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Overview
King Arthur ruled the land of Camelot with his trusted knights, including the handsome and brave Sir Lancelot. Lancelot had a brother by the name of Ellsworth who wasn’t quite as brave, but who was known for burping. When he was still a baby, his nurse decided that since Ellsworth was the brother of Lancelot, he would be known as “Sir Burpsalot.” Sir Lancelot also had a little sister by the name of Wendy.
Wendy was not like the other girls at Camelot. She did not want to learn how to sew, mend, and cook; she wanted to learn how to shoot a bow and arrow. People told her she couldn’t shoot because shooting wasn’t ladylike, but Wendy knew this was not fair. Burpsalot and Wendy may not sound like the usual heroes, but in the land of Camelot, heroes come in all shapes and sizes.
Together, this brother and sister take on dragons and stinkers. They learn the ways of poodletooters and fl utterbys. They make friends and bring honor to their family, despite humble beginnings.
Cover and illustrations drawn by Alex Walton, Kelowna, British Columbia
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781645521181 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Lettra Press LLC |
| Publication date: | 11/26/2019 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 34 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
| Age Range: | 5 - 12 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
A Visit to the Kingdom of Camelot
By R. L. Greenwood
iUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2013 R. L. GreenwoodAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-8097-4
Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Camelot Gets a New King
In the kingdom of Camelot, there was a very old king. He was a good king, but he was a very old king, and one day he died. He had no son who could take his place. The knights, especially Sir Lancelot and Sir Gerwain, all wanted to become king, but they couldn't decide who it should be. Then Sir Lancelot had a good idea. They would ask the magician Merlin to decide for them. The knights put on their best armor and set off for Merlin's cabin in the woods.
Merlin was a wise old man who lived in the woods with his owl named Growl, who helped him. Growl the Owl also guarded Merlin from people who came to his cabin, because Merlin liked to be left alone. Whenever anyone came to see Merlin, Growl would bird bomb them. (This means that Growl pooped on their heads so they would go away.)
But the knights were not afraid of Growl because they were wearing their armor. They just covered their faces as they rode up to the cabin. Merlin heard all the noise that the owl was making and opened the door. When he saw the knights, he told Growl to stop. Growl flew up to the roof and just hooted at the knights.
Sir Lancelot was the first to speak. "Merlin, sir," he said, "we have a bad problem. The king is dead, and we can't decide who should be the next king."
Merlin pulled on his long white beard as he thought about the knights' problem. He called Growl down from the roof and told him all about it too. Growl hooted and hooted. Then Merlin said, "I have discussed this great problem with my friend here, and we have decided that we know the answer. Down by the lake, there is a big rock. Sticking out of the rock is the world's greatest magical sword. It is called Excalibur. Whoever holds this sword is a king. All you have to do is go down to the lake, and whoever pulls the sword from the stone will be king of Camelot."
The knights thought this was a good idea. They also needed to wash the owl poop off their armor. So they jumped on their horses and rushed down to the lake. They found the big rock, and, sure enough, there was Excalibur sticking out of it, just as Merlin had said. Sir Lancelot climbed on the rock and tugged and tugged on the handle of Excalibur. It would not come out of the rock. Sir Galahad tried to pull it out, but he couldn't move it even a little. Sir Gerwain, Sir Ivan, Sir Tyler, and all the other knights took a try, but they couldn't pull it out of the rock.
A young boy had been fishing in the lake. His name was Arthur, but everyone called him Artie. He watched what the knights were doing. At last he said to them, "Can I try to pull the sword out of the stone? I am pretty strong."
The knights all laughed and laughed at Artie. "How can a little squirt like you be stronger than all these great knights?" Sir Galahad told him to go away.
But Sir Lancelot said, "No! Artie may not be very big, but he is a good boy and should be given a chance."
Sir Lancelot knew Artie and thought he would make a great knight when he got a little bigger. "You can try to pull out the sword, Artie, but try not to fall off the rock and hurt yourself."
So Artie climbed on the rock and grabbed the handle of Excalibur. Then a miracle happened! Artie seemed to grow taller, and Excalibur started to glow. Artie pulled Excalibur out of the rock and held it above his head.
The knights were amazed; Arthur was the new king of Camelot. Each dropped down on one knee, because that was the way you greeted a king in those days.
Arthur was a good king. He made sure that all the knights helped him when he had a meeting at his famous Round Table. King Arthur decided that all of his knights would be equal to him, so he had them sit around a round table, so that no one would be the head. They would all have an equal voice in their decisions. His favorite and most loyal knight was Sir Lancelot, who was a great knight. He had long blond hair that came right down to his shoulders. He rode his big white horse all over Camelot, doing work for King Arthur.
But what no one knows is that Sir Lancelot had a little brother. When Sir Lancelot's brother was born, he was named Ellsworth. When Ellsworth was a baby, his mother fed him one day and put him on her shoulder to burp him. He BURPED! His BURP was so big and strong it blew a window out of the castle. King Arthur was angry. Windows were hard to get, since they had to be brought to Camelot on horseback from far away and cost a lot of money. So King Arthur made a law that any time Ellsworth had to be burped, he had to be pointed away from any window.
One day after Ellsworth gave a big BURP, his nurse said, "His brother is Lancelot. We should call him 'Burpsalot,' because that is what he does all the time." Everyone in the castle agreed. From that day on, no one called him Ellsworth; he became just plain Burpsalot.
As time went on, Burpsalot grew up and one day he was called into the castle to see King Arthur. King Arthur said to him, "You have grown up, and it is time you became a knight like your big brother, Sir Lancelot. So today I am making you a knight. You will now be known as Sir Burpsalot, because that is what you do."
One day King Arthur got a visit from one of his subjects. The man was a farmer who raised sheep on his farm. But the farmer was having trouble. There was a dragon near his farm that was eating his sheep. The farmer asked King Arthur to get rid of the dragon.
King Arthur knew this was really bad. He sent a messenger to find his greatest knight, who was his best dragon fighter: Sir Lancelot. Sir Lancelot came rushing in to see the king. King Arthur said, "All of this poor man's sheep are being eaten by a nasty, fire-breathing dragon. Can you get rid of this awful dragon?"
Sir Lancelot stood up very straight and said, "I am the best dragon killer in the world. I will get rid of him."
So Sir Lancelot set off on his beautiful white horse to do battle with the nasty dragon. He looked very handsome, with his straight back and his beautiful long blond hair that hung right down past his shoulders.
The next day Sir Lancelot came back to see King Arthur. He looked terrible. His beautiful blond hair was all burned off. He had no eyebrows. And he was very sad. The dragon had even burned the tail and mane straight off his horse. Sir Lancelot said to King Arthur, "I am sorry, Your Majesty, but I could not defeat this dragon. He breathes fire, and I could not get close enough to slay him."
King Arthur was very disappointed because he had promised the farmer that he would get rid of the nasty dragon. So King Arthur sent out a message to all his subjects to see if anyone could help him get rid of the dragon.
No one came to King Arthur with any ideas for quite a while. But finally Sir Burpsalot went to King Arthur and said, "I would like to get rid of this bad dragon for you. I have a good idea and will leave tomorrow to take care of this bad, sheep-eating dragon." So King Arthur told him he should go ahead.
Sir Burpsalot left the king and went to his room. He did not BURP, and when he went downstairs for his supper, he did not BURP. Sir Burpsalot did not BURP after supper like he usually did. He just quit BURPING. All the people in the castle realized that since Sir Burpsalot was no longer BURPING, there was no danger of the windows being blown out, and people no longer had to worry about having their hair blown off when Sir Burpsalot was around. But they also noticed that Sir Burpsalot was getting bigger. He got fatter and fatter all the time, and when he went to bed, he was blown up like a balloon.
The next morning when Sir Burpsalot woke up, he needed help to get out of bed. He did not BURP when he went downstairs for breakfast. He ate a big breakfast, but he still did not BURP. Then he went out into the castle yard and told the stable boy to bring the biggest horse in the stable. Sir Burpsalot had grown so big that he was four times his normal size. He could not get on his horse by himself. All the stable boys had to help him onto the big horse.
Sir Burpsalot rode out to meet the nasty, fire-breathing dragon. He had to have a stable boy on each side of him to make sure he stayed on the big horse, because he was still getting fatter all the time. But Sir Burpsalot did not BURP.
When Sir Burpsalot, with the stable boys, came up to the cave where the nasty, fire-breathing dragon lived, he fell off his horse and bounced on the ground like a rubber ball. The stable boys helped him stand up, and Sir Burpsalot walked up to the cave. The nasty dragon saw him coming and thought, Here comes another stupid knight who thinks that he will slay me. I won't just burn off his hair and eyebrows; I will make toast out of him and have him for breakfast.
The nasty dragon then threw back his head to send a great ball of fire at poor big fat Sir Burpsalot. But Sir Burpsalot was ready for him, and just when the dragon's head was reared back, Sir Burpsalot let go. It was the biggest B-U-R-R-R-R-P the world had ever heard before or ever has since. The BURP hit that nasty dragon right in the mouth and sent him back into the cave on his tail. The nasty dragon got up and looked at Sir Burpsalot, who was now back to his normal size. The dragon was no longer breathing fire. His fire was out. The dragon smiled at Sir Burpsalot and said, "Thank you, Sir Knight. You have put out that fire that has been burning in my belly ever since I came to Camelot. It was making me very nasty because my belly always hurt. That is why I treated everyone so badly and tried to hurt them."
Sir Burpsalot looked at what had been a nasty, fire-breathing dragon and was very happy. The dragon was now smiling at him. Sir Burpsalot said, "It is no wonder you had a fire in your belly. You have been eating sheep and swallowed them with their wool on. The wool caught fire in your belly and made you nasty and mean. You will have to quit eating sheep."
So Sir Burpsalot gathered the farmers around the dragon's cave to bring him fruits and vegetables, so he would have lots to eat and would not eat their sheep. The dragon, whose name was George, became a great friend of Sir Burpsalot. He would carry Sir Burpsalot on his back as he flew all over Camelot. George liked having Sir Burpsalot with him when he went flying, because when the crows and eagles would attack poor George, Sir Burpsalot would let out one of his BURPS and blow them out of the sky. George the Dragon and Sir Burpsalot became King Arthur's greatest friend and knight.
CHAPTER 2
Sir Lancelot's Sister Becomes an Expert Archer
Once upon a time, long, long ago in the kingdom of Camelot ruled by the great King Arthur, the people were very happy.
The dragon that had been eating farmers' sheep was made tame by Sir Burpsalot, and they were good friends. Sir Burpsalot used to ride George the Dragon all over Camelot, and sometimes over other kingdoms around Camelot. Sir Burpsalot became a great knight, along with his brother, Sir Lancelot. King Arthur depended on them to solve any problems that sometimes bothered people.
The two knights had a younger sister named Wendy. Wendy watched her brothers practicing with their swords, bows, and arrows. She wanted to shoot arrows just like her brothers.
She was told, "Girls don't shoot arrows. Only boys and men are allowed to be knights, and only knights can shoot arrows. So you can't do it. You are just a girl."
"But that is not fair," Wendy said. "Girls should be able to shoot arrows, too."
She was told that it was just the way things were. Girls were supposed to stay in the castle and mend socks and learn to cook and do girl things.
Wendy was not happy. One day she watched her brothers shooting arrows. A page brought Sir Burpsalot a new bow made especially for him by King Arthur's best bow maker. Sir Burpsalot liked his new bow and threw his old bow in the trash can.
When Sir Burpsalot and Sir Lancelot left to go for a horseback ride, Wendy picked the bow out of the garbage and took it with her to her room. She looked at it every day and dreamed about shooting some arrows. One day she found some arrows that had been left behind after her brothers had finished their shooting practice. She went to her room and got the bow.
Wendy knew that she could not practice shooting her bow and arrows with her brothers, so she went out into the forest where no one could watch her. She set up a target and started shooting. At first, she couldn't even hit the target, but she kept trying and finally shot an arrow right into the center. Wendy got a bull's-eye!
From that day on, Wendy went into the forest every day and practiced shooting at her target. She got so she could hit a bull's-eye every time. She became an expert archer.
But Wendy was not happy. She could not shoot arrows with her brothers. Wendy went to talk to her mother, Lady Tanya, to ask her what she should do. Lady Tanya thought for a while and said, "I do not know what to tell you. I do not have an answer to such a hard question. Why don't you go and ask Merlin the Magician for his advice? He knows everything."
So Wendy set off to see Merlin the Magician, who lived in a cabin in the woods with his wise old owl, Growl. Growl's job was to keep people away so they wouldn't disturb him while he studied things. If they did, Growl would bird bomb them.
When Wendy walked toward the cabin, Growl saw her and flew over her head. Now, Growl's job was to guard Merlin's home and keep people away. But poor Growl did not know what to do this time. He had never seen a girl before, and this person was not wearing armor like the knights did. Instead, she wore a bright red dress and did not even have a hat, so Growl did not bird bomb her. He just hooted at her. He hooted and hooted.
Merlin came to the door to see what all the fuss was about and saw Wendy. "What can I do for you, little lady?" he asked.
"Oh, Mr. Merlin, sir, my name is Wendy, and I have a big problem. I am a great archer, but I can't let anyone see me shoot any arrows because I am a girl."
Merlin thought about Wendy's problem for a long time. He called Growl to discuss it with him. Growl hooted and hooted, and finally Merlin said, "Miss Wendy, I think you should go back into the woods behind the cabin. Growl will show you the way. He will take you to see Lucy. She is a unicorn. You will recognize her when you see her because she looks like a horse but has a horn sticking out right in the middle of her forehead. She also has wings and she can fly. Lucy will be able to help you."
"But horses can't talk," Wendy said.
"Unicorns are not horses," said Merlin. "They are magical animals who talk just like you and me."
So Wendy followed Growl deep into the forest, and they soon found Lucy.
"What do you want?" asked Lucy, not very nicely.
"Good unicorn, my name is Wendy, and I have a big problem."
Wendy told Lucy her problem, and Lucy listened to every word before she spoke.
"I know that some people cannot accept that some girls are different and want to do things that other people are not used to. I can fly and talk like everyone else, but people do not like that, so I just stay away from them. I think I can help you. Get on my back and hold on to my mane. I will take you to someone who makes screaming arrows that will make people pay attention to you. Screaming arrows make so much noise that they hurt people's ears and make them want to hide."
So Wendy got on Lucy's back, and they flew up over a mountain. They landed in another forest, near a tiny cabin.
"This is the home of Twerp," said Lucy. "He makes the screaming arrows."
Lucy thumped on the door with her hoof, and Twerp answered it. Lucy told Twerp about Wendy and how she needed some screaming arrows.
Twerp said, "I don't let just anyone have my screaming arrows unless they promise not to shoot anyone with them. They are a secret weapon that only certain people are allowed to have. You look like a nice young lady who would not hurt anyone, so I will give you some."
Wendy took a whole bundle of screaming arrows and got back on the unicorn's back. They flew back over the trees and the mountain, back to the castle in Camelot, where they saw Wendy's brothers practicing their archery. She put a screaming arrow in her bow and shot it at their target. She made a bull's-eye. The arrow scared both Sir Lancelot and Sir Burpsalot and really hurt their ears. When they looked up into the sky, they saw Wendy on the back of a beautiful white unicorn. They did not know what to say. Wendy just flew off laughing on Lucy's back.
From that day on, Wendy was allowed to shoot arrows with her brothers because they were afraid that she might shoot another screaming arrow near them.
Wendy was happy now. Her new friend, Lucy, would come to see her often, and they would go flying together. Sometimes Sir Burpsalot would get on the back of his friend George, the friendly dragon, and they would fly all over the countryside together.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from A Visit to the Kingdom of Camelot by R. L. Greenwood. Copyright © 2013 by R. L. Greenwood. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc..
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