Throughout King Arthur's childhood, Merlyn put him through a series of transformations, which shaped him in his later life as a ruler. As a fish he learned about the dangers of having absolute power. When transformed into a goose, he learns about working together rather than competing with each other. As a badger, he learns that using physical force to dominate is wrong. These three transformations influenced Arthur's role and ideas as King.

Arthur's first transformation was when Merlyn turned him into a fish to learn about how one powerful leader ruling by force can be dangerous. In the moat, the ruler was the pike. By consulting with the pike he found out that the pike ruled by power and fear. He then realized that power should be distributed to the people, and not to an individual. Arthur uses this in his adult life to better govern his...