The once and future king

“The once and future king” is a reinterpretation of King Arthur’s legend by TH White. The novel was first published in 1958, and considering the poor condition of the book I have in my hands – its cover as well as some of its pages are gone, there are several pages dog eared at the corners, not to mention they're completely yellow –, I have reason to believe I’m reading one of the first editions…

The book is divided into four chapters. The first one, “The sword in the stone” chronicles the story of Wart, a boy who dreamed of being a knight but who was condemned by birth and rank to be a mere squire (a kind of personal servant attendant upon a knight) of his foster-brother, Kay. Nonetheless, Wart turns out to be the only one able to pull out the Excalibur sword of the stone and anvil, being, therefore, “right-wise King born of all England”. From now on he must be called only King Arthur, and even his former guardian, sir Ector, and his foster-brother must kneel down before him.

The second part of the book, "The queen of air and darkness",

(to be continued)