Eight-Year-Old Girl Pulls Ancient Sword Out Of Lake
Only the luckiest of beachcombers will ever scavenge anything really interesting, like an arrowhead, or a landmine, or the remains of a beachcomber who found a landmine. So it must have been frustrating when the news broke that a young Swedish girl had out of the blue managed to pull a rusted sword out of the water as if she was destined to do it. And like anything related to myth, her story imparts important lessons -- specifically, that you should keep up with your tetanus shots, and we as a people really need to brush up on our Arthurian legend.
When eight-year-old Saga (most thematically appropriate name ever) Vanecek was skipping stones on a hot July day, she noticed something strange in the lake. She first thought it was just a stick, but seeing as this stick had a hilt, she and father contacted a local archaeologist, who confirmed that she had indeed effortlessly retrieved an ancient sword from the water, reminiscent of the ancient Arthurian legend of Excalibur. So reminiscent, in fact, that the discovery was intentionally kept a secret until after the summer, out of fear that the quiet nature retreat would get swamped by relic hunters.
Weirdly enough, children pulling legendary weapons out of the water is becoming a bit of a trend. Only a year prior, British seven-year-old Matilda Jones found a sword in the very lake where legend says Arthur was given his Excalibur. But that young lady's sword was generally agreed upon to be but a prop. Meanwhile, Saga's find appears to be a genuine millennium-and-a-half-old pre-Viking sword, confirmed by the later discovery of an ancient brooch nearby
Archaeologists still don't know how the sword could possibly have found its way to the banks of the lake and then effortlessly into the hands of a small girl. (Unlike social media, which felt it was obvious that this girl is supposed to be the new Queen of Sweden, as dictated by the rules of myth, in which swords choose who gets to rule.) But maybe the internet should crack open its old copy of Le Morte D'Arthur again, because it wasn't King Arthur who retrieved the sword from the water, but the Lady of the Lake (who's honestly a much cooler character anyway), who gave it to him to establish his birthright. Know your Merlin, kids!
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