Half Magic

The morning after their desert expedition, the kids are quiet. Once their morning chores are complete, they meet in Katharine and Martha’s room. As usual, Jane takes charge, establishing rules for the charm: They must take turns, everyone must be included, the original wisher grants smaller wishes during the adventure, except if there is an emergency, and she, Jane gets to go first.

Katharine crafts a compelling argument that she should get the next wish. Convinced, Jane allows it, but only after advising her sister not to generate a boring quest and not to wish for something clichéd.

Having already traveled to another location, Mark wonders if they could go to another time. Excited, the children settle on King Arthur’s Camelot. Therefore, Katharine wishes double, including their desires to watch a tournament, go on a quest, and complete a good deed.

Instantly, the children stand in the middle of a busy road. Four queens and seven merry milkmaids pass by. In the distance, a knight battles a giant. Then they are asked directions to Canterbury by a group of pilgrims.

Tired of the highway’s chaos, they move into a field and encounter a knight sleeping beneath an apple tree. When Mark reaches for the man’s sword, the knight wakes and threatens them for stealing his sword and his honor. The children apologize. Rubbing his eyes, the knight is confused by their odd clothing, so he thinks they must be either foes or angels.

As Katharine argues with him, a lady approaches on a white horse. The knight bows to her, and she bats her eyes at him, for he is Sir Launcelot, the greatest of all knights. Katharine enquires about Elaine and Galahad (Launcelot’s lover and son), but the knight is puzzled. When Katharine says that he must not have met them yet, Launcelot confuses Katharine for a prophetess.

The lady, impatient, interrupts and waves the children away, for she needs Launcelot’s help saving a gentlewoman from an ogre in a tower. She claims to be the “Preceptress of the Distressed Gentlewoman Society” (64) out to garner his help.

Sensing something amiss and disliking the lady, the children advise Launcelot not to go. Katharine even assumes the role of prophetess and warns of imminent disaster. Ignoring them, Launcelot follows the lady on his horse, for it is a worthy quest. Without hesitation, Katharine appropriately wishes for horses of their own, and at once, the children gallop behind the duo. Launcelot yells for them to go away, but the kids refuse to oblige.

Now in a dark wood, the lady pretends her horse needs its shoe fixed, so Launcelot dismounts. Three knights, each wearing a different color (red, green, and black) attack and catch Launcelot off guard. The knights tie him up, throw him across his own horse, and gallop away.

The lady, the enchantress Morgan le Fay, boasts that Launcelot will be imprisoned and beaten every day. Her plan is to capture all the Knights of the Round Table and end King Arthur’s reign. Hearing this, Katharine wishes for Morgan le Fay to jump in a lake, but the woman ends up in a puddle. The girl quickly revises her wish, so the enchantress is stuck in mud without magic for double the time needed. This precise wording works better, and the children ride off to save Sir Launcelot.

Upon arrival, they enter the enchantress’s castle through a back door. Once inside, they follow a dark passageway until they hear voices. Pushing a door slightly ajar, they spy the three knights feasting and singing about Launcelot’s doom.

As the knights eat, Katharine uses the charm to stick some of the steaming hot pudding on the black knight’s nose, singeing his beard and burning his face. The other knights mock him, and he turns on them, decapitating the green knight. The red knight attempts to help but chops off part of the black knight’s nose. A gory battle ensues in which the men slice off each other’s body parts, ending with them decapitating each other at the exact same moment.

The children shut their eyes and tremble. Katharine had not intended a bloodbath. Refusing to look at the gore, Katharine transports them to the dungeon, where their magic easily releases Launcelot and other prisoners.

While the others thank them profusely, Launcelot is not overly enthusiastic to be freed. In fact, he insists they revive the knights, so he can kill them himself. Katharine’s annoyance turns to anger, as Launcelot’s demand downplays all the children did for him. Leaving Launcelot, the children remember their desire to see a tournament, and the next wish is made.

Immediately, they are in the grandstand in Camelot watching a tournament. Because Katharine was not specific in her wish, their horses occupy seats too, so she amends her words, and the animals disappear. Excited, they spy King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and Merlin presiding over the action.

They watch as Launcelot, who made it safely out of Morgan le Fay’s castle, destroy his competition. The children marvel at the spectacle, but Katharine, still irritated at Launcelot, wishes he were defeated. When she voices this, Mark nudges Jane, and they see that Katharine is gone.

Abruptly, an unknown knight arrives, challenging Launcelot to single combat. The children recognize Katharine’s voice and are horrified by her reckless decision. When King Arthur asks who the knight is, the girl responds with “Sir Kath” and tells him she is from Toledo, Ohio, which, of course, the king does not recognize. After a series of wishes that allow her to be larger and stronger, Sir Kath defeats Launcelot, taking a victory lap around the field to the stunned silence of the crowd. Only the knights who despise Launcelot applaud.

Forgetting that she failed to change her appearance, Katharine removes her helmet for all to see that a young girl defeated the great knight. Jeers begin. Launcelot, recognizing Katharine, approaches the king and requests to go on a yearlong quest to restore his name. Acting fast, Merlin empties the grandstands, so he can speak with Katharine, who is now crying.

Merlin demands that this enchantress show herself in true form and that anyone who helped her should appear. The children materialize by her side. She recounts everything and tells Merlin that all she wanted was to do a good deed, but that things got away from her. Merlin tells her, “There is a pattern to history, and when you try to change that pattern, no good may follow” (88), indicating that she has altered the story of King Arthur and Launcelot.

Offering his assistance, Merlin conjures the charm and is shocked. He commands the children to relinquish it, for it is too powerful for them to control. Mark argues that it came to them during their time and if he took it, Merlin would upset the pattern of history, using the magician’s words against him. Acknowledging Mark’s cleverness, the wizard relents. First, he uses it for them to return in six minutes (really three) and to have the tournament begin anew as if the children were never there.

Before returning the charm to them, Merlin cautions that it may run out of wishes. He then uses it to ensure they never leave their time or country again and to protect the world from good intentions gone wrong. When Katharine bemoans that she did not complete a good deed, Merlin disagrees and thanks her, for their presence proves that King Arthur’s legacy lives into the twentieth century, which is a great gift to him.

With seconds to spare, Katharine wishes them home, arriving only one minute after they left that morning. They discuss Merlin’s words and agree that his limitations on their wishes are not a bad thing.