-=> Quoting Glenn Christensen to David Masters <=-
 DM>Oh, absolutely... as I said in the post, both Gulliver and The Odyssey
 DM>have a single source, whereas Merlin - and the whole Arthurian legend -
 DM>is cobbled together from bits and bobs, most of which don't quite
 DM>agree with each other.  I think some of the confusion arises from the
 DM>fact that some books call Merlin a "sage" (a wise man), while others
 DM>call him a "mage".
 GC> Merlin doesn't appear in the literature until nearly 300 years after
 GC> the first known mention of Arthur. (The tale of Excalibur is an
 GC> "add-on" that appears almost 100 years after Merlin)! In his first
 GC> known appearance, Merlin was a teacher and counselour to Arthur. The
 GC> Mage part was introduced into the cycle later.
Darned if I can remember... it's been years (decades?) since I read any
of the Arthurian stuff (other than that comic, "Camelot 3000").
I read "Le Morte d'Arthur" in the original French back in high school,
and I know that I read "The Once And Future King" at some point...
there have been other bits and bobs that I've gone through over the
years as well, usually when I'm reading fantasy again.  Darned if I
can really remember all that much other than: Merlin has been called both
sage and mage, and that there might not be as big a distinction
between the two as everybody seems to think.  Also, that the movies
and TV shows and what-not seem to constantly portray Arthur as this bold,
heroic do-gooder... yet according to the legends and books, he was
just another ordinary sort, drowning babies so he wouldn't have to
worry about an heir, that sort of thing.
                         David "Nightwolf" Masters
                             dmasters@jlc.net
      MasterWorks Web Design @  http://www.jlc.net/~dmasters/index.html
... "Iowans.  We are PARTICULARLY frustrated by Iowans." -- K'vin
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