Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 9, 1898.djvu/291

Rh

's book is a clear and interesting account of the part taken by Gawain in some of the romances, with a view to a possible interpretation of the facts in connection with Celtic, and especially with Irish literature. The aim of the essay is more particularly to bring out the analogies between Gawain and Cuchulinn, some of which have already been touched on in previous dissertations on this subject, e.g. in the note of M. Gaston Paris on the Green Knight, in his survey of the Arthurian romances. Miss Weston's book does not pretend to be in any respect exhaustive; it indicates certain profitable ways in which the subject may be approached, it is full of suggestion, and very pleasant reading for anyone who is concerned with these matters. It is a supplement to Mr. Nutt's Holy Grail, working out still further the relations between Celtic and Old French romance. The argument is, mainly, that there was an "original Gawain legend" which is in some sense or other retained in the poems of Chrétien de Troyes and Wolfram von Eschenbach, and in other romances, and which may be in some measure reconstructed. The process of reconstruction brings out various points of resemblance between Gawain and Cuchulinn; a mythological equation between the heroes is intended, though by no means dogmatically or unfairly asserted, in the course of the essay. The argument is not complete, but it is well worth consideration. It would show little comprehension of the tentative and reasonable spirit of the essay to accept it all without question. Some "cavillations" may be entered here, in the hope that they may further the discussion.

What is meant by "an original Gawain legend"? There is a tendency to take rather too much for granted, in the use of this and similar phrases; e.g. on p. 102, "the adventure which demonstrably formed part of the primitive Gawain story." But is this primitive thing itself "demonstrable"? One may be permitted to have doubts. Not enough allowance is made for the possibi-