Merlin Coloring Pages
Merlin is the wizard behind King Arthur. He arranged the sword in the stone so the right boy would pull it out, and the old stories say he could see the future and even change his shape. For someone who knew what was coming, though, he never did see his own ending...
Merlin the Wizard
Merlin's Crystal Cave
In some versions of the legend Merlin never died at all. He taught the Lady of the Lake his magic, and she used one of his own spells to seal him away inside a cave of crystal or a house of glass. Welsh stories put that glass house on Bardsey Island, off the tip of Wales, where some say he's still keeping watch over the treasures of Britain.
Fairy tale castle and house coloring pages
The Two Dragons
When Merlin was just a boy, King Vortigern was trying to build a stronghold at Dinas Emrys in Wales, but every night the walls fell down again. Young Merlin told the king's builders why. Deep under the hill was a hidden pool with two dragons sleeping in it, one red and one white, and when the workers dug down the dragons woke up and started to fight. Merlin said the red dragon stood for the Britons and the white one for the Saxons, and the red dragon still flies on the flag of Wales today.
Merlin and Morgan le Fay
Merlin wasn't the only magic-maker at Camelot. In some stories he taught Arthur's half-sister Morgan le Fay when she was young, and she learned so quickly that her spells soon matched his. Other storytellers put them on opposite sides, with Merlin guarding Arthur and Morgan stirring up trouble.
Merlin in Books and Films
Merlin has never really gone away.
- In The Once and Future King, T.H. White made him a wizard who lives backwards through time, which is why he always seems to know what's coming, and that book became the old animated film The Sword in the Stone.
- Mary Stewart's novel The Crystal Cave tells his life in his own words, starting with a lonely boy who finds a cave full of crystals in the Welsh hills.
- More recently a TV series turned him into a young servant at Camelot, hiding his magic from everyone, including Arthur.