48 pages • 1 hour read
Christmas In Camelot
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Chapters 4-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “Who Will Go?”
In a booming voice, the Christmas Knight declares that he has come to see King Arthur. Arthur stands and calmly asks the knight to identify himself, but the knight ignores the question. The Christmas Knight knows about the curse on the kingdom and challenges the king saying, “The spell of the Dark Wizard has robbed Camelot of its joy [...] Has it robbed you and your men of your courage as well?” (27). The taunt strikes home, but Arthur explains that he has already sent his three bravest knights to the Otherworld and they never returned. When the Christmas Knight tells him to send more, the king angrily insists that he will not ask anyone else to face the perilous monsters and magic of the Otherworld. The knight decrees that Arthur’s cowardice dooms his kingdom to lose everything it has achieved– “all beauty, music, wonder, and light, all that Camelot has ever been or could ever be” (29). To the dismay of everyone, including Jack, Annie proclaims that she and her brother will go on the quest to the Otherworld. Despite Morgan Le Fay and King Arthur’s protests, the Christmas Knight accepts Annie’s promise. Annie tugs her brother over to the knight. The king orders the Knights of the Round Table to stop the children from leaving with the intruder, but the Christmas Knight raises a hand and freezes the knights, the king, the queen, and the enchantress like statues. Morgan is as still and silent as the others, but the expression on her frozen features makes it clear that she is worried for her young friends.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Rhymes of the Christmas Knight”
Annie runs to Morgan’s side and touches the enchantress’s face, which is freezing cold. The girl tearfully demands that the Christmas Knight restore her friend. In a gentler voice than the tone he took with the king, he reassures Annie that Morgan and the others will come back to life after she and Jack complete their quest. The knight tells the children that they must retrieve the Water of Memory and Imagination from a cauldron in the Otherworld. To guide them on their path, he tells them three rhymes. Jack carefully records the riddles in his notebook and writing them down helps him feel brave and strong. The first rhyme warns them that the Keepers of the Cauldron wait beyond an iron gate. The second specifies that they will need four gifts–something from the Christmas Knight, a cup, a compass, and a key. The third rhyme says, “If you survive to complete your quest, / The secret door lies to the west” (35). After reciting the three rhymes, the knight takes off his red cloak, drops it at the children’s feet, and rides out of the great hall.
Chapter 6 Summary: “A White Comet”
After the Christmas Knight leaves, the great hall becomes colder and dimmer. Jack wants to stay at the castle until they’ve puzzled out the meaning of the knight’s rhyming riddles, but Annie wants to begin the quest immediately so that they can save Morgan as soon as possible. She deduces that the knight’s red cloak is one of the gifts alluded to in the second rhyme, picks it up, and exits the hall. Jack takes in the ominous sight of the frozen enchantress, royals, and knights. He loves Morgan, whom he considers “their great friend and teacher” (36). He can’t bear the thought of Morgan’s story and their adventures with the magic tree house coming to an end. Jack and Annie return to the tree house. They close their eyes, and Annie holds the invitation and wishes to go to the Otherworld. The wind begins to blow, which she takes as a sign that the magic is working.
When the children look out the window, they are right where they were before, but a massive stag “as white as new-fallen snow” stands beneath the tree house (37). Annie suggests that they ride the stag, an idea Jack finds absurd. Not to be deterred, she speaks to the stag, and he kneels, allowing her to climb on. At his sister’s request, Jack puts on the knight’s velvet cloak and climbs onto the stag behind her. The amber-eyed stag races across the frosty castle grounds and out into the surrounding countryside. Despite the speed at which they’re traveling, Jack feels safe and warm inside the cloak. The stag gallops through meadows full of sheep and goats, past stables and thatched huts, and toward a mountain range. The deer stops on a foggy cliff, and the children dismount. Annie thanks the stag, who bows to her and then vanishes into the mist. The children aren’t sure what to do next, so Jack suggests they revisit the riddles. Annie spots an iron gate that matches the first rhyme, and Jack nervously notes that the gate to the Otherworld is guarded by two knights wearing golden armor.
Chapter 7 Summary: “A Good Trick”
The fog on the mountains clears, revealing a bridge made of iron bands and wooden planks. The bridge stretches from the cliff Jack and Annie are standing on to the gate. Jack is afraid of the gargantuan guards and their spears. He urges his sister to be careful, takes out his notebook, and reads the second rhyme aloud: “Four gifts you will need— / The first from me. / Then a cup, a compass, / And, finally, a key” (45). Annie thinks that the Christmas Knight’s cloak is the first gift, and she hopes that it will make them invisible so that they can sneak past the guards. Jack points out that the cloak didn’t make him invisible when he wore it, but Annie insists on testing her hypothesis. She figures out that putting on the hood makes the wearer invisible, and she startles Jack by demonstrating her discovery. Annie carefully arranges the cloak so that it hides both of them. Jack panics when he can’t see his own body, but Annie encourages her brother to persevere for Morgan’s sake. He feels frightened and dizzy as he crosses the bridge, but he makes it across with his sister’s help. The children sneak past the guards. To make it look as though the wind is blowing the gate open, Annie gives it a shove while saying, “WHOOOSSSHHH!” (51). At first, Jack is terrified that this will draw the guards’ attention, but the ruse works. He congratulates Annie on her quick thinking and then turns to face the Otherworld with her.
Chapters 4-7 Analysis
In the novel’s second section, Osborne continues to weave allusions to classic elements of Arthurian legend into her tale, literally putting the story’s thematic interest in sustaining legends into practice. For example, she models the Christmas Knight after a character in one of the most famous Arthurian stories, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Like the Green Knight, the Christmas Knight boldly rides into King Arthur’s court and proposes a challenge during a major holiday in the winter. The Green Knight is a shapeshifter, which foreshadows the revelation that the Christmas Knight is Merlin in disguise.
The Christmas Knight’s challenge represents a call to adventure and catalyzes The Journey From Innocence to Heroism. Annie takes the first step on this journey when she volunteers herself and Jack for the quest to the Otherworld. The Christmas Knight’s response—“The youngest of all–these two–they will go” (29)—recognizes Jack and Annie’s youth and innocence as assets even though the other adults in the room express alarm at the idea of sending children to complete a task that three knights have failed to accomplish. Another important development for the theme occurs in Chapter 7 when, for his friend Morgan’s sake, Jack heroically faces his fears and crosses the bridge: “Not only was his body missing, but the fog beneath the bridge was moving in a wild, spinning whirl. Jack felt dizzy and faint” (51). Osborne suggests that the Christmas Knight’s belief that her young protagonists have what it takes to journey from innocence to heroism lays the groundwork for their growth and success—a suggestion reinforced when Jack and Annie’s actions vindicate the Christmas Knight’s confidence in them.
Osborne uses Jack and Annie’s contrasting responses to the Christmas Knight’s quest to offer insight into the children’s distinct personalities and allude to the ways in which the siblings’ strengths will complement one another. Jack is more easily scared than Annie, as shown when Arthur describes the perils of the Otherworld: “Jack felt a chill of fear. What monsters?” (29). Jack’s worries make his decision to accept the quest all the more heroic. Another of Jack’s distinctive traits is his interest in writing. Indeed, the simple act of “[g]ripping his pencil” makes him “feel stronger” (34). The detail-oriented boy records the Christmas Knight’s rhymes, which proves highly useful during their quest as they consult the record for clues. Osborne depicts Annie as more impetuous and optimistic than her brother, advancing the theme of The Significance of Hope and Imagination. Annie’s imagination allows her to conceive of solutions to the problems they encounter—for example, that the knight’s gifted cloak will make them invisible or that the stag might let them ride him. She isn’t deterred when Jack initially thinks her ideas are impossible: “People don’t ride deer” (39). Osborne suggests that because she’s younger, it’s easier for Annie to adapt and grasp the expansive possibilities implied by the story’s magical setting, such as when she concocts a plan to open the iron gate without alerting the guards: “‘WHOOOSSHHH!’ Annie gave the gate a shove. It swung open, as if pushed by the wind” (52). To succeed in their quest, Jack and Annie must rely on their own strengths and trust in each other.
Throughout the story, Osborne uses elements of the natural world imbued with magical significance as motifs for the novel’s central themes. The magical water—the object of Jack and Annie’s quest—symbolizes memory and imagination. In Chapter 2, Morgan defines the legend of Camelot as a story that starts with a truth and evolves as people imagine new aspects over time. As a result, both memory and imagination are needed to restore the legendary kingdom to its former glory. Like the dove that appears in the first chapter, Osborne uses the stag as a motif of The Magic of Christmas and its Values. The animal supernaturally understands human speech, and carries Jack and Annie to the Otherworld with remarkable speed: “[T]he stag sped like a white comet through the wintry countryside” (42). The novel’s symbols and motifs underscore the thematic importance of the children’s efforts to save Christmas.
Osborne employs several literary devices to add richness to the story and foreshadow upcoming narrative elements. She offers a number of hints that the Christmas Knight is Merlin. For example, the knight refuses to reveal his identity to Arthur, yet he knows all about the curse on Camelot. In addition, the Christmas Knight possesses magic, which he demonstrates by freezing Morgan Le Fay, the royals, and the Knights of the Round Table. Osborne provides the most telling clue to the Christmas Knight’s identity in his treatment of the main characters. He speaks to Annie in a “softer and kinder” voice than the one he used with King Arthur (33). The knight gives the children vital information that helps them complete their quest, proving he is an ally rather than an antagonist. In this section, Jack and Annie reach the Otherworld, but many perils and tests still await them on their quest to complete the Christmas Knight’s challenge.
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