ARTHUR
THE RALLYING SONG
My name is Arthur, I am he,
Once and Future, born to be.
Celtic Chieftain, Knight of Old,
I am the story as foretold.
Loyal Knights, must come to me,
Bowing to their destiny.
Where ’er we find them, we’ll right wrong,
For this must always be our song.
The Cauldron and the Cross unite,
Christian and Pagan, join our fight.
To re-unite the Celtic creed,
In it’s time of greatest need.
From the Rallying Song c. Arthur Pendragon 1987
Once and Future, born to be.
Celtic Chieftain, Knight of Old,
I am the story as foretold.
Loyal Knights, must come to me,
Bowing to their destiny.
Where ’er we find them, we’ll right wrong,
For this must always be our song.
The Cauldron and the Cross unite,
Christian and Pagan, join our fight.
To re-unite the Celtic creed,
In it’s time of greatest need.
From the Rallying Song c. Arthur Pendragon 1987
CASTLE CAMELOT
There are tales, and there are stories,
Of Arthur and his Knights.
Of Standing Stones and Circles,
And ancient Battle sites.
But the place that figures most, is not a place at all,
‘tis Castle Camelot, without a Castle wall.
You’ll not find it on a map, or posted on a sign,
But it’s there wherever we gather and partake of the wine.
From Castle Camelot
c. Arthur Pendragon 1989
Of Arthur and his Knights.
Of Standing Stones and Circles,
And ancient Battle sites.
But the place that figures most, is not a place at all,
‘tis Castle Camelot, without a Castle wall.
You’ll not find it on a map, or posted on a sign,
But it’s there wherever we gather and partake of the wine.
From Castle Camelot
c. Arthur Pendragon 1989
THE BALLAD OF BULLINGDON GOAL
As written on HMP toilet paper
(This being the only source of paper made available to him)
By King Arthur Pendragon © 1996
It all started with a visit to Newbury
in the year of the Lord, the Prophet Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, One Thousand nine
hundred and ninety six, of their calendar
The third battle of Newbury was in
progress, I had been there before, when
pixi camp fell and as Knight
Commander of Camelot Camp but
this time I knew would be different
Last time it had meant a couple of
nights in the local dungeon, two
appearances to the local magistrates
and a brief foray into the capital for
High Court having made eight
appearances before the Courts so far
this year, this would be my ninth,
nine the triple triad, I had to
succeed this time especially as Bristol
Court had already put me on a
twelve month conditional but first
I had to get arrested
My original plan to travel to Newbury
and get a quick arrest on Monday
and to get the conditional dealt with
at the same time, up before the Magistrates
the following day and hopefully manage
a brief custodial sentence, not as
before held until the rising of the Court.
Well it worked, almost too well
like clockwork. I not only got my
arrest, that was the simple bit
but one I could argue in Court
with a not guilty plea did not help
my chances of a sentence though, but
the Goddess smiled upon me and I lost
for the first time, my unconditional bail
application and the Prosecution asked
that I be remanded in custody, this of
course had happened before but there
was one vital difference this time, it
was a Lay Bench and they agreed.
hook line and sinker, Bullingdon Gaol
was to become the next Battle Field
but what would they make of a Celtic
Chieftain, Pagan Priest and Druid Swordbearer.
I arrived fully robed, no sword alas
that was kept at Newbury Police
station along with my Shield and Staff
"Best leave that here" advised the
Dungeon Master at Newbury, referring
To my Iron Circlet
"They'll not let you wear that"
"We'll see", said I gleefully so the
scene was set, let battle commence
Early Tuesday evening I arrived at
reception to the usual "You can take that
off for a start and the robes" You know
the type traffic warden mentality
"Rules is Rules."
Well I wasn't going to falter at the
first hurdle was I, refusing on religious
grounds and demanding to see the
Chaplain and the Governor. The Chaplain
wasn't available but an assistant
Governor was. After much deliberation
and reading from a manual he had
appropriated from the Chaplain's office
he decided I could have a point
about my necklaces but as for the robes
and the Circlet, they were coming off
and that was that. Undaunted I stood
my ground and then abruptly sat it for
then came the easy way, hard way speech
I informed him and his Goon squad
that my cooperation stopped then and
there and I sat in the corner of his
office wrapping my cloak about my
arm and securing my circlet tightly
in both hands.
They readied to pounce, I braced
myself, and then the situation was diffused
as he spat out "Take him to
Segregation". The Block.
Well that's not so bad, is it? Rather
like a monastic cell and I still
had my robes. They were playing
my game by their rules and I knew
enough about their rules to win, or so I thought.
This situation lasted until Friday
afternoon when it entered its
second phase Whereby I was in fact
disrobed by diverse means, a degree
of trickery, brute force and down
right lies and deception.
The stalemate had lasted, the
Chaplain unable to contact the
Pagan Federation for advice having
seemingly only a fax number for
them. Professor Ronald Hutton, Bristol
University had been quoted to me as
an Authority.
"Fine" I said, "I knighted him last
Saturday, he's in my Order and he's
one of my authorities for a European
Court case against HMG, other
sources they quoted were all known
to me but alas the electricary of the
fax number blocked that avenue through
the Chaplains office.
The Number One Governor had had
enough by Thursday evening and
sent a trio of Prison Officers into
my cell with a prison uniform
and a direct order for me to give
up my robes and change into it.
Which I of course refused and was
up before him the next day on a
'Catch all' charge of disobeying a
direct order.
Well it turned out that the No. 1
Governor who had issued the
order was not only Judge, Jury
and Executioner but Accuser and
Prosecutor as well. So after a
very brief hearing at which I
pleaded Not Guilty as the Order
was not lawful quoting Home
Office guide lines on religion and
Remand prisoners. Surprise,
Surprise he found me guilty
added seven days to my sentence,
dished out various other fiscal
Punishments and marched me out
straight into the waiting arms of
the Goon squad. The Doctor
the prison visitor and what I took
to be the obligatory social worker,
ready insitu to observe like a
lamb to the slaughter.
Two arms locked, fingers up my
nose, my robes were literally
ripped from me to lines like
"Shall I give him some pain?"
all that was missing was Peter
Loreys voice, as the Governor
stood emotionless looking on like
The Grand Inquisitor.
Enter phase two, token twenty-four
hour hunger strike, still on the
block No exercise Banged up 24
hours a day. Minus my robes in
fact minus everything, still refusing
their uniform now totally Skyclad
as the Goddess intended.
So having been prostrated before
their Great God who had set himself
up not only as Judge, Jury and executioner
but also as accuser and prosecutor I was
led back to my cell naked. No more
exercise though in truth despite repeated
requests I had only been exercised
once thus far anyway.
Then came the Great 'run around' I
requested both orally and in writing
as per Home Office procedure, a confidential
access envelope addressed to the Area
Manager and the relevant form re
appeal against Adjudication.
This I did repeatedly, Friday and Saturday
Sunday and Monday. Presumably
I would 'forget about it'.
As I was in court on Wednesday
needless to say I would not
Galahad had visited, they had refused
to allow him to 'Pass' any tobacco
nor would they allow me to purchase
any with the tenner they had
told Ellie they could pay into my
property for that purpose but
hopefully they, Ellie and Gallahad would
alert the press and rustle up
some Druid support and legal
advice. In the meanwhile I had
written to Liberty and a complaint
to the Home Secretary no doubt
they had sent them out 2nd class
One fresh twist, Civil proceedings
had started, it seemed likely that
I would soon be injuncted.
One thing had changed though
the prison officers were now becoming
quite civil to me and thanks to
two of them I was now smoking
albeit a limited amount.
Lack of fresh air and artificial
light combined to give me almost
constant headache but that was
a small price to pay in the fight for
Religious freedom, Civil liberty
and the protection of our Goddess, the land.
At this stage I had no idea how it
would go in court Wednesday save,
to say that I could not, nor would not,
agree to their bail conditions. My
spirits were lifted by the knowledge that
Galahad and Ellie were on the out
side Mobilising Support.
Life is what you make it, where 'ere
you be and judging by the length of this tale
thus far even the Block's not so
boring or so it seems to me.
Note: as a result of this protest Pagan Prisoners in H.M. Prison are now permitted to wear their Robes in the privacy of their own cell.
