- In the days of King Arthur, they lived in Camelot, A source who entertained the Royal Court with miraculous feet South.

Magic high above the castle walls, the ancient Necro meets with members of the magic round table.

Come with us now to the Secret Room of Merlin, the Magica.

- Well, how all there?

Welcome to my secret room.

Come right in and have a chair.

Will ya?

You know, Merlin's gonna be a little late today.

He, he got his suspenders caught on the Draw Bridge, so, well, until he comes, I'll take over the meeting.

Okay.

You know, I was just looking over 300 pictures and letters that Merlin received today, and they're just wonderful.

I mean, really wonderful.

You know, we certainly enjoy hearing from all of you, but, you know, Merlin receives lots and lots of letters from all over the United States, so he's pretty busy.

He gets letters from Washington, DC, Chicago, San Francisco, new Orleans, Detroit, Seattle, even Kansas City, Cincinnati, Tampa, Portland, Lance, and so many, many far away places.

But, you know, be patient.

'cause he's still gonna answer your letter.

And, you know, I might mention, if I can, if you wanna become a member of the magic round table, just, and to get a wand and to get a membership card, just write to Merlin, you know, in care of this station, and he'll write back to you.

And be sure to give him your good deed, because Merlin likes to know all about your good needs.

And then you'll be an official member of the, of the magic round table.

- Thank you, Betty.

Well, - Oh, hi Melin.

- Yes.

It's very nice of you.

- Well, thanks a lot, Melin.

I really enjoyed it.

But you know, I'm so busy.

I've just got to do some reading.

I've just got to, so I'll say goodbye everybody.

Goodbye Merlin.

- Goodbye Betty.

Goodbye.

She's a nice girl.

I have - Lots of books.

Melin.

Just lots of books.

- Yeah, she said, said that.

So - I gotta get started.

Yeah, yeah.

Bye-Bye Melin.

Bye-Bye.

- Goodbye.

- Lots of reading, Merlin.

Just lots.

- Well, okay, Betty, - Goodbye.

Bye-Bye bye-Bye Melin.

Goodbye.

I, I think she's really gone this time.

I never know.

She likes to talk too, as well as Reid, a young man named Michael Dixon asked me if I do a trick with a rope.

But the rope that Michael sent me was just a little small for the rope trick I had in mind.

So I'll just put it back in this hat.

Leave it right here.

What's that?

If I were a real magician, I could make this little rope longer.

All right.

Three snaps usually does big magic.

And we'll pull the tiny rope out and it's getting longer and longer.

Oh, I'm sure we have enough rope now with which to do a trick.

I'll come back later and do a special rope trick for Michael Dixon.

We'll come back to that later.

But right now it's time for what?

You guessed it.

It's time to make the mighty sword.

Excalibur rise.

Rise from the stone.

Will you say the magic words with me?

No you.

You really haven't forgotten now you're joking.

It's fiddly die fiddly D magic sword.

Rise for me.

Alright, we'll do it all together.

Here we go.

Fiddly, die fiddly D, magic sword rise for me.

And the magic word today is people, nothing more interesting than people.

P-E-O-P-L-E. And we're talking of course about medieval people, people who live in the days of King Arthur.

We've been inside of a castle and outside of a castle, but we haven't discussed in too much detail the types of people who live in a castle.

First of all, I'm going to show you a picture of something you might see in any, any large castle, particularly a castle like King Arthur's.

This is the lady of the castle.

Yes, she is the lady.

She's in charge and her husband, the Lord is about ready to leave the castle.

She's looking at something and it might be this playing minstrel right here.

He's singing a tune and playing the loot.

Isn't that lovely?

Plays very nice.

Yes.

Very nice.

Well, we'll just let him play and I'll explain some more things about the castle.

You notice all the food that's on the table?

Oh yes.

You probably notice that our lady eats with her hand.

She doesn't use a knife in fork.

Well, that's the way it was in the Middle Ages.

They use some utensils, mostly a spoon.

But she's eating a big Turkey drumstick with her hands.

A lot of food here on the table.

I What do you suppose they do with all that food that's left over?

Do you have any idea?

Here's some bread and some grapes, apples.

And here's a big bone.

I'm gonna take this bone right here and I'm going to place it under the table and show you what happens to food in medieval days.

Behind the table is a dog, and I'm going to give that dog the bone.

I'll just shove it in back of the table.

And he seems to like the food, doesn't he?

Let me get that bone back again.

Oh, he's a vicious dog.

That's a mastiff.

I'll have to introduce you to one of the masses here at the castle someday.

Well, she's looking over here and I think she's being, yes, she is being entertained by a menstrual.

He is actually a jester and he's shaking the little sticks there with a hawk's head on it.

He is a jester and the minstrel is singing to her.

Sometimes jesters and minstrels are one in the same, but this is the core jester.

Very much like our good friend, Chauncey the clown.

And he has to be a very clever and unusual fellow.

Sometimes.

He's a juggler, a magician.

He does many things to keep our lady entertained.

And I think I hear somebody coming.

Let's listen.

Oh yes, here he is.

A page with a large plum pudding.

That's probably what she was looking at all the time.

An English plumb pudding.

Now let's go down in the courtyard of our castle and see what we can see.

Well, here is our Lord's horse in the stable right here.

And the horse seems very impatient.

He, he's dropping his horse.

Now.

Take it easy.

Take it easy.

Be quiet.

He's, he's waiting for the squire.

This is a squire.

I think I'd better put the reins of the squire in the hand right here.

The reins of the horse in the hand of the squire.

I should say.

Now a squire waits on a night, but he is one step higher than a page.

He takes care of the night insofar as his horse and his armor, his sword and all his fighting weapons are concerned.

Sometimes a squire actually accompanies him into battle.

He should have something in this hand.

What do you suppose it could be?

Must be large.

'cause he's holding his hand way up in the air.

Well, this is it.

It's a large lance that he's holding.

We'll put it right in his fingertips right there.

Well, we now know what Esquire is sometimes called an Esquire at arms.

He's studying to be a knight.

Just as a page is.

He's an important man in the life of a king or a Lord because he serves him directly.

And if he's strong and brave and skilled at arms, he too someday will become a knight.

Just as this man right here.

This is a knight who isn't fully dressed in his armor.

This is the Lord of the castle.

You met his lady before at the dining room table.

He has his sword and a gown, but he doesn't have a coat of mail as this fellow does, a squire has a loose coat of mail made of chain link.

This man has a heavy suit of armor, the lord of the castle.

But he's not putting it on until the very last minute.

It's so heavy, so heavy that sometimes he has to be lifted onto the horse by several people.

And he's looking at someone I do believe he's looking at another page.

You saw the inside page.

Well, this is the outdoor page, the one who works in the courtyard and he's bringing, he's bringing the Lord of the castle, his helmet or helm as they frequently called it.

And he puts this huge metal cylinder over his head.

When he rides forth in battle, you'll notice there's a slit in the visor.

And he sees just through that slit, very hot, very uncomfortable indeed is a helmet.

I think that the Lord is a little unhappy with this boy.

I wonder what he's saying to him.

Let's listen.

- I told you, Paige, I want my helmet well polished.

Remember that boy, I'm sorry sir.

- It won't happen again.

Yes, in our, our young page is quite concerned about that because if he displeases the Lord, he'll never become a squire.

And eventually a knight life of a page and life of a squire is very hard, very difficult.

Well, I said I would do a rope trick, did I not?

Let's just take the rope that our young friend gave us, the rope that was too small.

And see if we can do a rope trick.

This is a type of trick that, well, that a, a juggler might perform in the court because jugglers were magicians too.

Or a jeer might perform this trick.

He'd roll up his sleeves just a little bit.

You notice the knot is down here, right there.

I'm gonna put my foot on the rope and I want you to watch that knot.

Do you see it down there?

Came right up to the top of the rope.

That's called the traveling knot.

What's that?

You don't think it's a real knot?

It certainly is.

I'll untie it for you.

In fact, I'll, I'll even give it to you as a souvenir if you'd like it.

This is the kind of of trick that the traveling magician does.

I'm a court magician.

I live here all the time.

I'm not a traveling magician.

If you like that, not if you like it very much, I'll, I'll let you have it.

I need a little magic wolfel dust to sprinkle on the knot.

Little more.

And then I'll just get a hold of it like this.

And I think maybe I can pull it right off, right off from the rope.

You see it?

That's a magic knot.

Would you like to keep it?

Alright, catch now.

You ready?

That was a good catch.

Very good catch indeed.

Yes.

You know I haven't showed you a puzzle for a long, long time, but I think that it's time I did.

A friend of ours once wrote and said, Merlin, a long time ago you did a trick with a potato and a straw.

And I didn't see you at the time.

I didn't attend a meeting in the secret room, but you said you could put a straw through a potato, just a little weak straw.

Make it go through a potato.

Now there's no magic involved here.

Would you like to know the secret?

Alright, don't tell anyone else.

Keep it to yourself.

That's the first thing a magician does, is learn to keep his tricks a secret.

Now, when most people try to put a straw through a potato, this is what happens.

The straw bends.

It doesn't go through the potato.

Maybe I have another straw I can demonstrate.

No matter how hard he tries and jabs, the straw always bends.

And this is just a paper straw.

Now watch very closely, and I'll tell you the secret pinch the straw tightly right here.

That traps the air in that little column.

And now when I push, it'll be strong enough to go right through the potato.

Watch closely.

Watch, try it again.

Alright.

Remember, pinch the straw.

Pinch it hard.

Our potato's starting to look like a porcupine again.

If you don't pinch it, it won't work.

Well there we have three straws that went through a potato.

You know the trick.

Keep it to yourself.

Practice and I'll see you soon.

Bye now.

Melin was produced in the studios of Ohio University Television, Athens, Ohio.