Arthur: Jumping hogtoads.
Arthur: Oh, Merlin! You're back from Ber... Ber... Ber.
Merlin: Bermuda? Yes, back from Bermuda and the 20th century, heh-heh. And, believe me, you can have it. One big modern mess.
Arthur: You were really great, Merlin, but... but you could've been killed.
Merlin: It was worth it, lad, if you learned something from it.
Arthur: Knowledge and wisdom is the real power.
Merlin: Right you are, Wart, so stick to your schooling, boy.
Arthur: Oh, oh, don't worry. I will, sir. I will. Oh, I really will.
Archimedes the Owl: Now, boy, flying is not merely some crude, mechanical process. It is a delicate art. Purely aesthetic. Poetry of motion. And the best way to learn it is to do it.
Merlin: There! You see? I'm an ugly, horrible, grouchy old man.
Archimedes the Owl: What-what-what? Wht-wht-what's up, boy? What's going on?
Arthur: They're having a Wizard's Duel. What's that mean?
Archimedes the Owl: Oh, it's a battle of wits. The players change themselves to different things in an attempt to, uh... to... destroy one another.
Arthur: D-d-des-destroy?
Archimedes the Owl: Well just watch, boy. Just watch. You'll get the idea.
Arthur: Whoa! What! Whoa.
Merlin: He should be here in, I'd say, half an hour.
Archimedes the Owl: Who? Who? I'd like to know who.
Merlin: I told you, Archimedes, I am not sure. All I know is that someone will be coming. Someone very important.
Archimedes the Owl: Oh, pinfeathers.
Merlin: Fate will direct him to me, so that I, in turn, may guide him to his rightful place in the world.
Merlin: Now, now, Mim, Mim, no... no dragons, remember?
Madame Mim: Did I say no purple dragons? Did I?
Arthur: I can't be a king, Archimedes. I don't know anything about ruling a country.
Archimedes the Owl: I told you to leave the thing in the stone, boy.
Arthur: I'll run away. That's what I'll do. They'll just have to find somebody else.
Merlin: Don't take gravity too lightly or it'll catch up with you.
Arthur: What's gravity?
Merlin: Gravity is what causes you to fall.
Arthur: Oh, like a stumble or... or a trip?
Merlin: Yes, it's like a stumble or a... No, no, no, no, no. It's the force that pulls you downward, the... the phenomenon that any two material particles or bodies, if free to move, will be accelerated toward each other.
Answer: Part of it is the cliche of the abusive or angry step-parent or adoptive patent. Although this is something that does occur, Sir Ector just thought more highly of his own son and would rather see his son become king. He probably regrets having to take care of him, but felt obligated as a knight of Uther Pendragon. In addition, he's more of a brute and fighter and doesn't like learning (or magic). So when Arthur displays an aptitude towards learning over fighting, Ector has less in common with the boy and treats him as a servant.
Bishop73