[Those] of us who love "The Once and Future King" are intemperate in their adoration of the book. We read it again and again, amazed at its sweep, moved by the compassion that White brought to the human condition, marveling at the grace with which he carried his scholarship, humbled at the sheer poetry of the conception….

Thus "The Book of Merlyn" was eagerly awaited. But as one reads these pages it is easy to see why White dropped most of it and ended "The Once and Future King" the way he did. His instinct was right. "The Book of Merlyn" is didactic, while "The Once and Future King" is not. Even worse; it is often immature in its reasoning, lacking the wisdom that permeates White's magnum opus. (p. 15)

In "The Sword in the Stone," it will be remembered, Merlyn changes Arthur into a bird, a fish, a...