The Sleeping Sword

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Sleeping Sword is a British children's novel by Michael Morpurgo, with illustrations by Michael Foreman. It was first published in 2002 in the United Kingdom by Egmont Books.

Ten-year-old Bun Bundle lives on the island of Bryher in the Isles of Scilly, where only about eighty people live. His best friends are Dan and Liam, and Dan’s sister Anna is someone Bun secretly likes. One day Bun dives into the water to impress Anna, but he hits his head on a rock and goes blind. His friends help him cope with his new life.

While helping his father on the island, Bun falls into a hole and finds a tomb with a sword and a shield. His father suggests the tomb could be very old, from the time of King Arthur. When Bun touches the sword, his sight returns. An old man named Bedevere from Arthur’s court appears and says the sword is Excalibur. He tells Bun to take Excalibur to King Arthur. Bun and Anna set off on a journey to a ship waiting at the quay to take them to Arthur. They meet the king, and the story moves toward Bun returning the sword to the stone until the time is right for Arthur to come again. Bun and Anna return to Bryher on a ghost ship, hardly believing what happened.

The next morning Bun’s sight is restored, and the sword and shield are back in the tomb. Anna does not remember the events. Later, Bun falls into a cavity near his father’s tractor, and it seems the dreams of Arthur’s return might come true.

The real Bryher Woman grave, found in 1999 on Bryher, contained a mirror and a sword. The discovery inspired Morpurgo to write the novel. He often uses the Scilly Isles as a setting and has said the Isles feel like his own “Narnia.” The author also wrote about his stepfather, who had been blind, and he used that experience in the book. He dedicated the novel to the people of Bryher.

Reception was mixed. Some critics felt the plot was a bit contrived or uneven, while others praised the writing, the emotional depth, and the way the story blends history and legend.

In 2022, the book was adapted into a stage play by Tatty Hennessy, directed by Lucy Jane Atkinson at the Watermill Theatre in Berkshire. Reviews described it as a thoughtful, inclusive production with a gentle sense of magic, though some pointed out pacing issues and notes about the lead performance.