While all of the animals into which the Wart is transformed throughout the novel are, to some degree, human, the geese are, without question, the most humane. Their beauty and camaraderie is so great that the Wart is moved to sing; their joie de vivre" is such that the Wart cannot but help become entranced by his new surroundings. Lyo-lyok, as another teacher, is patient and good-humored, helping the Wart with his duties as sentry; however, her amusement over the Wart's human nature turns to horror when he asks her about the sentries and if they are currently "at war." Her initial inability to understand the Wart's question — followed by her distaste at what he means by "at war" — suggests a compassion and basic decency in the geese that humans are supposed to possess but too often do not. Her question, "But what creature could be so low as to go about in bands, to murder others of its own blood?" is supposed to be hypothetical, but does, of course, have a ready answer: man. The geese are the complete opposite of the warlike ants that the Wart encountered in Chapter 8: They have no use for war because, in the air, there are no boundaries and, therefore, no causes for battle. They have no Kings, no laws, and their only private properties are their nests. Despite what the reader understands at this point, however, the Wart is still ignorant of Lyo-lyok's teaching, calling fighting "knightly." Her explanation of his attitude ("you're a baby") suggests the degree to which the Wart still must change before he becomes King.
Before ending the episode, White inserts an anecdote concerning the inherent dignity and natural leadership abilities of geese. This story (which White says "ought to make people think") suggests the link between the Wart's future as King and his present situation as a wild goose: Knowing what he does about animals (everything), Merlyn would, undoubtedly, want his pupil to learn of real leadership and how it works. While the Wart does not hear the anecdote about the farmer and his henhouse directly, the principle behind it — that leaders take charge when a leader is needed — is embodied in the geese that the Wart meets on his migration across the North Sea. The ants' leaders exist merely to begin wars, but the admirals of the geese lead their flocks above and beyond the boundaries that cause so much conflict.
