BERKLEY ° ath. NOW A WARNER BROS. MOTION PICTURE vy. " OK (ede | IKCOIONI T. HW. WHITE’S THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING IOC! D1662 * $1.25 * A BERKLEY MEDALLION BO “a Soe critics on T. H. White’s { ONCE AND FUTURE KING a warm, sad, glinting, rich, mys- , true and beautiful tapestry “Of « an history and human spirit. Read nd laugh. Read it and learn. Read it — are ndbe glad you are human.” ais —Minneapolis Tribune PE hsiiy contemporary and pungent . not only better ... and richer for I ng a ane it is also more original —Saturday Revie . should be enormously popular and — me one of the curious classics of —David Garnett published by EY PUBLISHING CORPORATION For J. A.J. A. COPYRIGHT 1939, 1940 by T. H. White; © 1958 by T. H. White All rights reserved Published by arrangement with G. P. Putnam’s Sons BERKLEY MEDALLION EDITION, JULY, 1966 2nd Printing, October, 1966 3rd Printing, December, 1966 4th Printing, October, 1967 (New Edition) Sth Printing, November, 1967 6th Printing, November, 1967 7th Printing, February, 1968 8th Printing, December, 1968 BERKLEY MEDALLION BOOKS are published by Berkley Publishing Corporation 200 Madison Avenue New York, N, Y. 10016 BERKLEY MEDALLION BOOKS ® TM 757,375 Printed in the United States of America Contents THE SWORD IN THESTONE 7 THE QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS 211 THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT 313 THE CANDLE INTHE WIND 515 a Ge bia tet gh A laa al El Incipit Liber Primus THE SWORD IN THE STONE a DE ae pe Se 4 =! i ” 2 She is not any common earth Water or wood or air, — _ But Merlin’s Isle of Gramarye Where you and I will fare. " : : ; <i pa d i i ‘ + » ; iv 2 2 ae os n and Summulae Logicales, while the rest of the week it ie Organon, Repetition and Astrology. The governess ways getting muddled with her astrolabe, and when ttspecially muddled she would take it out of the Wart ping his knuckles. She did not rap Kay’s knuckles, t rofthe estate. The Wart was called the Wart because it ‘Kay had given him the nickname. Kay was not called t me and would have flown into a passion if anybody had oO give him one. The governess had red hair and some ‘ious wound from which she derived a lot of prestige showing it to all the women of the castle, behind closed OTS. It was believed to be where she sat down, and to have en caused by sitting on some armour at a picnic by mis- Eventually she offered to show it to Sir Ector, who was ilting and horsemanship; Tuesdays, hawking; Wednes- fencing; Thursdays, archery; Saturdays, the theory of ( , with the proper measures to be blown on all occa- ions, terminology of the chase and hunting etiquette. If you 1e wrong thing at the mort or the undoing, for in- >d with the flat side of a sword. This was called being led. ‘It was horseplay, a sort of joke like being shaved en crossing the line. Kay was not bladed, although he _ On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays it was Court vause when Kay grew older he would be Sir Kay, the mas- _ & or less rhymed with Art, which was short for his real ything but Kay, as he was too dignified to have a nick- _ their age I was doin’ all this Latin and stuff at five 0 ‘cloc every mornin’. Happiest time of me life. Pass the port. zy Sir Grummore Grummursum, who was staying the nigh as because he had been benighted out questin’ after a specially = long run, said that when he was their age he was swished a every mornin’ because he would go hawkin’ instead of : learnin’. He attributed to this weakness the fact that he = could never get Deyoud the Future Simple of Utor. bowas thought it was leaf ninety-seven. He passed ‘the pon Sir Ector said, “Had a ae quest oe pat -and lost him in Wicken Wood. Must have beeis a good twenty-five miles as he ran.’ “A straight-necked ’un,” said Sir Ector. “But about these boys and all this Latin and that,” added the old gentleman. “Amo, amas, you know, and runnin’ about like hooligans: what would you advise?” = “Ab, : said Sir Grummore, laying his finger 2, his"nose port.” “Good port this.” “Get it from a friend of mine.” rose “But about these boys,” said Sir Grummore. me many of them are there, do you know?” Porc “Two,” said Sir Ector, “counting them both, that is.’ : “Couldn’t send them to Eton, I suppose?” nna Sir Grummore cautiously. “Long way and all that, we know.” It was not really Eton that he mentioned, for the a of Blessed Mary was not founded until 1440, but it was 3 a giant What’s-’is-name is in the way. Have to pass throu his country, you understand.” that livesXe! the:Burbly Water.” EEE _ “Galapas,” said Sir Grummore. Ae on <8 ‘That’ 's the very chap.” ale 2 eet € only other thing,” said Sir Grummore, “is to have — a: th tor.” : ater ‘ou mean a fellow who teaches you.” , rs Ch \at’s it,” said Sir Grummore. “A tutor, you know,a ae Ww v who teaches you.” ae Have some more port,” said Sir Ector. “You need it ae :all this questin’.” tu: lendid day,” said Sir Grummore. “Only they never ee m to kill nowadays. Run twenty-five miles and then K to ground or lose him altogether. The worst is when start a fresh quest.” es re We kill all our giants cubbin’,” said Sir Ector. “After 2 it they give you a fine run, but get away.” ix in out of scent,” said Sir Grummore, “I dare say. Tis s the same with these big giants in a big country. They ‘Buteven if you was to have a tutor,” said Sir Ector, “I _ sig “Advertise,” said Sir Gtummore: I have advertised,” said Sir Ector. “It was cried by the berland Newsman and Cardoile Advertiser.” mean a quest for a tutor,” explained Sir Ector. °S ii 2? Haec, Hoc,” said Sir Ector. “Have some more of Hunc,” said Sir Grummore. oe was decided. When Grummore Grummursum had e home next day, Sir Ector tied a knot in his handker- f to remember to start a quest for a tutor as soon as ad time to do so, and, as he was not sure how to set it, he told the boys what Sir Grummore had sug- ted and warned therm not to be hooligans meanwhile. n they went hay-making. -was July, and every able-bodied man and woman on e worked during that month in the field, under Sir direction. In any case the boys would have been dSpm being eddicated just then. Sir Ector’s castle stood in an enormous clearing in a still — more enormous forest. It had a courtyard and a moat with — pike in it. The moat was crossed by a fortified stone bridgea which ended half-way across it. The other half was covered — by a wooden drawbridge which was wound up every nat 3 As soon as you had crossed the drawbridge you were at the x top of the village street—it had only one street—and th : extended for about half a mile, with thatched houses oe wattle and daub on either side of it. The street divided the clearing into two huge fields, that on the left being cultioa: vated in hundreds of long narrow strips, while that on : right ran down to a river and was used as pasture. Half of 3 the right-hand field was fenced off for hay. It was July, and real July weather, such as they ee Old England. Everybody went bright brown, like Red In dians, with startling teeth and flashing eyes. The dogs moved about with their tongues hanging out, or lay panting in bits of shade, while the farm horses sweated throu; hoe coats and flicked their tails and tried to kick th 23 seen galloping about with their tails in the air, which made Sir Ector angry. : Sir Ector stood on the top of a rick, whence he cold : see what picpbods was sareand shouted commarids all grass was still uncut, their scythes roaring in. the iis : sunlight. The women raked the dry hay together in long © strips with wooden rakes, and the two met with piichie each fork to be oer The loaders grumbled at the ee for not having laid the hay properly and threatened to t RF ee — * 13 d pitched to him. It came up easily because it had oaded systematically—not like modern hay—and Sir or scrambled about on top, getting in the way of his ants, who did the real work, and stamping and per- 3 and scratching about with his fork and trying to the rick grow straight and shouting that it would all lown as soon as the west winds came. _ The Wart loved hay-making, and was good at it. Kay, who was two years older, generally stood on the edge of bundle which he was trying to pick up, with the result he worked twice as hard as the Wart for only half the But he hated to be beaten at anything, and used to away with the wretched hay—which he loathed like 1 ‘tllsunset in their battle with the sultry element. For lay was an element to them, like sea or air, in which y bathed and plunged themselves and which they even athed in. The seeds and small scraps stuck in their hair, ‘ mouths, their nostrils, and worked, tickling, inside — clothes. They did not wear many clothes, and the ws between their sliding muscles were blue on the rown skins. Those who feared thunder had felt ill norning. he afternoon the storm broke. Sir Ector kept them at 1 the great flashes were right overhead, and then, with ky as dark as night, the rain came hurling against them . At the last and greatest thunderbolt every man d involuntarily, and each saw the other startle, until aughed away their shame. of play. The boys were weit home to change their s. The old dame who had been their nurse fetched 14 “I vote we take Cully and see if we can get some rabbi ¥ in the chase,” cried the Wart. | ag castically, delighted to have ae him over natural his- : tory. 2 he3 “Oh, come on. It will soon be dry.” Eat? “IT must carry Cully, then.” aie Kay insisted on carrying the goshawk and aye here when they went hawking together. This he had a right a do, not only because he was older than the Wart but also because he was_Sir Ector’s proper son. The Wart was not “Taae proper son. He did not understand this, but it made him — feel unhappy, because Kay seemed to regard it as makin: arose, he had got into the habit of giving in at once bela E- it could be mentioned. Besides, he admired Kay and was | 4 born follower. He was a hero-worshipper. = “Come on, then,” cried the Wart, and they scarmpere ae oO * toward the Mews, turning a few cartwheels on the pine5 castle, next to the stables and the kennels. It was opposite to the solar, and faced south. The outside windows had to ~ be small, for reasons of fortification, but the- windows — which looked inward to the courtyard were big and sunny. The windows had close vertical slats nailed down them, but no horizontal ones. There was no glass, but to keep the hawks from draughts there was horn in the small windows. At one end of the Mews there was a little fireplace anda kind of snuggery, like the place in a saddle-room where the grooms sit to clean their tack on wet nights after fox- hunting. Here there were a couple of stools, a cauldron, : a bench with all sorts of small knives and surgical instru- - ments, and some shelves with pots on them. The pots | ‘were labelled Cardamum, Ginger, Barley Sugar, Wrangle, For a Snurt, For the Craye, Vertigo, etc. There were leather skins hanging up, which had been snipped about as pieces — were cut out of them for jesses, hoods or leashes. On a neat row of nails there were Indian bells and swivels” and. silver varvels, each with Ector cut on. A special shelf, and ii en: were made in Sir Ector’ss colours: white leather fs baize at the sides and a bunch of blue-grey plumes op, made out of the hackle feathers of herons. On the h there was a jumble of oddments such as are to be bread and cheese which the mice had been at, a bottle, some frayed gauntlets for the left hand, bits of sacking, a couple of lures and some rough ‘scratched on the wood. These read: Conays 111 1 R down the length of the room, with the afternoon aie full on them, there ran the screen perches to 10 Waskept for appearances, a kestrel on which the ad learned the rudiments of falconry, a spar-hawk _and, caged off in a special apartment of his own at r end, there was the tiercel goshawk Cully. A Mews was neatly kept, with sawdust on the floor to > the mutes, and the castings taken up every day. stor visited the place each morning at seven o’clock two austringers stood at attention outside the door, had forgotten to brush their hair he confined them yarracks. They took no notice. say put on one of the left-hand gauntlets and called from the perch—but Cully, with all his feathers set and malevolent, glared at him with a mad mari- ye and refused to come. So Kay took him up. “Do you think we ought to fly him?” asked the Wart ubtfully. “Deep in the moult like this?” Fi * course we can fly him, you ninny,” said Kay. “He ants to be carried a bit, that’s all.” i “4 ‘ae 5 , “er ‘ ‘ e owe ar ¢ Pei , : oe a: 4 gti Da ac ne ; 4. ee eet 15 af a > te 5? 3 Le | Sir Ector was kind enough to keep for the parish— 16 these trees, so close together that the problem wa find a rabbit, but to find a rabbit far setae away ire D hole. at least twice,” said the Wart. “Hob does not know anything about it. Nobody can te whether a hawk is fit to fly except the man who is ang it: “Hob is only a villein anyway,” added Kay, and b to undo the leash and swivel from the jesses. When he felt the trappings being taken off him, so thai he was in hunting-order, Cully did make some movement as if to rouse. He raised his crest, his shoulder coverts a1 the soft feathers of his thighs. But at the last moment thought better or worse of it and subsided without th rattle. This movement of the hawk’s made the Wart to carry him. He yearned to take him away from Kay set him to rights himself. He felt certain that he could; Me 3 Cully into a good temper by scratching his feet and ‘sof teasing his breast feathers upward, if only he were allowe to do it himself, instead of having to plod along behi with the stupid lure. But he knew how annoying it be for the elder boy to be continually subjected to ad and so he held his peace. Just as in modern shooting, you must never offer criticism to the man in command, so allowed to disturb the judgment of the austringer. “So-ho!” cried Kay, pours his arm upwardsto 5 ters, opened his beak in an angry pant of failure, mained motionless. The two hearts stood still. d-luring and following the disturbed and sulky hawk rom: tree to tree, Kay lost his temper. ethim go, then,” he said. “He is no use anyway.” _ would Hob say?” does it matter what Hob says? He is a servant.” But.Hob made Cully. It is all right for us to lose him, ause we did not have to sit up with him three nights carry him all day and all that. But we can’t lose Hob’s k. Itwould be beastly.” erve him right, then. He is a fool and it is a rotten . Who wants a rotten stupid hawk? You had better yourself, if you are so keen on it. I am going home.” T will stay,” said the Wart sadly, “if you will send Hob er you. get there.” Kay began walking off in the wrong direction, raging in art because he knew that he had flown the bird when vas not properly in yarak, and the Wart had to shout pean the right way. Then the latter sat down under the bere feelings and knew that a lost hawk was the 2st possible calamity. He knew that Hob had worked uly for fourteen hours a day to teach him his trade, hat his work had been like Jacob’s struggle with the . When Cully was lost a part of Hob would be lost too. The ent did not dare to face the look of reproach Bo:“Oh, we could not leave him,” cried the Wart. “What Sr SM A good while later, when they had been whistling ‘ is my hawk, not Hob’s,” exclaimed Kay furiously. ; « Et 18 2 - lure on the ground, so that Cully could settle do he wanted to do, but it was not what anybody else wat He thought ace it would be nice to kill somet from spite. _ thought particularly of a man named Wat, _whose na ern works of natural history. There were regular ban What ‘was he to do? He had better sit still, lea come in his own time. But Cully had no intention ofdc never powerful brains. Now he did not quite know what— mt ating removes they had come nearer and nearer, till e were further from the castle than the boy had ever = and now they had reached it quite. 2 eg The mad and wicked animals were not the ‘ontye ine habitants of the crowded gloom. When men themsel S became wicked they took refuge there, outlaws cu ing : and bloody as the gore-crow, and as persecuted. The the children and caught one and made a snarly noise bit off his nose too. Then he ran into the forest. threw stones at the child with no nose, now, but Wai supposed to be in the forest still, running on all four: an dressed in skins. There were magicians in the forest also in those lege ary days, as well as strange animals not known to mo Saxon outlaws—not like Wat—who lived together a wore green and shot with arrows which never There were even a few dragons, though these were ones, which lived under stones and could hiss like a ket Added to this, there was the fact that it was gettin