| Merlin:
Merlin, sage from another world, was an inspired
seer and mystic
mage, a wise councilor and faithful friend to three kings. But
for all his wisdom, was bewitched by the Lady of The Lake who
turned his love to her own ends. She sapped his power and plundered
his store of secrete knowledge, and when done, she bound him in
stone by his own spells.
Merlin, sometime Myrddin, was the famous wizard in Arthurian
mythology. So powerful was his magic that one medieval tradition
credits him with the magical construction of of Stonehenge. Another
of his works was supposed to be King Arthur's famous Round Table.
Enchanter, wizard and prophet who oversees Arthur's conception
and birth, enables his ascension and acts as
high counsel to the King in the early phase of his reign. Merlin's
role as a whole is that of advisor and scholar. His genius guides
the realm. Geoffrey of Monmouth is responsible for the Merlin
known to literature today. His name, "Merlinus
is a latinized adaptation of the Welsh & Myrddin - the name
of a late sixth century northern bard reported to have the gift
of sight who predicted a Celtic uprising.
Merlin's birth was the subject of a strange story. Apparently,
the Britons were told that a great fortress they had built would
never be safe until the ground there had been soaked with the
blood of a child who had no mortal father. Such a half-human sacrifice
seemed impossible to achieve, until it was learned that a beautiful
girl was with child by a demon. The child turned
out to be Merlin, who, though baptized as a Christian, still possessed
fabulous powers inherited from his demon father. Somehow the boy
did not need to be sacrificed for the sake of the fortress because
it is likely that Merlin was able to deal with the problem by
means of magic. Two dragons, as a matter of
fact were responsible for the problem.
There a various accounts of Merlin's death. One tells how the
wizard forgot about the seat at the Round Table that only Galahad
could use, being the only knight worthy enough to see the Grail.
Merlin sat down and was at once swallowed up by the earth. Another
story blames the wizard's death on his passion for women. Either
Viviane, possibly The Lady of the Lady, or Nimue, the
daughter of a Sicilian siren, imprisoned him in an enchanted wood
after Merlin had explained all about the secretes of his own magic.
As Merlin told Sir Gawain, who once passed by: "I am
also the greatest fool. I love another more then I love myself,
and I taught my beloved how to bind me to herself, and now no
one can set me free. |
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