able to fight in 12 different wars. The stories with the Holy Grail are relatable to chivalry and romance because of the Marriage between Henry the 2nd and Eleanor of Aquitaine. This brought French writers to produce a tale of chivalry and romance compared to political fable that it once was.(Wood, M 2011). There are 12 tales written about King Arthur I have written a brief summary of the tales that were interesting to me. 1. How the King went on a pilgrimage and his squire was slain in a dream summary The king wanted to go on a quest to the White forest to find the holy chapel of St Augustine, his with didnt want him to go alone so asked that he would bring a squire with him. The day before the King left to go on his adventure the squired had a dream that the king had gone on the quest without him. He then rode off on his horse to try and find the king. He came to a chapel that thought that the king might have entered into. Candles were laid out in honor of a knight that had died , the squire took one of the candle stands thinking that he could give the candle stick to the king. A mysterious man stopped him in the forest knowing that he had taken the candle that was left for the knight and stabbed the squire. The squire woke up from his dream screaming of pain and that he was going to die, the king heard his anguish cries and went to see him. The squire told the King about him dream and revealed that he was bleeding and pulled out the candle stick that he had retrieved from the chapel. ( Sacred text, s.d) The quest of the Holy Grail summary The Holy Grail was the cup that Jesus drank out of at the last supper; Joseph of Arimathea brought this Grail to England. The Grail was said to be invisible to mankind due to the sins that they had committed but the Knights of the Round Table and sir Lancelot went against King Arthurs request and tried to pursue the Grail. They neglected their duties of trying to right the wrongs in the Kingdom causing issues for the kingdom. ( Sacred text, s.d)

2. The Coming of the Holy Grail The Knights and King Arthur met on the eve of Pentecost, in the midst of their feasting the sight of the Holy Grail appeared in the middle of the room with a white veil covering the cup when it entered the room it brought a sweet aroma with it and to every man food they loved the best. Many of the knights decided that they wanted to go out and retrieve the Holy Grail and left the kingdom to pursue the Grail. This made the kingdom very sad especially the king because he loved his knights.( Sacred text, s.d). Ninja Figure 1 shows a variety of weapons that ninjas would use.

Figure 1 Ninja weapons Ninjas or Shinobis are experts in espionage and silent assassination they are all about mystery. Ninjas were normally hired by Samurais to kill, spy and sabotage. They normally wore a dark blue, to camouflage themselves in the night so that they could hide in the shadows appearing virtually invisible. They would normally have everything covered except for their eyes.

Weapons that were good for silent kills were shurikens and fukiya. Ninjas were also skilled swordsmen; they used their weapons to help them climb buildings and trees to aid them in spying on their enemies. Ninja missions were secretive so there are only a few documents detailing their missions. Theyre craft was normally passed on from generation to generation. There are said to be over 43 Ninja Clans below are a few Koka ninja clan Kawakami's Koka Iga ninja clan Togakure clan

The two most famous ninja clans are Kawakami's Koka and Iga ninja clans because of their work with Ieyasu Tokugawa - who united Japan after centuries of civil wars when he won the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.( BBC, 2012) Ninjas would also have normal day jobs they couldnt be a ninja 24/7 because they also had to find other ways to provide for their families. Some had jobs such as pedlers or farmers and would use this job as an opportunity to spy. During the Edo period the Tokugawa era many ninjas were thought to have converted into Samurais because of the four classes that Tokugawa set, everyone had to be classified as a farmer, merchant, warrior or artisan.

Bibliography BBC, (2012). Japans ninjas heading for extinction. At: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20135674 Taylor,P.(2004-2011). Arthurian legend. At:http://www.arthurian-legend.com (Accessed on 10.10.13) Wood, M.( 2011). King Arthur Once and future king. At: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/arthur_01.shtml (Accessed on 10.10.13) Figure 1 ninja weapons. At: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20135674 (Accessed on 14.10.13)