About thirty years after this mosaic was laid down, an English visitor to the island of Sicily, not far distant, reported that its inhabitants believed Arthur could be found in the volcanic depths below Mt. Etna. He had also been seen on a Sicilian plain by a groom in search of a runaway horse. This man had crossed the plain, entered an ornate palace, and found King Arthur lying on a bed. The king told him of his last battle and that each year, on the anniversary of that battle, his wounds broke out afresh. It is surprising that the tradition of Arthur’s survival traveled so far from its
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