Volume 1 / Book 5 — BOOK V TRADITIONAL EVENTS

Hero meets with the Fisher King; visits the Grail Castle, sees the Grail, lance, etc., but asks no question, and is therefore reproached by maiden with dead knight. Chrêtien and continuators: Peredur; Perceval; Perceval li Gallois. (Sir Percyvelle omits everything connected with the Grail.)

(The reader will find all this part of the legend, the varying forms of the visit to the Grail Castle, the Fisher King, the Grail, etc., fully discussed in Mr. Alfred Nutt's Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail.)

Page 131, line 58—'Abenberg's field.' Castle and town of Abenberg, in the neighbourhood of Eschenbach.

Page 131, line 75—'Repanse de Schoie.' This name appears to signify 'Thought of joy.' The Grail maidens are not named in other versions.

Page 132, line 87—'Then one to the host would call him.' This was evidently the Court Jester, always a privileged person.

Page 132, lines 109, 110—'Lignum Aloe.' Bartsch holds this to be a mistake of the poet, who has misunderstood the old French word Aloer. Chrêtien has simply seces boises. 'Wildberg' was the home of the poet, who is here making allusion to his poverty, as in Book IV. p. 106.

Page 132, line 111—'And the host had bid them lay him.' 'The Maimed King' invariably figures in the Grail Romances, whether they deal only with the Quest, as here, or with the early history of the Grail. He is generally wounded through the thighs, either with a lance, or with a sword, but the circumstances under which he receives the wound vary greatly. In most of the versions he is met with while engaged in fishing, and is known as the Fisher King, or the 'Rich Fisher.'

Page 132, line 125—'The bleeding lance.' This is a feature in most of the Grail Romances, and seems to have been an original feature of the story, though it had not the close connection with the Grail, which the fully developed Christian legend has given to it. In the earlier versions of the story it is the weapon with which the Maimed King was wounded; finally, it became the spear with which our Lord's side was pierced on the cross. Wolfram, who never appears to connect the Grail with the Passion, gives it the first meaning. The visit to the Grail Castle is told in varying forms, but the King, the Grail, Sword, and Lance almost invariably appear, and the hero is either Perceval or his companion Gawain, but Perceval is, undoubtedly, the original hero of the Quest.

Page 133, line 137 and seq.—'The Grail Procession.' In Chrêtien this is much more simply treated. There are two squires bearing candlesticks, and two maidens, one of whom carries the Grail, the other a silver dish, tailleor. Wolfram has evidently seized the opportunity to give play to his love of detailed description, and his account of the Grail Feast and the Grail Maidens is far more elaborate than any given elsewhere.

Page 136, line 223—'The food-supplying powers of the Grail.' In other romances of the cycle we find similar powers attributed to the Grail. Malory, who borrowed largely from the Queste and Grand S. Graal, gives a like account. There is evidently a connection between this feature of the Grail, and the food-supplying talismans which figure largely in the legendary lore of most countries.

Page 137, line 247—'A squire who a sword did bear.' Cf. p. 144, lines 472 and seq. This incident also occurs in Chrêtien, and in varying form in most of the versions. In this poem the meaning and use of the sword are somewhat inexplicable. In Chrêtien that sword will break in one peril, known only to its maker, and then can be made whole by dipping it in a lake. Wolfram's account seems to be based on a misunderstanding of a French original. In some of the other versions the sword is already broken, and can only be made whole by the achiever of the Quest. In Wolfram the sword is a very puzzling feature of the story, with which indeed it seems to have little or no connection. The sword, which breaks in Parzival's deadly combat with his unknown brother, is not this sword, but the one taken from Ither of Gaheviess.

Page 137, line 267—'The fairest of old men ancient.' Titurel, cf. Book IX. p. 287.

Page 137, line 273—''Tis a symbol good, the bowstring.' Introduction to Book I., line 9, and note.

Page 139, line 325—'The garden of Paradise.' This is one of the allusions which seem to connect the Grail in Wolfram's version with an Oriental source, cf. p. 135.

Page 141, line 371—'A hidden hand drew the rope taut.' Chrêtien has the incident of the drawbridge rising, but in no other version are the reproaches addressed to the hero immediately on his leaving the castle, they are invariably put into the mouth of the maiden with the dead knight. In the Perceval the maiden's words, 'The Lord hates thee,' recall Wolfram's Ihr sult varen der sunnen has, which Bartsch says is an ancient formula of declaring a person accurst, and unworthy of the light of day.

Page 141, line 381—'Doubled the throw of sorrow.' Cf. Book III. p. 100; Book II. p. 47. Similes borrowed from games of chance are not unusual in this poem.

Page 141, line 397—'A woman's voice make moan.' This meeting with the maiden after the visit to the Grail Castle is in most versions the only one. In Chrêtien she now tells the hero his name which he learns or guesses for the first time. It was not improbably this incident which led either Wolfram, or his source, to place a first meeting earlier in the story while still retaining one in the original position. Wolfram, with characteristic love for detail, follows up the history of Siguné far more fully than other writers of the cycle.

Page 142, line 427—'Monsalväsch.' Probably 'Mont Sauvage,' in allusion to its wild and lonely position. A full account of the Grail and its keepers is given in Book IX. pp. 270, 271.

Page 143, line 463—'Lunete.' A character in Hartmann's Iwein, from which the episode is quoted. Cf. Book IX. p. 252, and opening of Book XII.

Page 144, line 475—'Trebuchet.' This name is also given in Chrêtien; he is alluded to again p. 147, and in Book IX. p. 281, in connection with the knives of silver mentioned in line 498 of this book.

Page 147, line 595—'Tenabroc.' Also p. 133, line 146. This name is borrowed from Hartmann's Erec. Chrêtien has 'Danebroc.'

Page 147, line 601—'Beàlzenan.' According to Bartsch this name is combined from Provençal, beal, fair; enan, height='the fair height,' which would suit very well with the position of Angers, the capital of Anjou.

Page 152, line 760—'Wild Taurian, Dodine's brother.' Cf. Book IX. p. 265. Taurian does not seem to have been identified, but Dodine appears, in many of the Arthurian romances, always with the title of 'Le Sauvage.' So we find him named in Malory. Wolfram seemed to have transferred the characteristic from one brother to the other.

Page 155, line 849—'Iofreit the son of Idöl.' This is the French name Geoffrey. Mentioned again in Book VI. line 168. Most critics identify this character with Chrêtien's Giflès li feus Do.