A legendary sword, reputed to be unbreakable and exceptionally sharp, has gone missing from a French town where it had been embedded in a rock for more than 1,300 years, according to reports.
The Durandal sword, often dubbed the French Excalibur akin to the legendary sword of King Arthur, symbolizes the selection of the true king of Britain who pulled it from a stone. Legend has it that an angel presented the sword to Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne in the eighth century.
The disappearance of the weapon remains shrouded in mystery, with locals speculating that a thief may have removed it from the rock wall where it was embedded, positioned approximately 100 feet above ground level.
The oldest surviving work of French literature, an 11th-century poem known for describing the ‘magic capabilities’ of the sword, is “The Song of Roland.” The sole existing manuscript of this epic is currently preserved at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
According to local lore, the sword and its accompanying legend were major attractions for the town. As per town stories, the indestructible sword possessed the extraordinary ability to cleave through stone with a single strike.
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Legend recounts that King Charlemagne bestowed the magical sword upon his finest warrior, Roland, a distinguished knight. As Roland faced his final battle and sought to prevent his enemies from wielding the sword, he tried in vain to destroy it, discovering its indestructible nature.
In a final act of desperation, Roland hurled it into the air. It traveled hundreds of kilometers before eventually landing on a cliff in Rocamadour, a French town.
The sword’s unexpected disappearance has distressed locals who feel their fates are intertwined with the legendary weapon. “We’re going to miss Durandal. It’s been part of Rocamadour for centuries, and there’s not a guide who doesn’t point it out during visits,” Mayor Dominique Lenfant told a French newspaper.
An investigation has been launched to locate the ancient relic, but the police are perplexed by how anyone managed to scale the 100-foot rock face and extract the sword.
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