Over Sea, Under Stone

“But even before Barney whistled, the dog had begun trotting in their direction, swift and determined, as if he were recognizing old friends. He loped round them in a circle, raising his long red muzzle to each in turn, then stopped beside Jane, and licked her hand.”

Rufus is introduced in the first chapter as Captain Toms’s dog and immediately reacts favorably to the three Drew siblings. Symbolically, the dog’s natural affection for the children suggests that they are morally good, especially given that Rufus’s behavior in this scene contrasts with his later hostility toward the evil Mr. Hastings.

“Nobody knew very much about Great-Uncle Merry, and nobody ever quite dared to ask. He did not look in the least like his name. He was tall, and straight, with a lot of very thick, wild, white hair. In his grim brown face the nose curved fiercely, like a bent bow, and the eyes were deep-set and dark.

How old he was, nobody knew. ‘Old as the hills,’ Father said, and they felt, deep down, that this was probably right. There was something about Great-Uncle Merry that was like the hills, or the sea, or the sky; something ancient, but without age or end.”

This physical description of Great-Uncle Merry further emphasizes the mysterious nature of his background. The narrative creates a sense of timelessness that hints at Merry’s supernatural identity, but the true details of his background will not be explored until later books in Cooper’s series. In addition, the connection between the old man and various natural elements emphasizes the role of Landscape as a Vessel of Myth and Memory.

“Ever since he had learned to read, Barney’s greatest heroes had been King Arthur and his knights. In his dreams he fought imaginary battles as a member of the Round Table, rescuing fair ladies and slaying false knights. He had been longing to come to the West Country; it gave him a strange feeling that he would in some way be coming home. He said, resentfully: ‘You wait. Great-Uncle Merry knows.’”

Barney’s encyclopedic knowledge of Arthurian legends foreshadows the narrative stakes and hints at the boy’s role in advancing the plot. In addition, the narrative sets up a parallel between Barney and the ancient knights of the round table. The Drew children’s adventure therefore takes on a mythical dimension that heightens the sense of heroism and suspense in the story.

“‘Look where ‘ee’s goin’, can’t ‘ee?’ he snarled, the Cornish accent made ugly by anger. ‘Git outa me way.’”

This quote is representative of Susan Cooper’s stylistic use of prose to portray Cornish accents. Indeed, the speech of some characters, such as Bill, Mr. Penhallow, or Mrs. Palk, is represented almost phonetically, and the emphasis on their distinctive accents characterizes them as local figures who are deeply immersed in the legendary aspects of the Cornish countryside.

“‘And I should have gone exploring into the interior and the rude natives would have turned me into a god and tried to offer me their wives.’

‘Why would the natives be rude?’ said Barney.

‘Not that sort of rude, you idiot, it means—it means—well, it’s the sort of thing natives are. It’s what all the explorers call them.’”

This interaction between Simon and Barney reflects the attitude of imperialistic entitlement that the British commonly held toward Indigenous Americans in the 1960s, when Cooper’s novel was first published. Settler-colonialist ideology typically depicts Indigenous Americans as primitive “savages” and Western colonizers as brave, benevolent explorers. That erroneous mindset is on full display in the games that the Drew children play in the Grey House, and although the author intended these scenes to be representative of lighthearted play, a more modern, retrospective approach to the text must acknowledge that these details unfortunately reinforce negative stereotypes and systems of racist oppression. This issue marks the novel as an artifact of the historical and ideological time frame in which it was written.

“‘What an odd way this house is built,’ Simon said, as they turned into another narrow corridor towards the stairs leading up to the next floor. ‘All little bits joined together by funny little passages. As if each bit were meant to be kept secret from the next.’”

Simon’s observation about the Grey House foreshadows the fact that the map works by mysteriously leading the children from one element of the landscape to another. Just like the map, the house itself functions as a life-sized puzzle. This pattern also mirrors the dynamics of the novel’s entire plot, given that the children gradually uncover information about Arthurian legends over the course of the story. These narrative elements further frame the Drew siblings’ journey as an epic adventure.

“‘Simon!’ said Jane, gazing at him in horror. ‘You’re filthy!’

‘Well, isn’t that just like a girl. All this round you, and you only see a bit of dust. It’ll brush off.’ He patted ineffectually at his piebald shirt. ‘But isn’t it marvellous? Look!’”

In this passage, the narrative reflects the stereotypes about gender roles that were common in 1960s Great Britain. Jane and her brothers, for example, are depicted differently due to their genders. Specifically, Jane is more easily frightened and emotionally volatile than Simon or Barney, who display more assertive, audacious behavior. By contrast, Jane worries about domestic issues like hygiene and cleanliness, while Simon’s dismissive attitude reflects equally stereotypical notions of male behavior.

“The paper Barney had unrolled was not paper at all, but a kind of thick brownish parchment, springy as steel, with long raised cracks crossing it where it had been rolled. Inside it, another sheet was stuck down: darker, looking much older, ragged at the edges, and covered with small writing in strange squashed-looking dark brown letters.

Below the writing it dwindled, as if it had been singed by some great heat long ago, into half-detached pieces carefully laid back together and stuck to the outer sheet. But there was enough of it left for them to see at the bottom a rough drawing that looked like the uncertain outline of a map.

For a moment they were all very quiet. Barney said nothing, but he could feel a strange excitement bubbling up inside him.”

This long litany of details represents the first description of the manuscript that Simon, Jane, and Barney find in the attic of the Grey House. The discovery of the artifact marks the beginning of the children’s adventures, and the narrative therefore lingers over its physical appearance just as the children themselves eagerly study every detail of this new find. The layered pieces of parchment, which are later revealed to be from different centuries, also heighten the sense of ancient grandeur that the document carries, blurring the line between myth and history.

“‘I bet old King Mark left some treasure behind somewhere and that’s why there’s a map.’

‘Suppose we find it.’

‘We’d be rich.’

‘We’d be famous.’

‘We shall have to tell Mother and Father,’ Jane said.

The two boys stopped thumping each other ecstatically and looked at her.

‘Whatever for?’

‘Well—’ Jane said lamely, taken aback. ‘I suppose we ought to, that’s all.’”

This interaction between the Drew siblings highlights a recurring narrative problem in children’s fiction. While the narrative sets up a quest for the young protagonists to embark on, it must also justify their independence from any meaningful adult supervision. In this scene, Jane is used as a vehicle for a moment of adult subjectivity, and her comment prompts a conversation that lets the narrative symbolically dispense with the presence of the children’s parents. This shift creates a situation that imbues the protagonists with full agency: a state that is further enabled by Great-Uncle Merry’s frequent disappearances.

“What an old-fashioned way of talking he has, Jane thought idly; perhaps it comes of selling antiques. She looked at Simon and Barney, both all eagerness at the idea of a day on the strange yacht, gazing anxiously at their parents; and then back at Mr. Withers’ immaculate white flannels and folded scarf. I don’t like him, she thought. I wonder why?”

Throughout the story, Jane is repeatedly characterized as intuitive and is often the first of the three children to identify a character’s lack of moral standing. In this example, she instinctively becomes wary of Mr. Withers before anyone else thinks to, and her hesitancy foreshadows his role as a villain. Jane’s rhetorical question is therefore designed to raise a bevy of unanswered questions about this character.

“Simon was looking forward to eager questions about his discovery of the crime. At the very least, he thought vaguely, he would have to make a statement. He was not quite sure what this meant, but it sounded familiar and important.”

In this passage, the third-person narrator takes on a detached, quasi-omniscient tone that is imbued with an adult’s sense of superiority over more childlike viewpoints. As the narrative pokes fun at Simon’s naïveté, it is clear that the boy’s youth and inexperience is leveraged for comedic effect; in this scene, he wants to appear heroic for discovering the burglary but is confused about police procedures.

“Now then,’ said Great-Uncle Merry as they strode down the hill to the harbour. ‘It’s a splendid afternoon for a walk. Which way d’you want to go?’

‘Somewhere lonely.’

‘Somewhere miles from anywhere.’

‘Somewhere where we can talk.’”

The Drew siblings’ anaphoric answers highlight their shared goal, and the repeated sentence structure gives the impression that they are speaking quickly and with one mind. This approach reinforces the urgency of their situation and hints at Simon, Jane, and Barney’s strong familial bond. Despite their occasional bickering, their quest is therefore framed as a joint adventure.

“So therefore, I trust it to this land, over sea and under stone, and I mark here the signs by which the proper man in the proper place, may know where it lies: the signs that wax and wane but do not die. The secret of its charge I may not write, but carry unspoken to my grave. Yet the man who finds the grail and has other words from me will know, by both, the secret for himself. And for him is the charge, the promise and the proof, and in his day the Pendragon shall come again. And that day shall see a new Logres, with evil cast out; when the old world shall appear no more than a dream.”

This excerpt from the manuscript echoes the title of the novel, Over Sea, Under Stone, to highlight the narrative significance of the phrase. In this piece of writing, the monk who recorded Bedwin’s story bestows an epic quest onto the Drew siblings from the far reaches of the past. The language he uses in this passage imbues their adventure with a mythical dimension and a sense of moral responsibility. In addition, this moment also incorporates the idea of Arthurian Legend as a Living Myth in the Modern World and reinforces the children’s role in The Archetypal Battle of Good Versus Evil.

“Great-Uncle Merry stood up. The bed creaked as he rose, and his height seemed to fill the room; the light, swinging from the ceiling behind his head, cast his face into shadow and brought back once more to all three of them the old sense of mystery. His great dark figure, with a mist of light faintly silver round his head, left them silent and awed.

‘This is your quest,’ he said. ‘You must find the way every time yourselves. I am the guardian, no more. I can take no part and give you no help, beyond guarding you all the way.’”

Great-Uncle Merry’s assertion that the Drew siblings must rely on themselves simultaneously reinforces the mythical dimension of their adventure and enables them to avoid the encumbrances of adult supervision. By explicitly banning any adult intervention, he requires the children to trust their own wits and strategies to succeed in their quest.

“Rufus jumped nervously back from the shuffling, dancing feet that had enclosed Barney in the crowd. Tentatively he put his nose forward to follow, once, twice, but always a heel came up in the way with an accidental kick, and he had to dodge away.”

This quote introduces a brief passage in Chapter 12. As the narrative briefly takes on Rufus’s point of view, the dog is portrayed as a loyal avatar for the forces of good, and his efforts to search for the kidnapped Barney, while unsuccessful, indicate that something has just gone dreadfully wrong. The passage in question contrasts with the rest of the story, which is told from the perspectives of the three children. This narrative anomaly therefore emphasizes the emotionally charged moment of Barney’s disappearance.

“He could still barely recognise Mr. Withers’ face through the dark-brown stain that turned him into an Arab; the eyes and teeth glinted unnaturally white, and behind the make-up the man seemed withdrawn and pleased with himself, almost arrogant.”

Norman and Polly Withers’s respective carnival costumes contribute to their characterization by acting as disguises to hide their identities and symbols of their deceitful nature. Polly is dressed as a black cat, which hints at her sly, cruel personality, while Norman Withers is dressed as an Arab man. While Cooper intended this choice to indicate Norman Withers’s inherently negative traits, her choice of costume also reflects the blatantly racist stereotypes that were prevalent in 1960s Great Britain, for she implicitly equates the characters’ costume with the very concept of evil.

“The voice dropped until it was silky and very gentle. ‘But just think, Barnabas, of the strange things your great-uncle does. Coming out of nowhere and vanishing again… he has vanished again today, has he not? Well no, of course, you can’t answer me, because we are only pretending that you know what I am talking about. But this is not the first time he has unexpectedly disappeared, I think, and it will not be the last.’”

Although it is not mentioned in this first book of Cooper’s series, the man known as Mr. Hastings is a supernatural being with mystical powers of persuasion. At this point in the narrative, however, he is simply portrayed as extremely manipulative. The narrative does not explain the strange hypnosis that Barney experiences under Hastings’s control, so the scene contributes to the ambiguity of the villain’s true powers.

“‘Oh well,’ said Barney, and he went on over the field, secretly relieved to be able to accept commands. He felt he had had enough of being the lone hero that day to last him for years—so that his private dreams of solitary bold knights in shining armour would never be quite the same again.”

This quote highlights Barney’s youth and vulnerability, and the scene also reinforces the bond between the Drew siblings. Despite their occasional bickering, the children trust and support one another throughout the story, embracing a deep understanding of the importance of cooperation. Significantly, this behavior pattern links them with Arthur’s knights, who also worked together for a higher purpose.

“Barney shivered with fright and sudden cold. It was as if they were all round him in the silent darkness, evil and unseen, willing him to go back. His ears sang, even in the great empty space of the cave he felt that something was pressing him down, calling him insistently to turn away. Who are you to intrude here, the voice seemed to whisper; one small boy, prying into something that is so much bigger than you can understand […]? Go away, go back where you are safe, leave such ancient things alone.

But then Barney […] suddenly had a vivid picture of the knight Bedwin who had begun it all when he came fleeing to Cornwall from the east. In full armour he stood in Barney’s mind, guarding the last trust of King Arthur, chased by the same forces that were now pursuing them.”

The story reaches a climactic moment as Barney gets closer to finding the hidden grail. To accentuate the importance of this scene, the narrative blends Barney’s current mission with that of the ancient knights, reinforcing the parallel between the young boy and his heroes. By following in Bedwin’s footsteps, Barney symbolically becomes part of the Arthurian Legend as Living Myth in the Modern World.

“The whole world seemed to stop and centre round the towering black-clad man and a small boy: one will against another, with Barney saved by his own fury from the full force of the commanding glare driving into his eyes.”

Building on the previous quote, Barney and Mr. Hastings are framed as fated enemies, respectively symbolizing the forces of good and evil. To this end, Cooper portrays them as being embroiled in a never-ending moral conflict. This dynamic illustrates The Archetypal Battle of Good Versus Evil.

“For all his height, Mr. Hastings moved like an eel. In a moment he was on his feet again, with one big hand clasped round Simon’s arm, and in a swift cruel movement he pulled the arm round behind Simon’s back and jerked it upwards so that he cried out with pain. The girl in the boat laughed softly. She had not moved since the beginning. Jane heard, and hated her, but stood transfixed by the look of concentrated evil cruelty on the face above her. It was as if something monstrous blazed behind Mr. Hastings’ eyes, something not human, that filled her with a horror more vast and dreadful than anything she had felt before.”

Jane, the most perceptive of the Drew siblings, identifies Mr. Hastings as “not human” in this passage. Although this novel does not confirm his true nature, the antagonist is later revealed to be an ancient supernatural being. At this point in the story, however, the narrative only hints at that revelation and includes enough ambiguity to suggest that Mr. Hastings’s inhumanity is simply a moral failing.

“‘Failed?’ he said, and he was smiling. ‘Oh no. Is that really what you think? You haven’t failed. The hunt for the grail was a battle, as important in its way as any battle that’s ever been fought. And you won it, the three of you. The powers behind the man calling himself Hastings came very near to winning […]. But thanks to you the vital secret they needed is safe from them still […]. Safe—not destroyed, Simon. […] The point is that […] the last secret is safe, and hidden. So well hidden at the bottom of Trewissick Bay that they could never ever begin the long business of searching for it without our being able to find out, and to stop them. They have lost their chance.’”

Great-Uncle Merry’s words to the Drew children at the end of the story set up the premise of the next book in the series, The Dark Is Rising. In this scene, the old man provides narrative closure while introducing new stakes and plot points that have yet to be resolved. The story therefore concludes on a hopeful note while raising new questions about The Archetypal Battle of Good Versus Evil.

“‘Merriman Lyon,’ he said softly to himself. ‘Merry Lyon…Merlion…Merlin…’ […]

‘No,’ Barney said aloud, and he shook himself. ‘It’s not possible.’ But as he followed Simon and Jane he glanced back over his shoulder, wondering. And Great-Uncle Merry, as if he knew, turned his head and looked him full in the face for an instant, across the crowd; smiled very faintly, and looked away again.”

In a deeply intuitive flash, Barney has a climactic realization about his great-uncle’s identity, and while the narrative does not deign to confirm the boy’s suspicions outright, the pointed description of Great-Uncle Merry’s body language simultaneously hints at the man’s supernatural sense of “knowing” and implies that Barney is on the right track.