Robert de Boron's Merlin

   The "Robert de Boron" Merlin verse fragment survives in one manuscript only. It covers the first section of the Arthurian story, with the devils arranging for Merlin to be born. It finishes long before the Sword in the Anvil scene.
   The "Robert de Boron" Merlin prose text (which has long been thought to be a prose rendering of the verse, i.e. of the fragment plus the lost bit) has the Sword in the Anvil scene towards the end.
   The prose text had a Vulgate Merlin continuation which dealt only with Arthur's early wars. There was no Lady of the Lake in it. The resulting two-part Merlin was put into the Vulgate Cycle as a "prequel" to the Prose Lancelot/Queste/Mort Artu. The Mort Artu already had Arthur asking Girflet to cast the sword into the lake. The prose text also had a Post-Vulgate Merlin continuation, and this did have Arthur getting the sword from the lake. This two-part Merlin was part of the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and was also used by Malory.