Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/427

Rh But it is from the Galahad portion that Prof. Rhys chiefly draws his parallels to Welsh tradition. The importance of this for the Celtic origin of the legend is, in view of Prof. Heinzel's conclusions, obvious. Even if the latter is right, and if the most Christianised and apparently latest portion of the legend is in reality the oldest, there are still Prof. Rhys's parallels to be reckoned with.

I may say that renewed familiarity with Malory, due to a careful study of Dr. Sommer's third volume, had previously convinced me that I had unduly neglected the Galahad portion of the legend. From this, however, to accepting the position definitely stated by Prof. Heinzel, and practically taken up (in complete independence of Prof .Heinzel's researches) by Prof Rhys, is a wide step, and one which I doubt I shall ever take. But, for reasons already given, I defer any definite statement of my views for the present.

As regards Prof. Rhys in particular, I must confess my scepticism respecting the myth he has wrung out of the romances. The point is worth detailed examination, both as exemplifying the methods of Professors Heinzel and Rhys, and the fascinating obscurity of the Grail problem. Great stress is laid in nearly all versions of the legend upon the effect produced upon a particular country (sometimes England, sometimes an undetermined district) either by the success of the Grail Quester, or by his failure at first. The effect is either, definitely, the restoration of the land to fertility, or, indefinitely, the removal of enchantments that lay upon it. In some versions the waste condition of the land is apparently only due to the first failure of the Grail Quester to achieve success, in the majority it is the result of previous conflict between personages who are in general related to the Grail Quester, This second form is commonly known as the "Dolorous Stroke", and a variant version of the incident is found in Arthurian romance in the story of Balin and Balan, entirely disconnected with the Grail legend. Prof Rhys equates the