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In The Sword and the Stone (Book I of The Once and Future King) by T. H. White the main character, Wart, is on a quest to find a tutor. One day when Wart is attempting to find his brother Kays hawk he meets what seems to be a ghost of an old knight on a white horse. He has a short conversation with the knight and he then gallops away. Arthur unsuccessful in finding the hawk and realizes that he is lost, decides to rest until morning.
When he wakes up, he stumbles upon a small house. Inside Wart finds an old man who reveals himself as Merlyn. There were pots that cleaned themselves, a talking owl, and all sorts of magical items. Wart explained his story to Merlyn and he offered to take him back to his castle. The Wart is surprised that this man he just met would take him all the way home, and to add on to his shock Merlyn unveils that he will become his tutor. Sir Ectors castle is located in the midst of a wild English forest called the Forest Sauvage.
On a hot summer day in August, a month after Merlyn's arrival, the Wart meets his new tutor for his first lesson. They stand on a bridge above the castles moat and the Wart wishes out loud that he were a fish. The magician grants his wish and the Wart finds himself in the water in the form of a perch; Merlyn is swimming beside him in the form of a large, wish-looking tench. Merlyn then teaches Wart to swim.
At the bidding of a roach (another kind of fish), they visit a family of fish whose mother is ill and Merlyn cures her. They then visit the King of the Moat, an old pike, who tells the Wart about power and threatens to eat him. The King of the Moat gives Wart an example of power gone bad. The King is old, evil, and obsessed with his ability to destroy all those who oppose or annoy him. The episode of the next animal that the Wart is transformed into also teaches him a great lesson.
The Wart asks Merlyn to transform him into an Ant. He agrees and Wart finds himself on the outskirts of one of the ant colonies that Merlyn keeps between glass plates. A sign above the entrance reads, EVERYTHING NOT FORBIDDEN IS COMPULSORY. In his head he can hear repetitive broadcasts giving directions. He comes across two dead ants and a third who is arranging them. Because the Wart is doing nothing, the living ant thinks he is insane and reports him to the central command.
Thinking quickly, the Wart says he has merely hit his head and he is to join a work group. Soon after, a report comes from the central command about foreign ants, from another Merlyn's colonies, that have appeared near the colony. Just as the two colonies are about to go to war, Merlyn returns the Wart to human form. The ants society is totally communal; each ant is treated as a replaceable cog in the machine of the colony. Although the Wart can barely stand the uniformity, anonymity, and powerlessness demanded of individual ants, the ants themselves take it for granted and even seem to find it comforting. The announcement of war, and the propaganda that prepares the ants for it, is senseless, but none of the ants the Wart meets complain about it.
The portrait of the ants, presents a model in which the individuals freedom is completely obliterated by society. This total collapse of the individuals ability to chose is exemplified by the sign the Wart sees above the entrance to the colony. With the transformation into a fish, Wart learned about courage, but more importantly he learned about the control of ones own power. With the transformation into an ant Wart learned about individual rights, and how important making your own decisions are. With his tutelage, advice, and his magic, Merlyn helped transform a young boy into a wise king. He taught Wart about decisions, courage, power, virtue, responsibility and everything it takes to become a worthy king.
He was a mentor and a friend, but above all a teacher. Without Merlyn the Wart would have never become the great King Arthur.
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Research essay sample on King Of The Moat Wart Finds Merlyn
