You will recognize the title at once as a paraphrase of Voltaire’s famous and witty quote: “If God didn’t exist it would be necessary to invent him.”

What’s brought this up? Last night I watched a wonderful TV documentary on Arthur “The Once And Future King”, by historical presenter Michael Wood. Wood has some amazing magic that’s hard to fathom but he turns legend and history into stuff more moving and inspiring than anything Hollywood could ever produce (and NOT EXCLUDING Lord of The Rings, Avatar, Lost Horizon and all the other epics).

For example, Wood explains a super plausible hypothesis of the sword in the stone myth. He suggests it’s far, far older than the Arthur legend and rests on the “magic” of early smithing and how metal was brought forth from the ground, after heating in fire. Swords were cast in stone moulds! So when the cast was cooled and the mould opened, the wielder of magical knowledge really did draw forth a sword from the stone! Continue reading →