And therewithal Sir Ector knelt down to the earth, and Sir Kay.

Alas, said Arthur, my own dear father and brother, why kneel ye to me?
Nay, nay, my lord Arthur, it is not so; I was never your father nor of your blood, but I wot well ye are of an higher blood than I weened ye were.

And then Sir Ector told him all, how he was betaken him for to nourish him, and by whose commandment, and by Merlin's deliverance.
Then Arthur made great dole when he understood that Sir Ector was not his father.

Sir, said Ector unto Arthur, will ye be my good and gracious lord when ye are king?
Else were I to blame, said Arthur, for ye are the man in the world that I am most beholden to, and my good lady and mother your wife, that as well as her own hath fostered me and kept.

And if ever it be God's will that I be king as ye say, ye shall desire of me what I may do, and I shall not fail you; God forbid I should fail you Sir, said Sir Ector, I will ask no more of you, but that ye will make my son, your foster brother, Sir Kay, seneschal of all your lands.