Merlin and Vivien
by Padraic Colum · from The Boy Apprenticed to an Enchanter
Adapted Version
Long ago, a wise wizard named Merlin lived. He did magic for The King. Merlin was very busy. He made many good spells. He helped The King for many years. He made the land safe. Then, one day, Merlin was gone. His magic work was not finished. The King was very sad. He missed his good friend. He waited for his wizard. He hoped Merlin would come back.
King Dionas had a daughter. Her name was Vivien. She was a young girl. Vivien had bright eyes. Her hair was red and tangled. She liked to get what she wanted. She always got her way. One day, she saw Merlin. Merlin was a stranger to her. He looked old and kind.
Merlin met Vivien on a plain. He liked her very much. Vivien asked, "Show me magic!" Merlin took her high up. He made magic figures. He said magic words. A garden grew with roses. Red and pink roses bloomed. Clear water flowed in a stream. Birds sang in trees. Their songs were sweet. Sweet fruits grew there. Vivien ate the fruits. They tasted so good.
Vivien asked for a castle. Merlin made a castle. Big stones built themselves up. Tall towers touched the sky. They went inside the castle. Vivien wanted it hidden. Merlin made a mist around it. No one else could see it. It was their secret place. Vivien would call Merlin. He loved to be with Vivien. He forgot his work for The King. He forgot his important duties.
One day, King Dionas took Vivien away. She went to a new country. Vivien was far from Merlin. She felt alone. She thought of the garden. She thought of the castle. She missed Merlin very much. She missed his kind smile. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to see him again. She wanted to play with magic.
Vivien came back to the garden. She ran to Merlin. She held Merlin's hands. She did not let go. She held them tight. Vivien asked, "Who are your friends?" Merlin took his magic mirror. He showed her many ladies. They were from far countries. They smiled in the mirror. Vivien felt a little sad. She felt a little worried. She wanted Merlin only for her. She did not want to share him.
Vivien watched Merlin well. She watched his hands. She knew his magic words. She learned his magic figures. Soon, she could do them too. She made small magic. Merlin called her his smart little bird. He was proud of her. He taught her more magic. Vivien was good at magic. She liked learning new spells. She learned every day.
One day, they walked in a forest. Tall trees grew around them. Vivien asked Merlin a question. "What is your strongest spell?" Merlin told her his secret. It was a spell to hold things still. He whispered it in her ear. He put her red hair aside. Vivien listened well. She listened very closely.
Merlin sat under a tree. He felt tired. Vivien laughed. She made a magic circle. It glowed on the ground. She said the magic words. Merlin could not move. He stood still under the tree. He tried to step. He could not. Vivien danced around him. She was happy. She called, "Merlin, come!" But Merlin could not move. He was held fast.
Merlin asked, "Why did you do this?" Vivien knelt beside him. "I don't want you to leave me." Her face looked very hard. Her eyes were firm. "You would go to other ladies." "You would find new friends." "I want you to stay with me always." "You must be only my friend." "Only my friend forever."
Merlin knew he must agree. He felt trapped. "I will stay with you always," he said. He wanted to move again. He wanted to be free. "We can go to a secret island." "No one else will be there." "It will be just us two." "Far away, in a quiet sea." "A place for only us."
Vivien loved the idea. A secret island, just for them. She was very happy. Her smile was wide. She said the magic words. She unsaid the spell. The glow faded. Merlin could move again. He stepped out of the circle. He stretched his legs. They walked through the forest. Hand in hand, they walked.
Merlin and Vivien went to the sea. The sea was blue and wide. A shiny, clear boat waited. It looked like glass. They sailed to the secret island. It was a summer day. The sun shone bright. No one saw them again. They were gone from the land. The King waited for Merlin. His wizard never came back. He was very sad. It is not good to keep friends all to yourself. All need to share and be kind. Sharing makes friends happy.
Original Story
I. Merlin and Vivien
A great Enchanter indeed was Merlin. He served with his enchantments the King of the Isle of Britain from the time he was a stripling to the time when he was two score years of age. Then, when he might have passed from being a lesser to being a great Enchanter, Merlin vanished altogether and was seen no more at the court of the King of the Isle of Britain. All the great works he had planned were left undone, all the instruments he had gathered were left unused, all the books he had brought together were left unopened, and the King whom he had served so long was left to whistle for his Enchanter.
If there were one to blame for that it was the daughter of King Dionas. She was young, but she was ungentle. What she saw, that she would have. One day a stranger was passing with her father, and when he looked on her he said, “A young hawk she is, a young hawk that has not yet flown at any prey.” That very day the daughter of King Dionas walked on the plain that was at a distance from her father’s castle. The stranger who had spoken of her to the King was there, and he looked long upon her.
“Who art thou who lookest on me so?” said the child.
“Thou art Nimiane, who art also called Vivien,” said the stranger.
“Yea,” said she, “but who art thou, man?”
“I am called Merlin,” he said, “and I am the Enchanter to the King of the Isle of Britain.”
“Show me thine enchantments,” said Vivien, who feared not to speak to any man.
Now Merlin had looked on all the ladies who were at the court of the King of the Isle of Britain, and on the maidens who were in far countries and distant castles, and besides, the ladies of the times of old had been shown him in his Magic Glass, but never before had he seen any one who seemed so lovely to him as this child. She was bright eyed as a bird. She had a slim body, and pale cheeks, and quick, quick hands. Her hair was red and in thick tangles. “Show me thine enchantments,” she cried to him again.
Merlin bade her come with him and she came. He brought her to a high place, a place that was of rock with rocks piled all about it. On the ground he made magical figures. Then he said magical words. And all the time Vivien, slim Vivien with her tangle of red hair, stood upon the rocks and kept her eyes upon him.
Upon the ground that was all rock Merlin made a garden with roses blowing and clear waters flowing, with birds singing amongst the leaves and fishes swimming in the streams. He made trees grow, too, with honey-tasting fruits upon them.
Vivien went through the garden, plucking the flowers and tasting the fruits that grew there. She turned to Merlin and looked at him again with her bright eyes. “Canst thou make a castle for me?” said she.
Then Merlin made his magical figures and said his magical words over again. The stones that were strewn about everywhere came together and built themselves up into a castle. When the castle rose before them Vivien took Merlin by the hand, and they went through its doorway and up the stairway and into the castle turret. And when they looked from the turret Vivien said, “Would that no one should know of this garden and this castle but thou and I!”
He told her that the castle and the garden would be hidden. Then when they were leaving the garden he put a mist all around, a mist that those who came that way could not see through and were made fearful of venturing into.
And so the castle and the garden were all unknown to men. But Vivien would come, passing through the mist, and going into the garden and up into the turret. At first she would not have Merlin near her. Afterward it came to pass that she would summon him. A bugle hung in the turret of the castle, and she would blow upon it, and he would come and stay by her.
He was two score years of age, and she was five years less than a score. Nevertheless he thought it better to watch her dancing with bright green leaves in her red hair than to know all that would bring him from being a lesser to being a great Enchanter. Of the maidens and great ladies he had seen, some, he told her, were like light, and some were like flowers, and some were like a flame of fire. But she, he said, was like the wind. And he took thought no more for the King of the Isle of Britain, nor for the great work he was to do for him, and he spent his days in watching Vivien, and in listening to Vivien, and in making magic things for Vivien’s delight.
Her father once took her away from the place near where the hidden garden and the hidden castle stood. Vivien was in another country now. And when she went amongst those who were strangers to her she found out that nothing mattered to her except the looks and the words of Merlin. The castle and the garden—she did not think of them, nor of the magic things he had made for her. Her thoughts were only on Merlin, who was so wise and who could do such wonders.
When she came back, and when she met him in the hidden garden, she caught hold of his hands, and she would not let go of them. Nor would she tell Merlin why this change had come over her, and why she would keep close to him now and not apart. At last she said to him, “What ladies and what maidens have you known, O my master Merlin?”
Then Merlin took his Magic Glass into his hands, and in it he showed her all the ladies who were at the court of the King of the Isle of Britain, and he showed her all the lovely maidens who lived in far countries and in distant castles whom he knew. Vivien threw herself on the ground with her face to the rock after she had looked into the glass.
Then afterward she watched him in a way different from the way she had watched him before. What he said and what he did she remembered well. Soon she understood his magic figures and could make them. She came to understand his magic words and to be able to repeat them. And Merlin would say to her, “O my little hawk, fly at this—and this—and this.”
One day as they wandered through a forest Vivien asked him to tell her the mightiest spell that he knew. The Enchanter told it to her. She stood still, with all her quick mind in her face, while he put aside the tangles of her red hair and spoke into her ear.
It was a spell that would hold in a place the one whom it was spoken over. When he had told her he went at her bidding and seated himself under a forest tree. Vivien, laughing, made a magic circle around him and repeated the spell that he had given her. When she did this the Enchanter was enchanted. Merlin stayed under the forest tree, and there he would stay, for he could not move until the spell that was said over him was unsaid by Vivien.
And Vivien danced around him, her red hair shaking, her bright eyes gleaming, her quick hands waving. She called to him, “Merlin, Merlin Enchanter, come to me.” But Merlin, under the forest tree, could not move. She ran through the woods and he could not follow after her. In a while she came back and stood beside him.
Said Merlin to her, “Why have you worked this spell upon me, and why have you left me here so that I cannot move?” She knelt down on the ground beside where he sat.
“O Merlin,” said she, “I would leave you here enchanted, for fear you should leave me and go amongst the maidens and the ladies who are so lovely.” And when she said that her face was so hard that he knew she would hold him there.
But Merlin smiled, and he said to her, “I would stay always where you are, Vivien, blossom of the furze.”
“Nay,” said she, “you would go from me. Why should you not? You have great works to do for the King of the land. And when you see again the ladies and the maidens who are the loveliest in the world you will not come back again to Vivien. I shall hate the castle and the garden that you made for me, and I shall hate every one who will come near me. I shall hold you, Merlin, here, even until the wolves come out at night and devour you and me.”
“I will build a castle for you in an empty country, and no one shall ever be there but you and me,” said Merlin.
“Nay,” said Vivien, “they will search the world for you, Merlin, and when they find you, you will have to go with them.”
Then Merlin, as if it were a magic thing that would please her, brought out his thought about the Island of the White Tower. Away beyond the Western Island, in a sea that is never sailed on, that island lies. Only on Midsummer Day does it come near to the Western Island so that men may see it. There, said Merlin, they might go. Those who would search for him could never come to him there. He told her more and more about the Island of the White Tower, and Vivien listened in delight to all he told her. And when he had sworn he would take her to it she unsaid the spell with which she had bespelled him, and he rose up from where he had been held, and he sprang across the magic figure that was drawn upon the ground. And with Vivien Merlin went through the forest.
The fishermen who cast their nets by the shores of the Western Ocean have this story of Merlin and Vivien. They tell how in a boat of crystal twelve creatures sailed to the Island of the White Tower. And two were Merlin and Vivien, and nine were the nine prime bards of the Isle of Britain who went with Merlin, and one was the tame wolf that was Merlin’s servant. They sailed out upon a Midsummer’s Day, and from that good day to this no hint or hair of the Enchanter has been seen by King nor clown in all the Isle of Britain.
Story DNA
Moral
Unchecked desire for control can lead to the downfall of even the most powerful.
Plot Summary
Merlin, the great Enchanter, abandons his duties to the King of Britain after becoming infatuated with the young, possessive Vivien. He creates a hidden magical realm for her, but her jealousy grows, leading her to learn his magic. Vivien tricks Merlin into revealing his most powerful binding spell, which she then uses to trap him. To escape his immediate captivity and satisfy her desire for exclusive companionship, Merlin promises to take her to the mythical, inaccessible Island of the White Tower, where they vanish forever, leaving the King and Britain without their Enchanter.
Themes
Emotional Arc
power to entrapment
Writing Style
Narrative Elements
Cultural Context
This is a retelling of a classic Arthurian legend, often featuring Merlin's entrapment by Vivien (or Nimue/Nimiane). Colum's version emphasizes Vivien's youth and possessiveness.
Plot Beats (13)
- Merlin, the King's Enchanter, vanishes after serving for two score years, leaving his great works undone.
- The story introduces Vivien, daughter of King Dionas, a young, ungentle girl who desires what she sees.
- Merlin encounters Vivien, is instantly captivated by her, and shows her his magic by creating a beautiful, hidden garden and castle.
- Vivien initially keeps Merlin at a distance but eventually summons him, and he becomes completely devoted to her, neglecting his royal duties.
- Vivien is taken away by her father, and during her absence, she realizes her deep attachment to Merlin.
- Upon her return, Vivien becomes possessive and jealous, asking Merlin about other women he has known, and he shows her them in his Magic Glass.
- Vivien begins to learn Merlin's magic, remembering his figures and words, becoming his 'little hawk'.
- Vivien asks Merlin to tell her his mightiest spell, which he reveals to her, a spell of binding.
- Vivien, laughing, uses the spell to enchant Merlin, holding him immobile under a forest tree.
- Merlin questions her actions, and Vivien confesses her fear of him leaving her for other women and her desire to hold him captive forever.
- Merlin, to gain his freedom, proposes taking her to the mythical, inaccessible Island of the White Tower, where they would be alone.
- Vivien, delighted by the prospect of exclusive isolation, unbinds Merlin.
- Merlin, Vivien, nine bards, and a tame wolf sail away in a crystal boat to the Island of the White Tower on Midsummer's Day, never to be seen again.
Characters
Merlin
A man of two score years (40 years old), implying a mature, perhaps slightly weathered appearance from his long service. His build is not explicitly described, but his role as an enchanter suggests a focus on mental rather than physical prowess.
Attire: As the Enchanter to the King of the Isle of Britain, Merlin would wear practical yet distinguished garments suitable for a scholar and advisor. Likely a long, flowing tunic or robe made of wool or linen, possibly in muted earth tones or deep blues, perhaps with simple embroidery. A cloak for travel and a leather belt for carrying small items would be appropriate.
Wants: Initially driven by his duty to the King and his pursuit of greater magical knowledge. Later, his primary motivation becomes pleasing and being with Vivien, even at the cost of his duties and freedom.
Flaw: His overwhelming infatuation and susceptibility to Vivien's beauty and charm, which blinds him to her manipulative nature and ultimately leads to his enchantment.
Merlin begins as a dedicated royal enchanter on the cusp of becoming a 'great Enchanter'. He falls deeply in love with Vivien, abandoning his duties and ambitions. He is ultimately tricked and imprisoned by her, willingly sacrificing his freedom for her company, transforming from a powerful public figure to a secluded, enchanted lover.
Wise, powerful, easily enchanted by beauty, devoted, somewhat naive in matters of the heart, patient, generous.
Vivien
A young woman, five years less than a score (15 years old), described as slim-bodied with pale cheeks and quick, quick hands. She is bright-eyed and possesses a youthful energy.
Attire: As the daughter of King Dionas, Vivien would wear clothing appropriate for a young noblewoman of the Isle of Britain, but perhaps less formal given her wild nature. A simple, yet well-made, tunic-style dress of linen or fine wool, possibly in natural colors or soft greens, with minimal ornamentation. She might wear soft leather slippers or go barefoot when in the garden.
Wants: Initially driven by curiosity and a desire for power and unique possessions (the garden, the castle). Later, her motivation shifts to possess Merlin completely, driven by a deep fear of abandonment and jealousy of other women.
Flaw: Her possessiveness and fear of abandonment, which lead her to imprison Merlin, ultimately isolating herself with him.
Vivien begins as a curious, demanding child who uses her charm to get what she wants. She learns magic from Merlin, initially for amusement. Her feelings for Merlin deepen into a possessive love, leading her to betray his trust and enchant him, transforming her into his captor, driven by fear and jealousy.
Ungentle, possessive, manipulative, curious, impulsive, charming, beautiful, intelligent, fearful of abandonment.
King of the Isle of Britain
Not explicitly described, but as a king, he would likely be of a dignified and commanding presence, possibly middle-aged or older, reflecting his long reign and reliance on Merlin.
Attire: Royal attire of the Isle of Britain, likely a rich wool or silk tunic, possibly embroidered with symbols of his kingdom, a heavy cloak, and a crown or circlet. Colors would be deep and regal, such as purple, crimson, or gold.
Wants: To have his enchanter, Merlin, return to complete the great works for the kingdom.
Flaw: His reliance on Merlin and inability to function effectively without him.
Remains unchanged, left without his enchanter.
Dependent, somewhat passive (in his inability to find Merlin), likely concerned with the welfare of his kingdom.
King Dionas
Not explicitly described, but as a king and father of Vivien, he would likely be a man of some standing and authority.
Attire: Royal or noble attire, similar to the King of the Isle of Britain but perhaps less grand, reflecting his position as a regional king. Likely a tunic and cloak of fine wool or linen.
Wants: Not explicitly stated, but as a father, likely concerned with his daughter's well-being or future.
Flaw: Not explored.
Remains unchanged, serves as a plot point for Vivien's initial encounter with Merlin.
Observant (noticing the stranger's comment about Vivien), but not deeply explored.
Tame Wolf
A wolf, implied to be well-behaved and accustomed to human presence. Likely a strong, lean build typical of a wolf, with thick fur.
Attire: None, as it is an animal.
Wants: To serve Merlin.
Flaw: None explicitly stated.
Remains unchanged, accompanies Merlin.
Loyal, obedient (as Merlin's servant).
Locations
Plain by King Dionas's Castle
A flat, open expanse of land at a distance from King Dionas's castle, where Vivien first encounters Merlin.
Mood: initial encounter, curious, open
Vivien meets Merlin for the first time and demands to see his enchantments.
Hidden Garden and Castle
A magical garden with blowing roses, flowing clear waters, singing birds, and fruit-bearing trees, created by Merlin on a rocky high place. A castle, also magically constructed from strewn stones, rises within or beside it, featuring a doorway, stairway, and a turret. The entire area is concealed by an impenetrable mist.
Mood: magical, secluded, enchanting, later possessive
Merlin creates a secret paradise for Vivien, where they spend much time together, and where Vivien later begins to learn his magic.
Forest where Merlin is Enchanted
A dense forest where Merlin and Vivien wander. It contains a specific tree under which Merlin is seated and enchanted by Vivien, within a magic circle drawn on the ground.
Mood: deceptive, playful, ultimately trapping
Vivien learns the mightiest spell from Merlin and uses it to enchant him, trapping him under a tree.
Island of the White Tower
A mythical island located beyond the Western Island, in an unsailable sea. It is only visible on Midsummer Day and is home to a 'White Tower'. It is a place of ultimate seclusion.
Mood: mystical, remote, eternal seclusion
Merlin and Vivien, along with bards and a wolf, sail to this island, where Merlin is permanently hidden from the world.