A Small Detail I Hadn't Noticed Before

I was looking for something in Le Morte Darthur, one of my favorite quotes. Arthur's old sword (the Sword in the Stone) has broken, and he received a new one, with Merlin's guidance, from the Lady of the Lake. Afterward, Merlin gives some sage advice:

"Than seyde Merlion, "Whethir lyke ye bettir the swerde othir the scawberde?" "I lyke bettir the swerde," seyde Arthure. "Ye ar the more unwyse, for the scawberde ys worth ten of the swerde; for whyles ye have the scawberde uppon you, ye shall lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded. Therefore kepe well the scawberde allweyes with you."

I always thought it was funny because, whenever anyone thinks of Arthur, they think most often of his sword, Excalibur, and not the sheath that comes with it. The sheath is an accessory at most, and since we all too often imagine Arthur in battle, with the sword in his hands, the sheath disappears. To be fair, the sheath disappears early on in Arthur's reign because Morgan, angry that Arthur killed her paramour Sir Accolon (who was trying to trick Arthur on Morgan's behalf), tosses the sheath in the pond. I had forgotten how exactly it happened though. It went like so:

And than she alyght of hir horse and thought for to stele away Excaliber, his swerde. And she wente streyte unto his chambir - and no man durste disobey hir commaundement - and there she found Arthur aslepe on his bedde, and Excalyber in his ryght honde, naked.

1. Arthur didn't heed Merlin's advice - he sleeps with the sword, and not the scabbard.
2. Why is he sleeping with a naked Excalibur? Isn't that dangerous? What if he rolls over the wrong way? This sword slices through steel like butter. He'd better be careful.
2a. It's even worse if you read it as Arthur being naked.
2b. In fact, the entire scene begs for minds in the gutter. I'll let you fill in the blanks.
3. And, at least at first, Morgan commits the same mistake we all do. She only thinks of taking away Excalibur at first, and does far more harm by taking away the scabbard, the second option.
To end the story, Morgan takes the scabbard, Arthur awakens and chases her, she throws the scabbard into the lake and turns into a pile of boulders, Arthur looks cursorily around for the scabbard, and then he leaves. The scabbard hardly gets mentioned for the remaining 6/7ths of the book.

It's too easy to think of Arthur in supernatural terms as this messianic figure who led wisely, virtuously, and will come again. He is that, much of the time. But sometimes, Arthur's no better than any other knight.*

*In the medieval period, whether Arthur was a dolt or a powerful king depended on whether the story's origin was French/Continental or English. The French made Arthur into a weak king and featured strong knights like Lancelot. The English made Arthur into a strong king and emphasized their own local heroes, like Sir Kay and Gawain. As time went on, the two versions merged. Sir Thomas Malory dabbles on both sides of the channel.