"I think there is in the Arthurian tradition embedded fragments of very ancient belief, which had survived orally and then were employed by Malory and others. For instance, I found in my own native tradition evidence which took me back to the first metalsmiths. Now, here I'm only playing with ideas. You're talking to a writer, and writers make things up. But when I had found this connection, if only in one instance, between King Arthur and the Bronze Age, I immediately saw the Sword in the Stone as a marvellous metaphor for the discovery of ore. The man who could extract from a stone the sword was indeed powerful. I'm now just throwing this idea at you as I make it up."
However, I've got a feeling that when I looked into it before one time it turned out to be older than 1989, at least. I can't remember where that feeling comes from, though!
no subject
"I think there is in the Arthurian tradition embedded fragments of very ancient belief, which had survived orally and then were employed by Malory and others. For instance, I found in my own native tradition evidence which took me back to the first metalsmiths. Now, here I'm only playing with ideas. You're talking to a writer, and writers make things up. But when I had found this connection, if only in one instance, between King Arthur and the Bronze Age, I immediately saw the Sword in the Stone as a marvellous metaphor for the discovery of ore. The man who could extract from a stone the sword was indeed powerful. I'm now just throwing this idea at you as I make it up."
However, I've got a feeling that when I looked into it before one time it turned out to be older than 1989, at least. I can't remember where that feeling comes from, though!