Kay's description of the arrow-stealing crow as a "witch" is somewhat accurate. In Chapter 11, the boys will see the crow sitting on top of the castle of The Oldest Ones of All, allowing the reader to infer that the crow is actually an animal-spirit, that serves the sorceress Morgan Le Fay, who is keeping watch over the Wart and Kay. Later in the novel, they will encounter her face-to-face during their adventures with Robin Wood.
More important in these two chapters is the joust between King Pellinore and Sir Grummore, which reveals different attitudes toward jousting (and proving one's heroism through it). White begins Chapter 7 by offering his reader an extensive survey of jousting traditions, equipment, and practices. After treating such topics as how a lance should be held, the proper length of a lance, and where an enemy should be hit with one, the narrator concludes, "It would take too long to go into all the interesting details of proper tilting which the boys had to learn, for in those days, you had to be a master of your craft from the bottom upward." In this light, tilting is a noble sport that requires great discipline, courage, and expertise.
This attitude is shared by the Wart with regard to the "craft" of tilting, because, as he views it, the sport is connected to knighthood and he desperately wants to be a knight. When asked by Merlyn why he is "grieving" while watching Kay practice his tilting, the Wart almost breaks out in tears and explains, "I shall not be a knight because I am not a proper son of Sir Ector's. They shall knight Kay, and I shall be his squire." When asked, by Merlyn, to elaborate on this complaint, .the Wart says that if he was born with a "proper father and mother," he would have become a "knight-errant" with a "splendid suit of armor and dozens of spears and a black horse standing eighteen hands." He also remarks that he would have called himself "The Black Knight," challenged random knights in a wood for the right to pass him, and only begrudgingly married — because he would need a "lady-love" who would allow him to wear her favor in his helm as he did "deeds in her honor." Clearly, the Wart has been hypnotized by legends and lore; his ideas about knights and chivalry are worn and cliched. Again, White stresses the Wart's naiveté and boyishness; his yearning for knighthood is reminiscent of the young Mark Twain's desire to become a riverboat captain
