This legend tells the tale of the cruel Swabian emperor Henry VI, who ruled over Sicily between 1194 and 1197 and who gave power to bishops and dignitaries loyal to him and therefore of equal cruelty and to his deemed worthy representatives also renowned for their savagery.

One of these cruel imperial officials was the bishop of Catania, who one day gave his most beautiful horse to a squire and to two grooms and ordered them to take the beast for a walk on Etna’s slopes.

On the way, the horse suddenly bolted and started running towards the top of the volcano. Only the squire kept up and the two grooms, tired of the race, preferred to turn back to Catania, a fatal mistake since, upon their return, the Swabian bishop immediately beheaded them.

The squire followed the Bishop’s horse all the way to Etna’s summit; but on the edge of the central crater, the horse jumped and disappeared inside.

The poor squire began to weep, having lost the beautiful horse, and knowing the fate that awaited him if he returned empty-handed to his merciless lord. Suddenly he saw an old white-bearded man beside him who said "I know why you're crying. Come with me and I'll show you where the Bishop’s horse can be found".

The old man reassured the squire and taking him by the hand led him to amysterious passage through the smoke of the volcano, into an enchanting room full of crystal and glittering chandeliers. There, the squire beheld  a golden throne, and sat on the throne was King Arthur (who according to an English legend still lives on Etna).

The King told the squire that he knew all about him and about the cruel bishop of Catania. He showed him the horse that he the squire had thought dead, alive and added: "Go back to your bishop and tell him that you have been to King Arthur’s court, also tell him that his cruelty and his arrogance, as a worthy representative of his Emperor Henry VI, have taken their toll in God’s eyes, and that I, King Arthur shall be the one to punish him for hissins. Tell him that if he ever wants his horse back, he must take it back himself, he must complete the journey to the summit by foot. However, if he doesn’t come within fourteen days, on the fifteenth day he will die".

And having said this he dismissed him, after having given him a rich cloak and a purse full of money.

Suddenly, the squire found himself again on the edge of the crater. He thought he had dreamt of the encounter with King Arthur, but he quickly realized he still had the cloak draped over his shoulders and the purse full of money in his hands. He made his way back to Catania, but upon arrival, the cruel bishop did not believe his words. He even argued that the squire had sold the horse and bought the gifts that King Arthur supposedly gave him himself. But the Bishop was strangely hit by the sincerity of his servant and didn’t order to behead him. Instead he imprisoned him.

For 14 days, the squire was brought to the Bishop for questioning, but he always told the same story, that of King Arthur. The bishop did not want to humiliate himself or admit the error in his ways and frequently sent his knights to scour Etna in search of his horse. But none prevailed, nor did they return.

This continued for 14 days. On the dawn of the 15th, the bishop, exasperated, asked to be taken before the intrepid squire. "You're a wizard", he accused "You’re mocking me by making not only my horse disappear, but also my knights and my guards. And now, you will pay the price that wizards like you deserve: not the gallows or decapitation, but the stake!  Ah, guards, take him and burn him alive! " And saying so he stood up, his eyes bulged, he span around and fell stone dead on the ground.

Arthur's prophecy had come true, and the Bishop’s torments inflicted on Catania’s people had cometo and end forever.

And even the ferocious Emperor Henry VI of Swabia was hit by this divine vengeance, as he died at just thirty-two years old in Messina on September the 25th, 1197. His body lies in the Cathedral of Palermo, together with that of his wife’s Constance of Hauteville and the great son Frederick II of Swabia.