*sigh*
One thing about Mudcat that drives me nuts is the way in which a question, however straightforward, can be mis-read, misinterpreted or simply taken amiss.
The point behind my original question is that I am trying to establish a picture of what the audience for "my" text would have known or been familiar with. This text takes it for granted that we know Kay was a bit of a bully and unpleasant - although this wasn't always true of him in other stories, so that's one clue. And it describes him coming in with this baton or wand, when this isn't a description used elsewhere - or, if it is, I need to track down references to it. It is specific about the apple tree. No, it's not a rhyme to anything, the syllable count could easily have accommodated a change and there's no reason why it should be mentioned that I know of (the author doesn't describe what Kay is wearing, for example), so it seems to be an allusion to something the author expects the audience to know.
I'm really not sure why # thinks that "back then" any sort of wood would do - we're talking about a sophisticated court, not some kind of primitive culture, and so I would like to find out why the apple tree in particular gets a mention.