Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/206

 THE LEGEND OF THE GRAIL.

II.

HERE is, further, that peculiar country Sarras, mentioned as the land whence the Saracens came. The nomenclature in these romances, both that of persons and that of places, is one which deserv^es a careful investigation. If we could succeed in fixing some of the most important localities, much will be won for the date, age, and probable origin of the sources. I cannot linger over that important question here, nor even touch it more than I have done. It opens a wide prospect where fancy would display itself in etymological plays, riddles and solutions. The country of Sarras is one of these. As far as I have been able to investigate there is no trace of a country bearing such a name in the East. Looking to the legend of Alexander, I think the mystery will be solved. After leaving the Temple of the Sun, Alexander went to the country of Xerxes and delivered decisive battles (so in Valerius). In the French version (v. G. Paris, i, p. 189-190) of Thomas of Kent, we have there (chap, ccxxx) substituted for Xerxes and his army: "de gens touz nuz sunt apellez serres, and in ch. ccxxxii, ccxxxiii, "del pople qu'est apellés Serres et de lur dreiture", "coment les Serres guierent Alix." The gymnosophists take the place of the Persians and are called the people of Xerxes. Out of this Serres-Xerxes grew the Sarras of the Grail cycle. These few examples suffice to establish a close connection also between minor details in the Alexandreid and in the Grail. The central portion has been taken over bodily and forms the central portion of the Grail, with all the