A A = ^^— c A^ cyj m 1_ = -r = == ID = = 33 ^^s '3 = O 4 ^ 5 m n 5 = zn 7 = 6 m 1 — 1 3 ^ SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Hgents THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY NEW YORK CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON AND EDINBURGH Sir Perceval of Galles A Study of the Sources of the Legend BY REGINALD HARVEY GRIFFITH Adjunct Professor of English in The University of Texas THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS COPTHIGHT 1911 By The Univeesitt of Chicago All Eights Reserved Published March 1911 • • • 7 ^ ' • , • * * « Composed and Printed By The University of Chicago Press Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. PREFACE In making this investigation, many obstacles besides the scanti- ness of time allowed by classroom duties have had to be overcome. The University of Texas library is not a large one, and, in the field immediately concerned, is weak. Access to needed books has been had only in summer vacations and in libraries a thousand miles and more away from Austin. The difficulty continues a very present one. In seeing the book through the press, I have not been able to verify references by a comparison with original authorities, but have had to rely upon my manuscript notes. To hope that no errors have crept in is unreasonable; but I trust the reader will find them few, and will believe that I have made a painstaking endeavor to avoid them. In seeking the origins of the Perceval tale, I have circum- scribed the interpretation of "origins." It is the immediate ancestry, not the ultimate source, that has here been sought. I have made no inquiry into Old Irish literature in the expectation of pointing out its parallels to the Perceval tale, if such there be; nor any into folklore domains in the hope of tracing the tale or its elements to an origin in custom, myth, or religion. Finally, the Grail problem lies outside the limits of this investigation, since no allusion to the Grail occurs in the English poem which is taken as the point of departure. In several ways this study is incomplete, as perhaps any study of its kind must be. The number of tales discussed is large, for ._ I have mentioned every tale I have found that appears to throw light on the origin of the tale of Perceval as it is told in Sir Perceval of Galles; but the collection makes no pretense to finality. There are doubtless many variants now unknown to me. If the reader will indicate any such, I shall feel much beholden to him. In 1 especial, the tale which is studied in chapter III (the tale in which JJ a despised youth avenges an insult to his king and relieves his relatives from the attacks of an army that, slam every day, is restored to life every night by a hag with a reviving cordial) is S2» 302248 VI PREFACE intrinsically most interesting, and would surely repay investiga- tion. J. F. Campbell says his MSS contained variants. Still others are doubtless procurable. Any tales, too, that appear akin to the story of the secondary heroine, the lady whom Perceval kissed and so brought into reproach, will be welcome additions. The courtesies I have received from many people are remem- bered most kindly and with a lively sense of obligation. To Professor John M. Manly, of the University of Chicago, I owe a debt of gratitude for inducting me into the mystery and fascina- tion of mediaeval romance. The late Alfred Nutt, whose recent death seems a personal loss to me, was very kind when I ventured to seek him in his house of business some years ago. Miss Jessie L. Weston was cordially friendly when I had opportunity to dis- cuss Sir Perceval with her one summer. To the books and articles of the many students who have preceded me my indebtedness is writ large on every page. The authorities of Lincoln Cathedral, of the British Museum, of the Library of Congress, and of the university libraries at Yale, Harvard, Chicago, Wisconsin, and Texas I desire to thank heartily for their many favors. And to my colleagues and very good friends. Professor Callaway, Professor Campbell, and Dr. Law, my very best thanks are due for criticism and many another deed of kindness; all of them have "read proof" for me; how can friendship do more? — unless it be to "read proof" twice, as Professor Campbell and Professor Callaway have both done. R. H. Griffith Austin, Texas, U.S.A. March 7, 19 11 CONTENTS PAGE Introduction ......... i Statement of the problem. — Materials from which evidence is to be adduced: a condensed bibliography. — Resume of opinions of some of the most important students. — Lines of investigation in the present study. Chapter I: The Hero's Forest Rearing . . .14 The four incidents to be considered. — Comparison of SP and C by svmimaries. — Evidence of other versions, by simimaries. The father's marriage tournament, in SP and W. The father's death, in SP, PC, W, Pd, Card, Fool; some comments. The widow's flight, in SP, PC, W, Pd, Card, Fool. Boyish exploits, in SP, W, Pd, Card, Fool, Ty; comment; evidence of C. — Table. — Argument: C as the source; any other version as the source. — Conclusions. Chapter II: The Hero's Awkward Attempts to Follow Instructions 29 The four incidents to be considered; materials not sufficient for an argument; summary of SP. — Two divisions of two incidents each.— Table: SP, W, Card, Ty, Fool, C, Pd, PC— First, or Religious Instruction-Forest Knights portion; comment. — Second, or Advice-Tent adventure portion: Advice, summaries of SP, W, Card, Ty, C, Pd; Tent incident, summaries of SP, W, C, Pd; comment. — ^Tentative conclusion. Chapter III: The Red Knight- Witch-Uncle Story . 40 The five incidents to be considered. — Summaries of SP and C. — Their difi'erences. — Incident of the arrival of the hero at court; summaries of Pd, Ty, Card, Fool; comment. — ^The Red Elnight- Witch-Uncle story: summaries of SP, Pd{a), Pd{b), G, Red Sh, Red Sh Variants, Conall; table of incidents; table of particulars; summaries of another set of tales, arranged in four groups. — Comment and argument on the Red Knight-Witch-Uncle story; the Insult, its types; the Meeting with Relatives, the number of meetings, the Uncle, the Three Young Men, the two Women; the Witch; the Death of the Insulter. — Recapitulation. — The incor- poration of the story into the frame-tale. vii Vm CONTENTS PAGE Chapter IV: The Relief of the Besieged Lady . . 78 The six incidents to be considered. — Summaries of SP and C. — Their four notable differences. — "The Saracen Influence"; sum- maries of SP, W, Conall, Saudan Og, Pd{b) ; difficulties in the way of the argument. — Recapitulation; comment and argument on the "Saracen Influence." — A new problem stated. Chapter V: The Rescue of the Lady Falsely Accused 94 The nine incidents to be considered; two groups, the first of seven, the second of two incidents. — Simimary of SP. — An incident- outline of SP, C, W, Pd. — The Tent Lady's history: differences between SP and C. — The Snow Scene in C. — The Tent Lady- Giant story : summaries of Yv and LF {SP not repeated) ; table of incidents; table of particulars. — Threads that bind this story together: Tent Lord's suspicion; the Lady's ring; the Giant combat and Gawain's relative. — The evidence of W concerning this story. — SP and C compared again. — The hero's mother. — His wife. — The end of the tale. Conclusion . . . . . . . . .116 Resume of the foregoing chapters. — The test of synthesis. — A-Stage: summary of frame-tale; tales showing it. — B-Stage: simamary of Red Knight-Witch-Uncle story; tales showing it; the process of absorption; summary of the resultant account. — C-Stage: summary of Tent Lady-Giant story; process of absorp- tion; summary of the resultant account. — D-Stage: cleavage; one branch subjected to Saracen Influence; development within this stage. — E-Stage: the Grail story incorporated. — F-Stage: the Swan Knight story incorporated. — Diagram. — Geographical home of the sources. — A final word on the evidence adduced. — SP independent of C. — SP probably not the translation of any French poem. INTRODUCTION The problem to which the following pages address themselves concerns the origin of the mediaeval English poem Sir Perceval of Galles, whether or not it is the offspring of a romance composed in French by Crestien de Troyes and now commonly known as Perceval le Gallois, ou le Conte du Graal. The materials from which to draw evidence for an argument are a group of tales^ gathered from widely separated places — from England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, from France, Germany, and Italy. They may be Hsted as follows: 1. SP. — Sir Perceval of Galles {ca. 1370) is a Middle-English metrical romance, preserved, with some imperfections and sHght irregularities, as 143 sixteen-line stanzas (2,288 lines), in a single MS, the Thornton MS of Lincoln Cathedral. It was printed by J. O. Halliwell in The Thornton Romances (pp. 1-87), for the Camden Society in 1844, and reprinted at the Kelmscott Press in 1895. Its dialect is Northwest Midland, its date about the middle of the fourteenth century (some of its phrases are quoted in Chaucer's ''Sir Thopas"); its author is unknown, but its rhyme-scheme and plot-structure indicate that the composer was not without practice.' 2. C. — Crestien's tale of Perceval, Le Conte du Graal {ca. 1175), is an uncompleted poem of about 9,300 lines in Old French. It usually appears as part of a mass of verse that grew up around it. This composite mass developed because of the desire of other poets to finish what Crestien left unfinished. No single book contains all of it. There are sixteen MSS, the longest of which stretched its meter to the length (impos- sible, let us hope, outside of an antique song) of more than 63,000 lines. A prose redaction was printed in Paris in 1530, and Potvin edited the larger part of the "poem" as Perceval le Gallois, ou le Conte du Graal, in six volumes, Mons, 1866-71. Besides Crestien, three other contributors are known by name, Wauchier (Gaucher, Gautier), Manessier, and Gerbert; but the limits ' I have uniformly used the word "tale" to mean the whole account any one author gives of his hero; "story" to mean a group of incidents more closely bound to each other than to other incidents in the tale in which they stand — a circle within a circle, so to speak. ' For working bibliography see A. H. Billings, "A Guide to the Middle English Metrical Romances," Yale Studies in English (1901), 125 ff. SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES of the portions they contributed are uncertain. At least two writers prefixed introductions to Crestien's lines. One of these introductions and the portions by Crestien and Gerbert are the parts of the "poem" I have used most. 3. PC. — The second of the two introductions just mentioned is about 800 lines long; once thought by some scholars to be by Crestien, it is now considered the work of an anonymous contrib- utor, and is referred to as one of the "pseudo-Crestien" portions. It is preserved in two MSS, Mons and British Museum Add. 36,614; its substance appears in part in the prose redaction of 1530; and it is printed in full from MS Mons by Potvin. The first introduc- tion (Potvin, 1-484) may be referred to as Elucidation. 4. G. — Gerbert's "Continuation" is preserved in two MSS, but it has not been printed. I have had to rely upon two resumes, one given by Potvin (Vol. VI) and the other by Miss Weston in The Library (magazine), January, 1904. Gerbert's 10,000 lines appear in the MSS between the parts by Wauchier and Manessier. If the reader will imagine Potvin's edition revised so as to place Gerbert's lines before Manessier's, he may gather from the appended table an idea of the various parts of the Conte. Author Lines Nature of Contents Assigned Date Anonvmous 1-484 485-1,282 1,283-10,601 10,602-34,934 34,93S-ca. 4S,ooo ca. 45,000-ca. 63,000 "Elucidation"; Grail's mystery and winners Death of Perceval's father; flight of his mother Perceval's deeds; Ga- wain's adventures Adventures of Perceval and others Ditto Ditto 1220-30 1220-30 I175 I 190-1200 1216-25 Anonvmous Crestien de Troyes .... Wauchier, and Inter- polators Gerbert Manessier, and Inter- Dolators 1210-20 For discussions of these tales see the books mentioned on pp. 7 ff., infra, and the authorities to which they in turn refer. 5. W. — Parzival ( ?i2oo-i2i6), a Middle-High- German poem by Wolfram von Eschenbach, has been preserved in many MSS and edited by several scholars. I have used editions by K. Bartsch {Deutsche Classiker des Mittelalters , Leipzig, 1875-77), P. Piper {Deutsche National-Litteratur, Stuttgart, 1890-92), and K. Lach- INTRODUCTION 3 mann (4th ed., Berlin, 1879); translations by Hertz and by Botticher into modern German; and the translation by Miss Weston into English. The poem is arranged in sixteen books, averaging about 1,500 lines each. Books I-VI and XIV are the ones I have used most. My references are to Bartsch's edition. 6. Pd. — Peredur (?i25o-i35o), a Welsh prose tale in which the hero is Perceval under another name, is preserved in the Welsh Red Book of Hergest, dating from i3oo(?) to i35o(?). It was translated into English by Lady Charlotte Guest (The Mabinogion, 1838-49), and into French by J. Loth (in D. de Jubainville's Cours de Litt. Celtigue, Vol. IV, Paris, 1889). Reprints of Lady Guest's text issued by D. Nutt, 1902, 1904, by Dent, 1906, and by other pubhshers have made Peredur the most easily accessible of all the versions of the Perceval tale. My references are by pages to Nutt's reprint (when no name is given) and to Loth's translation. I have not had opportunity to see The White Book Mabinogion: Welsh Tales and Romances Reproduced from the Peniarth MSS, edited by J. Gwen- ogvryn Evans, Pwllheli, 1909. In his review of this volume {Folk Lore, June, 1910, pp. 237-46), Nutt comments upon Evans' Introduction. 7. Ty. — Tyolet (?i25o), a French lai preserved in a single MS, was printed by G. Paris in Romania, VIII (1879). The 704 lines of the poem fall into two parts : {a) the early life of Tyolet and his coming to court (1-320); {b) the adventure of the White Stag, whereby Tyolet wins a wife (321-704). I have used all of the first part, and the concluding lines of the second. 8. Card. — Carduino (?i375), an Itahan poem, was published from a unique MS by Rajna in 1873 {Poemetti Cavallereschi, Bologna) . A portion of the poem is wanting in the middle. There remain two cantos, one of thirty-five eight-line stanzas, the other of seventy- two. My references are to stanzas. Card is the most primitive of its group of four tales; the others are Libeaus Desconus (LD), Bel Inconnu {BI), and Wigalois i}Vig). For an excellent study of the group cf. W. H. Schofield, "Studies on the Libeaus Desconus," Harvard Studies atid Notes, IV, 1895. 9. Yv. — Yvain (?ii65), by Crestien de Troyes, ed. by W. Foerster, Halle, 1887, and later years. References are to the edition of 1906. 4 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES 10. LF. — The Lady of the Fountain (?i25o), the Welsh version of the Iwain tale, is accessible in Lady Guest's Mahinogion (Nutt's reprint, pp. 167 £f.) and in Loth's translation (ref. as for Pd, supra), pp. I ff. On 9-10, see a valuable essay by A. C. L. Brown, "Iwain: A Study in the Origins of Arthurian Romance" {Harvard Studies and Notes, VIII, 1-147), 1903; and Foerster's comment on Brown's book, Yvain (ed. 1906), p. xlix. Besides the materials already mentioned there are some folk- tales still current that furnish evidence. These tales are told of different heroes, and no one of them relates more than a portion of the adventures attributed to Perceval. Often, indeed, it requires a comparative study to show that the adventures are akin. The citation of these tales, however, makes it possible for us to study the evolution of the Perceval tale. They are presented in three groups. THE SCOTCH GROUP 11. Fool. — Amadan Mor, or the Lay of the Great Fool} 12. Red Sh. — The Knight of the Red Shield. 13. Conall. — Conall Gulhan.* 14. Een. — How the Een Was Set Up.^ 11-14 are from J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands (four vols., London, 1890-93): Fool, III, 160-93; Red Sh, II, 451-93; Conall, III, 199-297; Een, III, 348-60. 15. Manus. — A Tale of Young Manus. Maclnnes and Nutt, "Folk and Hero Tales of Argyllshire," Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition, II (1890), 338-75. ' There are other versions of the Lay, which may be spoken of as variants: var. a is O'Daly's, in Transactions of the Ossianic Soc, VI, 161-207; var. b, "Amadan Mor and the Gruagach of the Castle of Gold," in Curtin's Hero Tales of Ireland, 140-62; and var. c, "The Amadhan Mor," in Kennedy's Bardic Stories of Ireland (1871), 151-55. ' Conall var. a, "The Adventures of Conall Gulban," is in Kennedy's Bardic Stories of Ireland, 156-60; its variations do not help us. Dr. D. Hyde says (Beside the Fire [London, i8go], p. xxxii)- "On comparing [Campbell's Conall] with an Irish MS, by Father Manus O'Donnell, made in 1708, and another made about the beginning of this century, by Michael O'Longan, of Carricknavar, I was surprised to find incident following incident with wonderful regularity in both versions." ' There are several versions of Fionn's youthful deeds, which only in part parallel those of Perceval. A second version is "The Boyish Exploits of Finn MacCumhail" in Transactions of the Ossianic Soc. (Dublin, 1859). A third is "The Birth of Fin MacCumhail"; see chap, iii, 64, infra. INTRODUCTION 5 1 6. Big Men.— Fin MacCoul in the Kingdom of the Big Men. 17. Ransom. — -Fiomi's Ransom. 16-17 are in J. G. Campbell, "The Fians," Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tra- dition, IV, 175-91, 242-57. THE IRISH GROUP 18. Lonesome. — The King of Erin and the Queen of Lonesome Island. 19. Kil A. — Kil Arthur. 20. Fear Duhh. — Fin MacCumhail and the Fenians of Erin in the Castle of Fear Duhh. 18-20 are in J. Curtin, Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland (Boston, 1890), 93-113, 175-85,221-31. 21. Coldfeet. — Coldfeet and the Queen of Lonesome Island. 22. Lawn D. — Lawn Dyarrig, Son of the King of Erin, and the Green Knight of Terrible Valley . 23. Faolan. — Fin MacCool, Faolan, and the Mountain of Happi- ness. 21-23 are in J. Curtin, Hero-Tales of Ireland (Boston, 1S94), 242-61, 262-82,484-513. 24. Mananaun. — King Mananaun. 25. Red Belt. — The Champion of the Red Belt. 24-25 are in W. Larminie, West Irish Folk Tales and Romances (London, 1893), 64-84, 85-105. 26. D'yerree. — The Well of D^yerree-in-Dowan. D. Hyde, Beside the Fire (London, 1890), 129-41. 27. Dough. — Amadan of the Dough. 28. Hookedy. — Hookedy-Crookedy. 27-28 are in S. MacManus, Donegal Fairy Tales (New York, 1900), 29-57, 95-133- 29. Golden Mines. — Queen of the Golden Mines. S. MacManus, In Chimney Corners (New York, 1899), 37-53. 6 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES THE WELSH GROUP 30. Kg of Eng. — King of England and His Three Sons. J. Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales (1894), 132-45. Although in a book of EngHsh tales, this tale, so a note implies, came from a gypsy in Wales. BRETON TALES The two tales of Morvan Lez Breiz, and Peronnik l' Idiot I have not used: primarily, because they offer no help; Morvan offers only the battle against a black giant, the ''More du Roi," which bears but the faintest Hkeness to a part of SP, and gives no help at all, and Peronnik is like SP in only two places — the beginning and the end — and only vaguely similar there; and secondarily because de la Villemarque's Morvan has been discredited, and Souvestre's Peronnik has been suspected of being not altogether a folk-tale, not altogether free, i.e., from "cooking." TEUTONIC TALES Nutt, "Mabinogion Studies," Folk Lore Record, V (1882), 1-32, compares Red Sh with the Faroese Hognilied, with parts of the Volsunga and the Thiarek Sagas, and with the Hilde legend (mentioned in Bartsch's Kudrun, pp. v-viii). I have not been able to get at the books for a proper study of the Hild story, and cannot tell whether it is akin to the "Red Knight- Witch-Uncle story" of chapter III, infra, or not. Two versions given in Magnusson and Morris' Three Northern Love Stories (London, 1901) give no evidence of kinship; the same statement holds for Saxo Gram- maticus; for the brief outlines in Bartsch's and in Symons' editions of Gudrun and in Schofield's translation (pp. 193-94) of S. Bugge's The Home of the Eddie Poems (London, 1899); and for the discus- sions in Paul's Grundriss (2d ed.), Ill, 711, in F. Panzer's Hilde- Gudrun (1901), and in F. E. Sandbach's Niehelungenlied an4 Gudrun in England and America (1903). For the tales that I have listed the source has been carefully stated by all the collectors except MacManus. INTRODUCTION 7 Other tales are referred to, but bibliographical information con- cerning them is given in notes. On the propriety of using these tales, see the note on p. 41, infra. In the seventy years since the matter began to be much discussed, almost every shade of opinion possible has been expressed concern- ing the relation of the English Sir Perceval to the French Conte du Graal. The English poem makes no mention of the Grail, yet, paradoxically, every scholar who has studied the origin of the Grail legend has been forced to consider the Sir Perceval. Digests of the body of the literature that has thus grown up are to be found in several places; e.g., in A. Nutt's Studies in the Legend of the Holy Grail (London, 1888); in E. Wechssler's Die Sage vom heiligen Gral in ihrer Entwicklung bis auf Richard Wagners Parsifal (Halle, 1898); and in Miss J. L. Weston's Legend of Sir Perceval (London, 1906-9). On the more restricted subject, the relation of the Eng- lish poem to the French, a good working resume is given by Miss A. H. Billings, in her "Guide to the Middle English Metrical Romances," Yale Studies, IX (1901). It does not seem advisable to recapitulate here all the opinions scholars have expressed, but the leading ones, arranged in groups, may be stated. FIRST group: GERVINUS and GASTON PARIS 1871. Gervinus, G. G. Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung. 3 vols. Leip- zig. Fiinfte vollig umgearbeitete Auflage. — i, 576-77: "Wir haben oben die bretagnischen Volkslieder von Morvan erwahnt, die von seiner einsamen Wald- erziehung erzahlen, und wie er seine Mutter, nach Ritterthaten diirstend, ver- lasst, die dann der Gram um ihn todtet. Ob diese einfache Sage zuerst an dem Namen Morvan oder an welchem anderen gehaftet habe, ist gleichgiiltig; gewiss ist sie der Kern und Rahmen der Sage, deren Held im 12. Jahrh. in walschen und romanischen Erzahlungen die Namen Peredur und Parzival fiihrt. In einer sehr volksthiimlichen Gestalt, die an jenem cinfachen Kern am treuesten festhalt, ist die Sage in einem spaten, strophisch abgetheilten, burlesken Gedichte eines englischen Bankelsangers des 14. Jahrhs. erhalten, das einem alteren bretagnischen Lai nacherzahlt sein mag." 1883. Paris, Gaston. "Perceval et la legende du Saint-Graal," Bulletin de la Societe Historique et Cercle Saint-Simon, II (November, 1882, Paris): "Le conte de Perceval appartient a la tradition galloise, recueillie de la bouche 8 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES des conteurs et musiciens gallois par les jongleurs et trouveurs normands ou frangais apres la conquete de I'Angleterre. La forme la plus authentique de ce conte nous est sans doute representee par un poeme anglais du XIII* siecle, Sir Perzivell, dans lequel le graal ne joue encore aucun role Le Sir Perzivell s'appuie certainement sur un poeme anglo-normand perdu, et nous offre un specimen des romans biographiques qui forment la plus ancienne couche des romans franfais du cycle breton" (pp. 98-99). 1888. [Paris, Gaston.] Histovre litteraire de la France, Ouvrage commence par des Religieux Benedictins, etc. (Paris), Vol. XXX: "L'editeur, M. Halli- well, le {SP) regardait tout simplement comme un abrege tres sommaire du Perceval de Chretien et des continuations de ce poeme. Une telle opinion n'est pas sou tenable Le 'Sir Percevelle'remonte done a une autre source, et sans doute a un poeme anglo-normand (p. 259) La vraie place de 'Sir Percevelle' dans revolution du cycle tou jours amplifie de Perceval a, au contraire, ete parfaitement discernee par un savant qui est un poete M. Wilhelm Hertz .... a montre que le poeme anglais nous represente, sous une forme assez voisine de I'original, quoique alteree, un des elements primordiaux qui sont entres dans la composition du conte gallois et du roman frangais. II faut ajouter, comme nous I'avons dit, que ce poeme repose tres probablement sur un poeme anglo-normand, derriere lequel on peut avec vraisemblance chercher un conte purement celtique" (p. 261). SECOND group: steinbach, nutt, and kolbing 1885. Steinbach, Paul. Ueber den einfluss des Crestien de Troies auf die altenglische literatur. Diss., Leipzig: "Dass diese annahme des beriihmten literar-historikers (Gervinus) betreffs der vorlage unseres gedichtes entschieden eine irrige zu nennen ist, wird die folgende untersuchung zeigen (p. 28) Bis vers 820 folgt der engl. dichter genau dem gauge der erzahlung des franzo- sichen gedichtes (hier bis vers 2400) , mit nur wenigen und nicht bedeutenden abanderungen, .... dagegen manchen punkt weglassend und stark kurzend. Von vers 821 linden wir .... Cr. mehr oder weniger frei benutzt (35) In einen, urspriinglich bretonischen iiberlieferungen entstammenden rahmen hat er [the English poet] in freier kurzender bearbeitung, unter benutzung einiger vielleicht bei den in England wohnenden Bretonen vorgefundenen volkstiimlichen ziige, teils alteren, teils neueren ursprungs, und unter hinzu- fiigung einiger an die schilderung von kampfen in den Chansons de geste erinnernder partien, das Crestiensche werk 'Li contes del graal' bis ca. v. 6000 eingeschoben, indem er sich dabei im ersten teile seines gedichtes (bis v. 821) mehr, im letzteren weniger an dasselbe anlehnt und zugleich mit bemerkens- werter konsequenz jede beriihrung mit der gralsage vermeidet" (41). 1 88 1. Nutt, Alfred. "The Aryan Expulsion-and-Return Formula in the Folk and Hero-Tales of the Celts," Folk-Lore Record, IV, 1-44: "Schulz's opinion that the English romance is a translation or a close imitation of a twelfth- INTRODUCTION 9 century Breton poem is probably correct. The romance represents at any rate an independent and, in many respects, older treatment of the subject than the Mabinogi" (ii). 1888, Nutt, Alfred. Studies in the Legend of the Holy Grail, etc., London: Nutt restates Steinbach's view, and adds, "The use of Chrestien by the author of Sir Perceval seems, however, uncontestable: and, such being the case, Stein- bach's views meet the difficulties of the case fairly well" (150). 1891. Nutt, Alfred. "Les derniers travaux allemands sur la legende du Saint Graal," Revue Celtique; same art., Folk Lore, II, Appendix: "Mais M. Golther a-t-il parfaitement raison? II n'expose nulle part sa these d'une fagon claire, mais je ne crois pas aller au dela de sa pensee en la formulant ainsi: Chrestien a le premier traite le sujet de la quete du Graal et de la lance qui saigne; tout ce qui a ete ecrit depuis releve de son roman inacheve et a ete ecrit dans le but de le completer; a la verite il avoue avoir puise a une source anteri- eure, mais cette source est entierement perdue et n'a eu aucune influence sur les autres ecrivains du cycle [Folk Lore, p. xxv] Je n'ai pu que me rencontrer avec des erudits distingues, en y reconnaissant des traits archaiques [ in SP]. L'auteur, on le sait, laisse absolument de cote tout ce qui, chez Chrestien, se rapporte au Graal. La faute en est toujours, d'apres M. Golther, aux allures enigma tiques du poete frangais; dans le doute, le traducteur anglais s'est abstenu. Voila une reserve dont on trouverait difificilement un second exemple chez les ecrivains du moyen age. Mais lui aussi a connu non seule- ment Mennecier, auquel, d'apres indication formelle de M. Golther, il a emprunte la fin de son roman, mais aussi Gerbert, auquel, ex hypothesi, il a du emprunter, en denaturant etrangement, I'episode de la vieille sorciere. Lui done aussi, il a neglige les indications formelles de ses modeles sur la nature et la provenance du Graal; lui qui ex hypothesi Golther i ecrivait vers 1250 au plus tot (Gerbert est de 1 230-1 240), a ignore I'immense litterature qui existait des lors sur Vhistoire du Graal" (xxxiv). 1895-96. Kolbing, E. Vollmdllers Jahresbericht, etc., II, 42g: "Wahrend W. Golther das enghsche Gedicht unmittelbar auf Crestiens Werk zuruck- fiihren will und es als eine freie Bearbeitung des Conte del Graal und einzelner Motive aus Werken seiner Fortsetzer bezeichnet, deren eigene Ziige samtUch dem Kopfe des Bearbeiters entsprungen seien, erblickt A. Nutt in dieser Fassung eine Verquickung von Crestiens Epos allein (ohne die Fortsetzungen) mit keltischen Sagen. Ich muss gestehen, dass mir vor der Hand Nutts Ansicht mehr Wahrscheinlichkeit fiir sich zu haben scheint." THIRD group: golther, suchter-birch-hirschfeld, and NEWELL 1890. Golther, W. Chrestiens conte del graal in seinem verhdltniss zutn wdlschen Peredur und zuni englischen Perceval. Sitzungsberichte der philos- phil. u. hist. Classe der Bayern Akad. d. Wiss. Munich, II, 174-217: "Dass das lO SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES gedicht [SP] unter dem einfluss Chrestiens steht, kann nicht bestritten werden. Es erhebt sich nur die frage, wie die von Chrestien abweichenden ziige auf- zufassen sind (203) Das englische gedicht ist u. e. unmittelbar auf Chrestiens werk zuriickzufiihren so gut wie das mahinogi; es ist eine freie bearbeitung des conte del graal; die ihm eigenen ziige entstammen sammtlich dem kopfe des bearbeiters und diirfen nicht fiir die erklarung der Perceval-sage irgendwie beniitzt werden, fiir welche es, als aus einer bekannten franzosischen vorlage abgeleitet, iiberhaupt nicht in betracht kommt (207) Alle anderen quellen haben fiir diese frage, als aus Chrestien abgeleitet, gar keine bedeutung. Jeder andere standpunct tragt von vornherein unlosliche wirren in die forschung (213) Auf den ursprung der letzteren [the thoren- marchen as distinct from the graalsage], der keineswegs aufs keltische zuriick- gehen muss, will ich hier nicht eingehen, nur zum schiuss die vermutung aus- sprechen dass die Percevalsage, worunter ich die verwendung marchenhafter motive verstehe, in ihrer literarischen form ein werk Chrestiens zu sein scheint. Denn die tatsache ist einmal nicht abzuleugnen, dass aUe literarischen denk- maler, die bis jetzt bekannt sind, auf Chrestien zuriickweisen, und keines mit sicherheit auf eine altere quelle" (213). 1900. Suchier, Hermann, und Birch-Hirschfeld, Adolf. Geschichte der franzosischen Litteratur von den dltesten Zeiten bis zur Gegenwari, Leipzig und Wien: "Der mittelenglische 'Perceval' ist nur ein verblasster Ausfluss aus Christian," etc. (147). 1 902 . Newell, William Wells. The Legend of the Holy Grail and the Perceval ofCrestien of Troyes, Cambridge, Mass. (Newell quotes Golther's opinion with emphatic approval.) "This curious example of a popular rhymed novelette [SP] of the fourteenth century assuredly can boast no more remote antiquity. The love story may very well be explained as made up under the influence of suggestions indirectly obtained from the extant French poem, and the style and proper names correspond to such a supposition. A lingering remnant of the portion of Crestien's story relating to the unasked question may be found in the untimely reverie of the hero. That the knight of the cup should be represented as the slayer of Percevelle's father is entirely in the manner of a reconstructor; that the vengeance is unintentional, and even unknown, shows that the feature is not ancient. A considerable number of verbal coincidences attest the connection with the French verse, which is further made clear by the proper name of the hero. Sir Percevelle le Galayse. The incidents of the German, Welsh, and English versions of the story, where they vary from the tale of Crestien, also disagree with each other; such aberration, according to the remarks above offered, is a plain indication that the changes must be considered as due only to the fancy of the several recasters. Minor agreements between traits of the English poem and those, for example, mentioned by Wolfram, are to be disregarded, being in every case exphcable as due to a common inter- pretation of the data of the French original. The assumption of an Anglo- Norman romance as the presumed source of the Enghsh verse (suggested by INTRODUCTION II G. Paris) ought not to be considered so long as the production can be explained as a variation founded on a vera causa, on the celebrated and easily accessible work of Crestien. The outlines of the latter composition might easily, in the fourteenth century, come into the knowledge of a popular poet" (82). These opinions may be tabulated thus : SP derived from C SP influenced by C SP independent of C 1842. 1842. 1871. 1880. 1881. 1883. 1888. 1891. 1898. 1906- San Marte (A. Schulz) De la Villemarque 1844. HaUiwell (discredited) Gervinus Martin ( ?) 1881. Nutt(?) Nutt (?) Paris, G. 1885. Steinbach 1888. Nutt Kaluza, 1890. Golther Zimmer (?) Paris, G. 1 89 1. Nutt 1895-6. Kolbing Heinzel Wechssler 1899. 1900. 1902. Foerster (?) Suchier-Birch- Hirschfeld Newell 9. Weston No scholar, so far as I know, believes that Crestien invented the materials he used in his Perceval poem. But some students con- tend that it is impossible for us, through a study of such tales as we now have, to arrive at any definite knowledge concerning those materials as they were before Crestien used them, and that Crestien' s poem and the idiosyncrasies of later writers are sufficient to account for all later versions; and they assert (implicitly, if not explicitly) that only documentary evidence of a date prior to Crestien's time can be held sufficient to prove any version's independence of the Frenchman's Conte. Other scholars hold that other versions of the tale bear within themselves evidence, if not proof, that they have inherited portions of the source materials through a tradition inde- pendent of Crestien. Most of the tales (all from i through 14 mentioned above) that I intend to compare have been studied in connection with the Perceval tale before. I, unhappy that I am, have no manuscript 12 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES risen from the dead with which to convince unbeHevers. It remained for me to see if a more minute observation of the facts and a new marshaling of the evidence could not be made to present that proof of one theory or another which has hitherto been wanting. Since the matter has long been in dispute, it is evidently not easy to prove that all the versions are based on Crestien's; and since, on the contrary, no single version has been proved to be independent of Crestien's, it is difficult to see how the evidence of any one version can be of any value in an effort to prove the inde- pendence of any other. The method of investigation I have adopted is one that I learned in my college days in mathematics — the method of demonstrating the falsity of a hypothesis by assum- ing that it is true and then exposing the inadequacy or absurdity in which it ends. In this way the versions are made — ^and that without begging the question — to furnish evidence concerning themselves. For this working hypothesis I have assumed that Crestien's poem is the source out of which the other Perceval romances were evolved. Upon this hypothesis, it is patent that departures from C are the evidence to be sought especially, not agreements with it. And departures are of no worth unless two or more tales agree in making the same departures. In this search I soon found that summaries could not be omitted, though at first I had hoped to avoid printing them and depend upon references to those of my predecessors.^ In order to prepare these summaries I divided each tale into incidents. These, of course, are subdivisible into items and points, but the incident has been my unit. In present- ing my study I have followed the sequence of incidents in SP, The incidents occur in groups, and my comparisons have proceeded according to these groups. Five such groups, apparently, are presented in SP, and I have devoted a chapter to each one. At the beginning of each chapter I have summarized and compared SP and C, and stated whatever conclusions the comparison warranted; next I have brought in any other tales that have a bearing, summarizing, comparing them ' Cf., e.g., Birch-Hirschfeld, Die Sage vom Gral (Leipzig, 1877); A. Nutt, Stud.; and Miss J. L. Weston, Leg. of SP. INTRODUCTION 1 3 with SP and C, and stating my conclusions. To make my meaning more readily intelligible, I have recapitulated by means of tables. I have condensed this volume as much as possible. I am aware that as a consequence some of my paragraphs, because of the close- ness of the argument and the number of abbreviations, items, and tables used, must offer some trouble to the reader; but I trust that this trouble and the arithmetical look of some of the pages will not annoy him overmuch. My plan necessitates the presentation of a world of minutiae, but I hope it will not fetch the reader to a point where he cannot see the forest for the trees (or the leaves either). Condensation, too, has deprived me of certain pleasures; I have avoided the Grail problem (since SF omits the Grail entirely); I have made no effort to reconstruct Kiot's version; I have not discussed the relation of Pd to C, etc., etc., giving room only here and there to a footnote/ ' Several books and articles have appeared since this study was made ready for the printer. 1910. Williams, Mary Rh. Essai sur la composition du roman Gallois de Peredur (Paris; pp. 121). This I have read, and some of its data I should have been glad to incorporate. Miss Williams argues for Pd's entire independence of C, but the matter is as yet, it seems to me, far from being settled beyond dispute. I have not yet had access to : 1908. MacNeill, Eoin. "Duanire Finn," Irish Texts Society, VII. Texts and translation of nimierous metrical Lays of Fionn. 1908. Golther, W. Parzival und der Gral. Munich. 1909. Baist, G. Parzival und der Gral. Freiburg. 1909. Lot, F. Bibl. de I'ecole des chartes, LXX. CHAPTER I THE HERO'S FOREST REARING References are arranged in groups on the basis of similarity of treatment. First iNcroENT: The Father's Marriage SP, i-ioo; W, n, 1-1284.' Other versions, wanting. Second Incident: The Father's Death I. SP, 101-60; PC, 485-940; W, II, 1285-1598. II. Pd, 244; Fool, 160-61; Card, I, i — VI, 4; Een, 349. III. C, 1607-82; Ty, 1-56. Third Incident: The Mother's Flight I. SP, 161-92; PC, 941-1223; W, III, 24-59; -P^j 244-45; Fool,va.T. b. II. Card, VI, 5— VIII, 3. III. Fool, 161; Een, 350. IV. C, 1607-82. Ty lacks this incident, but cf. 11. 57-64. Fourth Incident: The Hero's Boyish Exploits I. SP, 193-228; W, III, 60-126; Pd, 245; Card, VIII, 4— XVI, 8; Fool, 161-62. II. Ty, 65-88. III. PC, 1124-82; C, 1 283-13 13. The portion of the Perceval legend to be treated in this chapter is the forest life^ of the hero — its causes, stages, and results. It appears in SP as four incidents: the father's marriage tournament, his death tournament, the widow's flight, and the hero's boyish exploits. These may be summarized as follows: I. King Arthur gave his sister Acheflour in marriage to Percyvelle, the most honored knight at court. At the joust in honor of the bridal Percyvelle overthrew all the knights (including the Black Knight) who opposed him, ' In W there are two marriages, each with its accompanying tournament; the second one is discussed here, the first being reserved for discussion in chap. iv. ' After the Grail part, this has probably been the part of the legend most studied. It has furnished the bulk of the evidence in the strongest argiunents hitherto offered to show that the tales had a common source outside of C. Nutt, Hertz, Schofield, Miss Weston, all have used it; Rajna, Golther, Newell, and others have stated their opinions on more or less of it. Hence I have to travel over a much-trodden field, though not, I hope, without adding some- what to the gatherings of my predecessors. 14 THE HERO S FOREST REARING 1 5 breaking sixty shafts that day. One of the knights overthrown was the Red ' Knight, who in anger swore he would be revenged. II. Later, when Percy- velle's son was born, the father gave him his own name, Perceval. A second joust was declared; and again PercyveUe vanquished all comers — until the appearance of the Red Knight, at whose hands he was slain. III. The widow, hoping to preserve her son's life, fled with him to a wild wood, to rear him where he should never hear of tournaments and shoiild have only beasts to play with. She took with her only a maiden, a troop of goats, and of her lord's possessions merely a Scotch spear [but cf. 1. 410]. IV. When the lad grew old enough to play in the woods, she gave him the spear, and told him in reply to his query that it was a doughty dart she had found in the forest. Perceval slew birds and beasts, and brought them to his mother. He became so skilful that no beast could escape him. Thus they remained for fifteen years, the mother keeping her son as ignorant as possible. Crestien was an accomplished writer, and instead of beginning his account with any such family history he chose to open his poem with an incident which would capture the attention of his romantic audience; so he commenced with that event^ in the hero's life which was to initiate the series of his adventures, his chance meeting with a group of knights in the forest.^ The only passage in C that treats of the hero's earlier life in the forest or of how he came to be living there is one of about seventy-five lines, placed in the mouth of the widow when Perceval returns home and tells her he has seen knights. And the authenticity of this passage has been disputed (see note on p. 25). It runs thus: Tl Perceval could boast of both father and mother; for his father had been an excellent knight, and his mother was daughter to a knight, one of the best in the country. ^ But all the knights had suffered hardship after Uther Pendragon's time; Perceval's father was wounded, lost his estates, and fell into poverty. ^ For safety he fled into this forest (where he had a house), being borne hither on a litter when Perceval was scarcely two years old. Perce- val had two older brothers, and when it happened that in one day they were both slain, the father died of grief. ^ Since then the widow had lived on with only her son and their servants in this remote place (1607-82). This is the only passage in C that gives any account of the father's marriage, or of his death, or of how the widow came to be ' There was, to be sure, a conventional prologue of the sermonette variety. It is quoted as some sixty lines from the Montpelier MS by Potvin, II, 307-8. " Potvin's U. 1 283-1606; this is matter for chap, ii, infra. 1 6 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES living in the solitary forest. If C was the source, SP has introduced a great change. The other versions are next to be examined to see whether they support C or SP. The incidents will be taken seriatim. I. The tournament at the father's marriage appears in only one of the other versions, W. The German tale, however, doubles the incident, the father (Gahmuret) doing battle for each of his two wives. The first, which wins Belakane for him and which provides the subject-matter of Book I of W, offers little resemblance to this part of SP; but it is much like a later part, and is reserved for discussion in chapter IV, infra. The second battle, fought for Herzeloyde, presents several similarities: Herzeloyde, queen of "Waleis," appointed a great tournament, the victor in which was to become her husband and king of her states. Gahmuret arrived before Kanvoleis (the capital city) and found the plain covered with the tents of many kings and valiant knights. He armed himself richly and entered the tourney. He overthrew many knights, among them four kings, and wherever he came he cleared a space about him ; he became known and so much feared that when his opponents saw him coming they scattered, crying, "Flee! flee!" One opponent, Lahelein, became disgusted at such behavior and rode in anger against him, but only to be cast a spear's length out of the saddle. In his half-day's battle Gahmuret broke a hundred spear shafts. And none dared meet him. He and Herzeloyde were married, and within the year a son — the hero — was born to them. Shortly before this tournament Gahmuret's brother, Galoes, had been slain by Orilus, brother of Lahelein; cf. Ill, 559-62. In both SP and W the father fights a marriage tournament,, and proves victor over all comers. The wife is a queen or sister to a king. In both the father breaks many shafts. In both he overthrows a powerful knight who later becomes his son's enemy. In both he is brought into contact with still another knight (Black Night = Tent Lord in SP, and Orilus = Tent Lord in W) who is later to play an important part in the life of his son. In both he has a son born to him within a year from this tournament. II. Of the second incident, the father's death, the circumstances are related at length in SP, PC, and W, and briefly in Pd, Card, and Fool. THE hero's EOREST REARING 1 7 PC. — The father, who was the only survivor of twelve brothers, heard that the King of Wales was to give a tournament, and, despite the entreaties of his wife and his folk, gathered his followers and went. At first he won great fame, but soon he was mortally wounded. News of his death and burial was brought to his wife by an abbot. W. — The father learned soon after his marriage that his former friend the Baruch (Caliph) was beset with enemies. He went to his aid, and was absent half a year. Then he was slain treacherously, and buried in Bagdad. When the news was brought to Herzeloyde, she fainted and would have died but for the ministrations of an old man who was present. To Trevrizent Parzival says his father lost his life through his love of jousting; cf. IX, 1256-59. Pd. — Evrawc, Earl of the North, and father of seven sons, maintained him- self principally by tournaments. "As it often befalls those who join in encounters and wars, he was slain, and six of his sons likewise." Card. — At Arthur's court at Camelot lived a noble knight, whom several knights murdered because they were jealous of the favors shown him by the King. Fool. — A "ridere," who was father of several children and a brother of the King of Eirenn, raised a revolt against the King, and he and all his sons were slain in battle. (He had a posthumous son.)' Boyish Exploits of Finn. — Cumhail, Finn's father, was slain in battle. Een. — Fionn's father, Cumhail, could be slain "only with his own sword, when he was spoilt with drink, and love-making." Black Arcan was insti- gated to slay him treacherously while he slept with the daughter of the King of Lochlann. ' The Hero's Father: Name. — No two versions use the same name. Four state the name at the outset: SP, Percyvelle; PC, Bliocadrans (570, etc.); W, Gahmuret; Pd, Evrawc. A fifth states it later in the tale: Card, Dondinello (XXVII). Three, Ty, Fool, and C, mention no name. Gahmuret is successor to the kingdom of Anjou after the death of Galoes, his brother. With "Gahmuret" cf. "roi Ban de Gomeret" in C, 1661 ("disputed passage") and "Gomeret" in index of Prose-Tristan. Wolfram makes little attempt to connect Parzival himself with Anjou; the hero first speaks of Anjou as belonging to him in the battle with Feirefiz (XV, 361 ff.). Gerbert gives the name " Gales li Caus" to the father of Perceval; " Gales 11 Chaus" occurs in Erec, 1726; Bel Inconnu, Hippeau's ed., 41, has "Gales H Cauf" (? = Caus). Time. — SP and Card place the father in the time of King Arthur; C and W, in that of Uther Pendragon; PC, in that of a "king of Wales"; Fool, in that of a "king of Eirenn"; two versions are silent. Kin. — (a) Brothers: SP, W, and Fool agree that the father had one brother; PC gives him eleven ; others are silent. (Perlesvaus gives him a brother, EUnant of Escavalon, who in his turn has a son, Alein.) (b) Wife: SP and W describe his marriage at length; others are silent. In W the tournament celebrating the marriage occurred in "Waleis"; in SP it was probably understood to occur in Wales, (c) Sons: SP, PC, and Ty state positively that he had only one child; Card implies the same; IF gives him an older son (Feirefiz) by his heathen wife Belakane, but only one by Herzeloyde; Pd, Fool, and C give him others besides the one son, though they are slain in combat while the hero is a babe, (d) No daughter is given to the 1 8 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES All these versions are agreed upon three large elements: (i) the father was a rich and vigorous knight of high rank, (2) who, at about the time of the birth of a son, (3) was slain because of his devotion to arms. Still other agreements may be pointed out between the three versions that make much of the father's life. The following paragraph, quoted from the Legend of Sir Perceval (I, 72), gives Miss Weston's summary of the agreements between PC and W: "In both versions the devotion of the father to warlike exercises is insisted upon. In both he is overcome with grief at the death in tourney of a brother or brothers, which death leaves him the sole surviving member of his family. In both he is svunmoned from home, shortly before the birth of his first child, to attend a tourney; in both is there slain, and buried away from home with great honours. In both versions an old man plays an important role at the moment of breaking the news to the widow; in fact, the version of the Parzival where the presence of mind of this personage saves the life of the Queen, whom her maidens would have allowed to die in her swoon, requires the explanation of the 'Bliocadrans^ [ = PC], where he has been sent for to break the tidings, otherwise what is he doing in the Queen's private apartments?" SP agrees with PC upon a number of points. The father had not long been married. He had only one child. At the time of the birth of this son he took part in a tournament, in which he was slain, after he had fought valiantly. And his burial is mentioned. father in these versions, but in several a foster-sister to Perceval is mentioned, (e) The hero's birth: at the time of the father's death the hero was in SP, PC, and Ty only a few days old; in W to be born later, two weeks after the mother hears of the father's death; in Fool yet to be born; in Card nine months old; in C, disputed passage (1607-1682), over (how much is uncer- tain) two years old; in Pd "too young to go to wars." (In Perlesvaus and Didot-P the father did not die until after Perceval had left home.) The Prose-Tristan knew C, but drew upon another source for Perceval's family history. Pelinor, the father, slew King Loth, the father of Gauvain. In revenge Gauvain and his broth- ers slew PeUnor. The names and number of PeUnor's sons vary. § 250 (p. i6g) gives four — Tor, Agloval, Doryan, and Lamorat; § 150 (p. 114) gives Driant (for Doryan), the common form; § 217 (p. 156) speaks of "Alain, the brother of Driant"; §215 (p. 155) has "Tor, son of Ares, son of Pellynor." Gauvain, Mordret, and Agravain, passing through a forest, encounter and slay Driant and Lamorat — two of Pelinor's four (or more) sons, pp. 237-38. Gaheriet tells Gauvain (his brother) that Perceval looks well able to avenge the deaths of Pelinor, Lamorat, and Driant. Morten appears to spring from a version akin to both the Prose-Tristan account and the disputed passage in C. (Cf. Miss Weston's translation of Morien, pp. 116 S.) The similarity between the Prose-Tristan and the Card accounts is evident. THE HERO S FOREST REARING 1 9 The points upon which SP agrees with W are more numerous and more significant. The father fights in two tournaments, which are described. His wife is a queen or a king's sister. He has by this marriage a single child. He has one brother. In this tourna- ment he makes an enemy who is later to do battle against his son. His burial is mentioned. Four versions — SP, W, Card, and Fool — present a revenge motive; and the first three show a cycle of interesting events that look like reminiscences of older and more closely related forms. Observe the parts played by the Red Knight and the Tent Lord : (a) In SP the father overthrows the Red Knight and the Black Knight (Tent Lord) at the marriage tournament; afterward the Red Knight slays the father; later the hero slays the Red Knight and overthrows the Black Knight, (b) In W the father overthrows Lahelein at the marriage tournament; later Lahelein conquers two kingdoms which the hero should have inherited; Lahelein's brother is Orilus, the Tent Lord; Orilus has slain Galoes, the father's brother; the hero overthrows Orilus. Near the time of the mar- riage tournament the father met Ither (the Red Knight) at Seville (IX, 1963 ff.), but as a friend. (See a comment in the Conclusion, p. 126, infra.) Note the place, too, of Gawain: (a) In Card the father is slain by Mordarette (Mordret, the brother of Gawain) and his brothers; the hero, after he has rescued the Bespelled Lady, wishes to revenge his father's death, but King Arthur makes peace between him and his enemy, Gawain.^ (b) In SP while the hero is in the midst of rescuing the Besieged Lady, and in W after he has rescued her, he meets Gawain and does battle with him (neither friend recog- nizing the other), though little comes of it; in SP the battle is fought in the presence of King Arthur ; in W Arthur is not far away, and the friends go from the battle to his tent. Revenge is prominently mentioned — in SP by King Arthur (561- 68), in W (III, 359-66) by the mother, in Card in several places. Everywhere there is a tendency to bring the hero into relation- ship with the king. In Fool the father was brother to the King Card is, of course, not alone in making the hero (equating Carduino with Perceval) and Gawain enemies; of. supra, p. i8, note, and Malory's account. 20 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES of Eirinn. But when the king was thought of as King Arthur, some other arrangement had to be made, for tradition provided him with no available brother. W presents the father as brother to the King of Anjou and sixth cousin to King Arthur. SP says the mother was sister to King Arthur. The Grail gr6up (C, W, " continuators ") and Pd make the mother the daughter or the sister of the Grail King or his equivalent.* To recapitulate for incident II: six versions, though they vary much, yet show such significant agreements as to render it nearly indubitable that they had a common ancestor; cf. the high stand- ing of the father, his death in joust or by the treachery of a knight, the survival of one son, the mother's behavior at the father's death, the presence of future actors in the tale at or near the time of the father's death, and the feud inherited by the son. III. The third incident, the flight of the widow, is one of the most widely current of all the incidents in the Perceval tale. Instead of summarizing* each version, we may state the main points upon which they agree. Five versions — SP, PC, W, Pd, and Card — relate how: [after (i) a rich and vigorous knight of high rank, (2) at about the time ' The following details concerning the widow and her flight may be noted: The Hero's Mother: Name. — Only two of the seven versions give the name: SP, Ache- flour; W, Herzeloyde. Rhys says: "Now Herzeloyde is clearly nothing but the Welsh word arglwydes, 'lady, domina,' appUed to her in the Welsh original, drawn upon by some one of Wolfram's French predecessors in the treatment of the story." — Artk. Leg., p. 123. Golther {op. cit., 206, note) considers "Acheflour" a garbUng of C's "Blancheflour." Ra7ik. — In SP the mother is sister to King Arthur; in W, queen of two kingdoms, Waleis and Norgales; in Pd, a countess; in Card the hero once said that the mother was "of the com- mon people," but he was probably misled into that statement; in PC and Fool she is spoken of vaguely; in C — disputed passage — she is daughter of "one of the best knights of the country" (but see next paragraph). Kin. — Ty, Card, and Fool are silent; PC is vague; in three versions she is sister to a king — in SP to King Arthur and in C and W to the Grail King (and to the Hermit also) ; in Pd she is sister to a nobleman who is the equivalent of' the Grail King. In two versions the mother has sister: in SP the mother of Gawain; in W the mother of Sigune. In the legend of the Grail the mother's relationship is important, and in some tales is considerably expanded. The Flight: Two variants could easily arise: the story-teller could have the mother flee in haste and go from plenty to poverty; or, remembering her station, he could have her plan leisurely and go with retinue and rich stores. Provisions. — (a) In SP (but cf. 4og-io) and Pd she took a flock of goats. (6) In PC she took silver and gold, over one hundred cars and chariots, much wheat and oats, beeves and cows, horses and sheep; in Card, precious stones, pearls, and rich provisions, (c) W is silent; in Fool the mother arranges to provide for the foster-mother and the boys; in Fool, THE hero's forest REARING 21 of the birth of a son, (3) had been slain tJirough his devotion to arms] (4) his widow (the hero's mother) feared she might lose her only (living) son (5) if he should learn of arms and knightly deeds, (6) and so she determined to rear the lad in ignorance; (7) to accomplish this design, she fled (8) to a forest far from civiliza- tion, (9) accompanied (a) by her son alone or (b) by her son and a small number of household attendants. A sixth version. Fool (Een agreeing), is a variant of the story underlying the five versions: the widow, instead of going herself, sent her kitchen wench with the babe to a forest, where she supported them; mother and son seem never to have met again: but in Fool, var. 6, the widow goes with her son alone to the forest.' The same story, then, appears in six versions. These agreements are too numerous and too detailed to have been the result of accident. var. 6, she goes herself in poverty; C is non-committal, but the father had previously fallen into "great poverty" (disputed passage). Dwelling-place. — In SP, a "wood"- — indefinite, the home beside a "well" (11. 6-7); Card, in a forest, the most hidden place, a glen; Pd, a desert and unfrequented wilderness; {Ty, a forest, ten leagues from any mansion); W, a waste in Soltane (of. C, 1289, "gaste forest sou- taine"); Fool, a forest within walking distance of a town; PC, the mother says she is going to visit the shrine of Saint Brandain d'Escoce (1035, 1071), passes by a castle on the "mer de Gale," and goes twelve days' journey into a wood to the "gaste forest"; C, a "manoir" belong- ing to the father, in this "foriest gaste," skirting Valdone (1507-10) and less than four days' journey from Carduel (1547-51). In SP, W, and Pd, no house is mentioned; in Card the mother built a cabin of boughs; in Fool there is a "bothy"; in PC nine men spend fifteen days building a house; in C there is a dwelling that had been built in former days. Allendants. — In Card and Fool, var. b (and Ty), the mother is alone with her son in the forest; in SP she has a maiden only; in Fool the kitchen wench has her son with her (but cf. var. h); in W, laborers to support them, and Sigune (?); in PC, the mother's major-domo and his eight sons and four daughters (on the number twelve in PC, cf. Miss Weston, Leg. of SP, I, 66 ff.); in C (disputed passage) the father and mother are accompanied by two older sons, servants to carry the father's Utter, plowmen, etc., and perhaps Perceval's germaine cosine. ' The Amadan Mar and the Cruagach of the Castle of Gold. — The widow fled to the forest, and her son, the Fool, was bom there. (The earlier incidents are not so greatly Uke the prose introduction to Campbell's Fool, but the enchantment part of this tale is much the same as Campbell's verse.) Toward the end, the Gruagach assures the Fool: "I am your own brother born and bred"; and then the two go to attack four giants. End. — J. Curtin, Hero-Tales of Ireland, 140-62, Boyish Exploits of Finn. — Cumhail's wife gave birth to Finn, whom two heroines (for nurses) took away to rear in a forest. (The remaining exploits, with one exception, are not of service to us.) — "The Boyish Exploits of Finn MacCumhail" in Transactions of the Ossianic Society, Dublin, 1859. Een. — Cumhail's widow bore twins, a daughter and a son. On the night they were born, the muime (nurse) of the son fled with him to a desert place, where she reared him till he was a stalwart, goodly child. (The remaining adventures are of no service to us.) 22 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES IV. The fourth incident is the account of the hero's boyish exploits. Before leaving his forest home, the youth demonstrates his strength and agility in several ways. Four versions — SP, W, Pd, and Car^— stand fairly close together ; Fool agrees as far as it goes ; and Ty leans in their direction. PC and C are pretty far removed. SP. — The mother gave her son a spear^ that had belonged to his father, telling him she had found it. With it he shot birds, harts, and hinds, and brought them to his mother. No beast might escape him. W. — Parzival made a bow and arrows for himself, and shot at birds with them. Distressed when one fell slain, he questioned his mother about it, and she taught him of God. He returned to the woods to hunt, and became so skilled at throwing a dart {gabyldi, source unexplained) that no beast could escape him. Many a hart, heavy enough for a mule's burden, he shouldered home. Pd. — No one brought horses or arms near Peredur, lest he should desire them. He diverted himself, throwing sticks and stones in the forest. One day he saw two hinds standing near his mother's flock of goats.^ By his swiftness he drove them into the goat house, and called his mother and her attendants to see. They marveled at his prowess. Card. — Carduino, wandering in the forest one day, found two hunting spears that hunters had left. To his questions the mother replied they were darts that God had sent him; and she taught him their use. After that he hunted, and no beast was able to escape him. He and his mother ate the flesh and used the skins for clothing. Fool. — The Fool, walking in the woods with his foster-brother one day, saw some deer, and was told that they were creatures upon which were food and clothing. By running, he overtook three, and brought them to his foster- mother. Shortly afterward he outran a horse. Boyish Exploits of Finn. — Finn and the two heroines (his nurses) walking in Sleeve Bloom one day saw a herd of wild deer. The heroines said they wished they could detain them. Finn ran, caught two bucks, and brought them to the hunting booth (hut). After that he hunted constantly (p. 297). Ty. — While Tyolet was very young, a fairy^ gave him magic power in whistling, by which he was able to overtake and slay any beast whatsoever. Certain other items that occur as parts of incidents later in the tales may be grouped here. The hero outran a tame horse in SP (713 ff.) and Card (XVIII); and a wild horse in SP (325 ff.) and 'This spear is (by a misreading of "schorte"? cf. 1. 478) called a "Scottes" spear; cf. Scotch connections in chap, iv, infra, pp. go ff. ' SP and Pd agree in saying the mother was provided with a flock of goats. Cf . Cuchulain's feat, and Rhys, Arth. Leg., 75 5. ' With the introduction of the fay into Ty cf. W, I, 1655-70; II, 1134-36. THE HERO S FOREST REARING 23 Fool {162). He outran deer in T^oo/ (161) and PcJ (245). He showed his strength by carrying home heavy animals in SP and W, by lifting an armed man out of the saddle and carrying him in W (V, 1244 ff.), by lifting a woman on the point of his spear and carry- ing her in SP (859-60), and by carrying his mother on his shoulder a long distance in SP (2235)/ In all versions the hero is simple and ignorant,^ but quick to learn. In SP his mother would teach him "neither nurture nor lore"; in Pd he did not know the difference between goats and hinds; in Card, having never seen a man, he thought there were no other things but the beasts about him; in PC the mother told him that he had no home but this, and "since he had very little sense," he beheved her;^ in Fool, cf. the title; in C and W no statement is made here, but he is called "foolish" passim; in Ty, no statement.'' C nowhere makes place for a direct treatment of the Boyish Exploits. Consequently, as against the comparative fulness of detail in the other versions, C shows meagerness. The few items that the French poem does give are generally not stated in direct narrative, but appear incidentally in conversation or are wrought, indirectly and subordinately, into the presentation of other details. The hero had a horse and he knew how to ride from^ the beginning (1291-92, 1306, etc.); he had three javelins (1293, ^^c. — source unexplained); and he slew^ birds and beasts (1416-17), and does ' Cf. also Gerbert {The Library, 88); and W, III, 1254-56. ' Folk-tales are fond of the apparently simple but really wise young hero; examples need not be multiplied. Campbell (Tales, III, 96-97) mentions "Smoroie Mor, or as others have it, Sir Moroie Mor, 'a son of King Arthur,' of whom great and strange things are told in Irish tradition He was called to his by-name, The fool of the Forest." .... He refers here also to Fool and to Canal (not Conall Gulban). ' In PC the mother says they are the only people in the world, but the presence of the major-domo and his twelve children (and their servants?) is known, and might reasonably be expected to raise a question in Perceval's mind. Cf. Miss Weston's argument that here the author of PC is unskilfully using older material (in which mother and son were really alone). Leg. oS SP., I, 86 ff. ' C, IF, and Ty tend to minimize the foolishness of the hero. * PC agrees; in all other versions he thought of riding only after he had learned of knight- hood. Cf. p. zi. ' The abihty to provide food for his mother is certainly insinuated in C but it is plainly asserted in SP, W, Card, Ty, and Fool; and one might have expected, a priori, that W, which like C and PC makes much of the household servants, the plowing, etc., would have omitted this point, just as PC does. 24 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES and stags (1486-88). Other references to his agility and strength are wanting. PC presents nothing here that could not easily have been drawn from C. The main points of evidence for the four incidents may be arranged in a table: The father is named early (but in no two tales alike) He lived in the time of King Ar- thur or of Uther Pendragon He was a favored knight at court . . . He had only one brother (a) who was a king or he was one of several broth- ers. 10. II. 12. 13- 14. 15- 16. 17- 18. 19. 20, 21. 22. He was overcome by grief at the death of his brother(s) in tourney He was sole survivor of his family . . . He was vigorous, and devoted to warlike exercises He left home to go to tourneys He fought in two tourneys, which are described He fought a marriage tournament, overthrowing all comers A vanquished knight became his son's enemy Another knight (Tent Lord) played a part in his life and later in his son's life His wife was a royal lady II Within a year a son was born to him Who was his wife's only son And his only son or he had more than one son At time of son's birth father en- tered tourney(s) He was slain in tournament or treacherously or in battle He was slain at time of son's birth . . or before the son was bom He was slain away from home His burial is mentioned An old man assists the widow SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP W W \¥ W W W W W w w w w w w w w w w w w w w PC PC PC PC PC PC PC PC PC PC PC PC PC PC Pd Pd Pd Pd Pd Pd Card Card Card Card Card (Card?) Fool Fool Fool Fool {Fool) Fool Fool (Fool?) THE HERO S FOREST REARING 25 23. A revenge motif is brought into the tale 24. But the revenge is absorbed into another incident and slurred over Ill 25. The widow fears her son will be slain 26. To prevent his death he must be reared in a forest far from men . 27. Where he may never hear of knightly life 28. So she determines to flee with him or to send him with a servant 29. She flees with few or no servants . . . or with rich stores of provisions . . . . IV 30. The son becomes vigorous, and shows : (o) Expertness, by slaying birds, deer, etc (b) Agihty, by outrunning deer wild horses tame horses (c) Strength, by carrying carcasses himian beings SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP w w w w w w w w w w PC PC PC PC PC Pd Pd Pd Pd Pd Card Card Card Card Card Card Card (Card) Card Card {Card) {Fool?) {Fool) Fool Fool \ Fool I var.6 Fool {Fool) Fool Fool Fool (C) (C) c From the evidence presented the argument may be stated succinctly as follows: The marriage tournament occurs only in SP and W. C, then, cannot be the source of it. SP and W are not so much alike as to appear to have an immediate common source, but they have certain significant common possessions that lead us to suspect that they had somewhere more remotely an ancestor in common. For the next two incidents — the father's death and the widow's flight — the six versions, SP, W, PC, Pd, Card, and Fool, show so many strains in common that they must revert to a common ancestor. But C is so considerably different that it cannot have been that ancestor: i.e., the passage summarized (C, 1607-82) cannot have been. The passage stands so much alone in the tradition th^t its authenticity has been disputed.* If the lines are 'It may be designated the "disputed passage." Though it bears some resemblance to the Prose-Tristan account (see p. i8, note), and perhaps is all the more to be suspected there- fore, it differs so far from all other accounts of the father and of the mother's flight that one stu- 26 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES not by Crestien, they do not weaken any part of my argument. If they are by Crestien, they greatly strengthen it. If we omit the disputed passage from consideration for a moment, the remainder of C yields to a close scrutiny the following hints to serve as a basis for an account — and most of these are presented in conversation or as mere accessories to other details: (a) the mother was a widow (1288), (b) and she dwelt in a waste, sohtary forest (1289 £f.); (c) among her attendants were farm laborers (1512 ff.), (d) and perhaps Perceval's foster cousin {W's Sigune) (4774-75); {e) the mother wished to hide her son from people (1532 ff.); (/) and she wished to hide from him any knowledge of knighthood (1532, 1602 ff.). How far an account may incorporate these hints and yet be unUke the other versions is shown by the disputed passage. dent at least who held that C was the source of all the other versions was forced into looking upon it as an interpolation by an unskilled hand. W. W. Newell, in his rendering of a portion of C, wrote: "Here omitted [is] a passage (lines 1609-1689, sic), in which Perceval's mother is made to give a statement in regard to the history of her slain husband The passage, intended to emphasize the woes of the widow, seems to be characterized by affectation, and obviously to be the work of a later hand. Wolfram and other successors of Crestien seem to have used a text in which the lady was represented as being a widow at the time of her flight." — King Arthur and the Table Round (Boston, 1897), II, 252. There are other indications that the passage is an interpolation: (a) statements concern- ing the mother's kin here contradict statements in the rest of C; (b) Perceval's inattention here (following his mother's remarks) is a mere parallel to that toward King Arthur (2160-65); (c) the style is Uke that of an interpolator — prolix, etc. ; (d) the account of the father's wounds looks like a contamination from the story of the lame Fisher King: Vostre peres, si nel saves, Mais il fu en une batalle Fu parmi les gambes navres" Navr^s et mehagnies sans falle, Si qu'il en mehagna del cors; Si que puis aidier ne se pot; Qu'il fu navres d'un gaverlot Vostre peres ce manoir ot Parmi les hances ambesdeus, Ici en ceste foriest gaste; S'en est encor si angoisseus Ne pot frnr, mais en grant haste Qu'il ne puet sor ceval monter; En litiere aporter s'en fist, Mais, quant il se viut deporter Car aUors ne sot u fuiist. U d'aucun deduit entremetre, Si se fet en une nef metre. The mother is speaking to her son (1629-31; Si va pescier al amengon; .... 1644-48). ,, . . . . Percevals giermame cosme is speaking to him just after his first visit to the Grail castle (4687-^7). If the disputed passage was written by Crestien, it must have been known to Wolfram and to the author of PC; yet it was (if known) cast aside and deliberately contradicted by these two writers; and it was accepted by none of the other of Crestien's successors except perhaps the Icelandic redactor. As the case stands, the text of C has not been established; but so far as I am able to learn, this passage is not wanting in any MS that preserves the contiguous lines. Miss Weston in her study of the MSS (Leg. of SP) mentions no instance; Potvin prints it from the Mons MS, and indicates its presence (cf. his notes) in 12577 and MpL, and its prose equiva- lent in the Print of 1530. »"Var.: Les hanches" (Potvin's note). THE HERO S POREST REARING 27 It is evident, then, that the scholars who hold the theory that it is useless to seek for any source behind Crestien's poem must argue, as a corollary, that PC — an anonymous writer's relatively obscure preface (cf. p. 2, supra) — was the source for an incident (the widow's flight) as widely known as any incident in the popular poem (C) to which it (PC) was prefixed. But the difficulty of considering any one of the six versions as the immediate source of the others is evident. Literary history and the brevity of their accounts put Pd, Card, and Fool out of court. The late date of the composition (or translation) of SP and the general facts of literary history discredit the theory that the EngHsh poem can have been the source of the French and Ger- man poems. Literary history makes it difiicult, too, to see how W could have been the source of an English and a French poem.^ And there are at least five reasons for believing that PC is not the source: {a) it does not furnish enough of the materials possessed in common; {b) SP agrees with PF in a larger number of points than with PC; (c) it is highly probable that W was written first ;^ (d) it is highly improbable that Wolfram is responsible for the introduction of the Angevin history; (e) Wolfram suggests the source of his tale, a poem written by "Kiot."^ The evidence of this chapter is strong. And while it may not be considered strong enough to amount to proof of, it certainly ' Or of two French poems if (with Gaston Paris) we consider SP a translation from the French. ' Several things point to a comparatively late date for the composition of PC: had it been written early it would have been incorporated into more of the MSS; apparently it was unknown to the continuators (1190^-1225 a.d.), Wauchier contradicting it in his account of the father's brothers, and Manessier and Gerbert in their accounts of the father's children. Miss Weston offers the suggestion that the immediate source of PC was the "book" Crestien speaks of as his own source. Of the two MSS in which PC occurs, one is preserved at Mons; and the other (Brit. Mus.) contains a drawing of the arms of the house of Flanders; both MSS, then, being connected with the Netherlands, "may have come in contact with the book, or what remained of the book, owned by Count Philip, and .... a later copyist, aware that a connection of some sort existed between the poems, supplemented what was con- sidered as a defect in Chretien's work from the earlier version." — Leg. of SP, 97, and 57-58. ^ Wolfram's vigorous assertions concerning Crestien and Kiot cannot be explained away by the "mere formula" hypothesis; and the gratuitous assumption of some modem scholars that Wolfram simply hed is to me repugnant. The account of the father is one of the places 28 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES goes far in the direction of establishing, these conclusions: that the different versions had for the parts we have been studying a common source; that C, with or without the disputed passage (1607-82), cannot have been the source; and that C and PC together, with chance thrown in, do not satisfactorily account for the agreements we have found. Whether we may believe that there ever was any single written version that was the source of all the others, or whether we must revert to a body of oral tradition, does not yet appear. in which Wolfram diverges most widely from Crestien (Wolfram writes 3,300 lines before he reaches the birth of the hero; cf. Books I-II, against C, 1607-82); and, consequently, it may properly be considered one of his main justifications for the assertion (XVI, 1201-11) that Crestien did not tell the tale correctly. For other assertions, cf. VIII, 560-70, Q92; IX, 605-82; XV, 1270; XVI, 550. For other points of divergence cf. Nutt, Slud., 25, 261-63; Hertz, Parzival, 418, 505-6. I was glad to find that the opinion I reached independently, that the account of the father is one of Wolfram's chief objections to C, is also the opinion of such investi- gators as Miss Weston {Leg. of SP, I, 73) and Hertz. CHAPTER II THE HERO'S AWKWARD ATTEMPTS TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS Fifth Incident: The Mother's Religious Instruction I. SP, 229-56; Card, IX, 5— X, 8. II. W, III, 98-116; PC, 1230-54. Other versions, wanting (but cf. implications). Sixth Incident: The Hero's Meeting with Knights in the Forest A. The Meeting (no groups) SP, 257-76; C, 1283-1348; W, III, 127-42; Pd, 245; Ty, 85-119; Card, XVII. Fool, wanting. B. The Error (no groups) SP, 277-304; W, III, 143-208; C, 1349-93; Pd, 245. Ty, Card, Fool, wanting. C. News of Knighthood I. SP, 305-20. II. C, 1394-1554; W, III, 209-92; Pd, 245-46. III. Ty, 120-246. IV. Fool, 162. Card, wanting. D. The Return Home I. (a) SP, 321-88; (b) Ty, 247-68; Card, XVIII-XXI. II. (a) C, 1555-1703; W, 111, 293-328; (b) Pd, 246. (Cf. Fool, 162). Seventh Incident: The Mother's Advice I. SP, 389-416; Card, XXVII-XXIX; Ty, 269-74. n. W, HI, 339-68. III. C, 1704-92; Pd, 246-47. Eighth Incident: The Adventure at the Tent A. Departure from Home I. SP, 417-32; Ty, 275-80; Card (lacuna). II. Pd, 247. III. C, 1793-1828; W, III, 369-401. IV. Fool, 162. 29 30 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES B. The Visit to the Tent I. SP, 433-80. II. W, III, 402-501; C, 1829-1972; Pd, 247. Ty, Card, wanting (but cf. final chapter, infra, pp. 119). C. The Return of the Tent Lord SP, wanting. C, 1973-2025; W, III, 502-658; Pd, 247-48. The English poem next presents four incidents which constitute a clearly bounded group, of which the purpose is to demonstrate — by showing the hero's awkwardness in following directions — that trait of foohshness which is made prominent^ in his early life. The incidents themselves are among the most interesting in the whole tale, and parallels in other versions are numerous; yet, notwithstanding, the grounds upon which to build conclusions con- cerning the relationship of the versions are scanty. The vagueness results from the fact that one of the chief events, the Tent incident, is part of a story (or parts of two stories melted together) to be discussed later, and its significance does not become clear until the rest of the stories are before the reader. Consequently the sub- stance of this chapter will be compressed as much as possible. In SP the group is composed of two symmetrically developed portions. In each portion the mother gives her son directions, he faces a situation in which he attempts to follow them, and a blunder is the result, but through the blunder his fortunes are advanced. The account is as follows: V. When Perceval had been fifteen years in the forest, his mother gave him Instruction concerning God, to Whom she bade him pray; and he went into the forest to seek God. VI. There he met three knights, and, never hav- ing seen such, he thought them the God he sought; he began to adore them, but they told him they were only knights. Perceval returned to his mother and, to her great distress, told her of the adventure and of his newly formed purpose to go and become a knight. VII. She gave him Advice as to how he should conduct himself. VIII. He left home to go to King Arthur's court; on the way he came to a hall, entered, helped himself to food and wine he ' See p. 23, supra. THE hero's attempts TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS 31 found on the table, went into another room where he found a lady asleep, and took her ring, leaving his own in its place; thence he departed to seek the King. The following table (parts of which will be expanded later) shows the main items: The V mother gives her son In- struction concerning God . the devil VI The hero meets knights in the forest : three^ a fourth later five for B. C. D. many the Stag-Knight^ a horse (metonymy kmght)3 By error he thinks they are: the devil angels God From or by them he learns of knighthood He returns and tells his mother of the meeting VII The mother gives her son Advice not contaminated from Instruction contaminated from In- struction B. VIII Mother and son are separated Mother dies or Hves on The hero finds a Tent (or hall)4 By error he thinks it a monas- tery He encounters the Tent Lady He departs for court SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP SP W w w w w w w w w w w w w w Card Card Card Card Card {Card) Card Card Ty Ty Ty Ty (Ty) Ty Ty Fool Fool (Fool) C C c c c c c c c c c c Pd Pd Pd Pd Pd Pd Pd Pd Pd Pd Pd PC' ' PC ceases before the meeting with the knights. ' Miss Weston (Leg. of SP, I, 86) suggests the Instruction may have concerned the Trinity. ' Summaries given below. « I shall use "Tent" for the place where Perceval met the Lady, though chap, v will lead us to believe that SP's hall (palace) is the older form. 32 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES Of the two symmetrical portions, the first centers about the meeting between Perceval and the knights in the forest; it begins with the mother's religious Instniction, and ends with her grief when her son tells her he has seen knights. The second centers about Perceval's behavior in the hall; it begins with the mother's Advice, and ends with the hero's departure from the hall. Four versions tell all (or nearly all) of the two stories, faUing into two sets: (a) SP and W, (b) C and Pd. Four other versions tell portions of the story: PC, Ty, Card, and Fool. Several comments may be passed on the first portion. It will be observed that in C (Pd concurring') the rehgious Instruction is not developed into an incident and placed previous to the hero's meeting with the knights in the forest, as it is in SP, W, and (to an extent) Card. The substance of this teaching, nevertheless, appears in C, for by Crestien's literary cleverness Perceval's remarks are made to show that his mother has instructed him concerning devils (1326 ff.), angels (1350 ff.), and God (13571?.); and when mother and son meet, after he has seen the knights, she speaks of "angels, .... who slay all they meet" (1592-94), and of God "Who made heaven and earth, and placed men and women there" (1768-70). We may decide either that Crestien refined upon what was the source of the other versions, or that his poem is their source. But the presumption that C is the source of the other versions involves the supposition that Crestien's followers found his version too delicately literary, and that three of them (or four, if PC's partial account be considered) extracted his hints and developed them into an explanatory incident, which they (the three) then prefixed to a more or less cut-up edition of his account of the meet- ing with the knights. SP and Card lack entirely the devil and the angels; Pd knows not the devil and has forgotten God; out of W the angels have fallen ; and the only thing PC catches is the devil. As regards the number and names of the forest knights, SP and Pd present a noteworthy similarity in that the knights were three in number, and that the names of two of them were Gawain and ' Pd: One day when Peredur and his mother saw three knights pass along the forest, he asked her what they were. She answered that they were angels. Peredur then said he would go and become an angel with them. He went to meet them When he returned to his mother, he said that the knights were not angels but knights; and his mother swooned. THE hero's attempts TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS 33 Ewain' (Owain). Opposed to them stands C with five knights, of whom the leader is quite youthful.^ Wolfram appears to have combined the two accounts; he adopts the leader of C, gives him a name, and then adds him to the three (now unnamed) knights of the SP-Pd type.3 In SP Perceval threatens the life of Kay, who is said to be the third knight. Nothing similar in this scene occurs in C, W, or Pd;"^ but in Fool at exactly the same place relatively the Fool slays out of hand the man (his foster brother) who has just told him of knightly Kfe. In Ty, furthermore, the hero was trying to slay the stag that becomes the Stag-Knight and teaches him concerning knighthood. In SP Kay's Hfe is saved by the sudden and singular intervention of a buck. (Compare Ty's Stag-Knight.) These resemblances may be entirely the result of chance; but I inchne to the beHef that if we were more famihar with the pedigree of each tale, we should find them due to consanguinity. In all versions except C the close connection between the horse and knightly life is stressed at this point. ^ In C Perceval knows all along how to ride. In W and Pd, although horses (work-horses) are a part of the mother's establishment, the hero knows nothing of riding; when about to leave home, he has in Pd to make a saddle, and in W to ask his mother to give him a horse. Carduino sees Ewayne fytz Asoure (SP, 261) out of Fitz. . " . . z Ur(ien) > Fitz as-Ur(ien) ? Ewayne was son of Urien: cf. Erec, 1706, "Yvains, li fiz Uriien;" Yvain, 1018-19, 1S18, 2122, 3631, "fiz au roi Uriien"; C, 9518 ff.; Potvin I, pp. 24, etc.; Morte Arlhoure, 2066 {E.E.T.S., No. 8, 1865), "Then syr Ewayne syr Fitz Uriene full enkerly rydez"; etc. " In C the leader was probably not thought of as Gawain, for he is made to say (i 500-1 502) : "N'a mie encor. V. jors entiers Que tout cest harnois me dona Li rois Artus ki m'adouba." Gawain, however, was not at court when Perceval came there, though his squire Yones was; cf . 11. 5464 ff • ' In Prose Tristan (Loseth, pp. 239 ff., §§ 308 f.), Agloval is the informant. The mother lives in her "tower" with Perceval, and there they weep for the death of Pelinor, Lamorat, and Driant. Agloval alone meets Perceval (his brother) in the forest and tells him of knight- hood. Tristan crosses another version through C (cf. p. 18, note), ignorant of or ignoring PC. If C 1607-82 is an interpolation, it might easily have arisen out of an account like this passage in Tristan (perhaps poorly imderstood) . Perceval's two older brothers, Lamorat and Driant, were slain on the same day (Tristan, p. 237, § 307)- Whether the "disputed passage" of C could have been the source for the Pelinor-Lot feud of Tristan need not be considered here. * Cf. further comment in chap, v, p. 99. ' PC ceases before this point is reached; it asserts that Perceval knows how to ride. 34 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES horses for the first time when Arthur and his party come into the forest to hunt, and upon this occasion he outruns their horses. In SP, when Perceval is on his way home after meeting the knights, he captures a wild mare, rides it home (because the knights had ridden on such beasts), and later rides it when he leaves home. The Great Fool sees a wild horse, hears then for the first time of knighthood, catches the horse, and rides away from home on it. The second of the two symmetrical portions is that of the mother's Advice and the son's adventure at the Tent. Six versions have the first incident, the Advice ;^ only four of them contain the Tent incident. The summaries of the two incidents are as follows: VII. THE ADVICE GIVEN BY THE MOTHER TO HER SON SP.—i. He should— (c) be of "mesure," (b) be "fond to be free," (c) take his hood off to a knight. 2. To his question she repHed, a knight may be known by the fur in his hood. 3. At parting she gave him a ring of recogni- tion — a ring by which she could know him when they should meet again. W. — I. He should — (a) cross no dark ford, (b) be courteous, (c) greet people, (d) learn of a wise man, (e) take a girl's ring and her greeting if it could be won, (/) kiss a girl if she would permit such. 2. He was told that Lahelein was his enemy, having taken his lands. Card. — I. He should — (a) serve King Arthur as he would his mother, (b) and obey him. 2. He was told to revenge his father's death. Ty. — I. He was told to go to King Arthur. 2. He was given Advice — to keep company with none but those of gentle birth. C. — I. He should — (a) aid women, (b) if he courted one, serve without annoying her; (c) it is an honor to kiss a girl if she be willing, and he should demand no more than she was willing to grant; (d) he should take her ring, belt, or purse if she would give it; (e) he should ask a man his name; (/) go with gentlemen, for they do not deceive; (g) and pray in churches and mon- asteries. 2. In answer to questions he was told that (a) a church is a place where one makes sacrifice of Him Who made heaven and earth, and placed men and women there; and (b) a monastery is a place where relics are kept, and where is sacrificed the body of Jesus, Who saves souls from hell.^ ' The bestowal of advice is not an uncommon thing, even in the romances, but I have found help in no other form of it I have met with. In C Gornemans (2831-S0) and the Hermit Uncle (7813-48) offer the hero advice; in W Gurnemanz (III, 1625 fi.) does, but the uncle, Trev- rizent (V and IX), does not; in Pd (253) one uncle does. Cf., further, C, 7766 ff.; Wauchier, 363050.; Morten, pp. 42-43 (Miss Weston's transl.); Erec, 1793-99, etc. ' Prefatory to the advice in C the mother says — rather inconsistently: You are going to King Arthur, and you will get arms; I fear you may be slain; but you will be a knight soon if it please God, and I would have you be one (1704-26). THE hero's attempts TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS 35 Pd. — I. He was told to go to Arthur's court. 2. He should — (o) pray at each church, ib) if he saw meat and drink, and none offered them to him, take what he might need, (c) help anyone crying for aid, especially a woman, {d) if he saw a jewel, take it and give it to another, for thus he would obtain praise, and {e) pay court to a fair woman whether she wished it or not. Vni. THE ADVENTURE AT THE TENT SP. — I. Arrival — Perceval entered a hall. 2. Recollection — Seeing there a table set, a fire, a manger, and corn, he recalled that his mother had said, "Be of 'mesure.'" 3. Meal — He parted the corn in half for his mare, and ate half of the things on the table, leaving the other half; how could he be more of "mesure"? — he wished to be "free." 4. The Tent Lady — He passed to another chamber, found a Lady asleep, and said he would take a token of her, 5. The Ring — He kissed her, took a ring off her finger, and placed his mother's ring in its stead. 6. Departure — Then he left. W. — I. Arrival — Parzival came to a Tent and entered. 2. Tent Lady — He saw a Lady asleep, and spied a ring on her finger. 3. The Ring — His grasp waked her, but her struggles were useless; he kissed her, and took her ring and her brooch. 4. Meal — He said he was hungry ; the Lady pointed out bread, wine, and two game birds, saying he might eat them; he ate and drank his fill. 5. Recollection — The Lady bade him return her ring and brooch, and flee from her husband's wrath; the hero, replying that he feared not her husband but would go if his presence annoyed her, kissed her as she lay on her couch, and bade God bless her, "So my mother taught me." 6. Departure — Then he rode away. C. — I. Arrival — Perceval came to a Tent, which he took for a monastery, and entered. 2. The Tent Lady — There he found a Lady asleep, but the whinnying of his horse waked her. 3. Recollection — He saluted her, saying his mother had bidden him salute maidens wherever he found them; he also said he would kiss her, for his mother had told him to do so. 4. The Ring — He kissed her rudely twenty times, saw her ring, and took it, saying his mother bade him take it. 5. Meal^Then he saw food in a corner of the Tent, wine and three pasties; he ate one pasty and part of another, bidding the Lady finish it, for then a whole one would still be left; he ate what he wished and covered the rest. 6. Departure — Leaving the Tent, he rode on. Pd. — I. Arrival — Peredur came before a Tent, took it for a church, and said a Paternoster to it. 2. The Tent Lady — In the open door of the Tent sat the Lady, wearing a frontlet and a finger ring; she welcomed him when he entered. 3. Recollection — Seeing two flasks of wine, two loaves of bread, and boar's flesh," he said: "My mother told me wherever I saw meat and drink, to take it." 4. Meal — The Lady replied: "Take it and welcome"; he took half of the meat and liquor for himself, and left half for the Lady. 5. The ' Loth has: "des tranches de cochon de lait" (p. 50). 36 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES Ring — After eating, he bent on his knee before the Lady and said : " My mother bade me take a jewel wherever I found one"; she repHed : "Do so, my soul"; so he took her ring. 6. Departure — Then he mounted and left. In SP the Tent Lord is not referred to until Perceval meets the Tent Lady the second time. In C, W, and Pd we are told here of his return to the Tent and of his anger and jealousy at finding that a visitor had been there in his absence. Concerning the mother's reHgious Instruction of her son, it has been pointed out that such an incident appears to underlie the C account. If we grant that C is the source, we must presume that the authors of SP, W, and, to a lesser degree, Card and PC con- curred in elaborating Crestien's hints into a separate incident and in giving it the same position in the tale. The hero's behavior toward the forest knights is perhaps sufficient to account for such a development in SP, W, PC; but Card must be explained in some other way. If, on the other hand, we consider that Crestien drew upon a source more like SP and W, we find that he did two things : he chose to weave in the Instruction subordinately rather than to use it as a separate incident, and then he combined a more advanced kind of instruction with the Advice. Pd follows C in this respect. That certain items of the Advice of C and Pd are due to contamina- tion from the Instruction incident looks the more probable when it is remembered that these items lead the hero (in C and Pd only) into his second Error, the supposition that the Tent is a monastery, which is nothing but an echo of the first Error of mistaking the forest knights for God. The hero's departure from home occurs, in all versions except C, immediately after he learns of knighthood or e9,rly the next morning; in C he waits three days. The lingering is due merely, I think, to a disposition in the literary group — C and W — to dwell tenderly upon the mother's great love and her suffering. W's poetic treatment of the mother's grief had the same origin. The mother's fate is different in two different groups. In the Grail group she is said to fall dead of grief at her son's departure; in what I may call the folk-tale group she either lives on to rejoin her son when he has achieved greatness, or nothing more is said of THE hero's attempts TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS 37 her at all. This difference I think I can explain, if the reader will permit me merely to state here what I believe I shall show pretty conclusively in the end. The Grail group made the change. Some author (whether Crestien or an earlier one) decided to insert the Grail story into the Perceval tale. Now, in the story of the visit to the Grail castle one element that was fixed was the hero's failure to ask the important question concerning the meaning of it all when he saw pass before him the Grail and other objects.^ This early author conceived it to be a part of his duty to furnish an adequate reason for this failure; he sought it in the punishment of a sin; and for the sin he chose to make the mother die as a consequence of her son's departure.^ The motivation of the mother's death is undoubtedly poor. It is a contradiction to the whole fate ele- ment of the tale to make it a sinful thing for the hero to leave the forest to go seek his fortune. Wolfram (or his authority) felt the insufficiency of this unconsciously committed sin, but instead of getting out of the difficulty, he went farther into it, for he changed the character of the Red Knight (Ither), made him a relative of Parzival, and then counted it a sin for Parzival to slay him (IX, 1279 ff.). The folk-tale group — keeping its events always in the shadow of the pillar of cloud which is foreordination and compelling fate — slurs over the mother's unhappiness, leaves her well after her son's departure, and finds no place for sin and its punishment. The two incidents of the Advice and the visit to the Tent are now linked closely together in the Perceval tale.^ Some of the ways in ' That the failure was a significant and integral part of the original Grail story appears certain. It is found in the accounts of Gawain's visit to the castle. ' Cf. the assertions of the giermaine cosine ( = Sigune) and the Hermit Uncle. The same impulse caused the author to insert Gomemans' advice to avoid many questions (C, 2831 fiE.). ' The scribe of SP thought of them as easily separable. At the conclusion of st. 27, or between 11. 432 and 433 — i.e., between the conclusion of Perceval's hfe in the forest and the beginning of the incident of the Tent Lady— there is inserted the expression, "Here is a Fytt of Percyvelle of Galles." Nothing similar occurs elsewhere in SP. Cf. the similar single occurrence in Sir Degrevant, st. 22; cf. also Awntyrs of Arthur, sts. 20, 38; Sir Amadace (Rob- son), 17, 43; Avowing oj Arthur, 30, 48; Eghmour, 30, 54, 77. In Pd Lady Guest's printed version of the Welsh shows three breaks: the first, Vol. I, p. 238, occurs at just the same place at which SP inserts "Fytt"; the other two, pp. 268, 282, set off a series of incidents that are a story within themselves. In the translation, Nutt's reprint (pp. 251, 271, 281) and the edition of 1838-49 do not indicate the first,'but both mark the others. The Welsh of Y Mahino- 302248 38 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES which an item of the Advice is bound to an item in the Tent adven- ture, and in which a portion in one version is complemented by a portion in another, are of sufficient interest to be pointed out. In two versions, C and W, the hero is advised to kiss a lady if he have opportunity, and in three versions he kisses the Tent Lady against her wiU. The omission of the kiss in Pd is probably the result of accident, for its presence in Pd'?, source is implied by the advice to court a lady whether she wished it or not; and so far as she was tested, P^'s Tent Lady was oddly complaisant. An exchange of rings appears only in SP. There is no mention of a ring in the Advice of SP; there is such in C, W, and Pd. In the last the advice is, where you see a jewel, take it off and give it to another person. In all four versions the hero bears away the Lady's ring. It is possible that the Advice in Pd may have arisen through a misunder- standing of an original in which, as in SP, an exchange of rings occurred. It is possible, too, if for a moment the hypothesis be granted that the author of SP had before him a manuscript of C, that the English account may have arisen from a misreading of C's statement (191 5-16) that the hero took the Lady's ring of her finger and placed it on his own into Perceval took the Lady's ring off her finger and placed his own on it; after which we are to pre- sume that the Englishman inserted the account of the mother's ring to provide for the "his own." But C's statement will not explain the Advice of Pd; nor will it account for the importance attached to the brooch in W. Another interesting crossing is connected with the item in SP's Advice, "Be of mesure." Perce- val recalls this advice when he comes to the Tent, interprets it to mean that he is to take only half of what he sees, and follows it strictly, as regards food and drink. No other version contains anything similar in its Advice. In W he makes no such division, but "eats his fill"; in Pd, however, he divides the meat and drink, taking half and leaving half; and in C the equable division occurs in a blurred way (see the second clause of C 5 on p. 35, supra), as if the writer had preserved in a half-buried fashion a matter from his gion Cymreig (Liverpool, i88o) is fully paragraphed. The Text of the Mabinogion (Rhys and Evans, Oxford, 1887) has only two breaks in its Pd (pp. 220, 232), the last two of Lady Guest's text. THE HERO S ATTEMPTS TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS 39 source which he did not regard as significant and which — perhaps unconsciously — he altered/ The Advice in Pd to take food if no one offers it is almost meaningless (though referred to) for the Tent incident in Pd, where the Lady bids the hero eat as much as he wishes; but it is apposite to the Tent incident in SP, where through- out his visit no one is awake to offer him food.^ It looks as if the Perceval tale developed out of a simpler tale in which, measured by the evidence of Card and Fool, the mother gave her son some elementary religious Instruction, the son shortly afterward learned accidentally of some phase of knightly life, returned to tell his mother of his determination to go out into the world, and the mother gave him simple Advice which was intended to make his life easier and safer. Whether or not such was the evolution cannot be told as yet. The discussion is continued in chapter V. Cf, 11. 1945-40: Et dist: "Pucele, cist paste Ne seront hui par moi use; Ven6s mangier, il sont moult bien; Asses ara cascuns del suen; S'en i remanra .1. entiers." And the contradiction(?), 1953-54: Et cil manga tant com lui plot Et but tant ke asses en ot, etc. ' The hero's behavior at another meal may be compared; a reflection of the equable divi- sion appears in two accounts {W and Pd) of the first meal at the besieged castle (cf. chap, iv), but not in C or SP. C. — I. Blancheflur said, We have naught but a few crumbs [from a pious uncle], a flask of wine, and a buck. 2. Tables were spread, and the castle folk sat down and ate with relish. 3. After supper some went to bed, others went on guard. 4. Perceval was cared for, given a bed, sheets, and a pillow, and he soon fell asleep. W. — I. Two uncles told Condwiramur they were giving her twenty-four loaves of bread, six shoulders and hams, sixteen cheeses, and four casks of wine. 2. All within the city received food, because— 3. Parzival advised that the food be shared around, though it gave only a morsel about. 4. Then he went to rest. Pd. — I. Two nuns brought in a flask of wine and six loaves of bread. 2. The household went to eat. 3. The Lady wished to give more of the food and hquor to Peredur than to anyone else. 4. But he said he would share the food; so he gave an equal portion of bread to each, and a cupful of wine. 5. A chamber was prepared and he went to sleep. Compare further Yvain, 1046-54; and Ywaine and Gawin, sn~(>o. A capon rosted broght sho sone, A clene klath, and brede tharone. And a pot with riche wine. And a pece to fiJ it yne. CHAPTER III THE RED KNIGHT-WITCH-UNCLE STORY Ninth Incident: The Arrival at Court A. The Hero Enters the Palace I. (a) SP, 481-500; {b) C, 2026-2132. II. Ty, 277-88. III. w, III, 779-992. IV. Pd, 248-49; Fool, 161-62. Card, lacuna. Fool ceases to be similar after this point. B. Conversation with the King I. SP, 501-600; Ty, 289-320; Card, XXX, i— XXXIII, 4. II. (a) C, 2133-2255; W, III, 993-1119; (b) Pd (substitute — with Kay), 249. Ty and Card begin to be quite different after this. Tenth Incident: A Knight Insults the King I. SP, 601-56. II. Pd, 248. III. C, 2057-2159; W, III, 872-936. Eleventh Incident: The Hero Avenges the Insult I. SP, 675-820. II. C, 2256-2399; PF, III, 1127-1292; Pd, 249-51. Twelfth Incident: The Encounter with a Witch I. SP, 821-68. II. G, Potvin VI, 183-86 (The Library, January 1904, pp. 72-74). III. Pd, 273-74. Thirteenth Incident: The Hero Entertained by Relatives A. The Relatives' Enemies I. SP, 869-948. II. (a) G, 181-83, 187-88; (b) Pd, 273-74. III. C, 2497-2892; W, III, 1355-1898; Pd, 251-53. B. News of the Besieged Lady's Distress I. SP, 949-1056. II. C, 2892-3250; W, IV, 1-499; Pd, 256-58. 40 THE RED KNIGHT-WITCH-UNCLE STORY 4I Modern Folk-Tales' Containing the Incidents of: I. Insult, Relatives, Hag Battle, Relatives, Insulter's Punishment Red Sh, with its variants, 451-93; Ransom, Champion, Hookedy. II. Insult, Insulter's Punishment, Hag, Relatives Conall, 249-51, 286-94; Fear Diihh, Alba. III. Relatives, Hag Battle, Relatives Faolan, Manus, Big Men, Fionn and Bran, Dough, Kil Arthur, Mananaun. IV. Fragments Birth of Fin, Lawn D. The present chapter will be devoted to five incidents embracing some 575 lines, rather more than one-fourth of the poem, in the middle of SP. The incidents are : the Arrival of the Hero at Court, the Insult Offered the King, the Death of the Insulter, the Battle with the Witch, and the Hero's Meeting with Relatives. As usual, after a comparison between SP and C, other tales will be introduced into the discussion to see what information may be garnered concerning the ancestry of the EngHsh poem. For results we shall uncover four conditions upon which we may rest further study with a reasonable degree of certainty that they are facts: {a) certain odd details show that SP and C are closely related; ' I have brought together in each chapter whatever material I could find that bears a strong Hkeness to SP. Then I have endeavored to weigh and to use each piece of material scientifically. If I imderstand Zimmer aright (in his review of Nutt's "Studies," Goett. gel. Anz. [1890], No. 12, pp. 488 ff.), it is his opinion that the modem folk-tales (Nos. 11 ff. of the list on pp. 4-6, supra) cannot possibly be used "scientifically" in the study of my problem, since the antecedents of these tales cannot be traced before the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries, and since French romances were known to the Gaels before that time — since the romances, i.e., may have been the source of the tales. The opinion is sound in part (and a very good one to keep in memory), but, as I think, only in part. The nature of the evidence itself offered by the tales may help determine their credibility. If the tales demonstrate the existence of a pretty clearly defined series of events; if the most reasonable belief is that this series underlies Crestien's poem, and if, nevertheless, the poem cannot possibly have been the source for the "series of events"; if writers almost contemporarj' with Crestien lend additional evidence for the existence of that "series" and yet cannot have been the source of it; if, finally, SP can be shown to possess more of the "series" than C, cannot be accounted for as sprung from C plus the other French accounts, and cannot itself have been the source of the series; then the evidence of the tales may not be neglected by the student who means to do scientific work. See, also, the comment of A. C. L. Brown, "The Knight of the Lion," Pub. Mod. Lang. Assn., XX, p. 700, n. 2. For substance the tales are certainly available evidence. For priority and for dates evidence must be sought elsewhere. The accounts of a hag ("caillech") mentioned by Zimmer (same article, 508-9) have not, so far as I can determine, any bearing on the accounts of the carlin of chap. iii. 42 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES (b) each of these two versions contains incidents not to be found in the other; (c) comparison of them and other tales makes it possible to reconstruct much of what must have been the common source; and (d) such a reconstruction develops a "story" that had a sepa- rate existence before it was incorporated into the Perceval tale. To summarize SP: IX. From the hall ( = Tent), Perceval journeyed on till he came to the palace of King Arthur. He rode into the hall and came so close to the dais^ i/i-r^Or that his horse kissed the forehead of the King, who was eating; he demanded that he be made a knight immediately. The King was reminded of his knight Syr Percyvelle, of his death, and of the prophecy that only the son^ could avenge the father. Perceval was greeted so kindly that he fastened his mare and sat down to table. X. Before he began to eat, a knight in red armor rode in upon a red steed, insxilted the company, grasped the gold cup that was before the King, drank the wine, and rode away bearing off the cup. The King grieved that he had no one to revenge the insult, for the Red Knight had acted in this way for five years. The hero said he would overthrow the Red Knight and return the cup if the King would make him a knight. Arthur agreed, and Perceval followed the Red Knight. XL Overtaking the Red Knight, Perceval slew him with a cast of his dart. Then he desired the red armor, but was not 'For lists of references to similar feats, cf. Child's Ballads, notes on "King Estmere," II, 51, and the additions of Kittredge, II, 510; III, 508. ' Asked who he is, Perceval, not knowing his name, can only reply to the King that he is "his own mother's child"; see 11. 506, 1094, and cf. Hertz's note, Parzival, p. 444; a similar expression does not occur in C at this place. C says only that when Perceval returned home after meeting the forest knights, his mother called him "biaus filz" more than a hundred times (1567); similarly, PC, 1231. Cf. Heinzel, Ueher Wolfram's Parzival, 34. W, III, 722, has "bon fils, cher fils, beau fils"; similarly, j. Titurel, 4387, 4. Cf. similar expressions in Bel Inconnu, 115 (ed. Hippeau); Libeaus Desconus, 26, 66 (Kaluza); Chevalier au cygne (Hippeau) I. 3S; Chevalier a deux espies (Forster, 1877), 10773; Heinzel, Gralroman, 24, note i; P. Paris, Romans d. I. Table Round, III, 27; Nutt, Studies, 153; Miss Weston, Leg. of SP, I, 68 5. Cf. further: W, XIV, 1246, Arthur refers to Beaucorps as "My sister's son"; XIV, 1303, Beaucorps is called "Lot's child," and VI, 1291-1303, Gawain's brother; XIV, 1450, Arthur calls Gawain "My sister's son"; cf. also I, 1165. Cf. the kinship between Perceval and Arthur in SP, discussed in chap, i, ante; and between Perceval and Gawain in SP, 1441, 1457, discussed in chap, v, infra. The Beautiful Unknown, in Libeaus D, is Gawain's son; Malory's Gareth is Gawain's brother. Perceval, as the name of a knight, occurs first, in romance, in Erec (only once, 1. 1526); it appears four times in Cliges (4828, 4831, 4847, 4851); Crestien does not mention it in his Yvain or Chevalier de la charrette. In the legend of Perceval the hero is usually supposed to be long in ignorance of his own name. C first mentions it in 1. 4751, where the hero states it, although he had presumably never heard it. PC (739-42) makes a mystery of it, saying that when the hero was christened, his name was pronounced so low that no one heard it. I cannot see that any special significance attaches to Crestien's repression of his hero's name, since such ' a repression was no unusual device in his poems; cf . the name Enid in Erec, Laudine in Yvain, and Lancelot in Chevalier da la charrette. THE RED KNIGHT-WITCH-UNCLE STORY 43 able to unlace it; so he bviilt a fire to burn the body out. Gawain' arrived, stripped the armor off, and placed it upon Perceval. That hero, disdaining to return to the King, sent the cup by Gawain, tossed the dead knight's body upon the fire, and rode on. XII. Next morning he met a Witch, the mother of the Red Knight. She thought him her son, and said that she had been told falsely that he was dead, and that even if he had been dead she could have revived his body. Perceval, rejoicing that he had burned the body, slew the witch with her son's own spear, and bore her body to the fire upon which the Red Knight had been burned. XIII. Then he rode on until he overtook ten knights — his Uncle and nine cousins— who fled from him, thinking him their enemy, the Red Knight. After they learned their mistake, they entertained Perceval in their castle. While they were at table, a messenger brought news of the Besieged Lady's distress, and Perceval determined to go to her rescue. He started, accompanied by three of his cousins, but after a short time he sent them back, and rode on alone. In C the account, arranged in six incidents, runs thus: If Perceval left the Tent, and next met a charcoal-burner, who directed him to court. Approaching, he saw issue from the gate a knight clad in red armor and bearing a cup in his hand. Perceval said he would demand the red armor from the King. The Red Knight stopped him to send a message of defiance to Arthur. The hero, little regarding the message, passed and came to where the King was seated at meat. Arthur was lost in thought. Perceval, riding in, asked a boy which was the King. Tf Then he addressed the King, who made no response. Perceval said, "This King makes no knights"; and in disgust turned his horse's head, which accidentally knocked ofi^ the King's head-gear. Thereupon the King roused and spoke. ^ He told of the coming of the Red Knight, the insult, and the spilling of wine on the Queen; and said. Unless God helped him he would die. Perceval paid no attention to the acccount, but demanded that Arthur make him a knight. Arthur promised he would do so; then Perceval demanded the red armor. ^ Kex sneered at the hero, and injured a damsel and a fool who did honor to Perceval. ^ Perceval, unheeding Kex, went out to seek the Red Knight, and Yones followed, in order to bring back the news. Perceval came to the Knight, ' Perceval's assistant is: in SP, Gawain, the leader of the forest knights; in Pd, the leader of the forest knights; in C, Yones, esquire of Gawain (C, 7064 fi.; Wauchier, 11 102); in W, Iwanet, the queen's servant (III, 1197-99). The disposition seems strong to connect Gawain with the hero's entry into life. W makes Iwanet, not Gawain's squire, but servant to the queen; but it is a romance commonplace that Gawain was a ladies' knight, in particular the queen's knight: cf. Awntyrs of Arthur, st. i; Avowing of Arthur; Gaw. and Green Knight; C, 9546 5., W, XII, 1274-1313, XIII, 542 £f.; Merlin (ed. Sommer), chap, xxvi, p. 343; Miss Weston's Leg. of Gaw., pp. 75 £f., and Leg. of Lane, pp. 117-18, 95. In C we are told later that Gawain was away from court at the time; cf. p. ss, n. 2. Gawain was the assistant in other tales, going to the aid of the hero in Ty and in its cognate in the Dutch Lanzelet. 44 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES demanded the armor, and was struck over the shoulders by the Knight's lance for his pains. With his gaverlot he smote the Knight through the eye to the back of the neck, and slew him. Yones arrived when Perceval was having trouble to loose the red armor, and assisted him to don it. Perceval bade Yones bear the cup to the King and messages to the damsel and the fool whom Kex had struck. ^ He rode on till he reached the castle of Gornemans; there he was instructed in the use of arms by him, received one night's enter- tainment, and was knighted by Gornemans next morning. He left to seek his mother, and came next, by accident, to the castle of the Besieged Lady (Blancheflur) . The two poems show great similarity of substance. But they manifest, also, certain considerable differences. For one thing the poets used different devices for presenting their materials before the reader (hearer). The writer of SP narrates in his own person the coming of the Red Knight to court, and the insult to the King. Crestien, in a sort of second-hand way, places the account in the mouth of the King.^ This difference, in its turn, rendered neces- sary another one: in C Perceval, before reaching the King's castle, meets the Knight; in SP there is no such meeting. For a second thing, the two poems are different in contents. All of the fourth incident and part of the fifth of SP are entirely unrepresented in C. Nothing of Kex's insulting behavior to those who honor Perceval and its consequences as told in C appears in SP. Although C does not make the hero's entrance into court a separate incident, while SP does, it is interesting to note that the two versions possess in common two striking points that do not appear in any other versions. The first is an evidence of boorish- ness in the hero's manners — he rides so near to King Arthur that his horse's head kisses the King's forehead or displaces his majesty's head-dress. The second is the King's pensiveness— in C, because he is meditating on the Red Knight's insult; in SP, because, when he looks on Perceval, he is reminded of the knight Syr Percyvelle, whom he had lost fifteen years before. Crestien's device of presenting indirectly the Red Knight's visit and insult (by making the King recount them) is to be con- ' Cf. use of same device in the "disputed passage," chap. i. The author of Pd says (direct narrative) that before Peredur reached court a knight had been there and insulted the King, etc. Wolfram, "improving " upon C, has the Red Knight recapitulate the affair when he meets Perceval about to enter the palace. THE RED KNIGHT-WITCH-UNCLE STORY 45 sidered, I think, an attempt at refinement; for the reader's (hearer's) attention is thereby centered upon the King's grief rather than the Knight's roughness, and a rough scene seems less rough if told as having happened than if presented as occurring. It is easy to conceive of Crestien's refining a source of the SP type. It is less easy, if C be considered the source, to account for the stepping-down process from C's refinement to SP's rudeness. The incident of the Red Knight's death furnishes three interest- ing points for mention here : (a) The redness of the Knight's armor is insisted on by all the versions — SP, C, W, Pd. The equipment is not stated in our cycle to have possessed magic qualities;' but in C the behavior of Gornemans when Perceval comes to his castle appears vaguely to hint at something extraordinary in it;^ and Wolfram (III, 1355-66) dwells upon the (supernatural ?) power of the horse.^ {h) The red armor came early to be intimately associated with Perceval, who was himself then sometimes referred to as the Red Knight. But for Perceval to acquire it, it was necessary for the Red Knight to die. Hence Crestien found it impossible to save the Hfe of that knight, though his hero does not slay any other person ; and Crestien offers a sort of retroactive excuse for the Red Knight's death by making it (through Gornemans' advice) seem due to Perceval's want of courtly instruction.'' {c) The third and most significant point is the burning of the Red Knight's body. The English writer thought it a very important matter, for he reverts to it twice : the Witch says she could have revived the dead body if she had found it; and the Uncle expresses joy when he learns it has been burnt. There is nothing in C out of which the ' SP and Pd, however, assert that the Knight was a magician. ' Cf. 11. 2559-71; 2576-77; 2727-30; in the first passage Gornemans shows curiosity about Perceval's arms; in the second, about his horse; in the third — "Dont, alons huimais a I'ostel, Fait li preudom qu'il n'i a tel; Et vous arez, qui qu'il anuit, Ostel sans vilonie anuit." And the hero in Red Sh (cf. later) says he desires the arms of the Insulter because they are the best in the world, but he does not get them. ' Cf. Sir Eglamour, 610-15 ("Thornton Romances," 121 fif.), in which a damsel gives the hero a red horse of such virtue that a man may never be slain while riding it. In C the Knight had dismounted before he struck Perceval; in SP, Pd, and, apparently, T^ he had not. * In W Gurnemanz was not pleased to hear of Ither's death (III, 1619-20). 46 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES SP account could easily have grown, but there are some Hnes now of little purport that become significant on the hypothesis that they are remnants of a burning-the-body incident somewhere in the sources of C. Perceval is speaking to Yones: Je quidoie de vostre roi Qu'il m'eust ces armes donees; Ains auroie par carbonees Trestout escarbellie^ le mort, Que nule des armes enport. — 2326-30. The three incidents — the arrival of Perceval at court, the insult of the Red Knight, and the overthrow of the Red Knight — could conceivably, without any overwhelming difficulty, so far as our discussion has yet shown, have come from C into SP. We should then have to say that the visit to the Uncle was so far altered as to leave the merest fact of a visit as the only remnant. But there remains the incident of the Witch in SP, which has no possible origin in C. And the discussion that follows will show that it is not an episode, to be looked on as something standing alone because invented by the author or borrowed and lugged into his tale. But it is part of '' a story." The other incidents in SP that belong with it, as parts of the same story, are the insult of the Red Knight, his death, and Perceval's visit with his Uncle; and the whole may be designated the Red Knight- Witch-Uncle story. From the vari- ants that we possess, it is possible to reconstruct much of the story in its more primitive form. It is the basis for this portion of C, but since SP preserves more of the earlier form than C does, it is certain that C is not the source for this part of SP. Before beginning a discussion of this "story," let me point out that after the arrival of the hero at court Ty, Card, and Fool cease to be like SP and C; their heroes go to aid a woman, Perceval goes to avenge the insult to the King. Summaries of Ty, Card, and Fool follow: Ty. — Having kissed his mother farewell, Tyolet went over mountains and valleys till he came to the court of the King. Arthur was seated at meat when he rode up to the dais. Tyolet spoke not. Arthur bade him descend ' Most MSS have "esbraone"; cf. Miss Weston, Leg. of SP, I, 79. THE RED KNIGHT-WITCH-UNCLE STORY 47 and eat, and tell what he sought, who he was, and what his name was. Tyolet said he wished to be made a knight, and gave his name, and said his mother was the widow of the forest. Arthur was pleased, and Tyolet sat down to eat. Soon a damsel came in seeking aid for herself (275-323). Card. — (Lacuna.) Arthur heard Carduino, took him by the hand, and asked his name, father, mother, and country. Carduino did not know who his father was; his mother was "d'una vil giente"; and Carduino had come to serve Arthur truly. The King bade the barons serve him. He washed and went to the table. The barons marveled at his size. Presently came in a beautiful damsel to seek the King's aid for her mistress (xxx-xxxiii) . Fool. — The Fool went in wonder to see the palace of his father's brother. In a dispute he slew the King's son. Then he went where the King was. "Creud orm," said the Fool. The King asked who he was. He replied that he was the fool of the forest and could make a fool of the King. The King said his adviser had done that when he persuaded him (King) to leave the widow alive when he slew his (King's) brother. The King then went with the Fool on an adventure to rescue a beautiful woman (162-63). The tales to be studied for the purpose of reconstructing the Red Knight- Witch-Uncle story are SP, C, W, Pd, Gerbert's "con- tinuation," and some modern folk-tales.^ Next to be set down are summaries of the tales concerned,^ and afterward will come the discussion of them. Four incidents appear, though they do not always occur in the same order.^ To enable the reader to follow more readily, the summaries are arranged in two sets: SP, Pd {a and b), G, Red Sh, and Conall are first set forth by incident, the sequence of the tale being disregarded where necessary; the second set includes the rest of the modern folk- tales, summarized each according to its own sequence. The reader not familiar with Red Sh will get a good idea of it by reading the summary of Ransom (pp. 55 ff., infra), a variant of it. ' Nutt {Stud., esp. pp. 165-69) pointed out many resemblances, using SP, Pd, G, Red Sh, and Conall. He was intent upon finding the Grail, however, and my study leads me to believe the Grail entered the legend late. ' Nothing will be gained by repetition or elaboration of the summary of C. IF, in outUne, is much hke C: the chief variations are that (a) the accoimt of the Red Knight's insult is placed in the mouth of the Knight himself; (b) the Knight's character is exalted and praised; (c) the two persons who honor Parzival at court are dignified, named, and given greater importance; {d) Gurnemanz has three sons (now dead) and a daughter instead of the two attendant 3'ouths of C; he offers the daughter in marriage to Parzival, and she is refused. The significance of the variations will be discussed in the comments. ' The sentences are numbered to indicate the original sequence, and also for use in the table on p. 55, below. 48 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES A. THE INSULT TO THE KING SP. — I. The King was among his courtiers, the hero seated near him. 2. The Red Knight (a magician) entered, made sport of the company, drank the wine in the Eling's cup, took the cup, and departed. 3. The King lamented the want of a champion, and spoke of the Knight's former insults. 4. Perceval undertook the adventure. 5. It had been predicted that he woidd avenge the death of his father, slain by the Red Knight. Pd{a) — I. King Arthur was in his court, but the hero was not present. 2. The Red Knight (a magician) entered, dashed wine in the Queen's face, struck her a violent blow in the face, gave a general challenge, took the goblet, and departed. 3. Shortly afterward the hero arrived at court and was honored by two persons, whom Kay thereupon insulted. 4. He heard from Kay of the Red Knight's visit and insult, and was bidden to go and procure the Red Knight's armor. 5. He departed to do so. 6. By prophecy it appeared that he was to be the best knight in the world. Pd{b).^ — 13. The Empress (the lady who before this time had given Pere- dur a magic stone; cf. below) was holding a great marriage tournament. 14, One day when the hero was seated beside her, a Black Man entered, bearing a goblet of wine; he dropped upon one knee and besought the Empress to bestow the goblet on no one who would not fight with him for it. 15. The hero requested the cup, drank the wine, and used the cup to pay a debt. 16. The scene was repeated for a second and a third man. 17. The hero slept that night. 18. Next day he armed himself, went to the meadow, and slew the three men. G. — (No equivalent. The scene has already been related in C.) Red Sh. — I. The King of Eirinn was seated among his nobles, the hero being near by. 2. A personage (a magician) drew near, spoke to (insulted?) the company, struck the King in the face, knocking out three teeth, which he took, and departed. 3. Red Shield and two other knights undertook to avenge the insult. Red Sh variants.^ Variant a. — The king was out hunting with his attend- ants, his son being near by. A rider on a black horse came, struck the king with his fist, knocked out one of his teeth, and took it away with him. The king's son vowed to recover the tooth, and set off on his travels (Mrs. Mac- Tavish's version, Campbell's Tales, II, 484). Variant b. — [The King was situated as in Red Sh (?), but instead of the rider on the black horse] a head came in a flame of fire, and another head came ' Pd{b} is Peredur from the incident of the Black Oppressor to the marriage of Peredur to the Empress (Nutt's ed., pp. 271-81). It has in its time served several uses: Rhys {Arthurian Legend) used it in an efiort to show that Perceval and Iwain are well-nigh two names for the same hero; Schofield {Harv. Stud, and Notes, IV) made it an important link in his endeavor to reconstruct the earher form of the Beautiful-Unknown tale. In neither of these two cases, it seems to me, was this portion of Pd used properly. For Pd{b) 1-12 see below. ' The variants are given by Campbell in his notes. THE RED KNIGHT-WITCH-UNCLE STORY 49 singing. A fist was struck on the door of the mouth of the king, and a tooth was knocked out The head did this three years after each other/ and then it went home (MacDonald in Tales, II, 485). Conall. — [A partially similar incident.] i. The King was at table with guests, the hero being present. 2. An enemy entered, drew his fist, and struck the King between the mouth and the nose, and drove out three front teeth, which he caught on the back of his fist 3. The hero avenged the insult, though not with death (Campbell's Tales, III, 249). B. THE INSULTER'S DEATH^ SP. — 6. The hero left court, encountered and slew the Red Knight, donned the red armor, and rode on. C, W, and Pd{a) are, except for the burning of the Knight's body, much like SP; there are no points needing elaboration. Pd{b). — Cf. 18 above and i below. ' This statement lends support to, though it does not explain, a difficult passage in SP, in which Arthur asserts: "Fyve 3eres hase he [Red Knight] thus gane, And my coupes fro me tane, And my gude knyghte slayne, Mene calde syr Percyvelle; Sythene takene hase he three," etc. (633-37). Cf. also items 16 and 18 under Pd{h) above; and the time allusions in Faolan (seven years); Manus (seven years); Fionn mid Bran. With the prophecy recalled by Arthur, that Perceval should avenge his father's death (by inference, slay the Red Knight and the Witch), cf. the prediction in Pd{b) (p. 276, 1. 9) that Peredur should slay the Addanc; in G that only Perceval could slay the Hag; and in various tales summarized below that only the hero could accomplish the adventure. In the Scotch tales it is the King's teeth (or tooth) that the insulter takes away; when the hero recovers them, he places them in a cup of wine or water which he gives to the King, and as soon as the monarch drinks, the teeth fly back into their proper places. In SP, C, W, and Pd it is the King's drinking-cup that the Red Knight bears away. The Scotch form is, I think, the more primitive; perhaps the SP form rose through an effort at refinement. ' In SP the hero burnt the Knight's corpse and, later, that of the Witch. A connection has been suggested between the Mother's Advice and the lines: "He sayd, 'My moder bad me, Whenne my dart solde brokene be, Owte of the irene brenne the tree. Now es me fyre gnede!'" (749-52). Cf. Nutt, Stud., p. 149. I have been unable to discover any connection with the Advice, and incline rather to see in them the poet's ex post facto invention for the purpose of justifying the burning of the Knight's body (cf. also SP, 1679 ff.). Wolfram makes the Red Knight the nephew of Uther Pendragon (III, 877-78), best of knights, and near kinsman to Parzival. The romancers were rather fond of referring to a knight as a "Red Knight": cf. Erec, 5367-6410, esp. 5898 ff.; Perlesvaus (Potvin, I, 20-21), a "Knight of the Red Shield." who was slain by Perlesvaus before he left his forest home; Wauchier, 23124 ff.; Jacob von Maerlant's Roman von Torcc (21 21 ff.), where a "Red Knight" is overthrown by Torec; Malory, Morle D' Arthur, Gareth and "Ironsyde" (Sommer's ed., I, 234 ff.); etc. 50 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES Red Sh. — Cf. ii and 19 below. G. — Wanting. Conall. — The hero overthrew but did not slay the Insulter. C AND D. THE WITCH AND THE RELATIVES INCIDENTS SP . — 7. The hero rode all night [but in the morning was back in the same place]. 8. He met a Witch, who recognized his horse and arms, and thought he was the Red Knight, her son. 9. She addressed the hero, who remained quiet: "Had you been slain and your arms taken off, I could have revived you." 10. Then the hero knew that burning the Knight's body had saved his own life. 11. Taking the Witch upon [her son's] spear, he cast her body into the iire that had burned the son's body. 12. After a short ride, he approached ten men, who fled from him, thinking him the Red Knight. 13. They were the hero's Uncle and his nine sons. 14. When they learned he was not the Red Knight, they explained to him the Knight's enmity, and then all went to the Uncle's hall, where the hero was entertained. 15. While they were at table, a messenger arrived, announcing the plight of the Besieged Lady (Lufamour in SP; Blancheflur in C). 16. The hero decided to go to the rescue. 17. Three of his cousins started off to accompany him, but he soon sent them home, apparently without reason, and he went on alone. G. — I. One day Perceval met four Young Men leaving a battlefield and carrying Gornumant, their father, badly wounded. 2. After being entertained by Gornumant, and hearing his story, the hero vowed to avenge him. 3. But he learned that the enemies slain by day were resuscitated at night by a hideous Hag. 4. After slaying his adopted enemies, the hero lay down upon the battle- field to sleep. 5. At midnight he saw the Hag coming — Ele arsist ausi come une esche Se on boutast en li le fu. 6. She had two little barrels of magic ointment which would revive the dead. 7. After she had restored four enemies to life, the hero mounted and rode at her. 8. She recognized him and knew that only he could slay her. 9. She explained to him that he could never find the Grail so long as she lived, that the balm would revive the dead, and that she made war upon Gornumant at the com- mand of the King of the Waste City because Gornumant had knighted Perceval. 10. He struck off her head, next had his horse slain under him, and was wounded, but slew the resuscitated knights. 11. He revived his horse, and then the best of his enemies, only to slay him again. 12. He cured himself, and went to the castle and cured Gornumant. 13. Promising to return to Blancheflur (niece of Gornumant) and marry her, he departed. Pd{b). — I. After slaying the Black Oppressor, Peredur rode to the palace of the Sons of the King of Tortures, entered, and found only women. 2. Presently a charger arrived bearing a corpse in the saddle. 3. A woman took THE RED KNIGHT-WITCH-UNCLE STORY 5 1 the corpse, bathed it in warm water, placed balsam on it, and the man rose up whole. 4. This was repeated for two other men. 5. Explanation was made that all three were slain once every day by the "Addanc." 6. Next morning the three Young Men started off to battle. 7. The hero begged to accompany them, but was told that if he were slain there would be no one to revive him. 8. He attempted, nevertheless, to follow them, but they had disappeared. 9. He met a beautiful woman, who accosted him, explained about the Addanc (a mysterious cave-dweller), and gave him a magic stone by means of which to overcome the Addanc — on condition that he should love her supremely, and seek her "toward India." [An incident' omitted.] 10. The hero arrived at the cave, used his stone, pierced the Addanc with his spear, and cut off the Addanc's head. 11. As he left the cave, he met the three Young Men, who said there was a prediction that he would slay " that monster." 1 2. The hero refused the sister they offered him in marriage, gave them the Addanc's head, and departed. [In two incidents the hero befriended Etlym, a knight who wore red armor and rode a red horse. Then he attended the marriage tournament of the Empress: cf. Pd{b) 13, above.] Red Sh. — [The hero traveled seeking the Insulter. He leaped over a circle of fire, and entered an island. He found on a hillside a beautiful woman v.'ith the head of a great sleeping youth on her knee. It was hard to wake the youth, but (according to prophecy) the hero roused him. The youth called the hero by his name (Red Sh) — "It is this day that thou has the name"; and they fought till the hero swept the head off the other. Then he took the Lady to the ship; and when he went back into the island, his treacherous com- panions sailed away with the Lady (458-61).] 4. After wandering for some time in the island, the hero drew near a castle, or town. 5. He saw three Young Men coming heavily, wearily, tired from a battlefield. 6. They saluted, and all four entered the town. 7. That night they slept. 8. Next morning the three Young Men began to arm themselves. 9. They were the hero's foster brothers ; and they told him that for a year and a day they had warred against the Son of Darkness, Son of Dimness, and a hundred people, but every enemy slain one day was alive the next. 10. The hero wished to go to battle with them, but learned they were under a spell of such a nature that if he fought he must fight alone against all the enemies. II. He went to the battlefield, and when he had killed the Son and all his hundred people, being wounded, he lay down on the field to sleep for the night. 12. Waked by a great noise [and light?] from the seashore, he saw coming a great, toothy Carlin. 13. She bent over two corpses, placed her finger in their mouths, and restored them to life. 14. Next she placed her finger in the mouth of the hero, who with a bite severed it; she kicked him a long way off, and leaned over another. 15. The hero took "her son's short spear" ' The omitted incident bears some resemblance to the brachet incident in the "Lay of the Great Fool" and that in the Wauchier "Continuation." On this resemblance cf. Schofield, Stud., 171 flf. 52 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES and struck off her head. i6. He rested till he heard his three foster brothers weeping and seeking him. 17. They said that if they had the Carhn's vessel of balm, they could soon cure him. 18. He directed them to the Carlin's body, and when they had fetched the balm and anointed him, he rose cured. 19. The next day the hero slew the personage who had insulted the King. Red Sh Variants. Variant a (cont.). — The King's son went to three houses, where he found three sisters, each of whom gave him a pair of magic shoes, which returned home when they had carried him seven years' journey in one day. The last sister was young and lovely; she lowered him over a rock in a basket to fight her brother, who was a giant with three heads. He cut off a head each day; fired a pistol shot at the foot of the rock as a signal to be hauled up each even- ing, for the giant never fought after sunset; and he was cured with a magic balsam by the lady each night, and went out fresh each morning. The giant's head leaped on as often as it was cut off, but an eagle came over the prince and told him to hold the sword on the neck till the marrow froze, which he did, and the giant was killed. He took the spoil from a castle, found the King's tooth in a drawer, returned home with the beautiful lady, healed the King, and married the lady (Tales, II, 484-85). Variant b (cont.). — Campbell says: "The remainder of [a second] story is nearly the same as the Knight of the Red Shield then follows a differ- ent set of adventures The fearful old woman, with the marvelous teeth; the gigantic warriors, of whom there are three with many heads; and three lovely ladies, who are found under the ground, and carried off by the cowards [the hero's two companions]. The story ends with the replacement of the king's lost teeth, and the punishment of the knight and the cook [the companions]; and [the hero] married the three ladies at once" {Tales, II, 485-86). Variant c— In this variant, which Campbell barely sketches, the story appears to draw close to Conall. The hero was Young Heavenly Eagle, son of the King of Greece: he married a Greek lady, and turned out to be the King's only legitimate son (Tales, II, 487). Variant d, under the name of "The Son of Green Spring by Valour." — The hero was son of the Red Ridere, and went off in a boat with the King's two sons to recover the King's teeth [apparently opening with the Insult, just as does Red Sh]. .... He had a stone of victory, with which he slew his foes He came to a small house where he found no man, but food for three — wine and wheaten loaves. He took a little from each portion, and got into one of the three beds. Three sorely wounded men came in, cured themselves with a magic balsam, and discovered him, and on the morrow he went to fight for them. The three Young Men were enchanted princes, the rightful heirs of this fiery island, compelled for twenty years to contend daily with armies, giants, and monsters. They had lost their mother, and someone had stolen their sister, who turned out to be the lady whom the hero had already rescued. They told him what he would have to encounter, but he went on and overcame THE RED KNIGHT-WITCH-UNCLE STORY 53 everything, and his coming had been foretold. Armies of enchanted warriors fell, three giants with several heads, the three harpers of the little harps, the Son of Darkness, Son of Dimness, and, worst of all, a terrible old Carlin, because he was aided by his victory stone When the old Carlin arrived, she came over the sea with a magic cup to revive the dead warriors and her son. She put her finger into the hero's mouth, and he bit it off. He cut her head off, it leaped on again, he cut it off again, and it flew up into the skies; he held his sword on the neck, looked up, and saw the head coming down and aiming at him; he leaped to one side, the head went four feet into the earth, •and victory was gained. The three Young Men carried him home, bathed him in balsam, and cured him. He raised their father and mother from the dead, and they promised him their daughter and realm. He recovered and restored the King's teeth, restored his father to honor, and married the fair lady, who was daughter of the king of the town under the waves {Tales, II, 491-92). Conall. — 4. After a multitude of adventures, Conall wondered how the fight in the realm of lubhar^ [ = Judea, Jewry, Newry ?] was coming on between his mother's brother and the Turks, and if his father and brothers [who had gone to the aid of the King of lubhar] were yet alive. 5. He set out to see, with him his wife, Duanach (his minstrel), and two champions for friends. 6. When they reached the realm of lubhar, the fighting was going on. [7. Three one-day battles are described; as the first two are redundant, only the third will be summarized. All whom Conall slew one day were alive the next. The King of lubhar was brother to Conall's mother. On the evening of the second day, after the battle, the King of lubhar sought Conall at his inn, but Duanach said he was asleep, and refused to wake him; but he told the King who Conall was, and promised to tell Conall of his Uncle's visit and to deliver the King's invitation to Conall to come to the castle next day.] 8. On the third day the army of the Turks came on, and Conall went with the people of lubhar to battle. 9. He saw the big Turk come opposite him the third time [he had slain this giant(?) twice already]; Conall slew him, and the Turks fled. 10. The people of lubhar slaughtered till no more enemies were to be found, and then retired. 11. "It seemed to Conall that there was something that was to be understood going on in the field of battle in the night." 12. Ordering Duanach back to the inn, he stayed to watch the slain — and Duanach stayed to watch him. 13. When the night grew dark, there came a great Turkish Carlin, bearing a white glaive of light with which she could see seven miles before her and seven behind her, and a flask of balsam. 14. She placed three drops of balsam in the mouth of a corpse and bade him rise and go home; he went. 15. She passed from one to another, reviving them for the next day's battle. 16. She treated Conall in the same way, but from his alacrity she saw he was not a Turk, and fled. 17. Conall pursued; she threw away the flask and the glaive; but he overtook her and slew her with his sword. 18. Using 'A variant gives "Turkey" (Campbell, p. 260, note). 54 SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES the glaive of light he sought the balsam, but Duanach had already picked it up. 19. Conall took the flask, and gave the glaive to Duanach, bidding him lead off the resurrected Turks to destruction. 20. Conall put the balsam under his head and went to sleep, since he could do nothing more till he had slept. 21. Afterward he revived his own people, and went about the field seeking his brothers (whom he gave to his two champion friends to take to safety). 22. The great Turk came to him on hands and knees. 23. Conall found his father and the King of Laidheann imprisoned and fettered. 24. The death the great Turk had measured out for them, to that Conall doomed the Turk. 25. After that Conall returned to his wife and took her home with his father and brothers, and all were welcomed by his mother (285-93). SP and C show, as has been said, certain significant agreements that lock them closely together. They tell the same story, with this limitation, that SP has added some parts that were not in the original story or that C has lost some that were. C, W, and Pd{a) tell one and the same story. SP agrees with Red Sh, G, Pd{b), and Conall and they agree one with another, in so many points, great and small, as to show that they preserve the same story. SP mediates between the group of the first three accounts on the one side and the group of the last four accounts on the other. The four incidents — A, the Knight's Insult; B, his Death; C, the Witch's Death, and D, the Meeting with the Uncle (relatives)' — appear, in so far as they occur, in sequence as follows: C, W, Pd{a SP RedSh G Pd{h) Conall .... A B D A B C D A D D C C B D C A A B C D • B The subjoined table shows that in the tales of this set there is incorporated a single story — the Red Knight- Witch-Uncle story — and that, though it appears with several variations or as several variants, it is at bottom one and the same story. The table shows In the comment on this incident (p. 68, infra), it will be shown that it fell into two parts in the early form of the story, a meeting before, and one after, the battle. In the Perceval tale and in Conall, only the second visit appears, though a modification of even this statement is necessary for SP. THE RED KNIGHT-WITCH-UNCLE STORY 55 that though the sequence of incidents changes from tale to tale, the sequence of items within each incident is much the same. SP RedSh G P ^\^:>^ raiVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT 3 1158 00864 9567 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 345 576 3 '■•mi. ,15, ':^i .■ ' iv-- ■'■ J,. Univ( So L