The Once and Future King, T H White

The Once and Future King was written by T H White and published in 1958. It is based on his previous works written between 1938-41. These consist of four parts, The Sword in the Stone, The Queen of Air and Darkness, The Ill Made Knight and The Candle in the Wind. A final part, written in 1941 and published in 1977 (after White’s death) was called The Book of Merlyn. The two books can now be bought as a single publication. The books are a retelling of the stories of King Arthur from Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d’Athur. White makes the stories very much his own, which is the strength of the books.

The books start with the childhood of Arthur or, as he is called then, Wart. He grows up with Kay and is brought up by his guardian, Sir Ector. Wart and Kay go out hawking. When the hawk doesn’t come back Kay gets angry and goes back home leaving Wart to try and retrieve the hawk. Here lies the difference, Wart wants to do the right thing whilst Kay is more self-centred. Whilst walking through the forest, getting more lost, Wart comes across King Pellinore. Pellinore is a great character and source of comedy in the books. Wart tells Pellinore that Sir Ector is his guardian. Pellinore replies, “Charming Fellah..Never met him in my life.” When Wart says he is lost Pellinore says, “Funny thing that. Now I’ve been lost for seventeen years. It gets more surreal as King Pellinore explains that he has been chasing the Questing Beast for seventeen years.

The book is full of this quirky banter. At the beginning of the book they have lost the governess who has been teaching them. Sir Ector is concerned that the children need a good education, or has he put it, “Out to be havin’ a first-rate eddication, at their age. When I was their age I was doin’ all this Latin and stuff at five o’clock every mornin’ Pass the port.”

Meanwhile in the forest Wart comes across Merlyn, who becomes the boys tutor. Merlyn is living his life backwards. Now I think I’d better leave off any more explanations before by brain starts going backwards. All that there is left to say is that this is a jolly good read. Pass the port!

T H White by Burns Library, Boston College. – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:White-in-Boston-College.jpg, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32794028