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    "endpoint": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/16-book-xvi-the-holy-grail.json"
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  "work": {
    "slug": "parzival",
    "name": "Parzival"
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  "parents": [
    {
      "slug": "grail-romances",
      "name": "Holy Grail Romances",
      "url": "/sources/grail-romances/"
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  "chapter": {
    "num": 17,
    "slug": "16-book-xvi-the-holy-grail",
    "title": "Book XVI: The Holy Grail",
    "of": 17,
    "words": 30968,
    "text": "## Book XVI: The Holy Grail\n\n\nLOHENGRIN\n\nDigitized by\n\nGoogk\n\nARGUMENT\n\nBook xvi. tells of the sorrow of Anfortas and his knights ; how he prayed\nthem to kill him, and how he would fain have withheld his eyes from the\nsight of the Grail ; of the coming of Parzival and Feirefis, and of the\nhealing of Anfortas.\n\nHow Parzival set forth to meet his wife on the shores of Plimizol ; and\nhow Trevrezent confessed to having spoken falsely in order to withhold\nhim from the Quest.\n\nOf the joyful meeting of Parzival and Kondwiramur ; and how Kardeiss\nwas proclaimed king of Brobarz, Waleis, Norgals, and Anjou ; and how\nParzival with Kondwiramur and Lohengrin rode to Monsalvasch. How\non their way they found Sigune* dead, and buried her by her lover.\n\nOf the great feast at Monsalvasch ; and how Feirefis failed to behold\nthe Grail, and of his love for Repanse de Schoie. How Feirefis was\nbaptized, and wedded Repanse de Schoie ; how the twain set forth for\nFeirefis' kingdom, and of their son, Prester John* Of Lohengrin and the\nDuchess of Brabant ; how he was sent to her aid from Monsalvasch, and\ndwelt with her in peace till she asked the question which drove him forth.\n\nThe poet blames Chretien de Troyes for having done the tale a wrong ;\nit was Kiot who taught the song aright, to its very end. He, Wolfram\nof Eschenbach, will speak no more of it, but he prays that all good and\ngracious women will praise him for his song, since he sang it to pleasure\na woman.\n\nLOHENGRIN\n\nOW Anfortas and his Templars they suffered sore grief and\npain,\n\n, And their true love in bondage held him, since he prayed\nthem for death in vain ;\nAnd in sooth death had been his portion, save they wrought\nthat the Grail he saw —\n\nFrom the might of Its mystic virtue fresh life must he ever draw.\n\nThen he spake to the knights of Monsalvasch, * Of a sooth, were ye true of 5\nheart,\n\nYe had pitied ere this my sorrow, how long shall pain be my part ?\nIf reward ye would have as deserving, then God give ye payment fair,\nFor ever was / your servant since the days that I harness bare.\nAtonement in full have I made here for aught I have done of wrong\nTo ye, e'en tho' none had known it, and my penance endureth long ! 10\nIf ye would not be held unfaithful, by the helmet and shield I bore,\nAnd the bond of our common knighthood, release me from bondage sore !\nFor this of a truth must ye grant me, if ye do not the truth disdain,\n1 bare both as a knight undaunted, and fame thro' my deeds did gain.\nFor hill and vale have I ridden, and many a joust have run, 15\nAnd with sword-play good from my foemen much hatred methinks, I won.\nYet with ye doth that count for little ! Bereft of all joy am I ;\nYet, cometh the Day of Judgment, my voice would I lift on high,\nAnd in God's sight, 1, one man only, at the last will accuse ye all,\nIf freedom ye fail to give me, and to Hell shall ye surely fall ! 20\nFor in sooth ye should mourn my sorrow — From the first have ye seen the\n,thing,\n\nAnd ye know how it came upon me — Now I profit ye not as king,\n\ni66\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nAnd all too soon will ye think so, when thro* me ye have lost your soul —\nAlas ! why thus ill-entreat me ? Ere this had I been made whole ! '\n\n25 And the knights from his grief had freed him, save they hope from the word\nmust draw\n\nThat Trevrezent spake of aforetime, and that writ on the Grail he saw.\nAnd once more would they wait his coming whose joy there had waxen weak,\nAnd the hour that should bring them healing from the question his lips\nshould speak.\n\nThen the king of a wile bethought him, and fast would he close his eyes,\n30 And four days long so he held them, when the knights, in their 'customed\nwise,\n\nBefore the Grail would bear him, if he said them or yea, or nay ;\nBut his weakness so wrought upon him, as before the shrine he lay,\nThat his eyelids he needs must open, and against his will must live,\nFor the Grail held death far from him and fresh life must Its vision give.\n\n35 And so was it with Anfortas till the day when Parzival\nAnd Feirefis his brother, rode swift to Monsalvasch' hall ;\nAnd the time was near when the planet, its course in high heaven run,\nMars or Jupiter, glowing wrathful, its station had well-nigh won,\nAnd the spot whence it took its journey — Ah ! then was an evil day\n\n40 That wrought ill to the wound of Anfortas, and the torment would have*its\nway ;\n\nAnd maiden and knight must hearken as the palace rang with his cries,\nAnd the help that no man might give him he besought with despairing eyes,\nFor past all aid was he wounded, and his knights could but share his grief —\nYet the tale saith he drew ever nearer who should bring him alone relief.\n\n45 Then oft as the bitter anguish in its bondage the hero held,\n\nThe taint of the wound to banish, the hall was with sweetness filled,\nFor before him they spread on the carpet Tere^nth, and odours fair\nOf aromatic spices and sweet woods filled the scented air.\nTeriak and precious Ambra, and methinks that their smell was sweet —\n\n50 CarcTamom, Jeroffel, Muscat, lay broken beneath the feet\n\nWhere'er one set foot on the carpet ; and e'en as each footstep fell •\n\nTheir perfume arose, and their freshness, of the venom o'ercame the smell.\n\n\\\n\nLOHENGRIN 167\n\nAnd his fire was of Lignum aloe, as methinks ye have heard afore —\nOf the horny skin of the viper had they fashioned the pillars four\nThat stood 'neath his couch— 'Gainst the venom must his knights on the 55\ncushions strew\n\nPowder of roots so precious, whose healing scent they knew.\n\nWell stuffed, but unsewed, was the covering against which the monarch leant,\n\nAnd the silk and the mattress 'neath it were of Palmat of Nouriente.\n\nAnd the couch itself was yet richer, with many a precious stone\n\nWas it decked, nor were others found there save the rarest of jewels alone ; 60\n\nAnd by Salamanders woven were the cords which the bed did bind,\n\nYea even the fastening 'neath it — Yet no joy might Anfortas find.\n\nThe couch on all sides was costly, (no man shall contend I ween\n\nThat he in the days of his lifetime a richer shall e'er have seen,)\n\n'Twas precious alone from the virtue of the jewels and their magic power, 65\n\nWould ye learn their names, then hearken, for we know them unto this hour.\n\nCarbuncle and Balas ruby, Silenite, and Chalcedony,\nGagatromeus, Onyx, Coral, and Bestion, fair to see.\nAnd there too were Pearl and Opal, Ceraunius and Epistites,\nJerachites, Heliotropia, Panterus, Agate, and Emathites.\nAntrodragma, Praseme, and Saddae, Dionisia and Celidon,\nSardonyx and red Cornelian, Jasper and Calcofon.\n' Echites, Iris, Gagates, and Lyncurium, with many more,\nAsbestos and Cecolithus, and Jacinth, that rich couch bore.\nGalactida, Orites, Enydrus, and Emerald, glowing green,\nAbsist and Alabanda, and Chrysolect had ye seen.\nHiennia, Sapphire, Pyrites, and beside them, here and there,\nTurquoise, and Lipparea, Chrysolite, and Ruby fair —\nPaleisen, Sardius, Diamond, Chrysoprasis, and Malachite,\nDiadoch, Peanite, and Medus with Beryl and Topaze bright.\n\nAnd many they taught high courage, and others such virtue knew\nThat healing skill they taught men, and fresh life from their power they drew.\nAnd many their strength won from them, if aright they might use their art,\nAnd therewith would they tend Anfortas whom they loved with a faithful\nheart —\n\nAnd great grief had he brought his people, yet joy soon his lot shall be — 85\nTo Terre de Salvasch from Ioflanz he rideth to speak him free,\n\nDigitized by\n\n168 PARZIVAL\n\nParzival, with the maid and his brother, nor in truth did I ever hear\nThe distance these three had journeyed ere they drew to the Burg anear ;\nBut conflict had been their portion had Kondrie not been their guide, -\n9° But afar from all strife did she hold them, and in peace on their way they\nride.\n\nSo came they at length to an outpost — Then swiftly towards them sped\nMany Templars well armed and mounted, and right soon they the truth had\nread,\n\nAnd they knew by the guide that succour at last to their walls should draw,\nAnd the Captain he spake out gladly as the Turtle-doves he saw\n95 Gleam fair on Kondrie's vesture, 'Now an end hath it found, our grief,\nWith the sign of the Grail he cometh who shall bring to our king relief,\nThe knight we have looked and have longed for since the dawn of our\nsorrow's day —\n\nStand ye still, for great gladness cometh, and our mourning is past away ! '\n\nFeirefis Angevin would urge him, his brother, to joust to ride,\nioo But Kondrie, she grasped his bridle, lest conflict should there betide,\nAnd the maiden, true but unlovely, spake thus unto Parzival,\n' Shield and banner, thou sure shouldst know them, of the Grail are these\nheroes all,\n\nAnd ready to do thee service.' Then out spake the heathen bold,\n' If so it shall be, from battle mine hand may I well withhold.'\n\n105 Then Parzival prayed that Kondrie would ride forward, the knights to meet,\nAnd she rode, and she spake of the gladness that neared them with flying\nfeet.\n\nAnd, one and all, the Templars sprang straightway unto the ground,\nAnd from off their head the helmet in the self-same hour unbound,\nAnd Parzival they greeted, and they were in his greeting blest,\n110 And Feirefis they welcomed as befitted a noble guest.\n\nAnd then with the twain to Monsalvasch the Templars they took their way ;\nThough they wept, yet methinks that gladness was the fount of their tears\nthat day.\n\nAnd a countless folk they found there, many grey-haired knights and old,\nAnd pages of noble bearing, and of servants, a host untold.\n\nLOHENGRIN\n\nAnd sad were the folk and mournful, whom their coming might well rejoice, 115\n\nAnd Parzival and his brother they welcomed with friendly voice,\n\nAnd kindly did they receive them, without, in the palace court,\n\nAt the foot of the noble stairway, and the knights to the hall they brought.\n\nAnd, e'en as was there the custom, a hundred carpets round,\nEach one with a couch upon it, were spread there upon the ground ; 120\nAnd each couch bare a velvet covering, and methinks, if the twain had wit,\nThe while that the squires disarmed them 'twould pleasure them there to\nsit.\n\nAnd a chamberlain came towards them, and he brought to them vesture\nfair,\n\nAnd each should be clad as the other, and many a knight sat there.\n\nAnd they bare many precious vessels of gold, (none I ween was glass,) I25\n\nAnd the twain they drank, and upstood them to get them to Anfortas.\n\nAnd this have ye heard of aforetime, how he lay, for he scarce might sit,\n\nAnd the couch and its goodly decking, forsooth have ye read of it.\n\nAnd the twain did Anfortas welcome with gladness, and yet with grief,\n\nAnd he spake, ' O'er-long have I waited tho' I win from thine hand relief ; I3°\n\nBut a while ago didst thou leave me in such wise, art thou true of heart,\n\nAnd thinkest to aid my sorrow, thou must have in repentance part.\n\nIf e'er men have praised thy valour, then be thou to my woe a friend,\n\nAnd pray of these knights and maidens that death may my torment end ;\n\nIf Parzival men shall call thee, then forbid me the Grail to see *35\n\nSeven nights and eight days, and I wot well my wailing shall silenced be !\n\nNor further I dare to warn thee — Well for thee if thou help canst bring !\n\nA stranger shall be thy comrade, and I think it an evil thing\n\nThat thus he doth stand before me, say wherefore no thought dost take\n\nFor his comfort, and bid him seat him ?' Then Parzival, weeping, spake : 140\n\n4 Now say where the Grail It lieth ? If God's mercy He think to show,\nAnd it be o'er His wrath the victor, this folk, they shall surely know ! '\nThen three times on his knee he bowed him in the Name of the Trinity,\nAnd three times he prayed that the sorrow of Anfortas should ended be,\nThen he stood upright, and he turned him to the monarch, and thus he 145\nspake :\n\n' What aileth thee here> mine uncle ? ' He who Lazarus from death did wake,\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nAnd by the mouth of His saint, Sylvester, a dead beast to life did bring,\n^Wrought healing and strength on Anfortas — and all men beheld the king,\n\nAnd what French folk shall know as i Florie ' it shone on his face so fair,\n150 And Parzival's manly beauty was but as the empty air !\n\nYea, Vergulacht, Askalon's monarch, and Absalom, Davids son,\nAnd all who the dower of beauty as their birthright shall e'er have won —\nE'en Gamuret, as men saw him draw near unto Kanvoleis,\nSo wondrous fair to look on — they were naught unto all men's eyes\n155 When matched with the radiant beauty that forth from his bitter woe\nHe bare, the King Anfortas — such skill God doth surely know !\n\nNo choice was there for the Templars since the writing upon the Grail\n\nHad named unto them their ruler, and Parzival did they hail\n\nTheir king and their lord henceforward ; and I ween ye in vain would\n\n160 Would ye find two men as wealthy, if of riches I here may speak,\n— As Parzival and his brother, Feirefis Angevin —\n\nAnd many a proffered service the host and his guest did win.\n\nI know not how many stages queen Kondwiramur had made\nOn her journey towards Monsalvasch, nor, joyful, her steps delayed,\n165 For already the truth had been told her, and a messenger tidings bare,\n\nAnd she knew that her grief was ended and her gladness had blossomed\nfair.\n\nAnd led by her uncle, Kiot, and by many a hero bold, «\nHad she come unto Terre de Salvasch and the wood where they fought of\nold ;\n\nWhere in joust Segramor had fallen, and her lord did her likeness know\n170 In the threefold blood-drops mystic, on the white of the drifted snow.^\nAnd there should Parzival seek her, and tho' toilsome and rough the way\nYet never a gladder journey had he ridden than he rode that day !\n\nThen a Templar tidings brought him, * E'en as doth her rank beseem\nFull many a knight so courteous rideth hither beside the queen.'\n175 Then Parzival bethought him, with the knights of the Holy Grail\nTo Trevrezent did he ride first, and he told him the wondrous tale ;\nFrom his heart was the hermit joyful that it thus with Anfortas stood,\nNor death was his lot, but the question brought rest to the hero good.\n\nseek\n\nLOHENGRIN\n\nAnd he quoth, * Yea, God's power is mighty— Who doth at His Council sit ?\nWho hath known of His strength the limit ? What Angel hath fathomed it ? 180 *\nGod is Man, and the Word of His Father ; God is Father at once and Son,\nAnd I wot thro' His Spirit's working may succour and aid be won ! '\n\nThen Trevrezent quoth to his nephew, * Greater marvel I ne'er may see\nThan that thou by thy wrath hast won blessing, and th' Eternal Trinity\nHath given thee thy desiring ! Yet aforetime in sooth I lied, l8S\nFor I thought from the Grail to bring thee, and the truth I from thee would\nhide.\n\nDo thou for my sin give me pardon, henceforth I thy hand obey,\n0 my king, and son of my sister ! — Methinks that I once did say\nThat the spirits cast forth from Heaven thereafter the Grail did tend\nBy God's will, and besought His favour, till their penance at last did end. x9o\nBut God to Himself is faithful, and ne'er doth He changing know,\nNor to them whom I named as forgiven did He ever forgiveness show.\nFor they who refuse His service, He Himself will, I ween, refuse,\nAnd I wot they are lost for ever, and that fate they themselves did choose.\nAnd I mourned for thy fruitless labour, for ne'er did the story stand *95\nThat the Grail might by man be conquered, and I fain had withheld thine\nhand ;\n\nBut with thee hath the chance been other, and thy prize shall the highest be,\nBut since God's Hand doth give It to thee, turn thine heart to humility.'\n\nQuoth Parzival to his uncle, * I would see her I ne'er might see\n\nFor well-nigh five years — When together we dwelt she was dear to me, 2CX>\n\nAnd no whit less dear shall she now be ! Yet thy counsel I fain would hear\n\nSo long as death fail to part us, thou didst help me in need so drear!\n\nNow I ride to my wife, since she cometh to meet me upon my way,\n\nBy Plimizol's banks doth she wait me, and leave I from thee would pray.'\n\nAnd the good man bade 4 God speed him,' and he rode thro' the dusky 205\nnight,\n\nAnd his men knew the woodland pathways — In the early morning light\n\nHe found that which brought him gladness ; full many a tent stood fair,\n\nFrom out the kingdom of Brobarz many banners were planted there,\n\nWith many a shield beneath them— there lay princes from out his land,\n\nAnd Parzival fain would ask them where the tent of the queen might stand ? 210\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nIf her camp lay apart from the others ? Then they showed him where she\nshould be,\n\nAnd a goodly ring around her of tents did the hero see.\n\nAnd Duke Kiot of Katelangen, he had risen ere dawn of day,\n\nAnd he looked on the band of riders who came by the woodland way.\n\n215 And tho' grey was the light of the morning, yet, as the host nearer drew,\nKiot saw the Dove on their armour, and the arms of the Grail he knew ;\nAnd the old man sighed as he thought him of Schoysiane', his lovely bride,\nHow he won her in bliss at Monsalvasch, and how she untimely died.\nTowards Parzival he stepped him, and he bade him a greeting fair ;\n\n220 By a page he bade the queen's Marshal a lodging meet prepare\n\nFor the knights who had there drawn bridle — in sooth 'twas a gallant\nband —\n\nThen to the queen's dressing-chamber he led Parzival by the hand,\n('Twas a small tent made of buckram,) and there, in the waxing light,\nHis harness they take from off him ere he pass to his lady's sight.\n\n225 And the queen she knew naught of his coming — her twin sons beside her lay,\n\nLohengrin and Kardeiss ; and their father, methinks he was glad that day !\n\nThere he found them slumbering sweetly, in a tent both high and wide,\n\nAnd many a lovely lady lay sleeping on either side.\n\nThen Kiot, he drew the covering from the queen, and he bade her wake,\n230 And look, and laugh, and be joyful, and her love to her arms to take ;\n\nAnd she looked up and saw her husband ; and naught but her smock she\nbare,\n\nThe covering she wrapt around her, and sprang swift on the carpet fair,\n\nKondwiramur, the lovely lady — and Parzival ^eld her tight,\n\nAnd they say that they kissed each other^tfie queen and her faithful knight.\n\n23s ' Thou joy of my heart ! Good Fortune hath sent thee again to me,'\n\nShe quoth, and she bade him welcome, ' Now in sooth I should wrathful be,\nYet have I no heart for anger ! Ah ! blest be the dawn and the day\nThat this dear embrace hath brought me, which all sorrow must drive away.\nFor now at last have I found thee, whom my heart hath desired so long,\n\n240 And grief in my heart is vanquished, and sighing is turned to song.'\n\nAnd now from their sleep they wakened, both Lohengrin and Kardeiss,\nNaked they lay on their pillows, and fair in their father's eyes,\n\nJ\n\n. — d*^\n\nLOHENGRIN\n\nAnd, joyful, Parzival kissed them whom he never had seen before —\nThen at Kiot's courteous bidding the babes from the tent they bore,\nAnd Kiot, he bade the maidens to get them from out the tent, 245\nAnd they greeted their lord, long absent, ere yet on their way they went.\nThen he bade the queen care for her husband, and the maidens from thence\nhe led,\n\nAnd the curtains they drew together, for as yet was the night scarce sped. }\n\nNow if blood and snow had robbed him of his senses and wit of yore,\n\n(In this self-same spot its message the snow to his true heart bore,) 25°\n\nFor such sorrow she well repaid him, Kondwiramur, his wife —\n\nNor elsewhere had he sought love's solace in payment for love's fierce strife,\n\nTho' many their love had proffered — I ween that in bliss he lay, j\n\nAnd converse sweet, till morning drew nigh to the middle day.\n\nAnd the army, they rode together, on the Templars had they gazed, 255\nAnd their shields in jousts were pierced, and with many a sword-blow grazed ;\nAnd each knight he wore a surcoat of silk or of velvet rare,\nAnd their feet were shod with iron, nor harness beside they bare.\n\nNor longer they cared to slumber — Then the queen alike and king\n\nArose, and e'en as they bade him, a priest the Mass would sing ; 260\n\nAnd closely they thronged together, that army, brave and good,\n\nWho in their queen's day of peril her shield 'gainst Klamide stood.\n\nThen, the benediction given, his men greeted Parzival,\n\nMany gallant knights and worthy, their true words from true lips must fall.\n\nFrom the tent they take the hangings, and the king spake, 4 Say which is he, 265\nOf my boys, who henceforward ruler of your folk and your land shall be ? '\nAnd further he spake to the princes, * Both Waleis and Norgal's land,\nAnd their towns, Kingrivals and Kanvoleis, by his birthright shall serve his\nhand,\n\nWith Be'alzenan and Anjou, should he grow unto man's estate ;\n\nAnd thither shall ye fare with him, and shall there on his bidding wait. 270\n\nGamuret was he called, my father, and he left them to me, his heir,\n\nBut I, by God's grace, have won me an heritage yet more fair !\n\nSince the Grail shall be mine, I bid ye your fealty to swear anew\n\nTo my child, ere this hour be ended, if your hearts shall to me be true ! '\n\nDigitized by\n\nPARZIVAL\n\n275 And of right goodwill they did this — Ye saw many proud banners wave,\nAnd two little hands the tenure of many a wide land gave.\nAnd there did they crown Kardeiss king ; and, when many a year had flown,\nKanvoleis, and Gamuret's kingdom they needs must his lordship own —\nAnd then by Plimizol's water did they measure a circle wide\n\n280 That there a feast might be holden ere again on their way they ride.\nNor long at the board they tarried ; no longer the host might stay,\nThe tents were struck, with their child-king they wended their homeward\n\nAnd many a maid and vassal must bid to their queen Farewell\nIn such wise that they made loud mourning, and many a teardrop fell.\n285 And Lohengrin and his mother did the Templars take in their care,\nAnd with them to the Burg of Monsalvasch again on their journey fare.\nQuoth Parzival, ' Once in this woodland an hermitage did I see,\nAnd thro' it a rippling brooklet flowed swift on its way so free ;\nIf ye know where it stands ye shall show me.' His comrades swift answer\n\n290 They knew one ; ' There dwells a maiden, and she weeps o'er her true\nlove's grave ;\n\nA shrine of all goodness is she — Our road it doth lead that way,\nAnd her heart is ne'er free from sorrow.' ' That maid will we see to-day,'\nQuoth Parzival, and the others, as he willed, so they thought it good,\nAnd onward they spurred their chargers, and rode thro' the lonely wood.\n\n295 And they found, in the dusk of the evening, on her knees Sigunjg dead,\nAnd the queen wept for bitter sorrow — Then they brake thro' unto the maid ;\nParzival, for the sake of his cousin, bade them raise of the tomb the stone,\nThere, embalmed lay Schionatulander, nor long should he lie alone,\nFor beside him they laid the maiden, who in life to him true love gave\n\n300 In such wise as beseemed a maiden, and they closed o'er the twain the grave.\nAnd she wept for her uncle's daughter, the queen, with a faithful heart ;\nSchoysiane, the dead maid's mother, had shown her a mother's part,\nAnd had cared for her in her childhood, and therefore she sorrow knew :\nAnd Parzival's aunt, too, was she, if the tale Kiot read be true.\n\n305 Kiot knew not the death of his daughter, he was guardian to King Kardeiss—\n(Nor my tale like the bow shall be bended, but straight as an arrow flies,)\n\nway.\n\ngave,\n\nLOHENGRIN\n\nThey delayed not upon their journey, to Monsalvasch they came by night,\nAnd the hours Feirefis must wait them sped swift in their joyful flight.\nAnd they lighted many a taper, 'twas as flamed all the woodland wide,\nAnd a Templar of Patrigalt, armed, by the queen's bridle rein did ride ; 3IQ\nAnd broad and wide was the courtyard, and many a host stood there,\nAnd they welcomed the queen, and a greeting to their lord and his son they\nbare ;\n\nAnd they bore Lohengrin to his uncle, Fejiefis, who was black and white,\nAnd the babe turnecl aside nor would kiss him — as children oft do from\nfright !\n\nBut gaily he laughed, the heathen — Then they gat them from out the court, 315\nWhen first the queen had dismounted, who joy with her coming brought —\nAnd they led the guests so noble, where, with many a lady fair,\nBoth Feirefis and Anfortas awaited them on the stair.\nR^panse de Schoie, and from Greenland, Garschiloie, the fair of face,\nFlorie of Liinel, the bright-eyed, rich were they in maiden grace. 320\nThere she stood, than a reed more graceful, to whom beauty nor truth should\nfail,\n\nThe daughter of Reil's lord, Jernis, as Anflise* the maid they hail ;\nAnd of Tenabroc, maid Clarischanz, sweet was she, and bright to see,\nAnd so slender her shape, I think me, an ant's scarce might slighter be.\n\nFeirefis stepped toward his hostess, and he kissed her e'en as she bade, 325\n\nAnd a kiss did she give Anfortas, for she joyed that his woe was stayed.\n\nFeirefis by the hand must lead her where her husband's aunt she found,\n\nRe'panse de Schoie, and she kissed her, and the maidens who stood around,\n\nAnd her lips that were red aforetime thro' kissing grew yet more red,\n\n(And sorely I ween* doth it grieve me, that this labour, I, in her stead, 33°\n\nMight not here have taken on me, for weary in sooth was she ;)\n\nThen her maids by the hand they take her, and they lead her in courteously.\n\nAnd the knights, in the hall they waited, that with countless tapers bright\nWas decked, on the walls they sparkled, and burnt with a steady light,\nFor a solemn feast they made ready, when the Grail should be shown 335\nto all ;\n\nFor it was not on every feast-day, that they bare It thro' the hall,\n\nBut on high festivals only — When nearer their aid should draw,\n\nOn that even when joy forsook them, and the bleeding spear they saw,\n\nDigitized by\n\nPARZIVAL\n\n'Twas thenj that the Grail might help them, that It thus thro' the hall was\n\n340 Yet Parzival asked no question, and left them of joy forlorn —\nBut now, in joy and gladness, might they look on the Grail again,\nFor at last was their mourning ended, and their sorrow was pierced and\n\nWhen the queen her riding garment had put off, and decked her hair,\nShe came in such garb as beseemed her, in the light of the tapers fair ;\n\n345 And Feirefis stepped to meet her, and he took her by the hand,\nAnd no man gainsaid his fellow, that in this, or in other land,\nNone might speak of a fairer woman ! And rich was the garb she wore,\nA silk by a skilled hand woven, such as Sarant had wrought of yore,\nAnd with cunning and skill had fashioned in Thasme*, the paynim town —\n\n350 Feirefis Angevin, he led her thro' the palace hall adown,\n\nAnd the three great fires they burnt there with Lignum aloe sweet ;\nAnd more there were by forty, both carpets alike and seats,\nThan the time when Parzival sat there and looked on the wondrous Grail,\nBut one seat above all was costly, nor the host to his place should fail.\n\n355 And Feirefis, and Anfortas, they should sit there beside the king —\n\nAnd, courteous, they did them service, who the Grail to the hall should\n\nAforetime methinks ye heard it, how they to Anfortas bare\n\nThe Grail, even so would they do now 'fore the child of King Tampentare,\n\nAnd Gamuret's son — The maidens, no longer they make delay,\n\n360 Five-and-twenty in rightful order they wend thro' the hall their way.\n\nAnd Feirefis gazed on the first maid, with her sweet face andjwaving hair,\nAnd she pleased him well, yet the others who followed were yet more fair ;\nAnd costly and rich their garments, and lovely each maiden's face,\nBut Re'panse de Schoie, who followed, was first in her maiden grace,\n\n365 And the Grail, so men have told me, might be borne by her hands alone ;\nPure was her heart, and radiant as sunlight her fair face shone.\n\nDid I tell ye of all the service — how many did water pour,\nAnd the tables they bare, (I wot well far more than they had of yore,)\nHow discord fled from the palace ; how the cars on their circuit rolled,\n370 With their freight of golden vessels, 'twere long ere the tale were told.\n\nborne —\n\nslain !\n\nbring.\n\nLOHENGRIN\n\nFor the sake of speed would I hasten — with reverence from the Grail\nEach took of the fowl of the forest, wild or tame, nor their drink should fail ;\nEach took wine or mead as it pleased him, Claret, Morass, or Sinopel ;\nAt Pelrapar 'twas far other, as Gamuret's son might tell ! ^*\n\nThen the heathen would know the wonder — What hands did these gold cups 375\nfill\n\nThat stood empty here before him ? The wonder, it pleased him still !\n\nThen answered the fair Anfortas, who sat by the heathen's side,\n\n* Seest thou not the Grail beTore thee ? ' But Feirefis replied,\n\n4 Naught I see but a green Achmardi, that my Lady but now did bear,\n\n1 mean her who stands before us with the crown on her flowing hair, 380\n\nAnd her look to mine heart hath pierced — I deemed I so strong should be\n\nThat never a wife nor a maiden my gladness should take from me ;\n\nBut now doth it sore displease me, the love I may call mine own —\n\nDiscourteous indeed I think me to make unto thee my moan\n\nWhen I never have done thee service ! What profits my wealth, I trow, 385\n\nOr the deeds I have done for fair women, or the gifts that I gave but now,\n\nSince here I must live in anguish ! Nay, Jupiter, thou wast fain\n\nI should ride here, didst hither send me to torment of grief and pain?'\n\nAnd the strength of his love, and his sorrow, turned him pale where he erst\nwas light —\n\nKondwiramur, she had found a rival in this maiden's beauty bright — 390\n\nIn her love-meshes did she hold him, Feirefis, the noble guest,\n\nAnd the love that he erst had cherished he cast it from out his breast.\n\nWhat recked he of Sekundille, her love, and her land so fair,\n\nSince she wrought on him woe so bitter, this maiden beyond compare ?\n\nKlauditte', and Sekundille, Olympia, and many more, 395\n\nWho in distant lands had repaid him with love for his deeds of yore,\n\nWhat cared he now for their kindness ? It seemed but a worthless thing\n\nTo Gamuret's son, the heathen, great Zassamank's noble king !\n\nThen he saw, the fair Anfortas, his comrade in pain so sore,\n(For the spots in his skin waxed pallid, and heavy the heart he bore,)\nAnd he spake, * Sir Knight, it doth grieve me if thou dost for my Sister\nmourn,\n\nNo man for her sake hath sorrowed since the day that [the maid was born.\nVOL. II. M\n\nDigitized by\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nNo knight for her joust hath ridden ; to none doth she favou. r show ;\nBut with me did she dwell at Monsalvasch, and hath shared in mny bitter woe,\n405 And it somewhat hath dimmed her beauty, since she seldom hath jc\\yful been —\nThy brother is son to her sister, he may help thee in this I ween.'\n\n' If that maiden shall be thy sister,' quoth Feirefis Angevin,\n\n4 Who the crown on her loose locks weareth, then help me her love to win.\n\n'Tis she that my heart desireth— What honour mine hand hath won\n\n410 With shield and spear in Tourney, for her sake hath it all been done,\n\nAnd I would she might now reward me ! The Tourney hath fashions five,\nAnd well known unto me is each one, nor against knightly rule I strive.\nSpear in rest 'gainst the foe have I ridden ; I have smitten him from the side ;\nHis onslaught have I avoided ; nor to fair joust have failed to ride\n\n415 In gallop, as should beseem me ; I have followed the flying foe —\n\nSince the shield, it hath been my safeguard, such sorrow I ne'er may know\n\nAs that which to-day besets me — I have fought with a fiery knight\n\nAt Agremontein, I bare then a shield of Asbestos bright,\n\nAnd a surcoat of Salamander, else sure had I there been burned ;\n\n420 And in sooth my life have I perilled, and my fame have I dearly earned.\nAh ! would but thy sister send me to battle for love's reward,\nIn strife would I do her bidding, and her fame and mine own would guard.\nAnd ever my heart fierce hatred to my god Jupiter shall bear,\nIf he make not an end of my sorrow, and give me this maiden fair! '\n\n\"425 Of the twain, Frimutel was the father, and therefore Anfortas bore\n\nE'en such face and such form as his sister — Then the heathen, he looked\nonce more\n\nOn the maiden and then on her brother— What they bare him of drink or\nmeat\n\nNo morsel he ate, yet he sat there as one who made feint to eat.\n\nThen to Parzival spake Anfortas, 4 Sir King, it doth seem to me\n43° That thy brother, who sitteth by me, he faileth the Grail to see ! '\n\nAnd Feirefis spake that he saw naught, nor knew what It was 4 the Grail' ;\nAnd they hearkened his words, the Templars, and a marvel they deemed\nthe tale.\n\nAnd Titurel needs must hear it, in his chamber the old king lay,\n\nAnd he quoth, ' If he be a heathen, then such thought shall he put away\n\nDigitized by\n\nGoogk\n\nLOHENGRIN\n\nAs that eyes unbaptized may win them the power to behold the Grail ! 435\nSuch barriers are built around It, his sight to the task shall fail.'\n\nThen they bare to the hall these tidings, and the host and Anfortas told\nHow that which the folk did nourish, Feirefis, he might ne'er behold,\nSince from heathen eyes It was hidden, and they prayed him to seek the\ngrace\n\nOf Baptism, by its virtue he should win him in Heaven a place. 440\n\n* If I, for your sake, be baptized, will that help me to win my love ? '\n\nSpake Gamuret's son, the heathen — 4 As a wind shall all sorrows prove,\n\nThat wooing or war shall have brought me, to the grief that I now must feel !\n\nIf long or short the time be since I first felt the touch of steel,\n\nAnd fought 'neath a shield, such anguish ne'er hath fallen unto my share, 445\n\nAnd tho' love should, I ween, be hidden, yet my heart would its grief\n\n'Of whom dost thou speak?' quoth the Waleis, 4 Of none but that lady\nbright,\n\nWho is sister to this, thy comrade — If thou, as a faithful knight,\nWilt help me to win the maiden, I will give her with kingly hand\nGreat riches, and men shall hail her as queen over many a land ! ' 450\n' If to Baptism thou wilt yield thee,' spake the host, ' then her love is thine,\n(And as thou I right well may hail thee, since the Grail and Its realm are mine,\nAnd our riches methinks are equal) ' — Quoth Feirefis Angevin,\n'Then help me to bliss, my brother, that the love of thine aunt I win.\nAnd, if Baptism be won by battle, then help me to strife I pray, 455\nThat I, for sweet love's rewarding, may do service without delay.\nAnd mine ear well doth love the music when the spear-shafts in splinters\nbreak,\n\nAnd the helmet rings clear 'neath the sword-thrust, and the war-cry the\necho wakes.'\n\nThen Parzival laughed out gaily, and Anfortas, he laughed yet more,\n\n' Nay, nay,' quoth the host, ' such blessing is no guerdon for deeds of war. 460\n\nI will give unto thee the maiden, by true Baptism's grace and power,\n\nBut the god and the love of a heathen shalt thou leave in the self-same hour ;\n\nAnd to-morrow, at early dawning, will I give to thee counsel true,\n\nWhose fruit shall be seen in the crowning of thy life with a blessing new ! '\n\ndeclare ! '\n\ni8o\n\nPARZIVAL\n\n465 Now Anfortas, before his sickness, in many a distant land\n\nHad won him fair fame, for Love's sake, by the deeds of his knightly hand.\nAnd the thoughts of his heart were gentle, and generous he was and free,\nAnd his right hand had won full often the guerdon of victory ;\nSo they sat in the wondrous presence of the Grail, three heroes true,\n\n470 The best of their day, and the bravest that sword-blade in battle drew.\n\nAn ye will, they enough had eaten — They, courteous, the tables bare\nFrom the hall, and as serving-maidens, low bent they, those maidens fair.\nAnd Feirefis Angevin saw them as forth from the hall they passed,\nAnd in sorrow and deeper anguish i ween was the hero cast.\n475 And she who his heart held captive, she bare from the hall the Grail,\n\nAnd leave did they crave of their monarch, nor his will to their will should\n\nHow the queen, herself, she passed hence ; how men did their task begin ;\nOf the bedding soft they brought him who for love's pain no rest might\nwin ;\n\nHow one and all, the Templars, with kindness would put away\n480 His grief, 'twere too long to tell ye — speak we now of the dawning day.\n\nIn the light of the early morning came his brother, Parzival,\nWith the noble knight Anfortas, and in this wise the tale they tell ;\nThis knight who to love was captive, proud Zassamank's lord and king,\nThey prayed, of true heart, to follow, and they would to the Temple bring,\n\n485 And before the Grail they led him — And there had they bidden stand\nThe wisest men of the Templars — knights and servants, a goodly band,\nWere there ere the heathen entered : the Font was a ruby rare,\nAnd it stood on a rounded pillar that of Jasper was fashioned fair,\nAnd of old Titurel, he gave it, and the cost was great 1 ween —\n\n490 Then Parzival spake to his brother, 1 This maid wouldst thou have for\nqueen,\n\nThen the gods thou hast served henceforward thou shalt for her sake for-\nswear,\n\nAnd ever thine arms, as a true knight, 'gainst the foes of the true God bear,\nAnd, faithful, still do His bidding '— ' Yea, aught that may win my love,'\nQuoth the heathen, ' I'll do right gladly, and my deeds shall my truth\n\nfail.\n\napprove.'\n\nLOHENGRIN\n\nNow the Font, toward the Grail had they turned it, filled with water, nor hot 495\nnor cold,\n\nAnd a priest by its side did wait them, and grey-haired he was, and old ;\nHe had plunged 'neath baptismal waters full many a paynim child,\nAnd he spake to the noble heathen, and gentle his speech and mild —\n4 If thy soul thou wouldst wrest from the Devil, thou shalt serve Him who\nreigns on high,\n\nAnd Threefold is He, yet but One God for aye is the Trinity. 5°°\nGod is Man, and the Word of His Father, God is Father at once and Son,\nAnd alike shall the twain be honoured, and the Spirit with them is One !\nIn the Threefold Name shall it cleanse thee, this water, with Threefold\nmight,\n\nAnd from shadow of heathen darkness shalt thou pass into Christian light.\n\nIn water was He baptized, in Whose likeness was Adam made, 505\n\nAnd each tree from the water draweth its sap, and its leafy shade.\n\nBy water all flesh is nourished, and all that on earth doth live,\n\nAnd the eyes of man are quickened, such virtue doth water give ;\n\nAnd many a soul it cleanseth, till it shineth so pure and white\n\nThat the angels themselves in heaven methinks shall be scarce so bright ! ' 510\n\nTo the priest then he spake, the heathen, * If it bringeth me ease for woe\n\nI will swear whatsoe'er thou biddest — If reward in her love I know,\n\nThen gladly I'll do His bidding — Yea, brother, I here believe\n\nIn the God of my love, and for her sake all other gods I'll leave,\n\n(For such sorrow as she hath brought me I never have known before,) S15\n\nAnd it profiteth naught Sekundille the love that to me she bore,\n\nAnd the honour that she hath done me — All that shall have passed away —\n\nIn the Name of the God of my father would I fain be baptized to-day ! '\n\nThen the priest laid his hands upon him, and the blessing baptismal\ngave,\n\nAnd he did on the chrisom vesture, and he won what his soul did crave, 520\nFor e'en as he was baptized they made ready the maiden mild,\nAnd for christening gift they gave him King Frimutel's lovely child.\n\nFrom his eyes had the Grail been hidden ere baptismal waters bright\n\nHad passed o'er his head, but henceforward, 'twas unveiled to his wondering\n\nsight,\n\nPARZ1VAL\n\n525 And, e'en as the rite was over, on the Grail they this writing read ;\n\n' The Templar whom God henceforward to a strange folk should send as\nhead,\n\nMust forbid all word or question of his country, or name, or race,\nIf they willed he aright should help them, and they would in his sight find\ngrace.\n\nFor the day that they ask the question that folk must he leave straightway ' —\n53° Since the time that their king, Anfortas, so long in his anguish lay,\nAnd the question o'er-long awaited, all questions but please them ill,\nThe knights of the Grail, and no man doth question them with their will.\n\nThen, baptized, Feirefis the Christian to Anfortas made urgent prayer,\n\nHe should ride with him to his kingdom, and his riches with him should\n\n535 But, with courtesy, Anfortas to the knight and his prayer said ' Nay,\nNaught shall hinder the willing service that to God I would give alway ;\n'Tis a goodly crown, the Grail crown, thro' pride was it lost to me,\nHenceforth do I choose as my portion a life of humility,\nAnd riches and love of women shall be strangers unto my heart —\n\n540 Thou leadest with thee a fair wife, henceforth shall it be her part\nWith true love to reward thy service, as to women is fit and fair,\nBut I for the love of mine Order henceforward mine arms will bear ;\nFor the Grail and Its service only I many a joust will ride,\nBut I fight never more for women — thro' a woman did ill betide !\n\n545 Yet no hatred I bear to women, high courage and joy they give\nUnto men, tho* / won but sorrow while I did in their service live.'\n\nBut yet, for the sake of his sister, Feirefis rested not to pray\n\nThat Anfortas should journey with them, but ever he said them nay.\n\nThen he prayed Lohengrin should fare with him, but the mother, she willed\n\n55o And King Parzival spake, * In the service of the Grail hath he part and\nlot,\n\nAnd my son, he is pledged to the Order, and a faithful heart and true\nMust he bear in the holy service — God grant him the will thereto ! '\n\nThen in joy and in fair diversion, till eleven days were o'er,\n\nFeirefis abode at Monsalvasch, on the twelfth would he ride once more,\n\nshare ;\n\nit not ;\n\nLOHENGRIN\n\nHe would lead his wife, this rich man, to his army that yet did wait 555\nHis coming, and Parzival sorrowed for the brother he won so late,\nAnd mourned sore when he heard the tidings — Then counsel he took\nstraightway,\n\nAnd a goodly force of the Templars did he send with them on their way,\nThro' the woodland paths should they guide them — Anfortas, the gallant\nknight,\n\nHimself fain would be their escort — sore wept many maidens bright. 560\n\nAnd new pathways they needs must cut them to Karkobra's city fair —\n\nThen Anfortas, he sent a message to him who was Burg-grave there ;\n\nAnd he bade him, if aye of aforetime rich gifts from his hand he won\n\nTo bethink him, that so this service of true heart by him be done ;\n\nHis brother-in-law with his lady, the king's sister, he now must guide 565\n\nThro' the wood Loehprisein, where the haven afar lieth wild and wide —\n\nFor now 'twas the hour of parting, nor further the knights must fare,\n\nBut Anfortas, he spake to Kondrie, and he bade her the message bear.\n\nThen from Feirefis, the rich man, the Templars leave did pray,\n\nAnd the courteous knight and noble rode hence on his homeward way. 570\n\nAnd the Burg-grave no whit delayed him, but he did e'en at Kondrie's word,\n\nAnd gave welcome fair and knightly to the folk and their noble lord.\n\nNor might Feirefis grow weary of his stay, at the dawn of day, «\n\nWith many a knight as escort, they guided him on his way.\n\nBut I know not how far he had ridden, nor the countries his eyes had seen 575\n\nEre he came once more to Ioflanz, and its meadow, so fair and green.\n\nAnd some of the folk yet abode there — and Feirefis fain had known,\nIn the self-same hour, the tidings of whither the host had flown ;\nFor each one had sought his country, and the road that full well he knew —\nKing Arthur to Camelot journeyed with many a hero true — 580\nThen he of Tribalibot hastened, and his army he sought once more,\nFor his ships lay yet in the haven, and they grieved for their lord full sore\nAnd his coming brought joy and courage to many a hero bold —\nThe Burg-grave and his knights from Karkobra he rewarded with gifts and\ngold—\n\nAnd strange news did they tell unto Kondrie, for messengers sought the host, 585\nSekundille' was dead ; with the tidings they many a sea had crossed.\n\nDigitized by\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nThen first in her distant journey did Re'panse de Schoie find joy,\nAnd in India's realm hereafter did she bear to the king a boy ;\nAnd Prester John they called him, and he won to himself such fame\n590 That henceforward all kings of his country were known by no other\nname.\n\nAnd Feirefis sent a writing thro' the kingdoms whose crown he bore,\nAnd the Christian Faith was honoured as it never had been of yore.\n(And Tribalibot was that country which as India here we know.)\nThen Feirefis spake to Kondrie, and he bade her his brother show\n595 (Who reigneth in far Monsalvasch) what had chanced unto him, the king,\nAnd the death of Queen Sekundille' — and the tidings the maid did bring ;\nAnd Anfortas was glad and joyful to think that his sister fair,\nWithout or strife or conflict, the crown of those lands might bear.\n\nNow aright have ye heard the story of the children of Frimutel,\n600 Five they were, and three are living, and death unto two befell.\nAnd the one was Schoysiane', who was pure in the sight of God,\nAnd the other was Herzeleide, and falsehood her soul abhorred ;\nAnd the sword and the life of knighthood, Trevrezent, he had laid them\ndown\n\nFor the love of God, and His service, and the hope of a deathless crown.\n605 And the gallant knight, Anfortas, pure heart and strong hand he bore,\nAnd well for the Grail he jousted, but for women he fought no more.\nAnd Lohengrin grew to manhood, and cowardice from him flew,\nAnd his heart yearned for deeds of knighthood, to the Grail he did service\ntrue.\n\nWould ye further hear the story ? A maiden, in days of yore,\n610 Whose heart was free from falsehood, the crown of a fair land bore —\nHer heirdom was rich and noble, and lowly and pure her heart,\nAnd no taint of earthly longing had found in her soul a part.\nAnd wooers she had in plenty, of crowned kings, I ween,\nAnd princes, whose race and kingdom fit mate for her own had been.\n615 Yet so humble she was, the maiden, she thought not of earthly love —\n\nAnd the counts of her realm waxed wrathful, since no pleading her soul\ncould move,\n\nAnd their anger raged hot against her that she gave not her maiden hand\nTo one who should be fit ruler o'er her folk, and her goodly land.\n\nDigitized by\n\nLOHENGRIN\n\nIn God was her trust, whatever men might in their anger speak,\nAnd guiltless, she bare the vengeance her folk on her head would wreak. 620\nBut she called of her land the princes, and they journeyed from far and\nnear,\n\nFrom many a distant country, the will of their queen to hear.\nAnd she sware she would have no husband, and no man as her lord would\nown\n\nSave him whom God's Hand should send her, his love would she wait alone.\n\nOf the land of Brabant was she princess — From Monsalvasch he came, the 625\nknight\n\nWhom God at His will should send her, and his guide was a swan so white.\n\nHe set foot in her land at Antwerp, and she knew that her heart spake true,\n\nAnd gallant was he to look on, and all men the hero knew\n\nFor a noble knight and manly, and his face, it was wondrous fair,\n\nAnd his fame was in every kingdom where men did his deeds declare. 630\n\nAnd a wise man he was, free-handed, with never a doubting heart,\n\nAnd faithful and true, and falsehood it found in his life no part.\n\nA fair welcome the princess gave him — now list ye unto his rede,\nRich and poor stood there around him, and they gave to his words good\nheed,\n\nAnd he spake thus, 4 My Lady Duchess, if thou wilt not mine hand refuse, 63S\nBut wilt have me for lord and husband, for thy sake I a kingdom lose —\nBut hearken to what I pray thee, ask thou never who I may be,\nAnd seek not to know my country, for so may I abide with thee.\nIn the day thou dost ask the question of my love shalt thou be bereft —\nTake thou warning, lest God recall me to the land which erewhile I left.' 640\nThen she pledged her faith as a woman that her love, it should ne'er wax\nless,\n\nShe would do e'en as he should bid her, and never his will transgress\nSo long as God wit should give her — Her love did he win that night, V\nAnd Lord of Brabant and its Duchess they hailed him with morning light.\n\nAnd the marriage feast was costly, and many a knight the land 645\nThat of right should be his, as vassal, must take from his princely hand.\nFor he gave ever righteous judgment, and many a gallant deed\nOf knighthood he did, and, valiant, he won of fair fame his meed.\n\n1 86\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nFair children were born unto them — The folk of Bfabant yet know\n650 Of the twain, how he came unto them, and wherefore he thence must go,\nAnd how long he dwelt among them ere her question broke the spell,\nAnd drove him forth, unwilling, for so shall the story tell.\nThe friendly swan, it sought him, and a little boat did bring,\nAnd he sailed thence, and left as tokens his sword, and his horn, and ring.\n6S5 So Lohengrin passed from among them, for in sooth this gallant knight\nWas Parzival's son, and none other, if the tale ye would know aright.\nBy water-ways he sought it, the home of the Grail, again —\nAnd what of the lovely duchess who longed for her lord in vain ?\nWhy drove she hence her true love ? since he bade her be warned of yore,\n660 And forbade her to ask the question when he landed on Brabant's shore —\nHere Herr Erec should speak, for, I think me, he knoweth the tale to tell\nOf revenging for broken pledges, and the fate that such speech befell !\n\nIf Chretien of Troyes, the master, hath done to this tale a wrong,\n\nThen Kiot may well be wrathful, for he taught us aright the song,\n665 To the end the Provencal told it — How Herzeleide's son the Grail\n\nDid win, as was fore-ordained when Anfortas thereto did fail.\n\nAnd thus, from Provence, the story to the German land was brought,\n\nAnd aright was it told, and the story doth lack in its ending naught.\n\nI, Wolfram of Eschenbach, think me that here-of will I speak no more —\n670 Of Parzival's race, and his kindred, of that have I told afore ;\n\nTo the goal of his bliss have I brought him — he whose life such an end\nshall gain,\n\nThat his soul doth not forfeit Heaven for sins that his flesh shall stain,\nAnd yet, as true man and worthy, the world's favour and grace doth keep\nHath done well, nor hath lost his labour, nor his fame shall hereafter sleep !\n675 And if good and gracious women shall think I be worthy praise,\nSince I tell to its end my story, then joyful shall be my days.\nAnd since for the love of a woman I have sung it, this song of old,\nI would that, in sweet words gentle, my guerdon by her be told !\n\nAPPENDICES\n\nDigitized by\n\nGoogk\n\nDigitized by\n\nGoogk\n\nEXCURSUS A\n\nwolfram's source\n\nIn examining into the source whence Wolfram derived this poem, it may be well to\nrestate briefly the problem as indicated in the Preface. We may take it as an acknow-\nledged fact, disputed by none, that for the bulk of his work, from the commencement of\nBooks in. to Xlll., and inclusive of part of the latter, Wolfram drew from a French\nsource ; he himself says that this source was the poem of ' Kiot the Provencal,' and, while\nacquainted with the work of Chretien de Troyes, he distinctly avows his preference for\nKiot over Chretien, saying that Chretien had told the story wrongly, for which Kiot might\nwell be wrathful with him. From this we gather that, granting the existence of the two\nFrench versions, Kiot's had preceded Chretien's.\n\nThe difficulties in the way of accepting Wolfram's own definite statement are two- f\nfold : first, that no trace of such a poem, or such a poet, exists (which in itself is not an\ninsuperable difficulty) ; second, and more serious, that we do possess the poem of Chretien I\nde Troyes, and that it presents such striking features of similarity to Wolfram's version\nthat it is clear that if one were not the source of the other, there is ajcommon source at\nthe root^of both.\n\nNow, of Chretien's source he only tells us that Count Philip of Flanders gave him the\nbook in which he found this story of Perceval and the Grail, but of the author of the book /\nhe says no word. Of Kiot's source, Wolfram tells us that the story of the origin of the\nGrail was found in a MS. at Toledo, written in Arabic by a heathen astronomer,\nFlegetanis ; and it also appears, from a passage in Book vm. p. 238, that the story of\nParzival was contained in the same MS. That Kiot , then sought through the chronicles\nof various countries for some confirmation of the tale, and finally found the record of the\nGrail kings in the chronicles of Anjou.\n\nOf the sources thus variously given, the book possessed by Count Philip of Flanders,\nthe Arabic MS. of Flegetanis, the Chronicles of Anjou, and Kiot's poem founded upon\nthese two last, the Chronicles of Anjou alone remain to us ; do they throw any light on\nthe question or not? It has long been asserted that they do not, and it is true that they\ncontain no recordjrf the Grail kings, nor, though King Arthur is mentioned, and treated\nas an historical personage, do we find any mention of Mazadan, Gamuret, Herzeleide,\nand Parzival under the same names ; but it also seems equally clear that the writer of the\nParzival knew the Chronicles of Anjou, and in the case of each of the characters men-\ntioned above it is not difficult to trace a distinct correspondence between what is recorded\nn the Parzival and real personages and events of Angevin history. (A reference to\nAppendix A, vol. i. , 'on the Angevin allusions ' will show how close in some cases this\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nparallel is. ) Now we find that the greater number of these allusions are contained in\nthe earlier part of the poem, Books I., il, and in., some of the most striking, e.g. the\naccount of the origin of the Angevin House ; the parallel between Gamuret and Fulk v. ;\nand the introduction of Herzeleide, being in the two first books ; i.e. that part of the\npoem peculiar to Wolfram's version is also the part of the poem richest in indications of\na knowledge of Angevin history.\n\nThe fact that Wolfram has an introduction, and a completion, to the Perceval legend\nwhich agree perfectly one with the other, and are not found elsewhere, naturally leads to\nthe inference that he either had a source other than Chretien, or that he invented the\nbooks himself ; which latter Simrock claims to have been the case. In a case of this\nkind, where there is an utter lack of external testimony to help us, we can only judge\nfrom the internal evidence of the work itself, and here we are met at the outset by the\nstartling phenomenon of a poem, ascribed to the invention of a German poet, abounding\nin allusions to a contemporary French line of princes, and evidently designed for the\nglorification of that house. It is perfectly true that the princely family in question had risen\nto a point of greatness that resulted in their dominating for some years European politics,\nbut, in the absence of any testimony connecting Wolfram with the House of Anjou, we are\nat least entitled to ask how he possibly came to give such a colour to his poem. It is\nimpossible to avoid being perplexed by such questions as these ; how did Wolfram\ncome to be so familiar with the early history of the Angevin counts ? If he wished to\nglorify any reigning prince why did he not choose a German, say Hermann of Thuringia,\nrather than lead to the suspicion that he wished to compliment a house represented at the\ntime he wrote by its very worst and weakest descendant, John of Anjou and England ?\nWhy did he lay the adventures of his hero's father in the East, and bring into the story\nthe curious and enigmatic personality of Feirefis, and, having invented him, give him a\nname of undoubted French origin ? And even if we pass over the difficulties of the first\ntwo books we are met by other questions just as puzzling, e.g. why did Wolfram, who had\nso high an idea of fidelity to his source, and who blamed so strongly the leading poet of\nhis day for the fault of departing from his supposed model, represent the Grail and the\n\nlers in Its castle in the light in which he did ? There is no parallel to his Grail-stone\n\nthe 1 Templeisen ' throughout the whole Grail literature, and we cannot escape from the\n\n, alternative of admitting that if Wolfram did not invent all this he found it in a source\n\"unknown to us] * v\n\nThe problem of the Grail has been attempted to be solved by the hypothesis of a\nmisunderstanding of Chretien de Troyes, this solution is of course possible, but it must be\nadmitted that it has the appearance rather of an ingenious evasion than an explanation of\ndifficulty, and it holds good for nothing beyond the bare presentment of the Grail as a\n's'one. The Angevin problem, on the other hand, has so far never been solved at all,\n\n' Md only its removal hinted at by the suggestion that Walter Mapes was the author of\nWolfram's source, which of course admits that Wolfram had a source other than Chretien,\nand therefore by implication throws doubt on the above suggested explanation of the\n\n' Grail which is based on the supposition that Chretien, and Chretien alone, was the source\nof Wolfram's information. In fact, so long as we refuse to admit the truth of Wolfram's\nown explicit statements, so long shall we find the interpretation of the Parzival beset with\ninnumerable difficulties, the attempted explanation of one part of the problem only render-\ning the remaining portion more obscure ; but if we will accept it as possible that Wolfram\ngave a correct account of the source of his poem, and, divesting our minds of all precon-\nceived ideas in favour of this or that theory, carefully examine the indications afforded by the\npoem itself, we may find that there is a solution which will meet, more or less fully, all\nthe difficulties which beset the question. Now, as remarked above, when Wolfram wrote\n\nEXCURSUS A\n\nhis poem the power of the Angevin House was beginning to decline, the date assigned to\nthe Parzival, with which date all the internal evidences agree, is within the first fifteen\nyears of the thirteenth century, a period exactly corresponding to the reign of John, and\nit may be the first two or three years of that of his successor Henry in. , and it was\nduring the fatuous misgovernment of these princes that the edifice so carefully built up\nby the early Angevin counts fell to pieces. Works in glorification of any special house or\nkingdom are not, as a rule, written during that house or kingdom's period of decadence,\nrather during its time of growth and aggrandisement, and we find as a fact that the events\nwhich led to the accession of an Angevin count to the throne of England ' stirred up,\nduring the early years of Henry Fitz-Empress' reign, a spirit of patriotic loyalty which led\nmore than one of his subjects to collect the floating popular traditions of his race, and\nweave them into a narrative which passed for a history of the Angevin counts.' (Cf.\nEngland under the Angevin Kings, vol. ii. p. 195.) It is therefore to this period rather\nthan to a later date, i.e. to Wolfram's source rather than to Wolfram himself, that histori-\ncal testimony would bid us assign the Angevin allusions. History also forbids us to\nassume that Chritien could have been the source of Wolfram's information ; Chretien\nwas of Troyes, in Champagne, therefore an adherent of the House of Blois who were\nhereditary foes of the Angevin counts, and not without reason, as the latter were most\nundesirable neighbours, and never lost a chance of increasing their dominions at the\nexpense of their fellow-princes. At one time or another, either by marriage or by conquest,\nthey annexed all the surrounding estates (though they grasped considerably more than\nthey could permanently hold), and after the marriage of Henry Fitz-Empress with Eleanor\nof Aquitaine, the heiress of Poitou and Guyenne, and of his son Geoffrey with Constance\nof Brittany, the whole of the coast-line of France belonged to the Angevin possessions.\nIt was not surprising that princes of such an acquisitive nature should have many\nenemies, and when Henry's sons rebelled against him they were not without friends to\nback them up, among them, apparently, was the very Count Philip of Flanders from\nwhom Chretien received the book from whence he drew his poem. If then Wolfram in\nhis first two books was following a French poet, that poet was not Chretien.\n\nBut if the Angevin counts had many foes they had also many adherents, not only in\nEurope but in the East, their connection with which dated back to the reign of Fulk\nNerra, or Fulk the Palmer. It was not to a member of an unknown house that Baldwin,\nking of Jerusalem, in 1129 sent an invitation to become his son-in-law and successor ; nor\ndid Fulk, when he left Anjou for Jerusalem, go alone, — we are expressly told that he took\na large army with him. Fulk himself died in 1142, but he left sons who succeeded him,\nso that the Angevin rule in the East did not end with his death.\n\nIs it then impo>sible, or even improbable, that this ' Kiot the Provencal ' of whom\nWolfram speaks was an adherent of the House of Anjou, who had followed their fortunes\nin the East, and who, coming under the spell of the Grail myth in its connection with the\nPerceval legend, remodelled the story, probably then still in a rough and transitional form,\nin accordance with his own personal experiences and prepossessions? Do not all the\nindications afforded by the poem favour this theory? Such a man would have been\nthoroughly familiar with the legends that had gathered round the early Angevin princes,\nas well as with the historical facts connected with their successors ; he would have come\ninto contact with the Order of the Knights Templars in a land where they were in deed,\nand not merely in name, guardians of the Faith ; he would be familiar with many a legend\nof precious b tones, the favourite talisman of the East, and would know the special virtue\nascribed to each ; above all, he would have seen before him in a concrete form the contest\nbetween faith and unbelief, darkness and light, Christianity and Heathendom, a black race\nand a white, which forms at least one of the leading ideas in the interpretation of the poem.\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nIn fact, if we will allow the existence of such a writer as a travelled Angevin might well\nhave been, we shall find all the principal problems of the Parzival admit of a rational\nexplanation. Even the central puzzle, Wolfram's representation of the Grail, is explicable\non such an hypothesis. We know how very vague Chretien's account of the Grail is ; how\nmuch in the dark he leaves us as to Its outward form, Its influence, and Its origin. A\nwriter before Chretien is scarcely likely to have been more explicit ; what more likely than\nthat a man long resident in the East, and familiar, as has been said above, with Eastern\njewel talismans and the legends connected with them, when confronted with this mysterious\nGrail, of which no definite account was given, yet which apparently exercised a magical\nlife-sustaining influence, should have jumped to the conclusion of Its, at least partial,\nidentity with the precious stones of the power of which he had heard so much?\n\nAnd in connection with this it is worthy of note that Wolfram represents the Grail as\nlying on a green Achmardi ; in other versions of the Grail romances it is red, or white,\nsamite that we find mentioned as veiling the relic. Throughout the poem we find green\nconstantly mentioned, e.g. Gamuret's equipment, the robes of the Grail maidens and of\nGramoflanz, the cross over Gamuret's grave, Trevrezent's shrine or reliquary ; all these\nallusions seem to point to the writer's familiarity with green as a royal and sacred colour,\na knowledge which could only have been gained in the East. Nor, as mentioned in note\nto Book IX., is the description of the Grail the only instance of a mystical influence being\nattributed to a precious stone, but throughout the whole poem the constant mention of\ngems, and, in special instances, of the virtue they possess, is one of the marked peculiarities\nof the poem, and one of the features which differentiate it from Chretien's version.\n\nThat Wolfram had a model for these earlier books, and one that he was following\nclosely, appears from the description he gives in two places of Kailet's armour ; in Book I.\nwe find ' do rekande ich abr wol dinen strUz, ante schilde ein sarapandra test,' and in Book\nII. 1 stU din strdz noch sunder nest f Du solt din sarapandra test gein sinem halben grifen\ntragen,' where in both instances it is distinctly implied that Kailet had two badges, an\nostrich on his helmet and a snake's head on his shield, which is, to say the least, extremely\nunlikely. What seems to be really meant is that Kailet carried the figure of the entire\nbird on his helmet, and a representation of its head on his shield ; the likeness in the shape\nof the latter to a snake's head has often been commented upon, and the ostrich, from its\ncurious head and neck, has been known as ' the serpent bird.' It seems clear that here at\nleast Wolfram was following another description, and one which he did not altogether\nunderstand.\n\nAs to the conclusion to be drawn from the proper names which occur in such profusion\nthroughout the poem, this question has been so fully treated by Bartsch (cf. vol. i.\nAppendix B) that it would be superfluous to discuss it here; and the correspondence\nbetween the Titurel poems and the Parzival, which argues a common source for both, has\nalso been adequately discussed, but the addition of the arguments to be derived from the\ncorrespondence existing between Wolfram's Angevin allusions and the facts of Angevin\nhistory, seems to put it beyond doubt that there is a strong body of evidence in support of\nWolfram's own statement that he had a French source other than Chretien de Troyes ;\nand, if we admit that he spoke the truth so far, it seems only logical to believe that he was\nalso speaking the truth when he gave the name of the author of his source as 'Kiot the\nProvencal.'\n\nEXCURSUS B\n\nEXCURSUS B\n\nRELATION OF WOLFRAM TO CHRETIEN\n\nIn explanation of the striking agreement which exists between the Parzival of Wolfram\nvon Eschenbach and that part of Li Conte del Graal which we owe to Chretien de Troyes,\nthree solutions may be suggested : (a) That Chretien was the source of Wolfram ; (6) That\nChretien and Wolfram both drew from a common source, that source, if Wolfram is to be\nbelieved, being Kiot ; (c) That Chretien, who wrote before Wolfram, drew from a source\nanterior to Wolfram, which source was also used by Kiot.\n\nFor reasons already stated we may dismiss (a) without further argument, and accept\nWolfram's statement as to the existence of a French poem other than Chretien's ; but the\nquestion as to the relationship existing between these two poems, whether the one was\ndirectly the source of the other (as Wolfram seems to have supposed), or whether both\nrepresent a common source, requires to be carefully examined.\n\nThe principal difference between the Parzival and the Conte del Graal is in the\nIntroduction, which is missing entirely in Chretien, whose account of Perceval's father and\nof his death is at variance with all the other versions, and has been supplemented by a\nlater Introduction, more in harmony with what seems to have been accepted as the original\nform of the story, i.e. with the fact of the death of the hero's father before his birth, and\nthe flight of the widowed mother into the woods. Now, it is of course quite possible, it is\neven highly probable, that Chretien, had he known a version of the story such as Wolfram\ngives, would have rejected it on account of its connection with the House of Anjou, but we\ncannot base any argument on the absence of this introduction, since Chretien left his poem\nunfinished at a point before the close connection between the first two books and the\nending of the story becomes apparent in Wolfram. Had Chretien lived to complete his\nwork we should have then been in a better position to judge whether he knew Kiot's poem\nand deliberately set it on one side, or whether he was following another version.\n\nClosely as the two poems agree, it is noticeable that, in more than one instance, Chretien's\nversion of an incident is more in harmony with the story as told in other members of the\nGrail cycle than is Wolfram's ; e.g. Parzival's visit to the court of King Arthur, and\nGawain's adventure in the Chateau Merveil, both of which have been fully treated in the\nNotes. It is curious also that in the three versions of the story most closely agreeing, the\nConte del Graal, Parzival, and Peredur, we find the bleeding lance and the sword in\neach, while for the ' Grail ' talisman we have variously, an enigmatic object of gold set with\nprecious stones, a stone, and a bleeding head on a dish ; this variation seems to point to\nthe conclusion that the lance and sword, and not the ' Grail,' were the original features of\nthe story ; and accordingly we find in Chretien that it is the lance, and not the Grail, which\nGawain goes to seek ; and the lance is also treated at\" greater length than is the Grail.\n\nIf Wolfram and Chretien were drawing from the same source it seems strange that it\nis in the work of that one of the two who avowedly places a high value on adherence to\nthe traditional form of the story that we miss just these archaic features.\n\nAgain, Wolfram and Chretien differ very decidedly in their presentment of the Grail\nknights and their organisation ; if so striking and effective a feature existed in a source\ncommon to both, it is difficult to understand why Chretien omitted it ; he could have had\nno such grudge against the Order of Templars as he would reasonably have against the\nHouse of Anjou, and it is equally difficult to believe that if it was not in the source,\nWolfram departed from his avowed principle of fidelity so far as to introduce it.\n\nVOL. II.\n\nN\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nWe also find the same ideas introduced in a different context ; thus, when Perceval\nleaves his mother to go out into the world, among her counsels the French poet includes,\n'Preudom ne forconselle nie celui ki tient sa compagnie ' ; in Wolfram we have no such\nphrase, but when Parzival arrives at Gurnemanz's Castle we find him saying, 'Min muoter\nsaget al wdr, Alt marines rede sttt niht ze vdr,' which in the Parzival she did not say. It\nis evident that in the two versions counsel and application have become separated, and in\nthis case again it seems more probable that the counsel would originally have been given\nwithout the application, as by Chretien, than vice versa as by Wolfram. On the other\nhand, Mr. Nutt points out in his Studies that Perceval's recognition of the knights as\nangels is quite at variance with his mother's representation of armed men as devils,\nwhereas in the Parzival the whole episode is clear and consistent. Here the French poet\nhas evidently dropped out something, and there are other instances, such as the names of\nGurnemanz's sons, in which the German poem seems to have followed an older tradition.\n\nBut on the whole, a careful comparison of the two poems seems to show that Wolfram's\nversion is further removed from the original form of the story than is Chretien's, and that\ntherefore the probability is that the common basis of the two poems was a work known to\nthe two French poets.\n\nIn support of this theory it may be noted as a curious fact that while Chretien\navowedly bases his poem on a book given to him by the Count of Flanders, Wolfram's\npoem really contains more references to Flanders than Chretien's does. Thus we have\nseveral allusions to Lambekein, Duke of Brabant ; Brandelidelein of Punturtois figures\nprominently both in the second and in the later books, and his city 4 Der Wazzervesten\nstat von Punt' (punt*=pont=bridge) is suspiciously like Bruges; to say nothing of the\nconnection of the Lohengrin story with Brabant and Antwerp. It has been pointed out\nalready by critics that Gerbert, one of Chretien's continuators, has the same connection of\nthe Grail winner with the knight of the swan, which seems to indicate that the stories\nwere not first connected by the German poet (Gerbert also connects with the Swan Knight\nwith the Deliverer of the Holy Sepulchre, an Oriental and Crusading feature quite in har-\nmony with what has been suggested with regard to Wolfram's French source).\n\nOn the whole, the evidence seems to point to the conclusion that the source of Kiot's\npoem was identical with the book delivered to Chretien by the Count of Flanders ; and\nthe connection between Wolfram and Chretien is that of a source from which Chretien drew\nat first, Wolfram at second hand, Wolfram's medium having treated the legend with far\nmore freedom and boldness than was common at that date.\n\nThe question of the interpretation to be placed upon the Parzival is one of the most\nimportant parts of the problem under discussion. As a rule it has been treated apart\nfrom the question of the source, for critics have been pretty generally unanimous in\ndeclaring that whatever the authority followed as to the story, its employment as a\nmedium of ethical edification was due to Wolfram and to Wolfram alone. But a careful\nexamination of the poem seems to indicate that not only were the first germs of a spiritual\ninterpretation due to another and older writer, but also that a very close and important\nconnection exists between the interpretation and the source, as alleged by Wolfram\nhimself.\n\nEXCURSUS C\n\nTHE INTERPRETATION AND RELIGIOUS TEACHING OF THE POEM\n\nEXCURSUS C\n\nNow, whether we are treating of the source or of the inner signification of the poem,\none of the most important elements in the question is the character of Feirefis. That this\ncurious personality is as closely connected with the inner, as with the outer, development\nof the story many critics have readily admitted, and therefore the question of the origin\nof the character becomes one of no little importance. If we can prove that Feirefis is\nbeyond doubt the invention of Wolfram, then we have a strong argument for believing\nthat the ethical teaching is also entirely Wolfram's ; but if the evidence points the other\nway, and is in favour of the theory that Feirefis is an integral part of the original French\nsource, then there is strong ground for believing that the semi-allegorical treatment of the\nsubject was also part of Kiot's scheme. Simrock feels this so strongly that he advances\nthe close connection of Feirefis alike with the grund-idee of the poem and the first two\nbooks to prove that Wolfram must have written those books, since to him alone the moral\nteaching can be due.\n\nBut is the evidence in favour of the German authorship of these books? Is it not, as\nI we have shown in the discussion of the Angevin allusions, distinctly against such a con-\nclusion? And here we must not overlook the fact that the Angevin parentage is insisted\non far more strongly in the case of Feirefis than in that of his brother ; it seems indeed\nI as if the elder brother were regarded specially as the son of his father, from first to last\nI he is • Feirefis Angevin,' whereas Parzival is regarded more as the son of the mother\nI through whom he is connected with the mystic race of the Grail-kings, and bears through-\n1 out the title of 4 Waleis,' his mother's, not his father's, land.\n\nA close study of the poem seems to show that it came into Wolfram's hands an\n! organic whole ; in spite of the strong individuality of the German poet which has stamped \\\n\\ itself on every page, in spite of the constant personal allusions, of the characteristic form\nI into which he has remoulded the story, we feel that he has never lost sight of the original\nconception, but, even while working out his own interpretation, has allowed the thread of\n! his source to run unbroken, if not untangled, to the end. And with that thread Feirefis\nis closely inwoven; it is at. the critical moment of Parzival's life, when the conventional\nfaith in God as the All-wise Ruler of the world, which has been sufficient for his boyhood,\nfails him, that the hero first learns the existence of his unknown brother, Feirefis Angevin ;\nfrom that point onward, whenever the story will admit of an allusion to Feirefis, either\ndirectly, or indirectly through his love Sekundille, that allusion is introduced, so that as we\nI draw towards the end of the poem the mind is not unprepared for the appearance of\nFeirefis himself, and the combat which is the last, as it is the most desperate, of Parzival's\ntrials. The breaking of the sword of Ither of Gaheviess, as well as the exceptional nature\nI of the conflict itself, is a distinct indication of a special significance attached to the inci-\nI dent, and one is not surprised to find that the conclusion of Parzival's probation and his\nelection to the Grail kingdom follow closely upon it. It is impossible to believe that a\npersonality so strange as that of Feirefis, so closely connected with the hero of the poem,\nand brought into special prominence at the turning-points of his career, means nothing at\nall ; and this when we have the contrast between Doubt and Steadfastness, Darkness and\nLight, Black and White directly insisted upon.\n\nThe original ethical idea seems to have txjen simple enough ; the sin of lack of faitL\nin God, which mars an otherwise steadfast character. Feirefis shows, in a concrete form,\nthe contrast sketched in the opening lines of Book I. , and Parzival's final conflict with his\nparti-coloured brother signified the final victory over Doubt which rendered him worthy\nto win the Grail. The idea of working some such motif into the story may very likely\n• have arisen from a wish to supply a better and more adequate reason for Parzival's inter-\nview with the Hermit, an episode which, as the Parzival shows, is capable of far finer\ntreatment than it has received in any other version. (It must not be forgotten that\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nParzival's passionate outbreak and defiance of God is found nowhere else, and that the\nduty of trust in God and reliance upon Him in the hour of trouble has been distinctly\npart of his early teaching, and that there too the ' black and white ' contrast has been\ninsisted upon.) The idea thus first suggested, the circumstances of a residence in the\nEast, where such a conflict between light and darkness was actually being carried on,\ndetermined the form into which it should be cast. It is extremely difficult to understand\nhow Wolfram, if he only possessed the Perceval legend in an incomplete form, conceived\nthe idea of supplementing it in this special manner ; but if Kiot be responsible for the\nfirst introduction of the religious idea, as he was of the Angevin, the problem becomes\nperfectly easy, his conception of the struggle in the soul of man was simply a reflection\nof the struggle as he saw it in the world.\n\n(It cannot be too strongly insisted upon, that no princes of the day were more strongly\naffected by the Crusading spirit, or more closely connected with the East than the Angevin\nprinces ; and that to assume on the part of one of their followers the familiarity with\nCrusading ideas which is here ascribed to ' Kiot ' is to do little more than state a common-\nplace fact of history.)\n\nBut that the idea of the poem has, in a measure, undergone a change, and that the\nParzival in its present shape owes much to the genius of the man who, probably attracted\nby the ethical turn Kiot had given to the story, took it into his own hands, and, remodel-\nling it, sent it forth to the world a heritage for all generations, may readily be granted.\nNo careful reader of the poem can fail to feel that the interpretation is a double one ;\nthat if there are passages which seem to treat of Faith and Doubt only as they affect the\nposition of the soul towards God, there are others which as clearly treat of the same\nquestions as affecting man's relation to his fellow-men ; in which faith is interpreted in its\nwidest sense as a loyal fulfilment of all obligations, social as well as religious ; and that\nall this is summed up and expressed in the inculcation of loyalty to the dictates of the\nknightly order in their highest form.\n\nOccasionally these two ideas obviously clash, as when in Book IX. Trevrezent tells\nParzival that the Grail cannot be won by human effort, and asks, ' Wilt thou force thy\nGod with thine anger?' and in Book xvi. practically takes back his words and admits\n1 that this is what Parzival has done. The true solution of the puzzle seems to be neither\nI in interpreting the poem exclusively as an allegory df the struggle in the soul of man,\nnor exclusively as a confession of faith in the knightly order as a means of salvation, but\nrather in admitting that the poem sets forth both these views, and that the lines of\nthought cross and recross and overlie one another according as Wolfram reproduced the\nideas of the older poet, or overlaid them with his own.\n\nAnd if we will believe in the real personality of ' Kiot,' we may find that the religious\nteaching of the poem gains a new significance ; deeply religious it undoubtedly is, full of\na profound trust in God, a deep conviction of the individual relationship existing between\nthe soul and its Maker, and a simple acceptance of the elementary doctrines of Christianity,\nthe Trinity, the Incarnation, and Its extension through the initial Sacrament of Baptism ;\nbut with all this there is a complete absence of ecclesiasticism, and a lack of features\nfamiliar to us in other works of the day.\n\nIt is very curious that, constantly as Baptism is insisted upon as essential to salvation,\nthe equal necessity for the Second Great Sacrament of the Faith is passed over. It is\nperfectly true that Wolfram's knights attend Mass, and that Mass is apparently cele-\nbrated with regularity, but here their obligation seems to end ; never once do we hear\nof one of his knights communicating, even Gamuret, when dying, though he receives\nabsolution, does not receive the viaticum (the account of Vivianz' death in Willehalm\nseems to show that elsewhere Wolfram, in common with other writers of the day, did\nacknowledge this necessity). Again, though Parzival comes to the Hermit's cell on Good\n\nEXCURSUS C\n\nFriday, and spends fourteen days in his company, confessing and receiving absolution, we\nhave no mention of the Easter Communion in the German poem, though we have in the\nFrench. In Book x. the wounded knight, whom Gawain succours, asks to be helped to a\nspital that his wounds may be attended to ; in Chretien's version he expresses his fear of\ndying unabsolved and uncommunicated, and would seek a Hermit who lives near at\nhand for that purpose. And this difference between the two versions meets us at every\nturn V ChrUien abounds in allusions to the hours of prayer ; if he wishes to indicate the\ntime when any special event happens he mentions that it is just after Prime, or between\nTierce and Noon ; Perceval says that if he finds his mother he will make her a veiled\nnun, and the mother's counsels in the French poem are emphatic on the subject of\nPerceval's religious duties, which Wolfram wholly omits ; Chretien's characters constantly\ninvoke the saints, which Wolfram's knights never do; when Parzival is in imminent\ndanger of death it is to his wife, and not to a patron saint, that he looks for aid. Wolfram\nis always a religious poet, but, if we compare his other important poem the Willehaltn\nwith the Parzival, we cannot help feeling that the former is decidedly more in harmony\nwith the thought of his day, and less curiously ' modern ' in tone than the latter. It is\ndifficult to resist the conviction that some of the special peculiarities of the Parzival are\ndue to Wolfram's source quite as much as to Wolfram himself.\n\nIt is a commonplace of history that one effect of the contact between heathen and\nChristian races brought about by the Crusades was the awakening of a spirit of tolerance\nbetween the brave men on either side. In a day when manly strength and courage were\naccounted of such value it was impossible that the existence of such qualities on the side\nof the heathen should not, in the opinion of many, go far to counterbalance their lack of\nChristianity ; and it is certain that among those long resident in the East such tolerance\neventually led to laxity in matters both of faith and practice. It was such laxity that was\nthe ostensible reason for the fall of the Knights Templars. In the case of a poem, which\notherwise gives indication of familiarity with Oriental custom and tradition, is it unreason-\nable to suggest that its peculiarities of religious treatment, its freedom from petty\necclesiastical details, the breadth and tolerance of its views, and the far more human ideal\nof virtue which it presents, may, at least in part, be due to the influence of the Crusad\ning spirit which we know did, on the whole, make in these directions ?\n\nTo sum up the entire questionf the drift of the internal evidence of the Parzival seems\nto indicate that the author of Wolfram's source was a warm partisan of the House of\nAnjou, sometime resident in the East, familiar with the History of the House whose\nfortunes he followed, and with much curious Oriental legend, and thoroughly imbued with\nthe broader views of life and religion inspired by the Crusades. That he wrote his poem\nafter 1172 seems most likely from the connection between England, Anjou, and Ireland\nnoted in Book ix. ; on the other hand, the parallel existing between the early history of\nHenry Fitz-Empress and that of the hero of the Parzival seems to show that he intended\na compliment to that prince, which would fix the year of Henry's death, 1189, as the\nterminus ad quern. The probabilities are that it would be written earlier, before the troubles\nof Henry's later years. What we know of the extent of the Angevin rule and influence at\nthat date renders it quite possible for us to believe that the writer was by birth a Provencal.\nThat the source of the poem bore a strong affinity to the source of Chrdtien's Conte del\n♦ Graat is certain, and the many Flemish allusions give colour to the supposition that it may\nhave been identical with that source.\n\nIf we grant the correctness of the Angevin allusions to be found in the earlier parts of\nthe poem, we must logically grant that these two first Books, and as a consequence the\nlatter part of the poem which agrees with them, are due to the French source rather than\nthe German redaction ; that it was Kiot who introduced the characters of Gamuret,\nBelakane, Feirefis, and Lahelein ; and that to Kiot is due the first germ of the ethical\n\nDigitized by Google\n\nNOTES\n\nand^\n\nHero meets with wounded knight\nmaiden. Is warned of the perils of the way.\n\nMeets with a lovely lady, whom he woos\nand is repulsed by her with mockery. Is\ninsulted by a squire of hideous aspect, and\nhis charger is stolen by the wounded knight.\n\nComes to a river on the further side of\nwhich is a castle, and fights with a knight\nwho is riding his own horse. Is entertained\nby the boatman.\n\nChretien, who gives all the incidents in\ncorresponding sequence.\n\nIntroduction, lines 1-19. In Book x. the poet returns to Gawain, taking up the story\nat the point at which he dropped it in Book vin. The corresponding book in Chretien\ncommences very abruptly, making no further mention of the challenge between Gawain\nand Kingrimursel (Guigambresil) or of Gawain's search for the Grail (or Lance). It is\ndoubtful whether the passage beginning with line 15 really refers to traditional adventures\nascribed to Gawain, and omitted here, or whether it is merely introduced in order to\nsoften down the abrupt transition from the story of Parzival to that of Gawain. From the\nfact that, both here and in Chretien, this incident of Gawain's meeting with the wounded\nknight follows immediately after Parzival's interview with the hermit, it seems certain that\na similar sequence existed in the source common to both ; on the other hand, in line 804,\nWolfram seems to be referring to a definite version of the Gawain episode, which certainly\ndiffered from Chretien's. Here, as elsewhere, in the absence of any external evidence, it\nis not possible to speak with certainty.\n\nPage 1, line 5—' At Schamfanzon he challenged Gawain.1 Cf. Book vin. p. 239.\n\nPage 1, line 9 — ' The murder, Count Ekundt did it.' Cf. Book vm. p. 236 and\nBook in. p. 99.\n\nPage 4, line 29 — 'Kami Ha.1 A reference to the sEneid of Heinrich von Veldeck, where\nKamilla, the daughter of Turnus, is represented as defending Laurentium against the\nTrojans, and being slain on the field of battle. Cf. Book xn. p. 52.\n\nPage 4, lines 39, 40 — * On her knee she bore a knight.1 This incident occurs under exactly\nthe same circumstances in Chretien, there, too, Gawain comes to the rescue of the knight\nby arousing him from his stupor, though the surgery, of which Wolfram gives so curious\nan account, finds no parallel in the French poem. The reader will not fail to notice the\nlikeness between this incident and Parzival's meeting with Sigune, in Book ill. As will be\npointed out later Wolfram evidently intended a parallel, or a contrast, between his two\nheroes.\n\nDigitized by VjOOQlC\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nPage s, line 63 — ' Lisckois Giwellius.1 This name, again, seems to be a misunder-\nstanding of a French original, in Chretien the knight is not named, the passage ; ' li\nOrguelleus de la roce a I'estroite vote, qui garde les pors de Galvoie ' in which some critics\nhave found the origin of the name, seems rather to refer to the knight overthrown by\nGawain in Book xn. and named Florand by Wolfram. Here there is a distinct identity\nbetween the knight now referred to and him who fights with Gawain later (p. 20) ; in\nChretien the knight who opposes Gawain is the nephew of the wounded man, and therefore\ncan scarcely be the guardian of the ' bogue de Galvoie ' who overthrows him. Later on\nWolfram uses a French expression to indicate where the knight in question was wounded,\nAv estroite mdvoii, which distinctly indicates a ford rather than a ravine as in Chretien\n(translated Perilous Ford, p. 13), and the whole incident, carefully examined, decidedly\npoints to a French source, other than Chretien.\n\nPage 5, line 74 — 'Spake o'er it spells of healing.1 As all students of folk-lore are well\naware, a belief in the virtue of certain formula of words for the healing of bodily ailments\nwas at one time practically universal, and indeed, in certain districts, a belief in them exists\nto this day. In vol. ii. of Grundriss der Germanischen Philologie (part I.), a number of\nsuch spells, collected from old German mss. are given ; among them will be found one for\nchecking the flow of blood, and another for the closing of a wound.\n\nPage 5, line 77 — 'Logrois,' French Logres. In Malory we have Logris, which has\nbeen identified with Loegria, or Saxon Britain.\n\nPage 6, line 90 — 'Orgeluse'.' This name, like Orilus, is a misunderstanding of a French\noriginal. Chretien calls the lady ' L'Orguelleuse de Logres,' and it evidently stood so in\nWolfram's source. This incident of a knight proffering his services to, and riding with, a\nlady who repays him with mockery, and finds food for mirth in his misfortunes, seems to\nhave been a favourite theme with mediaeval writers. Malory gives two such adventures,\none of which, that of La Cote Male Taile and the damsel Maledisant, is, curiously enough,\nconnected with the Castle Orgulous. The adventure as recounted by Chretien closely\nparallels the German version, but the latter is told at greater length, and the lady appears\nto decidedly more advantage ; her mockery, though biting, is more in the vein of a courtly\nlady, and, what we should not expect to find, there is far more lightness of touch and\n* malice,' in the French sense of the word, about the German than about the French poet.\nThe little touch on p. 9, lines 192, 193 (If a woman ye thus behold), is lacking in Chretien,\nand is decidedly in keeping with the dry humour of Wolfram, who, in spite of his respect\nfor women, delights in a sly hit at feminine weaknesses. The very curious adjuration of\nthe old knight, oh the slime page, * May He who made salt the sea,' seems, according to\nBartsch, to be frequent in old French literature, 'Qui Jit la mer saliej but does not occur\nat all in Chretien, who here simply has ' Dieu le Souverain Pete.'\n\nPage 10, line 235— 1 Malcriature. ' This squire appears in Chretien, but is not connected\nin any way with Kondrie, though it may be noted that the description given of him in the\nFrench poem agrees far more closely with Wolfram's description of the Grail Messenger\nthan the latter does with Chretien's Maiden. Bartsch says that the curious account of\nthis strange people ' rests on Talmudic tradition, and is repeated in many mediaeval writ-\nings, Latin, German, and Romance.' In Wolfram's poem of Willehalm he introduces a\nstrange ' horned ' people who come from the banks of the Ganges, and who speak with\nno human tongue. Chretien has nothing corresponding to this wild story, nor is his\nsquire named.\n\nPage 12, line 274— « Anfortas.' This is the first indication that the lady in whose\nservice Anfortas received his incurable wound was Orgeluse. Cf. Book IX. p. 275. The\nstory is more fully told in Book xn. p. 65.\n\nPage 12, line 281—' / wot well e'en Dame Jeschuti, etc.' Cf. Book v. p. 145.\n\nNOTES\n\nPage 13, line 311 — 'A spital shall stand near by.' Chretien's knight wishes to be\ntaken to a Hermit that he may confess and receive the sacrament. The incident is a good\nillustration of the different tone of the two poems : Chretien's is deeply imbued with the\necclesiasticism of his day, and abounds in references to hours of prayer, religious services,\nand invocation of saints, all of which are lacking in Wolfram's version, which, neverthe-\nless, is far more thoroughly pervaded with the religious spirit.\n\nPage 14, line 349 — 'Is it thou, O Urian f In Chretien the name of the knight is\nGriogoras. Urian appears to be the same name as ' Friam,' which we meet with later\non, Book xiii. p. 92. The main outline of his story is the same in the French as in the\nGerman poet, but there are some significant points of divergence. In Chretien we have\nno mention of the trial before the king, nor of the death-sentence ; Gawain appears to\nhave punished the knight on his own account, and his anger is therefore more intelligible,\nespecially as Chretien gives an additional touch of ignominy to his punishment, ' les 11\nmains liies au dos ' ; and we hear nothing of the special right of message-bearer, by out-\nraging which Urian broke ' the peace of the land.' The incident itself is a common one\nwith mediaeval writers, but it is generally treated lightly, and the punishment, as a rule,\nwas a money fine. It seems as if the more serious manner in which the episode is treated\nby Wolfram were to be accounted for by the maiden's official position. Throughout the\npoem there are frequent allusions to the manners, customs, and modes of government of\nhis day, and, where Chretien seems to give us simply a world of romance, Wolfram seems\nto aim at investing his story with reality by surrounding it with the atmosphere of the\ntime in which he lived.\n\nThe indignation expressed by Orgeluse (line 417) is peculiar to Wolfram's version, and\nseems somewhat out of keeping with the general laxity of her conduct.\n\nPage 18, line 465 — * Amor and Cupid.' Amor and Cupid were regarded by the poets\nof the Middle Ages as two separate gods, both being the children of Venus.\n\nThe fine passage, lines 480-496, is an eloquent exposition of Wolfram's belief in the\nsuperiority of lawful love over the mere earthly passion, too often unlawful, sanctioned, if\nnot encouraged, by the prevailing licence accorded to Minnc-Dienst. Throughout this\npoem Wolfram is a steadfast upholder of the binding nature of the marriage vow ;\nParzival's fidelity to his wife is held to be a virtue sufficient to cancel any other sin of which\nhe may be guilty ; cf. Book ix. p. 270, where Trevrezent's words are a sufficient com-\nmentary on the rarity of such fidelity in those days. At the same time Wolfram accepts\nthe prevailing ideal, and it must be noted that it was he, and not a poet of laxer principles,\nsuch as Gottfried von Strassbourg, who first brought into vogue the Wdchter-lieder, the\nvery essence of which is that the love to which they give eloquent voice is an unlawful love,\nand must be indulged in secrecy and under the cover of night.\n\nPage 19, line 506 and seq.— ' A Castle so fair and stately.' This is Chateau Merveil,\nmentioned by Kondrie, Book vi. p. 181.\n\nPage 22, line 598—' Gringuljet. ' Chretien explains how Lischois Giwellius comes to\nbe in possession of Gawain's horse ; he is, according to the French poet, the nephew of the\nwounded knight Griogoras, who has sent him to attack Gawain, and has given him the\nhorse stolen from that hero for the purpose. For the meaning of the name, cf. vol. i.\nAppendix B. The previous history of the steed has been alluded to twice, Books vii.\np. 196 and IX. p. 272. In the latter passage Trevrezent recognises Parzival's horse, also\na Grail steed, by the dove on its saddle, here the badge is branded on the horse itself.\nThe fight between Lischois and Gawain is told at much greater length here.\n\nPage 24, line 661— ' This right was his o'er the meadow.' The tribute due to the Ferry-\nman is also related in Chretien, where Gawain evades it in the same manner.\n\nPage 26, line j^—'Klingsor.' The magician, lord of the Chateau Merveil, has not\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nbeen named before ; he is identical with the ' clerk who all magic knew,' cf. Book n. p. 39.\nChretien has not this character at all ; the castle, according to him, was built by ' 1 sages\nclers d'astrenomie,' who came there with King Arthur's mother, but there is no indication\nthat the lady eloped with him, nor does he play any part in the story. The origin of the\nname seems to be uncertain ; in the poem of the Wartburg-krieg, already alluded to (note\nto Book vi.), Klingsor appears as a magician from Hungary, and Simrock thinks that\nhere his name is derived from Klingsaere, a singer or minstrel, and that Wolfram was\nweaving into his poem an old legend illustrative of the power of song. San Marte derives\nthe name from an old French word clincher, and thinks it indicative of the sensual\ncharacter ascribed to the magician, and that the character is of French origin. Merlin is,\nof course, the Arthurian magician, and appears as such in Chretien's continuators, but\nthere is no sign of him in the Parzival, nor can the incidents related of Klingsor be\nparalleled in the history of Merlin.\n\nPage 27, line 774 — 'Bene'.' The part assigned to this character in Wolfram is im-\nportant, the maiden does not appear in Chretien's version, here she plays an active part\nas confidant of Itonje\\ Gawain's sister, in her love affair with King Gramoflanz and acts as\nmessenger between the lovers. Some critics have derived her name from a misunderstand-\ning of Chretien's phrase, que beneois soit voire osiu, spoken by Gawain to the boatman,\nand, of course, such a phrase may have stood in Wolfram's French source, but, as he\ncertainly did not borrow the character from Chretien, it seems scarcely likely that he\nborrowed the name.\n\nPage 28, lines 785-790 — ' Purs lain and lettuce.' The dish was apparently a kind of\nsalad. Wolfram makes an ingenious use of the mention of vinegar to impress upon his\nreaders the folly of speaking untruly, and incidentally shows that the use of rouge was not\nunknown in his day.\n\n[Gawain's adventures with the Proud Lady (Orgeluse) and at the Castle of Wonders\nform, perhaps, the most confused and perplexing portion of the poem, while they also\nbear obvious marks of age and of freedom from the Christian symbolism which has so pro-\nfoundly affected the ' Grail ' legend as a whole. ' The Proud Lady ' seems to be a com-\nposite creation ; the characteristics of a courtly lady of the day having been grafted on\nto an originally supernatural conception. According to this latter, she was a water-fairy\n(note that Gawain meets her by the side of a spring, Book x. p. 6), mistress of a magic\ngarden, in which are held captive the mortals whom she incites to a perilous venture, i.e.\nthe crossing of the stream which separates this from the other world, and the bringing\nthence a branch plucked from a tree growing there. This adventure is of course only to\nbe achieved by the best knight in the world, the hero, namely, of the episode, and to urge\nhim to it she uses every species of raillery. When the hero has performed the task she\ngladly yields herself his. This incident, in itself a straightforward and intelligible one\nto which many parallels might easily be adduced from romantic and heroic. literature, is,\nhowever, crossed and blended with another adventure of the same hero, the achieving the\nfeats of the Wonder Castle, and thereby overcoming its magician builder.\n\nThe two episodes, originally told each for itself, coalesced owing to the personages in\neach being the same ; for the Proud Lady is, I believe, far more intimately connected\nwith the Wonder Castle than appears from Wolfram's poem ; I suspect her, indeed, of\nbeing the magician's daughter. That the wedding of Gawain with Orgeluse should take\nplace in the Chateau Merveil is at present almost the only trace remaining of the original\nconnection, but that is decisive. For, as will be pointed out in Note to Book XI., the\nepisode of the Wonder Castle must originally have ended in the hero's remaining there ;\nhe has won to the other world whence he cannot return, but over which he rules, in com-\n\nNOTES\n\npany with its fair mistress. As it is, the reader cannot but feel that the winning of the\nBranch is an anti-climax after the achievement of the Castle of Wonders.\n\nThe true significance of the Proud Lady's garden has also been obscured in our poem ;\nit may possibly at one time have been confused with the Wonder Castle, and might then\nbe compared with the Garden of Joy which Merlin created for Ninian ; there is indeed a\nstrong temptation to compare Merlin and Ninian with Klingsor and Orgeluse, wide as the\ndifference is between the two stories. But it is more probable that the Magic Garden\nbelongs wholly to the Winning of the Branch feat, and that, like the remainder of this\nepisode, it has suffered from contamination with the Wonder Castle story. (In connec-\ntion with this it may be noted that in Chretien, Gawain, after crossing the Perilous Ford,\nis not to pluck the branch of any one special tree, but to gather the flowers which he sees,\n' A ces arbres et a ces pre\"s* The idea of a garden seems to have been better preserved in\nthe French than in the German poem. )\n\nAnother portion of the original story, the flyting of hero and heroine, has been com-\npletely remodelled by the twelfth century poets, in order to afford an exemplification of\nthe current ideal of courtly love and lady-service ; hence the complex character of the\nheroine, and the confused nature of the episode as related by Wolfram. It would be\nuseless to seek in pre-twelfth century literature for an exact parallel to a situation so\nmanifestly coloured to suit the prevailing social ideas of the time ; but the episode mu t\nhave some root in preceding literature, the special form of the social relation of man to\nwoman which is the most marked feature of twelfth century literary art must stand in\nsome relation to the past ; and it is in the Irish heroic literature of the seventh to the\neleventh centuries that we must seek for the origin of this feature.\n\nIn this literature we find a remarkable parallel to the whole Gawain-Orgeluse episode.\n'The Wooing of Emer by Cuchulainn' is one of the most famous stories about the\ngreatest Irish hero. Emer was the daughter of Forgall the Wily, the chief maiden of\nIreland in all virtues and qualities, and therefore the only one whom Cuchulainn deemed\nworthy of him. But she is by no means minded to take him at his own estimation ; when\nhe recounts his achievements, ' these are goodly fights of a tender boy,' says she, nor will\nshe consent to see him until he perform certain definite feats. Moreover, her father is by\nno means anxious that she should marry, and to get rid of the wooer has him sent off with\ntwo companions on a perilous expedition to Skye. The first danger he encountered (I\nquote textually from the oldest version of the story, ascribed by the editor, Professor\nKuno Meyer, to the eighth century) is ' some dreadful beast like a lion, which fought with\nhim, but did him no harm, and the foul play of the youths who laughed at him ' [Revue\nCeltique, vol. x. 44). Afterwards he has to make his way across the ' plain of ill-luck ' on\nwhich men freeze, and by a narrow path over a glen, and a * terrible stony height.'\nCuchulainn of course comes safely through all these and other ventures, and carries off\nEmer, whom he weds. Here, then, we have the contemptuous attitude of the wooed\nmaiden, her indication of feats to be performed before she can be won ; and before the\nfinal marriage a series of incidents bearing no small resemblance to those which befall\nGawain at the Wonder Castle. — Alfred Nutt.]\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nTRADITIONAL EVENTS\n\nGawain, against the advice of the Boat- Chretien gives the incidents in the same\nman, visits Chateau Merveil, seats himself order, but with some difference in details,\non the magic couch, and is assailed, first by\nunseen adversaries, then by a lion which he\nkills and ends the enchantments of the\nCastle.\n\n(There is a Castle of Wonders in ' Peredur,' but the adventures connected with it are\nquite different. )\n\nThe entire episode of the Magic Castle and Gawain's adventures therein is stamped\nwith a weird, fantastic character, unlike the rest of the poem, and gives the effect of a\nMahrchen introduced into the midst of a knightly epic. More than one critic has pointed\nout the similarity between the tasks to be achieved by Gawain, before he becomes lord of\nthe castle, and those which, in old folk-tales, fall to the lot of those who dare a venture to\nthe shadowy under-world. Some of the features in the story, which will be noted as they\noccur, seem to distinctly indicate that such was the original nature of this episode, related\nwith so much spirit by the German poet.\n\nPage 34, line 107 — *He who at Nantes slew Prince Ither. ' Cf. Books vn. p. 218 and vm.\np. 242, and notes on these passages, where Wolfram's introduction of the chief hero of the\npoem, unmentioned in Chretien's version, is commented upon. Some critics have drawn a\ncontrast between the Chateau Merveil, with its magic lord, and the Grail Castle, with its\nwounded king, which are won respectively by the two heroes of the poem, and have seen\nin the castle of Klingsor the embodiment of the fleshly principle, opposed to the spiritual\nrealm of the Grail. But Wolfram seems to have intended a parallel rather than a contrast.\nKlingsor, on the whole, is by no means a malicious character, and of the deadly antagonism\nbetween him and the Grail knights, which is the very essence of Wagner's Parsifal, there\nis here no trace. If there is a contrast between spirit and sense in Wolfram's poem, it is\nrather to be found between the court and knighthood of Monsalvasch and that of King\nArthur, and the latter monarch certainly embodies the world-principle far more than Klingsor\ndoes. Parzival's failure to ask the question here is quite in keeping with his general character\nand devotion to a single aim, but the introduction of the incident was doubtless intended\nto heighten the parallel between Monsalvasch and Chateau Merveil.\n\nPage 35, line 125— 'Now arm thee for deadly warfare /' In Chretien's account the\nBoatman plays the same kindly part of adviser, and, further, accompanies Gawain to the\npalace and to the hall of the Lit-Merveil, but, as before noted, the part played by the\ndaughter is omitted.\n\nPage 36, line 162 — 'A merchant with merchandise costly. In Chretien this character\nis an 4 Eskiekier,' rather a money-changer than a merchant. The story of the ooth, and\nhow it came to be in the courtyard of the castle, is fully related in Book xu. p. 65.\n\nPage 36, line 169— 4 TheBaruch of Bagdad.' Cf. Book I. p. 9, and note on ' Rankulat.'\nThe . allusion to the Emperor of Greece shows that this was written after the taking of\nConstantinople by the Crusaders in 1204.\n\nPage 37, line PlippalinoV The Boatman is unnamed in Chretien. The critics\ngive no interpretation of the name.\n\nNOTES\n\nPage 37. lme 201 — %The LechfeW The Lechfeld is a wide plain near Augsburg,\nbetween the rivers Werch and Lech, where the Hungarians were defeated in 955 by the\nEmperor Otho. Naturally, the courtyard of a castle could not be so large, and it seems\nprobable that Wolfram was commenting humorously on the exaggerated description\ngiven in his source. Chretien gives much the same account of the castle and its gorgeous\ndecorations.\n\nPage 38, line 220 — 'The Lit-Merveil.' Chretien gives a more detailed description of\nthe magic couch : it is of gold, with cords of silver, and bells hanging from the interlaced\ncords. It is apparently the peal of these bells, as the knight seats himself upon the couch,\nthat gives warning of the intruder, and is the signal for the enchantments to begin. In\nChretien's account the attack by the five hundred unseen foes (Gawain has already been\ninformed by the Boatman that five hundred knights guard the castle) follows immediately\non the hero taking his seat on the couch, and the onslaught of the lion immediately\non the cross-bows, so that the ordeal, as represented by Wolfram, is considerably more\nsevere and prolonged than in the French version.\n\nPage 40, line 299 — 'A mighty lion.1 The encounter with the lion is the same in\nChretien ; there, too, the lion's paw is smitten off by Gawain, and remains hanging to the\nshield. The remark in line 312 is quite in keeping with Wolfram's dry, quaint humour ;\nsuch ' asides ' are lacking throughout in the French poem.\n\nPage 41, line 331— 'Mount Ribbeli.' An allusion to Eilhart's Tristan, where Gymele,\nIsolde's maid, gives to Kahcnis, who should keep watch with her, a magic pillow on which\nhe slumbers throughout the night, and is mocked in consequence.\n\nPage 42, line 340 — 'Arnivi.1 This is Arthur's mother, whose elopement with Klingsor\nhas been mentioned, cf. Book 11. p. 39. ( Whether Arnive\" went with Klingsor of her own free\nwill, or whether she was constrained by magic art, does not clearly appear ; from Book 11.\nwe should conclude the former, but the passage in Book xni. pp. 89 and 90, reads as if she\nwere not a free agent.) She has been named as one of the dwellers in Chateau Merveil,\n(Book vi. p. 189) ; how it was that Arthur, who had apparently spent some years in the\nsearch for his mother (cf. Book 11. p. 39), failed to recognise her name when mentioned before\nhim, is not explained. But the whole episode, as noted above, is so wild and fantastic, and\nso full of difficulties, that it seems most probable that it was not originally connected with\nthe Arthurian legend, and has been only imperfectly fitted into the framework. In Chretien,\ntoo, the queen is Arthur's mother, but she is much less prominent in the story, indeed\nfrom this point onwards the two versions diverge considerably. In Chr&tien, Gawain is\nby no means seriously wounded ; the Boatman, who seems to have awaited the issue of\nthe adventure outside the castle, returns promptly and tells him that the enchantments are\nat an end, and Gawain is greeted by a train of pages, gaily dressed and playing flutes ; and\nmaidens, one of whom bears royal robes. Chr&tien then introduces a very curious and\narchaic feature, to which Wolfram has no parallel ; Gawain expresses his desire to leave\nthe castle and hunt in the surrounding forest, but the Boatman tells him this is impossible ;\nit is judged and decreed that whoever achieves the venture of the Chateau Merveil shall\nnever leave the castle, 'Que jamais de cette maison nistroit u fust tors u raison. Jamais\nriistris nul jor,1 at which Gawain is extremely angry. Nevertheless, he does leave the\ncastle and no harm comes of it. The only explanation of this curious feature seems to be\nthat this episode, as noted above, found its origin in the story of some hero's visit to the\nunder-world, when his return to the world of the living depends on his fulfilment of certain\nconditions, e.g. , that he should eat nothing during his stay in the land of shadows ; Gawain\ncertainly partakes of a meal in the Magic Castle, which meal in Wolfram precedes, though\nin Chretien it follows, his attempt to leave Chateau Merveil. Heinzel understands\nChretien's account of the arrival of the two elder queens in Terre de Merveil as meaning\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nthat they really were dead, and supernaturally revived ; (Chretien certainly does say of the\nelder queen, 'Qui f us mis en tiere,' but as he goes on to state that she brought all her\nriches with her into the country where she came, accompanied by her daughter, it is rather\ndifficult to understand what he really does mean. ) Mr. Nutt remarks, ' I think there can\nbe no doubt that Klingsor's castle is a form of the other world, and that its inhabitants\ncease to live if they return to this world. There is a distinct parallelism in the original\nform of the legend between Parzival's winning the Grail Castle and Gawain's winning the\nMagic Castle. On this theory neither, of course, should come back to Arthur's court ; the\nnecessity of bringing them both into contact with Arthur again has obscured the signifi-\ncance of the story. '\n\nPage 43, line 370 — '/linot the Breton* Arthur's son, alluded to in Book vil. p. 217,\nand note (which also explains the allusion to ' the mystic beasts ' which seem to have been\nthe badge of the royal Breton house). Ilinot's history is told at some length in Book xii.\np. 50.\n\nPage 44, line 422 — 'Dictam, the herb of healing.' San Marte says that this herb is\nmentioned by Cicero, Virgil, and Pliny, as possessing the power of drawing arrow-shafts\nfrom a wound. Wolfram, also, attributed this virtue to it, as he distinctly states in\nWillehalm, where he gives an account of his hero's wounds being dressed by his wife.\n\nThe allusion to Kondrie should be noted ; it is another instance of the skill with which\nWolfram connects all the threads of his story, and never loses sight of his main point.\n\nGawain overthrows a knight whom the ■»\nLady of Logrois brings to fight with him ;\ncrosses the Perilous Ford, and is challenged .\nto single combat by a knight. Is rewarded by r ien'\n\nthe love of Orgeluse, and returns in triumph\nto Chateau Merveil.\n\nPage 49, lines 5-18— 4 Launcelot on the sword-bridge battled* This passage to line 18\ncontains numerous allusions to the knightly tales of the day, some of which have been\npreviously referred to. Launcelot's fight with Meljakanz and subsequent freeing of\nQueen Guinevere is mentioned in Book vn. (pp. 205, 219 and Note).\n\nThe story of Garel and the lion is not known to us ; he was the hero of a later poem\nby Pleier, but this adventure does not appear in it. Garel and Gaherjet we find again in\nBook xiii. p. 96, according to Chretien they were Gawain's brothers, but Wolfram seems\nto regard them merely as kinsmen. (The fact that Wolfram knows only one brother,\nBeau-corps, whereas Chretien mentions two, if not three, seems to indicate that he was\nhere following a different source.) ' The Perilous Ford1 we shall meet with presently;\nand Erec and the venture of Schoie-de-la-kurt have been alluded to in Book m. pp. 76\nand 100, and Note ; and Book vin. p. 245.\n\nThe allusion to Iwein is taken from Hartmann's poem of that name, which relates that\nin the wood Briziljan (Broceliande) there was a spring beside which hung a golden basin ;\nif any one drew water from the spring in this basin, and poured it upon a stone near by, a\nviolent storm immediately arose which devastated the wood, and slew the game therein.\n\nTRADITIONAL EVENTS\n\nNOTES\n\nAs soon as the tempest was over the lord of the spring appeared in full armour and\ndemanded satisfaction for the mischief done. Iwein withstands this venture, slays the\nknight, and eventually, by Lunete's counsel, marries his widow. Cf. Book v. p. 143, and\nBook ix. p. 252.\n\nPage 50, lines 39-64 — 4 They yielded thee loyal service? etc. Mazadan, cf. Book 1. p. 31\nand Book viii. 230 and Note. Ither of Gaheviess needs no further notice. Ilinot has\nalready been alluded to, Book vn. p. 217 and Book XI. p. 43. This is the first full account\ngiven of this prince, hitherto his fate has only been alluded to ; we know nothing of this\ncharacter, but it is quite evident from such passages as these, and Book vi. p. 171, that\nWolfram was familiar with Arthurian romances other than those which have come down\nto us. Ilinot, being Arthur's son, was of course first cousin to Gawain ; the relationship\nwith Parzival is much more distant, and, though Arthur speaks of Parzival as his 4 nephew,'\nthe term must be taken in a much wider sense than we should now understand it ; from\nWolfram's own account Parzival cannot have been more than very distantly connected\nwith the House of Pendragon.\n\nGaloes and Gamuret, cf. Book 11. pp. 46, 52, and 59.\n\nThe loves of Itonj6 and Gramoflanz occupy a considerable part of the next two books.\nSurdamur was Gawain's sister, and married the Emperor of Greece, Alexander ; their\nson was Clig^s, the hero of Chretien's poem of that name, in the early part of which the\ntale of their love is fully told. (Cf. Note to Book vi. 1 Sir Klias.') None of these allu-\nsions are to be found in Chretien, whose books, as a rule, lack introductory passages ;\nbut, as noted in Book xi. , from the conclusion of the Lit-Merveil incident onwards the\ntwo poems diverge widely in detail, though the outline of the story is identical.\n\nPage 52, line 89 — * Arras.* A town in Picardy, famous in the Middle Ages for its stuffs.\n\nPage 52, line 97 — 'A shining pillar.' This magic pillar, of which a full account is\ngiven further on (lines 109 and 143), is peculiar to Wolfram's version. In Chretien we\nhave simply a watch-tower, from the windows of which Gawain can see the country.\nLater on we find the deadly fight between Parzival and Feirefis mirrored on this pillar, and\nthe news of the encounter conveyed to Arthur's court before the arrival of the heroes.\n\nPage 52, line 98 — 4 The coffin of /Camilla.' Cf. Book x. p. 4 and Note. Heinrich\nvon Veldeck gives a minute account of this coffin.\n\nPage 52, line 101— 4 Master Geometras.' It is curious to find geometry thus personified.\nThe same mistake has apparently been made by Heinrich von Veldeck, who makes\nGeometras the designer of Kamilla's coffin.\n\nPage 53, line 119 — * Came the aged queen Arnive' According to Chretien there are\ntwo queens, mother and daughter, and a maiden, daughter to the younger queen, who is\nnamed Clarissant. Gawain's mother he does not name at all, the old queen has her\noriginal name of Yguerne. In Chretien the elder lady asks Gawain at once if he is one of\nKing Arthur's knights, and questions him closely as to King Arthur, King Lot, and the\nsons of the latter ; but apparently Gawain's curiosity is in no way aroused, and he makes\nno attempt to learn who the ladies are, though he makes a compact with the old queen\nthat she shall not ask his name for seven days. The account, so humorously given by\nWolfram of Arnive's curiosity and unavailing attempts to discover Gawain's identity, is\nlacking in the French poet. It is difficult to understand how it is that Gawain has no\nsuspicion of the real facts of the case till enlightened by Gramoflanz, but, as remarked\nabove, the whole episode is mysterious and perplexing.\n\nPage 54, line 174 — 4 The Turkowit* This seems to be the name for a lightly-armed\nsoldier, an archer. This particular knight, we learn later, was captain of Orgeluse's\nnight-watch, or body-guard ; his name was Florand of Itolac ; and he subsequently marries\nSangive, Gawain's mother.\n\nVOL. II.\n\nO\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nPage 58, line 282 — 4 Tamris and Prisein.' Tamris— Tamarisk, has been mentioned in\nBook viii. (p. 242 and Note). Prisein has not been identified, Bartsch suggests Proven9al\nBresil.\n\nPage 58, 294 — * The Perilous Ford' Wolfram's expression here is ' Ligweiz prelljus,'\nevidently the French 4 Li guex perelleus' Chretien's description of the episode is much\nthe same, but he represents Gawain as being well acquainted with the character of this\nventure, and of the fame that will accrue to the knight who achieves it. In the French\npoem there does not appear to be one tree in especial guarded by Guiromelans, but\nGawain is bidden 4 Quellir de ces flours que veis, A ces arbres et a ces pris.'\n\nPage 60, line 332 — 4 King Gramojlanz' This character has been already referred to\nin Book ix. p. 258. In Chretien he is called Le Guiromelans, and Wolfram's name for\nhim is undoubtedly derived from some such original (cf. Appendix B, vol. i. ). The\naccount of his meeting with Gawain differs in many respects in the French version ; there\nhis quarrel with Gawain seems to be much more of a personal matter, not only has\nKing Lot slain his father, as here, but Gawain himself has slain seven of his kinsmen.\nChretien's description of the king's dress and appearance is far less gorgeous than is\nWolfram's.\n\nPage 60, line 340 — 4 Sinzester.' Bartsch suggests that Winchester is here meant. In\nBook vi. we find Kondrie wearing a hat with plumes of 4 the English peacock.'\n\nPage 60, line 353 — * Eidegast.' Cf. Book 11. p. 39 and Note on 4 The Tourney.' In\nChretien Orgeluse's lover is not named but he has been slain by Guiromelans, and, as\nhere, it is her desire for vengeance that has led her to urge Gawain to the venture ; but in\nthe French poem Orgeluse is a much less imposing personage, and her attempts at\nvengeance are of a less organised character.\n\nPage 61, line 374 — 4 Yet alas / I have ne'er beheld her.' Such instances of a knight\nvowing himself to the service of a lady whom he had never seen were by no means rare in\nmediaeval times. (Cf. the well-known story of Rudel and the Lady of Tripoli.) In\nChretien, also, Guiromelans is the lover of Gawain's sister, whose name there is Clarissant.\nIn the French poem Guiromelans gives a full history of all the queens, here he only states\nthe identity of Itonje\\ and Gawain apparently takes the rest for granted.\n\nPage 62, line 419— 4 Lover.' This name has been mentioned in Book iv. p. 121. The\nderivation is uncertain, but in each instance Arthur's kingdom, as a whole, seems to be\nmeant. The curious name 4 Bems by the Korka ' has exercised critics much ; Chretien\nhas 'A Pentecouste est la cors le roi Artu en Orcanie,' and Korka is evidently a form of\nOrcanie. Some have suggested that 4 Bems bei ' is a misunderstanding of Pentecouste\n(couste=£<5/<?), but the derivation seems far-fetched and unsatisfactory; all that can be\nsaid with certainty is that the name points to a French source.\n\nPage 62, line 425 — ' Rosche Sabbin.' This also seems to be derived from the French ;\nChretien calls the castle 4 Roche de Sanguin,' and Wolfram seems to have transferred the\nname to Gramoflanz' kingdom.\n\nPage 64, line 471 — 4 True as the one-horned marvel.' Cf. Book ix. p. 277, where the\nstory of the Unicorn's love for a pure maiden is given. We learn from this passage that\nadvantage was taken of its slumber to slay it.\n\nPage 65, line 511— ' For the winning his death.' Here we have a full explanation of\nthe connection between Orgeluse and Anfortas. The tent given to the Lady of Logrois\nby Anfortas was, we learn from the Willehaltn (which abounds in allusions to the Parzival),\nsent to that monarch by Queen Sekundille as a love-token.\n\nPage 66, line 547 — 4 And never a man beheld me.' This account of Orgeluse's bargain\nwith the knights who fought for her, and her relations with Parzival and Gawain, throws\na most curious light on the conventionalities of the day. It is quite evident that Orgeluse\n\nDigitized by\n\nNOTES\n\nin no way transgressed against the code of manners then prevailing, she is throughout\ntreated as a great lady, and is well received at Court.\n\nThough this is the only episode of the kind recounted, it is quite clear from Books xiv.\npp. 130-131 and xvi. 173 that Orgeluse was not the only lady who had proffered her love\nto Parzival and been refused. (Those familiar with Wagner's Parsifal will not need to have\nit pointed out to them what fine dramatic use he has made of the fact that it is Anfortas'\nlove, and the indirect cause of his wound, who thus offers herself to Parzival. With\nwonderful skill Wagner has combined the characters of Kondrie and Orgeluse, thereby,\nin some ways, assimilating Kondrie more closely to the original form of the legend. )\n\nPage 69, line 625 — ' The Swallow' Bartsch says that this was an English harp, so\ncalled from the fact that the lower part of the frame was shaped like the fork of a\nswallow's tail.\n\nPage 69, line 639—* The Buhurd.' Cf. Book 11. Note on ' The Tourney.' There is\nno trace of this formal knightly reception in Chretien, — there the old queen receives them\nseated outside the castle, and the maidens dance and sing around them.\n\nTRADITIONAL EVENTS\n\nFeast at the Chateau Merveil ; Gawain Chretien, whose poem ends abruptly in\npersuades his sister to confide her love-story the middle of a line,\nto him.\n\nArrival of Gawain's messenger at the\nCourt of King Arthur.\n\n(From this point onwards there is no resemblance between Wolfram's poem and any\nother known Romance of the Grail-cycle. )\n\nPage 74, line 39 — ' One lived of yore named Sarant.' Cf. note to Book 1. 'Silk of\nOrient.' Bartsch identifies the name of the skilful weaver with that of an Asiatic people,\nprobably the Chinese. Thasm6 is named later on as part of Feirefis' kingdom. His\nbattle-cry is 'Tabronit and Thasm6 ! ' ' Akraton,' cf. Book vm. p. 230.\n\nPage 75, line 66 — ' Itonji.' This is the French name 'Idonie.' In Chretien the\nmaiden is named Clarissant, and Gawain wins her confidence in the same manner. Chre-\ntien's share of the Conte ends so abruptly that we cannot tell how he intended to treat her\nlove-story ; here, it plays a considerable part in the development of the poem.\n\nPage 77, line 147 — ' Now the hour it was come.' The account of the feast here given\nis very interesting from the light it throws on mediaeval manners and customs. In those\ndays it was very usual for two to eat from one plate, in fact, this was one of the rules of\nthe Knights Templars ; the reason assigned being that one brother might care for the\nother, and all share alike (cf. Feast at Monsalvasch, Book v. p. 136). On great occasions\nthe principal guests seem to have had ladies assigned to them as their table companions\n(cf. Book vi. p. 178). One would gather from this passage, and that in Book vi., that the\nlady of highest rank had the hostess for companion, thus we find Arniv6 eating with\nOrgeluse\\ and Guinevere having a queen (probably Ekuba) for companion ; while Kunne-\nwaare is Arthur's table-mate, as here Itonje is Gawain's.\n\nPage 78, line 180 — 4 Ne'er was it night in her presence.' Cf. Book 11. p. 48.\n\nPage 79, line 194 — ' Thuringia.' San Marte remarks on this passage that at this\n\nDigitized by\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nperiod music and song invariably went together, the one was necessary to the complete\nunderstanding of the other ; separately, they were unintelligible. In many instances the\nlyrical poems of the day were wedded to dance music, the flowing graceful rhythm of which\nmade it an appropriate vehicle for the illustration of poetry. The Thuringian Court being\nthe centre of the literary life of the time many of these dances would naturally originate\nthere ; though it must not be supposed that dances without the accompaniment of song\nwere not also known.\n\nPage 81, line 262—' Kancor, and Thebit, and Trebuchet: San Marte says that Thebit\nis Thabet Ben Korra, a famous Arabic physician, mathematician, and philosopher of the\nninth century. Kancor is probably Kenkeh, an astronomer and physician of the same\nperiod. Trebuchet has been mentioned before. Cf. Book v. p. 144 and Note.\n\nPage 81, 279 — \"Twasyet in the early morning: Chretien gives no account of the\ndelivery of the squire's message, but simply states that he finds Arthur and his knights\nplunged in grief at the prolonged absence of Gawain, and then breaks off abruptly in the\nmiddle of a sentence before they have learnt of his safety. From this point onward Wol-\nfram's version is entirely independent of the Conte del Graal, but his poem shows no dis-\nlocation or contradiction, such as one would expect would have been the case had he been\nfollowing a source that suddenly failed him ; on the contrary, there is a far more complete\nharmony between all the parts of Wolfram's poem than we find in any other Romance of\nthe cycle.\n\nPage 82, lines 301-10— 4 Meljanz de Lys.' Cf. Book vin. p. 239, and Introduction to\nBook x. and Note. If there was no account of Gawain's intermediate adventures Wolfram\nis evidently anxious to make his hearers believe in the existence of such a record, by means\nof well-timed and appropriate allusions. The fact that the combat was to be in the\npresence of Meljanz de Lys is only casually mentioned in Book vin. For the allusions to\nKunnewaare, Jeschute, and Ekuba cf. closing pages of Book VI. with the account of the\ndispersal of the company at Plimizol. The whole passage is a proof of the care with\nwhich the poem has been constructed, and the details brought into harmony with each\nother.\n\nPage 83, line 339—' Brought he news of some gallant venture f Cf. Book vi. p. 176\nand Note.\n\nPage 87-88, lines 466-506—' His doings, Sir Knight, I to thee will tell.' This history\nof the magician Klingsor, as noted in Book x., is found in Wolfram only, and the indica-\ntions seem to point to a French source. Terre de Labur is undoubtedly a French render-\ning of Terra di Lavoro, in Calabria. Kalot Enbolot is Kalota-Belota, a fortress on the\nsouth-eastern coast of Sicily, well known in the days of the Hohenstauffen. This location\nof Klingsor's kingdom in Southern Italy may have been introduced in order to lend a\ncolour to his supposed relationship to Virgil, who by the twelfth century was firmly\nestablished in popular belief as a magician. The name Iblis, Bartsch refers to the\nSicilian town Hybla ; Ibert may be a form of the French Guibert. It is difficult to avoid\nthe conclusion that in the lord of the Chateau Merveil, wounded as a punishment of un-\nlawful love, we have a parallel to the King of Monsalvasch, whose wound is due to a\nsimilar cause. (A reference to the original German will show how close this resemblance\nis) ; as mentioned before, it seems to be a parallel, rather than a contrast, which Wolfram\nintended to draw between his two heroes. It may well be that in the original version of\nthe story from which both Chretien's and Wolfram's poems are derived the Gawain\nepisodes were unfinished, and that in their original form Gawain, too, was brought to the\nGrail Castle, but to regard them as unfinished here seems a clear misunderstanding of the\nmeaning of the poem. We are distinctly given to understand (p. 97, line 780) that\nGawain's lot in life is finally settled, the Grail Quest, which was originally in the Gawain\n\nDigitized by\n\nNOTES\n\nstory, has been quietly dropped, and this adventure of the Chateau Merveil has taken its\nplace ; an alteration which artistically can only be considered an improvement, as it clearly\nmarks Gawain's position as secondary to Parzival. Whether the story of Klingsor was\nintroduced for the purpose of emphasizing the parallel between Monsalvasch and Chateau\nMerveil it is difficult to say. Certainly, the incident of Parzival's missing the adventure of\nthe Magic Castle, as he did that of Monsalvasch, by failing to ask the question must, as\nnoted above, be due to this idea. With the end of this book Gawain's adventures are\npractically concluded ; Wolfram promptly clears the stage for the winding-up of the his-\ntory of his real hero, Parzival, by bringing the two knights into contact, when Gawain is\nnaturally worsted, and takes the second place. Whether it be due to Wolfram or to his\nsource, it is certain that the Parzival is far simpler in construction than the majority of\nthe Grail Romances, in which the adventures of various heroes succeed each other with\nsuch bewildering rapidity and similarity of incident that it is difficult to tell who is the real\nhero of the tale !\n\nPage 89, line 519 — 'A child was born of a mother' A well-known mediaeval riddle,\nwhich Wolfram might easily have derived from a German source.\n\nPage 90, line 531 — ' Of joy had I once full measure' It is somewhat curious that in\nChretien Gawain eulogizes Guinevere in similar terms. It rather looks as if the original\npassage had been the same in both instances, though it would be difficult to tell to which\nqueen it originally referred.\n\nPage 91, line 566 — * Maurin.' This name occurs in the Lancelot of Ulrich von Zatzik-\nhoven, from which it was probably borrowed.\n\nPage 92, line 601 and seq. — 'And either side had suffered.1 Garel and Gaherjet: cf.\nNote to Book xu. Iofreit, son of Idol : cf. Book v. p. 155 and Note. Though this\ncharacter only plays an unimportant part in the poem, he is yet very frequently men-\ntioned, it may be that in the original French source he was more prominent. Friam is\nprobably the same name as Urian, in Book x. Vermandois and Nevers point to a French\norigin.\n\nPage 94, line 658 — ' Save the tent of Eisenhart only.' Cf. Book 1. p. 16 and Note.\nTents seem to have been favourite love-gifts at this time, note the Booth in Books xi. and\nxu. given by Anfortas to Orgeluse, and, as we know from VVillehalm, sent to that king in\nthe first instance by Sekundille.\n\nPage 96, line 733 — * Meljanz of Lys.' How Meljanz of Lys came to be there is not\nexplained. It is worthy of note that in Book vn. we find the King of Lirivoin fighting\nagainst Meljanz, and taken captive by Parzival ; here the men of Lirivoin are evidently on\nthe same side.\n\nPage 97, line 763 — * The wounds of Kay had been healed' Cf. Book vi. p. 169 and\nNote to Book 111.\n\nPage 99, line 819 — * A knight his bridle drew ' This knight is, of course, Parzival,\nthough how he came to be there is not explained. In the Conte del Graal Perceval does\nnot appear on the scene for some time, and passes through a variety of wild and fantastic\nadventures before finally winning the Grail. The poem, as we possess it, is more than\ntwice as long as Wolfram's.\n\n[With reference to the Klingsor and Iblis story, it is noteworthy that Chretien's\nfirst continuator relates a long story of King Carduel of Nantes and his reputed son\nCarados. The wife of King Carduel is beloved by a magician, Garahiet, who is in truth\nthe father of Carados. The latter grows to manhood and goes to King Arthur's court\nto receive knighthood, there a stranger knight appears and offers to allow his head to\nbe cut off provided the knight who accepts the challenge will submit to the same\nordeal a year later. Carados accepts, and strikes off the head of the knight who\n\nPARZIVAL\n\npicks it up and walks oft. Returning after a year he finds Carados ready to fulfil his part\nof the bargain, and then acquaints him with the fact that he, and not Carduel, is in truth\nhis father. Carados returns to the court of Carduel and tells him what he has learnt from\nthe magician ; the king in anger imprisons his wife in a tower ; she is nevertheless still\nvisited by her lover, whom the king eventually surprises and punishes in a manner\nappropriate to his crime. This story, in its outline, appears to be the basis of the\nKlingsor and Iblis episode, but it has been very freely handled by the compiler, and, as\nsuggested above, not improbably altered so as to draw out the parallel between Klingsor\nand Anfortas.\n\nA feature of importance in this connection is that the episode of Carados and his\nmagician father, a most famous story of the Arthurian cycle, is elsewhere invariably\nassociated with Gawain ; e.g. in the well-known Middle-English poem of ' Sir Gawain\nand the Green Knight,' and it is difficult to understand why, in a part of the poem\nspecially devoted to the adventures of this knight, the French poet should have attributed\nthis, one of his greatest and most famous feats, to another hero.\n\nHere again we find a parallel in Irish literature ; in the ' Fled Bricrend,' Bricriu's\nfeast, the feat by which Cuchulainn establishes his claim to be regarded as the chief Ulster\nhero is precisely this one ; though the French poem in making the magician the father of\nthe hero seems to have retained an archaic trait which has disappeared from the, in point\nof redaction, centuries older Irish story. But from other Irish stories we know that\nCuchulainn was the son of a god who is sometimes represented as carrying off the mortal\nmother to his fairy home, sometimes as visiting her in animal shape.\n\nThe foregoing facts warrant, I think, the conclusion that Gawain originally occupied\nin the Brythonic hero-saga of Arthur much the same position as Cuchulainn in the\nGoidelic hero-saga of Conchobor, both being par excellence the adventurous hero. Both,\ntoo, it should be noted, are sister's son to the king of the cycle ; the same position being\noccupied by Diarmaid, the adventurous hero of the Finn or Ossianic cycle.\n\nThe nature of the connection between these cycles of romantic legend cannot be dealt\nwith here. It is sufficient to show that in the French Arthurian poems of the twelfth\ncentury (which in one form or another undoubtedly form the basis of the Parzival) we\nhave piecings together of originally disconnected narratives about separate heroes, many\nof which are found in more archaic form in the stories told of the Irish hero Cuchulainn\nand his compeers. In the process of piecing together, adjusting to the genealogical\nrequirements of the cycle and to the social conceptions and literary modes of the twelfth\ncentury, the early Celtic narratives suffered sadly as far as order and significance are\nconcerned, though gaining immensely in other respects. The changes are of course\ngreatest where such far-reaching new ideas as the symbolical representation of Christian\ndoctrine, or the exemplification of lady-service, affect the original narrative. — Alfred\nNutt.]\n\nPage 103, line 13 — 'From Monsalvasch they came, the chargers.' This fact that both\n1 Parzival and Gawain are riding Grail steeds is constantly insisted upon by Wolfram, and\nmay be intended to emphasise the parallel obviously drawn between the two heroes. It\ndoes not seem very clear why Gawain, who here has nothing to do with Monsalvasch,\nshould ride a Grail steed ; if Wolfram took over the fact from his French source it may,\nperhaps, be a survival of Gawain's original connection with the Grail Castle, which, as\nnoted above, has been dropped out of the German poem. The history of Gawain's\n\nNOTES\n\ncharger has been told more than once, cf. Book vn. p. 196 and Book IX. p. 272.\nParzival's horse is, of course, the one ridden by the Grail knight, cf. Book ix. p. 258.\n\nPage 104, line 38 — ' Poinzacleins.' Bartsch considers that the name of this river points\nto a French source, and indicates the sloping nature of its banks, the old French word for\nwhich would be aclins, Provencal aclis.\n\nPage 105, line 52 — 'Punt, the water-locked city.' Punt=pont=bridge ; German Briicke\nor Briigge. The name of this town is decidedly suggestive of Bruges, and considering the\nfact that Chretien confessedly derived his version of the story from a book given to '\nhim by the Count of Flanders, the frequent allusions throughout the poem to men of\n1 Punturtois ' should not be ignored.\n\nPage 105, line 57— 'Count Bernard of Riviers.' A name of undoubtedly French origin.\nHis father, Count Narant, has been mentioned in Book iv. p. 119. Uckerland is probably\na misunderstanding for Outre-land.\n\nPage 105, line 74 — ' Ecidemon-woven' This is a curious passage, as we are distinctly\ntold in Book xv. p. 136 that Ecidemon is an animal ; and as such it is named in Book ix.\np. 276 among the list of poisonous serpents. As we hear in Book xv. p. 136 that\nSalamanders wove the robe of Feirefis it is possible that the same power was ascribed to\nthe Ecidemon. But the passage is somewhat ambiguous, and here a country, and not an\nanimal, may be meant.\n\nPage 107, line 127 and seq. — ' Killicrates.' This name is of distinctly Greek origin. We\nfind in Book xv. p. 154 that he was King of Centrium (which Bartsch identifies with the\nland of the Centaurs), and one of the princes conquered by Feirefis. In the same list of\nnames we find Kalomidente and Ipopotiticon ; according to Bartsch the former name is a\ncompound of Kalamos, and signifies Reed-land ; the latter he suggests may be a variation\nof Hyperponticon, the land beyond the Pontus. Agatyrsjente may perhaps be the same\nas Assigarzionte mentioned in Book xv. p. 136, as famous for its silks. 'Akraton,' cf.\nBook viii. p. 230.\n\nPage 108, line 150 — 'He cast from his hand his weapon.\" It is worth remarking how\nstrongly Wolfram insists on this tie of brotherhood, both of arms, as here, and of blood, as\nin Book xv. To fight with one closely related by friendship, or one near of kin, is in his eyes\na sin against one's self, one's own personality. Other writers of the cycle do not seem to\nconsider such a combat, provided it were not to death, in so serious a light. The etiquette\nconnected with the naming themselves by the knights should be noted ; it was the right\nof the victor to demand the name of the vanquished. Here, Parzival has heard Gawain's\nname from the pages, and therefore makes no objection to revealing himself ; in the next\nBook when Feirefis asks his name he refuses to give it, the combat between them is\npractically undecided, and he will not admit Feirefis's right to put the question. That\nFeirefis names himself is an act of courtesy on his part. This unwillingness to name\nthemselves was probably originally connected with the idea of the identity of name and\nperson — once so universal ; to this day the superstition that it is unlucky to mention the\nname of a person exists among certain races, and circumlocution and nicknames are\nemployed to avoid the necessity for disclosing the real appellation of the individual\nreferred to.\n\nPage no, line 237 — 'In wrath spake the lips of Bene\".' We have already been told in\nBook x. p. 24, that the Ferryman, Ben6*s father, was of knightly birth, but it seems strange\nto find her addressing so powerful a monarch as King Gramoflanz in such discourteous\nterms. As noted before, the character of Ben6 and the part she plays are peculiar to\nWolfram's version, and difficult of explanation.\n\nPage 113, line 325— •F*/, Sire, when I saw thee last.1 Cf. Book VI. p. 179, and Book\nxv. p. 158. Nevertheless, the other knights do not seem in any way to have held Parzival\n\n2l6\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nas really dishonoured ; they receive and welcome him as one of their body, though he has\nnot won the Grail, nor, so far, apparently expiated his sin in failing to put the question.\n\nPage 114, line 339 — 'He should eat without on the meadow' Cf. Book v. p. 154.\n\nPage 115, line 402 — 'Did women with wealth o'erburdened,' etc. That gifts of armour\nand warlike trappings were usual on the part of the lady is evident from many passages,\ncf. Book 11. p. 47 and Book xv. pp. 139, 147, 155.\n\nPage 117, line 460 — 'Affinamus of Clitiers.' This knight has not been named before.\nThe same name occurs in the list of princes overcome by Feirefis, Book xv. p. 154, but it\nis evidently a different individual. Bartsch suggests that the name is of Greek origin,\nClitiers being derived from Clitorium.\n\nPage 117, line 467 — 'Then out spake King Lot's son gaily Cf. p. no, line 225.\n\nPage 120, line 543 — ' Thy sister Surdamur.' Cf. Note to Book XII.\n\nPage 121, line 587 — 'Now greeting to whom I owe greeting.' Bartsch remarks that this\nlove-letter and that addressed by Anflise to Gamuret, Book 11. p. 44, are specially\ninteresting as being almost the oldest specimens of love-letters in German literature.\n\nPage 124, line 675 — 'Beau-corps.' Cf. Book vi. p. 183. From the passage on p. 114\nit would seem as if Gawain had other brothers, as in most stories of the cycle he has, but\nWolfram mentions none but Beau-corps.\n\nPage 129, line 830 and seq. —' Arthur gave maid Itonji' It has been suggested that here\nWolfram is indulging in sly mockery at the many weddings which, as a rule, wound up\nthe mediaeval romances. In the original tales the whole character of King Arthur and his\ncourt was far less stamped with the rigid morality we have learned to associate with them,\nand the somewhat indiscriminate promotion of love-affairs and marriages (cf. Book xv.\np. 157) is quite in keeping with what we elsewhere read of the king. (See note to Book x.\np. 204, for Mr. Nutt's remarks on the marriage of Gawain being celebrated at the Chateau\nMerveil, instead of at court.)\n\nPage 130, line 869 — 'But Parzival, he bethought him,' etc. It cannot be too sdrongly\ninsisted upon that this presentment of Parzival as a married man, and absolutely faithful\nto his wife, is quite peculiar to Wolfram's version of the story. Whether it is entirely due\nto the German poet we cannot now tell, but we meet with such constant instances of\nWolfram's sense of the sanctity of the marriage vow, and the superiority of lawful, over\nunlawful, love, it seems most probable that it is to his genius we owe this, the most\nbeautiful feature of the story. There is nothing answering to it either in Chretien or his\ncontinuators, although in Gerbert the hero's successive failures are declared to be due to\nhis forsaking Blanchefleur.\n\nPage 135, line 22 — ' His armour a knight displayed.' The riches of Feirefis and his\ncostly raiment are dwelt upon at such length that one suspects that the aim of the poet\nwas to exalt the importance of the House of Anjou ; of which Feirefis, rather than Parzival,\nmust here be considered the representative.\n\nPage 136, line 31 — * Agremontein.' Cf. Book ix. p. 284.\n\nPage 136, line 42 — ' Thopedissemonti,' etc. This place has not been named before, and\ncritics have not identified it with any known name. Assigarziont6 may, as suggested in\nNote to Book xiv., be the same as Agatyrsjente. Thasm6 we already know, Book xm.\np. 74 and Note.\n\nPage 137, line 59 — ' Parzival rode not lonely.' The expression of an idea which seems\nto be a favourite one with Wolfram, cf. Book v. p. 139 and Book vm. 242.\n\nNOTES\n\nPage 137, line 81 — ' As the lion-cub, etc. This fable, a belief in which was general in\nthe Middle Ages, is also mentioned by Wolfram in his Willehalm.\n\nPage 139, line 120 — ' My brother and I are one body,' etc. As remarked before, Wolfram\nhas an extremely high idea of the binding nature of family relationships, cf. Book in.\np. 97 and further on p. 145.\n\nPage 139, line 121 — 'Asbestos.' Cf. Book IX. p. 281.\n\nPage 139, line 138—' Kaukasus.' It is rather curious to find Sekundille' associated with\nKaukasus, as we are elsewhere told that she was queen of Tribalibot, i.e. India. In Book\nx. p. 11 we are told that she had golden mountains in her kingdom, which may have\nsuggested the connection.\n\nPage 140, line 155 — ' And the other, the precious jewels,' etc. It has already been\nremarked (Note to Book ix. ) that the attribution of strengthening virtue to precious stones,\nand the prominence given to them throughout the poem, is a special feature of the Parzival.\nIn the next book we meet with a remarkable instance of this peculiarity.\n\nPage 140, line 161 — ' Kardeiss and Lohengrin.' This is the first intimation we have of\nthe existence of Parzival's sons ; from Kondrie's speech on p. 1 59, he seems himself to have\nbeen unaware of their birth. We hear of Parzival sending the knights conquered by him to\nyield themselves captives to Kondwiramur (Book vn. p. 220 and Book vm. p. 243), and\nshe, therefore, would be in some degree aware of her husband's movements during the five\nyears of separation ; but we have no indication of his having received any message from\nher ; and from the wandering life he led during these years (cf. Introduction to Book ix. ),\nand the fact that he had no squire in attendance who could act as go-between, it seems\nmost probable that Parzival heard nothing of his wife throughout the entire time— a fact\nwhich makes his fidelity to her even more striking. Kardeiss was doubtless named after\nhis mother's brother, whose death is referred to in Book vi. p. 167. Lohengrin, or as the\nname stands in thd original, with an additional syllable, Loherangrin, has been derived\nfrom Lothringen, the German form Lorraine. If so, this may indicate the source of the\nstory of the Swan-knight, which did not, of course, originally belong to the Grail legend.\n\nPage 140, line 170—' Pelrapdrl' seq. It is very curious that though Wolfram empha-\nsizes the fact (p. 139) that Parzival had regained his faith in God, yet it is not this faith\nwhich stands him in good stead in the hour of his greatest peril ; neither is it his devotion\nto the Grail ; but it is his loyal love for, and fidelity to, his wife that proves his salvation.\nIf the aim of the poem were, as some critics contend, a purely religious one, then we should\nsurely find that at the crucial moment of the hero's career religion, and not Love, would be\nthe saving power. As it is, Parzival's words to Gawain, Book vi. p. 188, are abundantly\nborne out, and it is his wife, and no heavenly power, that acts as Guardian Angel. (The\nlines 170-71 are not of course to be taken literally, ' o'er kingdoms four ' is used in other\nold German poems as equivalent for 'a great distance.' It is not to be supposed that\nKondwiramur was in any sense, even mystically, aware of her husband's danger, though\ndoubtless it is the conviction that her love for him is as steadfast as his for her that\nstrengthens his arm. ) Throughout this conflict between the two brothers it is love, in the\ntwelfth century form of Minne-Dienst, which is regarded as the animating power on either\nside ; though the fact that they are respectively Christian and heathen is insisted on by the\npoet, yet we do not find the conflict regarded as a struggle between the two religions, nor\nany sign given of the superiority of the God of the Christian to the heathen deities, in fact\nthe same Divine Power is invoked to shield them both (p. 139). It certainly seems here\nas if the knightly interpretation had, in a great measure, overborne the ethical. That\nthere was an ethical signification attached to the episode seems evident, not only from the\nfact that this conflict with Feirefis, whose peculiar parti-coloured appearance recalls so\nstrongly the contrast between Doubt and Faith, drawn in the Introduction, is the last stage\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nin Parzival's long expiation ; but also from the fact of the breaking of Ither of Gaheviess'\nsword, of which special mention is made in lines 173 and seq. The poet evidently intends\nus to regard this as a token that Parzival's youthful sins have been atoned for, and there\nseems little doubt that the incident was introduced here for that purpose. That the sword\nhere broken was originally the Grail sword, and that the change was made by Wolfram\nfrom the difficulty of reconciling that fact with previous statements (cf. Book IX. p. 252), as\nSimrock suggests, is most improbable, there would have been no reason for the Grail Sword\nbreaking in this rather than in any other combat (accepting Chretien's statement that the\nsword would break only in one peril ; it had withstood considerably more than one blow),\nquite the contrary, as here Parzival is practically the Grail champion ; but there is a deep\nsignificance in this shattering of the last token of the headstrong folly of his youth. It seems\nmost probable that Wolfram found this incident in his source ; and that the original\nmeaning of the combat was to depict the last desperate struggle of the soul with Doubt,\nwherein by steadfast resistance (absolute conquest is not at once to be looked for) the sins\nof the past are wiped out, and the soul becomes finally worthy of reward.\n\nPage 141, line 195— 4 Thro' fear shall I tell my name ?' Cf. Note to Book XI v. The\ncourteous and knightly bearing of Feircfis, both here and on p. 142, should be noted. In\neverything but faith he is quite the equal of his Christian brother ; indeed it must be ad-\nmitted that, compared with either Feirefis or Gawain, Parzival gives the impression of being\na much less courtly and polished figure. His character seems stamped throughout with a\nrugged simplicity and directness, quite in keeping with what we are told of his wild and\nlonely youth. It is noticeable, too, how very little, comparatively speaking, Parzival says ;\nthough all the speeches put into his mouth have an earnestness and depth of feeling which\nwe do not find in the much more frequent utterances of Gawain. Wolfram's tolerant\ntreatment of heathen, generally, has often been a subject of remark by critics ; and, with\nregard to Feirefis, the number of allusions to him which the Willehalm contains lead one\nto the conclusion that this character, in particular, was a favourite with the poet.\n\nPage 141, line 202—' How shall \"Angevin \" be thy title f The reader will probably by\nthis time have noticed that, King of Anjou as Parzival is, he is never called an Angevin,\nbut is invariably referred to as a ' Waleis,' his mother's country. It is his mother's kingdoms\nof which he has been deprived (cf. Book ill. pp. 73, 80, 87), and this is really the\nfirst indication we have that he knows himself to be also lord of Anjou. Gamuretis\nalluded to, and gives his name as, Gamuret Angevin ; Feirefis, is always Feirefis Angevin ;\nbut Parzival, the hero of the story and the real glory of his house, is not an Angevin but\na 'Waleis.' This shows clearly that the Angevin element formed no part of the original\nPerceval legend, but that it has been grafted on to a previously existing Celtic basis.\n\nPage 141, line 205 — ' Btalzenan.' Cf. Book v. p. 147 and Note. I\n\nPage 142, line 230— 4 A s written parchment' Ekuba did not say this in Wolfram's\nversion, cf. Book vi. p. 186, possibly the simile was in the French source and has been\ndropped out. It is a curious idea to occur to a man who, like Wolfram, could not write ;\nand it is also a curious speech to put into the mouth of one who, like Parzival, had been\nbrought up in the desert, and deprived of the ordinary training due to his rank.\n\nPage 143, line 241 — ' Blest be Juno,' etc. This ascription of Latin gods and goddesses\nto all the non-Christian races was not unusual in the Middle Ages ; Apollo was the god\nmost commonly thus transferred. It is rather curious though to find the mistake made in\na poem so obviously tinged by Oriental influences as the Parzival. Wolfram, too, seems J\nto have known that the Saracens had other gods, in Willehalm he names as such j\nApollo, Mahmet, and Tervigant.\n\nPage 144, line 275 — ' When King Eisenhart's life was run.' Cf. Book I. p. 28.\n\nPage 144, line 294 — 4 Till King Ipomidon.' Cf. Book II. p.- 59.\n\nNOTES\n\nPage 146, line 353—' From Chdieau Merveil,' etc. Cf. Book xn. p. 53.\n\nPage 147, line 377 — ' Saranthasmi.' Cf. Book xm. p. 74 and note.\n\nPage 149, line 458 — ' Wizsanl.' A haven on the coast of France, near Boulogne, much\nfrequented at that time. Writers of the period frequently allude to it.\n\nPage 153, line 583 and seq.t page 154, line 615 and seq. The list of kings conquered by\nFeirefis and Parzival contain some very perplexing names, the originals of which have\nevidently been corrupted in process of transmission from one language to another.\nBartsch, who has devoted considerable time to the study of the proper names in the\nParzival, has endeavoured, with varying success, to identify the majority; and the\nfollowing suggestions are taken from his article on the subject, already quoted in Appendix\nB, of vol. i.\n\nIn the first list, that of the princes conquered by Feirefis, names of Greek origin are of\nfrequent occurrence ; thus Papirus of Trogodjente, Bartsch identifies as the king of the\nTroglodytae ; Liddamus of Agripp6 was originally Laodamus of Agrippias ; Tinodente, the\nisland of Tenedos ; Milon is, of course, a well-known Greek name, as is Kallicrates, here\nKillicrates, Filones of Hiberborticon is the Greek Philon ; and it may be taken as a general\nrule that all the names ending in on, in this list, may be traced more or less directly to a\nGreek source. Possizonjus is a version of Poseidonios (having probably passed through a\nLatin medium) ; AtropfagentS is the land of the Androphagi, or Anthropophagi ; Acheinor\nis the Greek Archenor.\n\nIn the list of the heroes conquered by Parzival we have, on the contrary, few classical\nnames ; Jeropleis, i.e. Hieropolis, seems to be almost the only example. The majority of\nthe names appear to be of Romance origin, or at least to have passed through a Romance\nsource. Thus Mirabel, the name of a place in Southern France, and Sercabel, here the\nending bel indicates the French origin ; Villegarunz is the Prov. Villagrana ; Jovedast of\nAries, a Provencal, proclaims his own nationality.\n\nIt is probably no accident that this majority of classical names appear in the first list,\nthat of Feirefis, since, as noted above, Greeks and Romans alike were classed by the\nmediaeval writers as heathens, and they would see nothing incorrect in giving Saracens\nclassical names, in the same way as they provided them with classical deities.\n\nPage 154, line 608 — 1 Olympia and Klauditte'.' Here again we find the names of the\nthree queens beloved by Feirefis of distinctly classical origin : KlaudittS being a French\nderivation from Claudia. Sekundille\" is the only queen of whom we hear elsewhere, the\nother two are mentioned by name only.\n\nPage 155, line 643 — * Heraclius or Hercules' Heracles was the hero of a German poem\nof the twelfth century, which attributes to him a knowledge of the properties of precious\nstones. The Alexander here referred to is Alexander the Great ; not the lover of\nSurdamur, mentioned in Books xn and xiv. (cf. note to xn.)\n\nPage 156, line 664 — 4 Drianthasmi* Apparently a combination of Triande and Thasme\\\ncf. Book xm. p. 74.\n\nPage 158, line 723 — ' With turtle-doves, all shining.' Kondrie does not seem to have\nborne the badge of the Grail on her first visit (Book vi. p. 177); this, her second\nappearance, seems to bear more of an official character.\n\nPage 158, line 741 — * Without a kiss.' A kiss was the customary sign and seal of\nforgiveness (cf. Book v. 151, 152; Book vi. 177; Book xiv. 129), but Kondrie is fully\naware of her repulsive appearance, and would, therefore, release Parzival from the\nfulfilment of a distasteful duty. It must be noted that, throughout the poem, Kondrie is\nin no sense represented as a malicious character. Her brother, Malcreature, on the\ncontrary, seems to have been thoroughly evil-disposed, cf. Book x. p. 12.\n\nPage 159, line 767 — 'Now rejoice with a humble heart.' Kondrie's announcement to\n\nPARZIVAL\n\nParzival appears, in some points, to be a direct contradiction of what we have already been\ntold with regard to the promised healing of Anfortas. In Book IX. p. 278, Treverezent\ndistinctly says that the question must be asked on the first night of the visit to the Castle ;\nthat no warning must be previously given ; and that if the knight fulfils these conditions,\nthen, and then only, will he become king of the Grail. Now Parzival apparently\ntraverses all these conditions, he omits to ask the question on his first visit, he is told of\nthe sin he has thereby committed, and on this, his second visit, is made well aware of\nwhat is expected of him (cf. lines 774 and seq.), while the Grail announces him as king\nbefore he has asked the question. It is true that no one tells him the exact words in which\nhe is to put the query, but Parzival is well aware that he is to ask Anfortas the cause of his\nanguish, and it scarcely seems likely that the virtue of the question depends] upon the\nform in which it is put. Are we to consider from Trevrezent's words, Book xvi. p. 171, that\nParzival's valour and steadfastness of purpose have wrought a change in the Divine\nCounsels, and that the bliss which he had in his folly forfeited is to be granted to him on\nhis fulfilment of the spirit oi the Grail conditions, the fufilment of the letter being dispensed\nwith ? The question is a perplexing one, and difficult to solve satisfactorily.\n\nPage 160, line 779 — ' Seven stars did she name unto him' The introduction of these\nArabic names is decidedly curious in view of Wolfram's emphatic statement that the origin\nof the Parzival was an Arabic MS. , though Bartsch remarks that the names in question\nwere not necessarily derived from the source, there being still extant a German astronomical\npoem of the twelfth century which contains a number of Arabic names. Still it is strange\nthat Wolfram's version should be as close as it is to the original form of the words, thus\nZeval is the Arabic Zuhal, Saturn ; Almustri, El-musteri, Jupiter ; Almaret, El-\nmirrih, Mars ; Samsi, S'ems, the Sun ; Alligafir and Alkamer cannot be exactly identified\nwith the remaining two planets, Venus and Mercury, but seem to represent rather the\nnames of two constellations, respectively called El-gafir and El-kidr. Alkamer is the\nmoon, Arabic El-kamer.\n\nPage 160, line 799 — 1 If thou speakest, Lady.' The humility of this speech of Parzival's,\ncontrasted with the indignant outbreak of wounded pride in Book vi. pp. 187, 188, is the\nmost decisive proof which the poem affords of the spiritual change which has passed over\nhim, and of his fitness to become king of the Grail, a blessing which Anfortas has for-\nfeited through lack of humility (cf. Book IX. p. 272 and Book xvi, p. 182).\n\nPage 161, line 817 — ' From the bright eyes of Orgeluse.' Cf. Book xn. p. 65.\n\nPage 162, line 861 — ' Triant.' Cf. Book xm. p. 74. Nouriente = von ourient, i.e.\nOrient.\n\nPage 165, line 5, and seq. — ' Then he spake to the knights of Monsalvasch.' Those\nreaders who are familiar with Wagner's Parsifal will see in this speech of Anfortas to\nthe knights, and his attempt to win death for himself by shutting his eyes to the Grail, the\ngerm of the scene in the Grail Temple in Act in. of the Drama. It will be noted that\nhere Anfortas does not injure any one but himself by this attempt at self-destruction.\nTiturel is still alive, cf. p. 178. It is noteworthy that the knights still await the advent of\nthe promised Healer ; though, as we gather from Trevrezent's speech, Book ix. p. 278,\n* The knight, he hath come, and hath left us,' they were aware that Parzival was he, and\nhad failed to fulfil his mission.\n\nNOTES\n\nPage 166, line 49 — ' Teriak.' Cf. Book ix. p. 278. Ambra=Amber.\n\nPage 167, line 67, and seq. — ' Carbuncle and Balas ruby,' etc. It has before been\nremarked that the belief in the virtue of precious stones was very real and very general\nin the Middle Ages. Similar lists are given by various writers, Albertus Magnus among\nthem ; and San Marte remarks that, if this list is compared with mediaeval writings, it will\nbe found that the names have not been put together in a haphazard fashion, but that the\nspecial virtue ascribed to each stone has a direct bearing on Anfortas' sufferings. Jewels, in\nthe strict sense of the term, these stones are not exclusively, e.g. we find Asbestos and\nPyrites among the list ; the expression * precious stones ' was freely construed in those\ndays. The Latin equivalent of all these names can be found in writings of the period,\nbut it would scarcely be interesting to give a minute description and identification.\n\nPage 169, line 119 — ' And e'en as was there the custom.' Cf. Book v. p. 132.\n\nPage 169, line 130 — ' O er-long have I waited.' Anfortas' speech to Parzival is curious ;\nsome critics have opined that he alone was not aware of the lately read Grail writing,\nand of Parzival's election to the Grail kingdom, and was, therefore, in doubt as to\nwhether or not he was the destined Deliverer. But, if that were the case, how did he come\nnot only to know Parzival's name, but to lay such stress upon it ( ' If Parzival men shall\ncall thee, then, etc.'), i.e. 'If thou art indeed the chosen ruler of these knights, then\nexercise thine authority on my behalf.' We learn from Book ix. p. 271, that the name of\nthe elect knights appeared on the Grail. If Anfortas had learnt it from Trevrezent, the\nonly other source of information he could have had, he would have had no doubt of the\nidentity of the promised Deliverer with the knight who had already paid an abortive visit to\nthe Castle ; as it is, he recognises him at once, but is in doubt whether he is the\n* Parzival ' named by the Grail. The meaning of his speech seems to be that Anfortas\nwas unaware how far Parzival himself was acquainted with the rdle assigned to him, and\nfeared to transgress the Grail's commandment, and risk the promised healing by saying\ntoo much.\n\nPage 169, line 141 — 4 Now say where the Grail It lieth ?' It is remarkable that though\nParzival is well aware of the nature of the question which he is to put to Anfortas, and of\nthe happy results which will follow (p. 159), yet he fully realises that this healing can only\nbe brought about by the blessing of God ; it is as God's Messenger, and not in his own\npower, that he speaks. He feels himself, and wishes the knights to regard him, merely\nas the instrument in God's hand ; there is no trace of self-assertion or presumption in his\naction, the grace of humility has been fully won. The beautiful touch in lines 155-56\nseems to show that to Anfortas, also, the long ordeal issued in distinct spiritual gain. It\nis worth noting that, from this point onwards, Anfortas is spoken of as a knight in the\nprime of life, worthy to be compared in skill and prowess with his nephew, Parzival, and\nexcelling him in physical beauty ; whereas Trevrezent, who was considerably the younger\n(cf. Book ix p. 275), is always spoken of as an old man. This is, of course, due to the\nyouth-preserving powers of the Grail (cf. Book ix. p. 270), so Rdpanse-de-Schoie, who\nhad been in the service of the Grail from her childhood, would have retained the appear-\nance of a young girl, and there is nothing surprising, therefore, in Feirefis becoming\nenamoured of her beauty.\n\nPage 178, line 147—' By the mouth of His saint, Sylvester.' An allusion to a well-\nknown story told of S. Sylvester ; how when he was defending Christianity against a Jew,\nin the presence of the Emperor Constantine, he restored to life, by the invocation of Christ,\na steer which the Jew had slain by whispering the most Holy Name into its ear, but had\nfailed to revivify by the same means.\n\nPage 170, line 168 — ' The wood where they fought of old. ,' Cf. Book VI. p. 160 and seq.\nThis reunion of Parzival and Kondwiramur on the very spot where he had been over-\n\n■JJ.\n\nPARZIVAL\n\na passage prophesying that of Perceval's race shall spring the 'Swan-knight and the\nDeliverer of the Holy Sepulchre.'\n\nThis passage, together with the fact that Wolfram connects Lohengrin wtih Brabant,\nseems to indicate that the German poet was not the first to connect the legend of the\nSwan-knight with that of the Grail, but found the story in his French source ; though he\ncertainly gives the earliest version of the legend in the shape in which, through Wagner's\nLohengrin, it is familiar to us to-day. A more prolonged and elaborate account of\nLohengrin's adventures is given in Der jungere Titurel already referred to ; here the lady\nis the Duchess of Lizaborye, and the catastrophe is brought about by the advice of a\ntreacherous maid, who persuades the Duchess that if she cuts off, roasts, and eats a\nportion of her husband's flesh, he will be unable to leave her. In pursuance of this\nintention, armed knights break into Lohengrin's chamber at night, and in th# struggle\nwith them, though overcoming his assailants, he is himself slain. The unhappy wife dies\nof grief, and the name of the country is changed from Lizaborye to Lothringen (Lorraine)\nin memory of Lohengrin. (Those familiar with the Wagner Drama will note the skill\nwith which Wagner has combined these two versions of the legend. )\n\nIn the forbidden question we probably have a surviving testimony to the originally divine\nnature of the hero ; it is a well-known feature of such legends that a mortal wife wedded\nto a divine husband may not inquire too closely into that husband's nature, e.g. thev\nmyths of Jupiter and Semele, and of Eros and Psyche. The question therefore probably\nbelongs to the original form of the story, and the passage on p. 182 is merely, as suggested\nabove, an ingenious attempt to explain a feature which puzzled the later compilers.\n\nPage 186, line 661—' Here Herr Erec should speak.1 An allusion to Hartmann's Erec,\nso often referred to. The hero forbids his wife to speak to him, she breaks the silence\nin order to warn him of an impending danger, and is punished by him for so doing.\n\nPage 186, line 663 — ' If ChrUien of Troyes,' etc. Here for the first time Wolfram gives\nus clearly to understand that he knew Chretien's Grail poem, but deliberately preferred to\nfollow Kiot's version, to which he has made frequent allusions. If Wolfram's statement\nis to be accepted as it stands, we must perforce conclude that both the first two books\nand the last three (of which Chretien has no trace) were in Kiot's poem, 4 To the end, the\nProvencal told it.' Certainly Wolfram himself does not wish us to consider that any part\nof the tale was due to his own invention, but rather that he was throughout faithfully\nadhering to lines already laid down. The question of the connection between Chretien\nand Wolfram will be found fully discussed in Excursus B.\n\nFINIS\n\nII\n\nPrinted by T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty\nat the Edinburgh University Press\n\nDigitized by\n\nGoogk\n\n/\n\nDigitized by\n\nGoogk",
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