- In the days of King Arthur, they lived in Camelot, who entertains the royal court with miraculous feet south high above the wall.

The ancient meet with members of the magic round table.

Come with us now to the secret room of, - You know what that is?

It just came through the smoke.

Do you have any idea?

It looked like an apple at first, but it really take a pardon balloon.

That's right, it's a balloon.

Oh, there's some writing on the back of the balloon.

And it says, it's a present from our friend Gerald, the Giant.

Remember Gerald, that tall giant five stories high, who peeks through the secret window and back of the shield, and Gerald goes on and he said, dear Merlin, this is a magic balloon.

Oh, magic balloon.

If you spin it, it will float.

Spin it.

It will float.

I wonder if I should spin it to the right or to the left.

Well, I'll try it.

Here we go.

Isn't that amazing?

See, if I don't spin it, it doesn't float.

It falls a magic balloon.

You know, Gerald gave me another present.

It's called a Magic Nutcracker and well, really the, the, the scientific name, the real name grownup word is, is mortar and pestle.

And it's used for grinding things.

But you know, Gerald, the giant is so tall that when he grinds his food or or cracks, walnuts this size, he needs a large mortar and pestle.

And the idea is, well, I'll take it out and let you see.

This is a huge mallet or hammer and it's used to hit things from the top when placed inside of that mortar.

I wonder what would happen if I put this magic balloon in there, you suppose would turn into a, what would you like?

Beg your pardon?

A rabbit.

Now that's asking for a lot.

Well, I've never used this magic nutcracker before, but I'll try it.

I can't guarantee a rabbit, but I'll, oh, that's so heavy.

I'll try it.

Oh my.

The balloon fills the entire space, doesn't it?

And this is so large and heavy.

I don't like to have balloons break.

All I do is hurt my fingernails.

Beg your pardon?

I should break the balloon first.

Oh, that hurt?

Mm, that's smarts.

What do you think happened?

Any idea?

Oh look.

Very strong balloon, wasn't it?

It's not a balloon anymore.

It's a rabbit, but, oh dear.

Look what happened to our rabbit.

Isn't that sad?

Oh my.

He's so thin and flat in Christ.

Maybe I can get something else instead of a rabbit.

You make a wish and we'll see if your wish comes true.

There's nothing in here now you see.

Oh my gracious.

We have grapes from California, which is quite a trick because this is England and apples and oranges, all kind of fruit.

I kind of like bananas, best of all.

Yes.

I think I'll just peel this banana.

Sorry, I can't offer you one.

Do you like bananas?

Oh, I love them.

They don't wanna peel these magic bananas.

Oh my.

That's dangerous.

I think I'd better give you the banana and go over and see.

Excalibur, can you catch it?

You sure?

Alright, here comes the banana.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to hit you on the head.

I'll, I'll practice throwing later on.

But fruit seriously is much better than eating candy when you come home from school.

Much more healthful.

Vitamin C and D. Very good for you.

Eat at least an apple a day for me.

Will you?

Oh, you wanna make the mighty sort ex caliber rise.

Well, Merlin has a little cold, so you say the words loud for me, will you?

Here we go.

The magic incantation, fiddly die fiddly.

D magic sword.

Rise for me.

Can you read that?

It says Arthur's story.

Arthur's story.

And you know what Arthur we're talking about.

Oh, that's a heavy sword, isn't it?

We're talking about King Arthur, of course.

And he has quite a story to be told.

And there's one person who can tell it infinitely better than I.

Much better than I can tell it.

I'm gonna draw a quick sketch of this person and I wonder if you know who it might be.

Do you have any idea who this, who this beautiful young lady might be?

Well, I don't have much to go on yet, do I?

Hmm.

But she is quite beautiful, and I'll tell you this.

She has blonde hair, long tresses, and she usually has a braid come over her shoulder like this.

The hair is braided and this lady's name is, what do you think?

Oh, I forgot.

I'll give you another clue.

She usually has pearls in her hair right around like that.

And she usually has pearls around her sleeve.

Do you have any idea now of whom I speak?

Do you have any idea?

This lady is Queen g Guinevere.

And I'm going to spell it because many of you, when you're writing me letters, you misspell her name G Guinevere, G-U-I-N-E-V-E-R-E. And the reason I mention her name regarding Arthur's story is because she knows more about it than anyone else, right?

In fact, she's been writing a history of Camelot telling how the round table was formed and how she came here to Camelot and why she came.

Now it's much too long a walk to her room, but I'm going to use a crystal ball to see her.

Alright?

I don't have a crystal ball with me, right?

But I'm going to draw a crystal ball and then you can, you can use your imagination and concentrate on it.

And you may see Queen g Guinevere in her room with the magic scroll in King Arthur's story.

While a crystal ball is round, obviously right?

It's round and it's very shiny and it sets on a pedestal like that.

So you just pretend this is the real crystal ball.

You can use your imagination, can't you?

And pretend and just concentrate.

Concentrate and look into the crystal ball.

That's it.

That's - It.

Hello.

It's so nice to see you again.

I've been reading about the story of King Arthur, and there's one part I'd like to particularly share with you.

It's all about the events that led up to Arthur.

Being chosen is king of England.

Let's review first.

Let's see.

Now you all remember who King Arthur Pendragon was?

That's right.

He was King Arthur's father.

And after the Good King Pendragon died, there was no one to rule in England.

And lawlessness and fighting broke out all over the land.

Something had to be done and it had to be done quickly.

So the Archbishop of Canterbury called upon the help of Merlin because we all know that Merlin is the wisest wizard in the whole world.

And he told Merlin he had to come up with some way of selecting a new king.

You know what Merlin did?

He made a huge stone to appear magically right in front of the cathedral.

And in the center of that stone was a mighty sword called Excalibur.

Word spread throughout the land that the man who could pull the sword from the stone would be the next king of England.

So the Archbishop commanded all the chief people in all the land to come to London town at Christmas tide and attempt to withdraw the sword from the stone.

As the days passed, curious people just came to watch and stare at this unusual stone, and the mighty sword writes smack in the center of it.

Well, as Christmas approached, it looked like the whole world was coming to London.

The roads and the byways were just packed with travelers.

Let's see now, there were lesser kings, barons, Earls, Dukes, Knights, Squires pages, men at arms, and of course they brought their lovely ladies with them.

They were all eager to try their hand at the contest of the sword.

And for those who weren't going to try, they just wanted to watch.

Everybody was excited about this big event.

The inland castles were full of travelers.

And for those people who weren't as lucky to get indoor shelter, they just tents anywhere and everywhere.

Wherever there was a space, some of them right alongside the open road.

Well, the Archbishop and Merlin watched as the crowds got larger and larger, and the Archbishop expressed some fear about this to Merlin.

But Merlin said to him, have no fear, my Lord, for there is one in the group who will not fail to pull the sword from the stone.

There is one worthy to be king of England.

And I'll you about that the next time we meet again.

But meanwhile, I'd like to leave you with these words, do your good deeds daily.

Merlin and I both want to know about them because it makes us so happy to know that you're living by the creed of the round table in the things you do every day.

So till we meet again, I'm going back to reading about the story of King Arthur.

- Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Queen Guinevere.

She did that so well.

And I'm going to give her a magic present.

This is a little spool of silk thread and I'm going to pull a length of thread out of there.

That should be enough.

Break it, roll the thread up into a tight little ball like that.

I'll just put on the table for a moment because I'm going to need this handkerchief and my magic glass for my magic silkworm.

We'll put the thread in the glass right and we'll put the magic silkworm in the glass.

And he's very bashful.

So I'm going to cover the empty glass with the, with the white handkerchief.

That's right.

Nothing on either side.

I'm going to cover the glass with a white silk handkerchief.

And listen, I think he's spinning.

I think he's spinning a silk scarf for the queen.

Listen, that's a silk scarf.

That sounds like a blanket.

Come on now you can spin finer silk than that.

Try it again.

That's fine.

And believe it or not, from that little bit of thread, our magic silkworm has spun a wonderful gift for the queen.

Nothing there, just the covering handkerchief.

And look what we have here.

A beautiful, beautiful silk scarf.

I think Queen g Guine ever will like this, don't you?

I do.

I'm gonna see you soon.

But before, before I forget, I better get one of these magic apples and I'm going to eat it.

Until next time we meet.

Take care of yourself, stay healthy.

Goodbye.

Now this is good.

- And Guinevere was portrayed by Prudence Falconer.

Berlin was produced in the studios of Ohio University Television, Athens, Ohio.