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A seven-year-old school girl had a legendary holiday after pulling a giant four-foot sword from the Cornish Lake where Arthur threw Excalibur.

Matilda Jones was wading through water waist-deep at Dozmary Pool when she stumbled across the blade underwater.

According to local folklore, Dozmary Pool is the spot where King Arthur returned Excalibur after being fatally wounded in the Battle of Camlann.

It is said to have been accepted by the Lady of the Lake, whose arm mysteriously rose from the water to received the fabled blade.

Ironically, her father Paul Jones, 51, had recounted the story of King Arthur to Matilda and her sister Lois, four, moments before the discovery.

Mr Jones, from Doncaster in south Yorkshire, said: 'It was a blistering hot day and Matilda asked if we could go for a paddle.

'She was only waist deep when she said she could see a sword.

'I told her not to be silly and it was probably a bit of fencing, but when I looked down I realised it was a sword. It was just there laying flat on the bottom of the lake.

'The sword is 4ft long - exactly Matilda's height.'

Legend has it that King Arthur first received Excalibur from the Lady of Lake in Dozmary Pool after rowing out to receive it.

After being mortally wounded he asked to be taken there so he could return the sword to her.

After three attempts, his loyal follower Bedivere cast it into the water and the Lady of the Lake's arm rose to receive it.

The pool, in the civil parish of Altarnun on Bodmin Moor, was said to be bottomless until droughts in 1859 and 1976 dried it out completely and revealed it is, in fact, and shallow pond.

Matilda shares her name with Empress Matilda, the daughter of King Henry I and heir to the English throne in the 12th century.

While it may be exciting to believe a young with such a regal name has written her own chapter in the Arthurian legend - her father thinks the sword's origins are more recent.

Mr Jones said: 'I don't think it's particularly old. It's probably an old film prop.'

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Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!

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Originally posted by BamaJeepster:
Oh but if I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away.

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Originally posted by 4x5:
On a side note, dad seems like a bit of a wet blanket. A sword? Don't be silly - that's just a piece of fencing. Oh, it is a sword. Well, it's probably not real, and not old.

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Originally posted by 12131:

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Originally posted by 4x5:
On a side note, dad seems like a bit of a wet blanket. A sword? Don't be silly - that's just a piece of fencing. Oh, it is a sword. Well, it's probably not real, and not old.

Or, maybe it's all a set up. You know, these days, I read almost everything with a high degree of skepticism.

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Originally posted by arfmel:

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Originally posted by 12131:

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Originally posted by 4x5:
On a side note, dad seems like a bit of a wet blanket. A sword? Don't be silly - that's just a piece of fencing. Oh, it is a sword. Well, it's probably not real, and not old.

Or, maybe it's all a set up. You know, these days, I read almost everything with a high degree of skepticism.

This. I smell a rat in Denmark.

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Originally posted by BamaJeepster:
Oh but if I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away.

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Originally posted by Leemur:
I'm not old.

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Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
watery tart

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just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away.

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Originally posted by kkina:
If not a blatant setup by the father (who ironically told the story of Arthur moments before the "discovery"), then the weapon was just chucked in the lake by someone else who also knew the legend.

OTOH, weird things do happen. I was in Japan once, up in the foothills. For some reason we started talking about monkeys. I asked if there were any around this area, and my friend assured me there were none in this prefecture. He had scarcely finished his sentence when I looked into a field and glanced at maybe 30 monkeys. My friend said I was mistaken, and said at most I saw a bunch of farmers dressed up in monkey suits (??). When we stoped at the next intersection, I told my friend to look behind him. The monkey tribe had just reached the side road. He had no explanation, but now his parents think we're both out of our minds, there's no monkeys in this prefecture.