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Long ago, in the legendary fortress of Camelot, King Arthur hosted a private meeting with his mentor, Merlin. The king wanted to learn more battle tactics so that he could fend off the invading Anglo-Saxon army. Merlin was a magician by trade, but he was no stranger to the art of warfare. He discussed the plans for battle with his protege.
Merlin: “Young Arthur, what could be the reason you called your frail, old teacher in the middle of the cold night?”
Arthur: “Camelot and the rest of England are in a precarious position, master. It seems that the Anglo- Saxons will soon overrun our fort if we don’t do anything to bolster our defences.”
Merlin: “I would suggest that we take the fight to them; waiting around won’t help us do anything.”
Arthur: “That’s unlike you, master; you always taught me that defence was the better option in most cases.”
Merlin:“In most cases, yes, but this particular battle reminds me of something I saw when I was a young lad.”
Arthur: “What would that be?”
Merlin then recounted an old story from his youth days, when he witnessed a great battle on British soil. Long ago, when a Roman legion attacked Britain, King Uther Pendragon requested Merlin and his band of magicians to aid him. The Romans greatly outnumbered the warriors of Britain, and a fair battle was unlikely to result in a positive outcome. To circumvent this possibility, Merlin decided to devise a new strategy.
He requested the king to lend him the fastest horse that he possessed. At first, the king didn’t
understand his request, but he was so desperate for victory that he accepted Merlin’s demand.
Merlin took the horse with him and rode to a faraway settlement situated near the coast. His
magician comrades believed that they had been deserted, or worse, Merlin had defected to the
Romans. However, that wasn’t true.
What he really did was contact a large settlement of powerful mages and convince them of the
severity of the possible Roman invasion. This was enough to rile up the magicians, and they all
set out to battle for their homeland. While the Romans had the superior ground forces and
technology, they were no match for the magical prowess of Britain’s warlocks.
King Uther Pendragon was delighted and offered Merlin a commanding position in the military, which he politely declined. As Merlin recounted this story to young Arthur, he made a smart comment: “I advise you, your majesty, that if we don’t unite the rest of the British tribes right now, we won’t be able to repel the Anglo-Saxon invaders for much longer.”
This wasn’t received very well by Arthur, who replied, “Are you telling me to beg? Do I, the king of England, have to bow down in front of every lowly tribal chief and ask them for cooperation?” Merlin remarked, “You see, sire, asking for help might sound like a blow to your royal ego, but think about this: Would you rather cooperate with your fellow Brits to defend our land from foreign invaders, or would you rather they occupy our territories and strip you of your royal prestige and ruin the glory of this land?”
This brought a profound change in Arthur’s mindset, as he now began contemplating a truce with the neighbouring tribes seriously. “I understand, master, your words do make sense the more I think about it. Sure, it might sound like a thing of weakness for me to ask for help, but in the end, all I am doing is preventing a much worse outcome that we’d all like to avoid.”
It was all thanks to Merlin’s many words of wisdom, such as these, that King Arthur became known as one of the wisest monarchs of his time.
