Chapter 38: Three Witches — Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens on a baking-hot summer Sunday at Sir Ector's castle in the Weald. Kay has fallen from a tree and been carried off howling, though Art is fairly certain his foster brother isn't seriously injured. Art knows what's coming: once Kay is comforted, he'll claim Art pushed him, and Art will be beaten. With roughly an hour of unsupervised time before punishment arrives, Art makes the most of it.

He throws stones into the stagnant, duckweed-choked moat and imagines what it would be like to be a fish swimming in that soupy water, wondering whether fish understand that their world is a circle or believe they swim forever. He peers into the dry garbage well. Even his hair feels hot. Eventually he balances across a weir and stops at the edge of the forest.

The Weald exerts a powerful pull on Art and Kay precisely because it's forbidden — and unlike many adult prohibitions, this one has real justification. Boars, bears, wolves, giants, bandits, and fairies all lurk within, any of which could kill a child. Art once saw fairies from a distance: a shabby fairy-man and a fairy-woman in a swirling green gown, dancing in a frozen February meadow, making ragged robin bloom pink wherever they touched it.

Then Art spots something irresistible: an excellent stick lying about twenty feet into the shadow of the wood. Straight, smooth, swordlike — aspen, he'd wager. Despite his hammering heart and his belief that fairies can't cross from shadow into sunlight, he dashes in, grabs the stick, and sprints back out.

Three girls appear out of nowhere. One is a teenager, one a bit younger, one just a year or two older than Art. They wear dazzling princess-like dresses, and Art initially mistakes them for fairies. They identify themselves as witches: Morgan, Morgause, and Elaine. They discuss killing him — Morgan offers, Morgause threatens — but Art ignores the threats, since people say that to him often and never follow through.

Art shows off his stick-sword, attacking a privet bush and narrating a knightly battle, but accidentally hits himself in the face with the stick during his big finish. Morgause and Elaine wander off to look at turtles, leaving Morgan alone with Art. She's the only one who seems genuinely interested in him.

Morgan asks if Art knows who he is. When he says he does, she sings that she doesn't think he does. Without the other girls as an audience, she shows him kindness, rubbing a smudge from his face. Art, unused to gentleness, cries a little. He asks if they're really witches; Morgan says Morgause is, but won't teach her yet.

Before leaving, Morgan crouches to Art's level and whispers that their mother used to call him Little Bear. She tells him that Arthur isn't a Roman name, Artorius, as people will claim — it's a good British name meaning bear. She presses an old coin into his palm, their mother's coin, so he'll remember. Then she says she loves him, little brother — that she hates him, but loves him too.

Art, overwhelmed — no one ever gives him anything — simply says bye and runs off. He takes the long way back to the castle to avoid the other girls on the weir. But then he stops, struck by the idea of giving Morgan his stick. He's an open-hearted boy whose first impulse is generosity, even when it means giving more than he has. But when he turns around, the girls are already gone.

Key Events

Kay falls from a tree; Art anticipates being blamed and beaten
Art crosses the weir to the edge of the forbidden Weald
He retrieves a swordlike aspen stick from the forest's edge
Three girls — Morgan, Morgause, and Elaine — appear and claim to be witches
Morgan reveals Art's mother called him Little Bear and explains Arthur means bear
Morgan gives Art their mother's coin and declares she loves and hates him
Art decides to give Morgan his stick, but the girls have vanished

Character Development

Art — This chapter shows Art's childhood in sharp relief: a boy accustomed to blame, punishment, and the absence of gifts or gentleness. His reaction to Morgan's kindness — crying a little — reveals how starved he is for affection. Yet his instinct to give Morgan his stick, even though he has almost nothing, establishes his fundamental generosity. The chapter also plants the seed of his true identity: he is not merely Sir Ector's ward but someone with a hidden heritage and a name that means bear.

Morgan — Introduced as a witch-in-training (Morgause has the power; Morgan hasn't been taught yet), Morgan is the most complex of the three sisters. She plays at cruelty — offering to kill Art, toying with him — but when alone with him, she shows genuine tenderness. Her parting words, declaring both love and hatred for her little brother, capture the ambivalence that will define her relationship with Arthur throughout the legend.

Morgause and Elaine — The other two sisters are sketched more lightly: Morgause is the aggressive one, insisting they leave and threatening to kill Art; Elaine is the youngest, sulky and insulted by the suggestion that Art looks like her. Their presence establishes the sibling trio that will recur throughout Arthurian legend.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Time as theft — Art reflects that time steals away bits of your future and replaces them with memories, which then fade — like trading real gold for fairy gold. This metaphor frames the chapter's central loss: the encounter with his sisters is itself a kind of fairy gold, precious but fleeting, gone almost before he can grasp it.

The sword-stick — Art's aspen stick, straight and swordlike, is an obvious precursor to Excalibur. His clumsy knightly performance — attacking a privet bush, accidentally hitting himself — shows a boy already dreaming of swords and battles, rehearsing the role he will one day inherit.

The forbidden forest — The Weald represents the threshold between the known world and the otherworld. Art's dash into the shadow to retrieve the stick is a small act of trespass that brings him face-to-face with the supernatural — and with his own hidden past.

Hidden identity and true names — Morgan's revelation that Arthur means bear, and that their mother called him Little Bear, reframes Art's identity. The name isn't Roman but British; it carries a maternal legacy he never knew he had.

Maternal legacy — The coin, the nickname, the whispered explanation — these are fragments of a mother Art never knew. Morgan's gift is an act of transmission, passing down what little remains of their shared mother.

Generosity — Art's instinct to give Morgan his stick, even at the cost of his prized possession, defines his character. The gesture is also poignant because it's too late — the girls have vanished, and the gift can't be given.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is a crucial origin moment for Arthur. It introduces the three sisters who will become central figures in his legend — Morgan le Fay, Morgause, and Elaine — and establishes the fraught, ambivalent bond between Arthur and Morgan. The revelation of his true name's meaning and the maternal coin connect Arthur to a heritage he's been denied, setting up the larger revelation of his parentage. The chapter also establishes key motifs — the sword, the fairy otherworld, the theft of time — that resonate throughout the novel. And in Art's failed attempt to give Morgan his stick, we see the generosity that will define him as a king, even as the moment slips away.

Study Questions

1. Why does Art believe he will be beaten, and how does this shape his behavior in the chapter?

Art knows from experience that Kay will blame him for the torn Sunday clothes, and that he will be punished. This certainty shapes the chapter's structure: Art has an hour of freedom before punishment, which drives him to the forbidden forest. It also explains his emotional vulnerability: he's unused to gentleness, which is why Morgan's kindness makes him cry.

2. What does Morgan's gift of the coin and the name Little Bear reveal about Art's identity?

Morgan reveals that Arthur isn't a Roman name (Artorius) but a British one meaning bear, and that their mother called him Little Bear. This reframes Art's identity: he's not merely Sir Ector's ward but the son of a mother who loved him, with a name carrying meaning and a heritage he never knew. The coin is a physical token of that maternal legacy — the first gift anyone has ever given him.

3. Why does Art decide to give Morgan his stick, and what does the timing of her disappearance suggest?

Art's impulse to give Morgan his stick shows his open-hearted generosity — his first instinct is to give, even when he has almost nothing. But the girls vanish before he can make the offer. The timing suggests that the encounter was always fleeting, like fairy gold: precious, real for a moment, and then gone. It also foreshadows the larger pattern of Arthur's life — moments of connection that slip away before he can fully grasp them.