Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/208

 1 96 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

work the underlying symbolism is apparent. (7.) The Grail has a curative property, and sufferers are kept alive by its influence. In the same manner, the insane Lancelot, in the French prose romance, recovers his sanity from the Grail ; and in the Queste we read how a sick knight is healed by its apparition. (8.) It is invisible to un- believers. In the Queste the sinful Lancelot loses his sight in con- sequence of beholding the vessel, and in the Pellesvaus it refuses to appear to Lancelot. (9.) It gives oracles which guide the con- duct of its votaries ; these are furnished by letters of light visible on the rim of the Grail. In the Joseph of Arimathsea, also, the course of the servants of the Grail is guided by oracles which it fur- nishes, either by means of a voice from heaven, or letters brought from heaven by an angel. (10.) The service of the Grail requires celibacy ; with Robert de Boron and the French prose romances, celibacy is a requisite to the highest excellence. That Wolfram excepts the king of the Grail is plainly an inconsistency of his own. (11.) The agreement extends to at least one name: Wolfram calls the castle Munsalvaesche, and the country Terre de Salvsesche ; in the poem of Robert we read that the personages of the action are to meet in the vales of Avaron (read Avalon, that is to say, Glaston- bury) ; this is described as a savage country : —

En la terre vers Occident Ki est sauvage durement Es vaus d'Avaron.

(12.) The author of the history translated by Kiot is said to be the astrologer Flegetanis. In the Grand St. Graal, among personages connected with the race of kings of the Grail is a queen Flegetine (or Flegentine) ; the resemblance may be accidental, or the sound may have caught the ear of Wolfram, and served as the basis of his name.

The correspondences pointed out, certainly, cannot be considered as the result of independent developments. On the other hand, the story of Wolfram offers features which seem a result of the reac- tion of his own fancy. Thus, like the prose Galahad romances, he names a series of kings of the Grail ; but not only the names differ, but also the country : Wolfram makes these sovereigns belong to the race of Anjou ; in the choice of this province, he was doubtless influenced by the fame of the Plantagenets. So, as already noted, he makes the servants of the Grail constitute an order of Tem- plars, who with the lance defend against intruders the passes of their country. These are dispatched to relieve lands in a state of anarchy, while the damsels, also by the divine mandate chosen from many lands, supply wives for the kings of the earth. The exigen- cies of the poet's plot, and also his high estimate of wedlock, induce him to relax the rules of the order in favor of its sovereign.

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