I remember reading a kids' version of Mallory's Morte d'Arthur when I was in primary school, but it never really did much for me.
When I was in my mid-teens, Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave was published, and I found that completely engrossing. The way she blended plausible psychological motivation on the part of the characters, a convincing depiction of dangerous, grubby, decaying post-Roman Britain and fantasy elements was intriguing. Most importantly, as a geeky kid who never really fit in with his contemporaries, I very much identified with Myrddin/Merlin.
It was only a couple of years after we moved to south Wales that I learned that Carmarthen - a city about 40 miles from where we live - has claimed an association with Merlin for close to a thousand years. There's a hill just outside the town which legend says contains a cave he's sleeping in, and it has been suggested that the name Myrddin is derived from Caerfyrddin, the Welsh name of the town. A Roman fort was built at what is now Carmarthen in 75 AD, so the existence of a town there in the Dark Ages is certain, but of course everything else is due to a mishmash of ancient local oral tales being altered and blended to fit in with the Mediaeval Arthurian tales.
Is it normal to wonder about this?
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I remember reading a kids' version of Mallory's Morte d'Arthur when I was in primary school, but it never really did much for me.
When I was in my mid-teens, Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave was published, and I found that completely engrossing. The way she blended plausible psychological motivation on the part of the characters, a convincing depiction of dangerous, grubby, decaying post-Roman Britain and fantasy elements was intriguing. Most importantly, as a geeky kid who never really fit in with his contemporaries, I very much identified with Myrddin/Merlin.
It was only a couple of years after we moved to south Wales that I learned that Carmarthen - a city about 40 miles from where we live - has claimed an association with Merlin for close to a thousand years. There's a hill just outside the town which legend says contains a cave he's sleeping in, and it has been suggested that the name Myrddin is derived from Caerfyrddin, the Welsh name of the town. A Roman fort was built at what is now Carmarthen in 75 AD, so the existence of a town there in the Dark Ages is certain, but of course everything else is due to a mishmash of ancient local oral tales being altered and blended to fit in with the Mediaeval Arthurian tales.