Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/60

 52 romance, not from one source alone, but from many, sometimes quite different ones.

Two main sources of inspiration have been suggested by the various writers on this subject. To some, the legend in its entirety owes its origin to Christian lore; others have divided the matter, assigning the Early history to the Christian source, whilst the other—Quest—would be of Celtic (Welsh) origin. It is remarkable, however, that both sections have totally ignored another main source of mediæval poetry and of modern civilisation; I mean the old classical literature of Greece and Rome, But before proceeding further, I must first make clear my standpoint.

The Celtic origin does not rest upon documentary proof, upon older texts and MSS. than Chrestien's poem, but on parallels to be found in Celtic folk-lore, and some later versions. I still hold to the theory that these versions are, in fact, only variations of Chrestien's poem of later origin, and that, through the instrumentality of such versions and adaptations, these romances entered into the possession of the people, and became its unwritten lore, the modern folk-lore.

Far, therefore, from being the primitive source for Chrestien or his predecessor, modern tales are merely the reflex of that written literature, and are by no means anterior to it. Parallels adduced from modern tales do not therefore prove that these tales were the direct sources whence Chrestien drew the elements of his poem, but, as I contend, they are the outcome of that literature.

We must look for older parallels than the time of Chrestien, older than the second half of the twelfth century. We must study first the surroundings in which Chrestien grew up, what amount of knowledge was accessible to him, what great events stirred the nations of Europe, and what kind of literary currents swayed the people at that time. It is only by answering such questions that we can come to a more positive result, and