Merlyn's Cottage and The Castle of the Forest Sauvage
Since my book and theme of the month is Celtic folklore, my literary house, or houses, stems from British mythology: Merlyn’s Cottage and The Castle of the Forest Sauvage, from T.H. White’s fantasy classic, The Once and Future King: The Sword in the Stone.
Arthur: King of the Britons
More about these, but first, a review from the BBC documentary “Arthur: King of the Britons” which claims: “The Legend of King Arthur is one of the most evocative stories in British mythology. We think of the romantic king, with his beautiful wife Guinevere by his side and the trusty sword Excalibur in his hand.” The film explores evidence “that a real 6th century warlord actually did exist, and that many of the most famous chapters of the story, such as the round table, the sword in the stone, and Camelot, may well have been inspired by real places and events.”
English Ancestry
By the way, this is an excellent documentary of which I highly recommend, especially if you have an interest in British mythology as I do. My ancestry is English. And here’s something interesting: my great-grandmother named her son (my grandmother’s brother) Sherwood, after the royal forest in Nottinghamshire, famous for its association with the Legend of Robin Hood. She did this because her father was born and raised in Nottinghamshire until migrating with his family to America in 1880. For more about my ancestry click here.
A Dangerous Place
Now for the houses. Merlyn’s cottage is situated in the middle of the Forest Sauvage, in a clearing. As the name suggests, the Forest is a dangerous place; not even Merlyn knows all the names of the creatures lurking within. He does know, however, that it is filled with wild boars with tusks, and unicorns, and dragons, and corkindrills, as well as Glatisant, the Questing Beast with the head of a serpent, the body of a libbard, and the haunches of a lion. And there is also half-man, half-monster creatures roaming about, either singly or in gangs.
Merlyn and His Owl Archimedes
As for the castle, it was “a great warren of intricate defenses, with its moat and drawbridge, its outer and inner ring of towers, its busy kitchens, a favorite place for dogs and boys, its mighty hall, with comfortable solar above” and of course, the highest tower “with a view across to the Welsh marches” reserved for Merlyn and his owl, Archimedes.
More Famous Literary Houses
For more posts about other famous literary houses, click: Thornfield Hall from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Satis House from the Dickens novel Great Expectations and The House of the Seven Gables from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel of the same name.
This map depicts the castle and village, with the Forest Sauvage surrounding it. All photos courtesy of Children’s Literary Houses: Famous Dwellings in Children’s Fiction by Rosalind Ashe and Lisa Tuttle.
In Merlyn’s cottage, one half of the downstairs is a stable, for the white donkey, and above we find his bedroom and study, crammed with animals–hedgehogs, badgers, caterpillars–even a beehive.