The Once and Future King. TH White.

The Once and Future King
TH White
New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons. 1939

Why read it? Delightful story of the education for leadership of King Arthur by Merlyn. Part of his training was in learning to live with the animals and gain their perspective. His purpose in founding the Round Table was to channel the natural aggressiveness of men into fighting for good causes.

Sample sentences from the book: “The Wart was called the Wart because it more or less rhymed with Art, which was short for his real name.” “In the afternoon the program was: Mondays and Fridays, tilting and horsemanship; Tuesdays, hawking; Wednesdays, fencing; Thursdays, archery; Saturdays, the theory of chivalry…terminology of the chase and hunting etiquette.” On protecting oneself with armor: “First you have to stop to unwind the brachet [hound that hunts by scent], then your visor falls down, then you can’t see through your spectacles; no where to sleep, never know where you are; rheumatism in the winter, sunstroke in the summer…this horrid armor takes hours to put on…either frying or freezing, and it gets rusty…have to sit up all night polishing the stuff.” “…fell off his horse with a tremendous clang…hopping round the white horse with one foot in the stirrup.”

Merlyn: “S'nylrem stnemilpmoc ot enutpen dna lliw eh yldnik tpecca siht yob sa a hsif?” “…the common forest of those times was like a jungle on the Amazon…. Most of the forest…was almost impenetrable, an enormous barrier of eternal trees, the dead ones fallen against the live and held to them by ivy.” “He heard the bowstrings twang again, the purr of the feathers in the air.” On learning to be a pigeon: “The pigeon, said Archimedes, is a kind of Quaker…dresses in gray…dutiful child, a constant lover, and a wise parent, she knows, like all philosophers, that the hand of every man is against her…has learned throughout the centuries to specialize in escape.” Merlyn: “Only fools want to be great.” Merlyn: The best thing for being sad…is to learn something.”

“God to his Creation: Now let the rest of you get along, and love and multiply, for it is time to knock off for the weekend.” “And, O, I should have liked to do great deeds, and be brave, and conquer my own fears.” “King Arthur had an open face, with kind eyes and a reliable or faithful expression as though he were a good learner who enjoyed being alive and did not believe in original sin.” “ ‘Well,’ said Arthur, ‘I must say it is nice to be a king.’ ” Merlyn: “Asking advice is a fatal thing.” “There is one fairly good reason for fighting—and that is, if the other man starts it.” “Wrongs have to be redressed by reason, not by force.” “You can always spot the villain; in the last resort, it is ultimately the man who strikes the first blow.”

Quote. Merlyn: “The destiny of man is to unite, not to divide; if you keep on dividing you end up as a collection of monkeys throwing nuts at each other out of separate trees.”

Quote. King Arthur’s slogan: “Might for right.”

Quote. King Arthur: “When I started the Table, it was to stop anarchy…a channel for brute force, so that the people who had to use force could be made to do it in a useful way.”