The Sword in the Stone (novel)
The
Sword in the Stone is a
novel by British writer T.
H. White, published in 1938, initially as a
stand-alone work but now the first part of a tetralogy, The Once and Future King. A fantasy of the boyhood of King
Arthur, it is a sui
generis work which combines elements of
legend, history, fantasy and comedy. Walt Disney Productions adapted the story to an animated film, and the BBC
adapted it to radio. Time included the novel in its list of the 100 Best Young-Adult
Books of All Time.[1]
Plot summary
The
premise is that Arthur's youth, not dealt with in Malory, was a time when he
was tutored by Merlyn to prepare him for the use of power and royal life.
Merlyn magically turns him into various animals at times, and he also has more
human adventures. The setting is loosely based on Medieval England, and in
places it incorporates White's considerable knowledge of medieval culture (as
in relation to hunting, falconry and jousting). However it makes no attempt at
consistent historical accuracy, and incorporates some obvious anachronisms.
Plot
(This
describes the plot of the Once and Future King version.)
The
Wart is an orphan boy being raised by Sir Ector in the Castle Sauvage
surrounded by the Forest of the same name. Alongside Ector's son Kay, Wart is
training as a knight, although he can only rise to be Kay's squire because he
is of common birth. Chasing a tiercel
goshawk that Kay had let get away during
their falconry practice, Wart gets lost in the Forest Sauvage. He is shot
at by an unseen bowman, and he encounters King Pellenore who is busy hunting
the Questing Beast. Eventually, he meets the wizard Merlyn who is living backward in time, and frequently speaks of
things that he has seen in the future.
Wart
and Merlyn return to Ector's castle, and the wizard becomes the boys' tutor. He
pays special attention to the Wart. Merlyn turns Wart into a fish, and together
they explore the castle's moat. In one of their excursions, the boys and Merlyn
encounter Little John,
who leads them to Robin Hood
(referred to as Robin Wood) and Marian. Their extended stay with Robin culminates in an encounter
with a griffin. Kay manages to slay the beast, taking its head as a
trophy. During the fray, the griffin breaks the Wart's collar bone.
While
the Wart is stuck in bed, Merlyn sends a spell through his bedroom keyhole to
turn the Wart into an ant. He crawls into the ant farms in his room and learns
that ants think in binary terms of "Done" or "Not Done".
After his clavicle
heals, Merlyn later changes the Wart into a badger, and then a wild goose that flies so high as to not be able to perceive national
boundaries, a pacifist message. The Wart is confused about why he is tasked
with keeping watch while the other geese eat. He assumes that he is meant to
look out for rival geese, but the very notion that geese would eat their own
kind is offensive to them.
When
Kay is ready to be knighted, Sir Ector and his retinue travel to London, where
he owns some property. As Kay approaches the tournament field, he realizes that
he has left his sword back at the inn. Kay is sent back to retrieve it, but
finds the inn locked. He finds a sword stuck in an anvil atop a stone in a churchyard. When the Wart touches the
sword, his senses heighten. He is unable to pull it out, but as he tries again,
the voices of all the animals and friends he has made give him encouragement
and remind him of the lessons they taught him. On the third try, the sword
comes lose, and the Wart rushes to Kay with it.
When
Kay learns the Wart pulled it from the anvil, he knows it is the sword that
will determine Uther Pendragon's
successor. He tells Sir Ector that he pulled it from the stone, but when Ector
asks him to replicate the feat, Kay admits that Wart was responsible. The Wart
is terrified when Sir Ector and Kay bow to him as their King.
After
he is crowned King, the Wart is given gifts from all over the world and from
his friends, both animal and human. Sir Ector sends him a dunce cap, which
transforms into Merlyn. The wizard explains that the Wart is Uther's son, and
that his real name is Arthur.
Revisions
The
version appearing in 1958 in the tetralogy was substantially revised, partly to
incorporate events and themes that White had originally intended to cover in a
fifth volume (which was finally published after his death, as The Book of Merlyn). To this end, the revised version includes several new
episodes, including the ant and goose episodes, but leaves out some of the
episodes that had appeared in the original (notably Merlyn's battle with Madam
Mim which appeared in the Disney film).
Some critics considered the revised version to be inferior to the original.[2] Publishers have tended to carry on using the original
versions when they were published independently of the tetralogy; the original,
American, and "Once and Future King" versions are still in print.[when?]
Adaptations
Film
Walt
Disney made an animated movie adaptation
of The Sword in the
Stone, first released on 25 December 1963
by Buena Vista Distribution. Like most Disney films, it is based on the general plot of
the original story, but much of the substance of the story is considerably
changed.
Radio dramatization
The
BBC broadcast a six-part radio dramatisation in 1939, with
incidental music by Benjamin
Britten. It was revived in 1952, following
re-discovery of Britten's score after it had been thought lost.[3] A further BBC radio adaptation in 1982 starred Michael
Hordern as Merlyn. Hordern had already starred as another great literary
wizard, Tolkien's
Gandalf, in the BBC's 1981 radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.
Awards
REFERENCES
· · Keenan, Hugh T. British
Children's Writers, 1914–1960
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