First published by Collins in the United Kingdom as a stand-alone work, it later became the first part of a tetralogy, The Once and Future King.

[2] The premise is that Arthur's youth, not dealt with in Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (1485), was a time when he was tutored by Merlyn to prepare him for the use of power and royal life.

He is shot at by an unseen bowman, and he encounters King Pellinore who is busy hunting the Questing Beast.

Eventually, he meets the wizard Merlyn who is living backward in time, and frequently speaks of things that he has seen in the future.

After his clavicle heals, Merlyn later changes Wart into a badger, and then a wild goose that flies so high as to not be able to perceive national boundaries, a pacifist message.

He is unable to pull it out, but as he tries again, the voices of all the animals and friends he has made give him encouragement and remind him of the lessons they taught him.

When Kay learns that Wart pulled it from the anvil, he knows it is the sword that will determine Uther Pendragon's successor.

[3] The version appearing in 1958 in the tetralogy was substantially revised, partly to incorporate events and themes that White had originally intended to cover in a fifth volume (which was finally published after his death, as The Book of Merlyn).

Walt Disney made an animated film adaptation of The Sword in the Stone, first released on 25 December 1963 by Buena Vista Distribution.

Hordern had already starred as another famous wizard, Gandalf, in the BBC's 1981 radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.