“Now, boy,” 说 Merlin, addressing Arthur. “You can’t get 由 without a decent education, 你 know.”

“Oh, I suppose not sir,” stammered Arthur, trying to examine the sugarbowl, which indignantly whacked at his fingers with a teaspoon. “I mean, Merlin.”

“Sugar!” Belle reprimanded the bowl, which hopped away in a huff.

“So, I am going to be your tutor,” Merlin explained, opening one of his books.

“But I’ve got to get back to the castle,” Arthur said, quickly taking another 饼干 for the road and getting to his feet. “They’ll want me in the kitchens.”

“Oh, very well, then!” Merlin replied in a jovial tone. “We’ll pack and be on our way then!”

As he snatched the old carpet bag from the table, Belle turned to Arthur. “Wait, you’ll like this!”

Merlin jumped on 最佳, 返回页首 of the 粪便, 凳子 and waved his stick/wand. “Higgitus figgitus zumba kazing; I want your attention, everything!”

A lot of inanimate objects on the 表 turned as if to look at him, causing Arthur to start. Belle smiled. “Don’t worry, 你 get used to it.”

“We’re packing to leave,” Merlin explained to the room. “Come on, let’s go. No, no, not you,” he added to the sugarbowl, which had begun to hop towards him, “Books are always first, 你 know!”

One 由 one, all the objects in the room began to float towards the bag. As they reached it, they shrank small enough to fit inside it. “Hockety pockety wockety whack,” Merlin said.

“Oh, good heavens!” puffed Archimedes who had been sitting on some of the 图书 and been knocked from his 栖息, 鲈鱼 as they moved.

The sugarbowl flew up with the 茶 set, leaving its lid and spoon behind. When Arthur picked them up, however, the sugarbowl shot back and snatched them back with indignance before fighting its way to the front of the cue, whacking the teapot with its spoon as it did so. “Stop, stop, stop!” Merlin commanded, shaking his stick/wand at it. “See here, sugarboy, you’re getting rough! That old 茶 set is cracked enough!” The sugarbowl elbowed the teapot again in response.

“Ah...” Merlin had 迷失 his place and scratched his head. “Where was I, Belle, my girl, do 你 remember?”

She rolled her eyes, but smiled. “Hockety pockety, Uncle Merlin.”

“Oh, yes, hockety pockety wockety whack, odds and ends and bric-a-brac...”

“Hmph!” 说 Archimedes, retreating into his house, but that was shrinking too and he had to fight to get free of the thing. “You bumbling blockhead!” he scolded Merlin, angrily.

“Higgitus figgitus miggitus moom, prestadatatonium!” Merlin finally finished as the last thing to be packed was the 粪便, 凳子 he was standing on and the cottage was emptied of all furnishings. “Ha-ha!” he said, triumphantly.

“What a way to pack!” exclaimed Arthur in awe.

“Yes,” Merlin agreed. “Well, now, just a moment, boy, how else would 你 get all this stuff into one suitcase?”

“Oh, but I think it’s wonderful!”

“Magic is wonderful,” Belle agreed.

“But don’t go getting any ideas that it’ll solve all your problems,” Merlin told Arthur, sternly. “Because it won’t.”

“But I don’t have any problems,” Arthur insisted.

They were outside the house 由 this stage, Archimedes too, ready to leave. “Nonsense,” snapped Merlin, “the world is full of problems!” He slammed the door, as if to make a point, on his beard. “Oh, there, 你 see!” he snapped, tugging himself free, only for his beard to 包, 换行 itself around his stick/wand.

“Do 你 need help?” Belle began but then Merlin pulled himself free, only for his beard to 衬套, 布什 up like dandelion fluff. Belle and Arthur couldn’t help laughing. Flustered and frustrated, Merlin patted his beard down and fixed them with a stern look that silenced them.

“That’s the trouble with the world today! Everybody butting their heads against a brick wall,” Merlin muttered, striding off.

“Here he goes again,” Belle murmured, and then when Arthur looked at her, questioningly, she explained. “He’s off on another rant. Ignore him, that’s just his grumpy way. Come on.”

They followed Merlin. “All muscle and no mentality! Do 你 want to be all muscle and no brain?” he asked Arthur.

“I don’t have any muscle.”

“No? How do 你 移动 about, then?”

“Well, I suppose I do have a little.”

“Ha! Well, that’s enough, then!” Merlin snapped.

Belle glanced around. They were coming out of the deepest parts of the forest now. Merlin was quite literally striding along so that she and Arthur were having to jog to keep up with him. “Now, develop your brain, wisdom, knowledge, they’re the real power!” Merlin carried on. “Higher learning! That’s the thing!”

Belle followed Merlin and Arthur as they both leapt over a crevice in the land. They were outside the forest 由 this time, and she had a funny feeling that Merlin had no idea where they were going. Still, she knew better than to criticise him; it was best to let him realise he had made a mistake 由 himself.

“So, first thing tomorrow morning, we’ll start a full schedule,” Merlin decided, 滑雪 down a slope towards the stream. Archimedes, who was perched on his hat, looked like he was surfing as they went, Belle reflected. “Eight hours a day.”

“Eight hours?” Belle repeated. “Merlin, that’s 更多 brutal than the schedule 你 used to put me on when 你 were 首页 schooling me!”

Merlin waved away her 评论 as he water skied across the stream. Belle followed him in much the same manner. She learned a lot from watching Merlin every day. “Six hours of schooling and two for study period.”

“But I won’t have the time,” Arthur said, slipping, sliding and eventually skimming like a pebble across the stream. “I have page duties.”

“Pah! Page duties. Pah!” was Merlin’s only comment.

Belle rolled her eyes and helped Arthur to his feet. “As I said, ignore him. He’ll cool off eventually.”

They climbed the slope the other side, although it was rather a dangerous climb, 给 the amount of loose rocks that could fall at any minute. “How do 你 ever expect to amount to anything without a decent education?” Merlin demanded. “Even in these backward medieval times 你 have got to know where you’re going! Don’t you?”

“Yes, sir,” Arthur stammered, panting as they tried to keep up.

“Yes, of course,” Merlin agreed, as they reached the 最佳, 返回页首 of the hill, “So 你 must plan for the future, boy! You’ve got to find a direction! And, er,” he looked all around the landscape and turned to Arthur. “Now, 由 the by, what direction is this 城堡 of yours?”

“I think it’s North,” replied Arthur, pointing. “The other way.”

Belle clapped a hand to her forehead with a smile. “Uncle Merlin!”

Merlin muttered something under his breath and then, in an authoritive tone, he waved his stick/wand and 说 “Well, we’ve got to get a 移动 on! Come on, lad, Belle, pick up the pace, pick it up, pick it up!”

The trio slid back down the 爬坡道, 小山 to begin their journey again, it seemed. Belle smiled to herself. Arthur seemed keen and willing to learn, even if circumstances did prevent him from being tutored, 或者 rather, kept Merlin from giving him the eight 小时 schedule he wanted to. He was like a little grasshopper, in the way he moved. Scrawny and skinny, maybe, but also playful and imaginative. In a way, he reminded her of a younger version of herself.

“Who owns this 城堡 we’re going to, anyway?” she asked him. Merlin was striding ahead again, so she fell into step behind Arthur. He was going 更多 at her pace.

“Sir Ector,” replied Arthur. Belle had heard of him, of course. “He looks after me.”

“You mean he adopted you?”

“Sort of.” Arthur shrugged. “I’m an orphan and he took me in.”

Belle gave his shoulder a pat. “I know the feeling. My parents died when I was about three and Merlin took me in. Did 你 say 你 were training to be a squire?”

“Yeah, to Kay, my foster brother.”

“Is he a knight?”

“Not yet, but he hopes to be someday.” Arthur grinned, dreamily. “I wish I could be a knight someday too.”

Belle smiled. “First you’d better let Merlin teach 你 a thing 或者 two about knowledge and wisdom before 你 go knocking men off horses, Arthur.”