As King Arthur lay dying he commanded his knight Sir Bedivere to take his sword Excalibur and throw it into the nearby lake. As he did so, an arm rose up out of the water and caught the sword, then vanished back under the water once more. King Arthur then commanded Sir Bedivere to take him down to the lakeside

And when they were at the waterside, even fast by the bank hoved a little barge, with many fair ladies in it... Now put me into the barge, said the king: and so he did softly. And there received him three queens with great mourning, and so they set him down, and in one of their laps king Arthur laid his head.
- Malory.

And then the barge carrying the ladies and King Arthur sailed off into the mist, never to be seen again. The next day a hermit told Sir Bedivere that a number of ladies had brought a dead body to him, and asked him to bury it for them. The body was said to have been that of King Arthur.