Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/287

 The Legend of the Holy Grail. 275

THE LEGEND OF THE HOLY GRAIL.

VI.

TALES RELATED TO THE ENFANCES OF PERCEVAL.

Notice has now been taken of the stories directly connected with the legend of the Grail. Brief mention, however, may be made of certain narratives which have to do with the history of a simple youth brought up in the wilderness, and unacquainted with the manners of chivalry.

(a.) Li Biaus Desconuefus. (The Fair Unknown). A story very common in mediaeval Europe, as in other quarters of the globe, recited the adventures of a son in search of a father, whom he meets without recognition, and with whom he fights a battle, either tragic or peaceful in issue. In the first continuator of Crestien's Perceval, such an experience is assigned to an illegitimate son of Gawain ; when questioned, the youth can say no more than that he is ignorant of his name, having only been called in his home, where his father is hated, the nephew of his uncle. We learn that the boy has been stolen in youth, brought up by a fosterer, and taught by a teacher, who instructed him to value his arms. The incoherent tale shows him in the company of a wandering damsel, who is obliged to give him lessons in the use of lance and shield. In a joust he slays his opponent, but, being ignorant of death, wishes the latter to renew the encounter ; he prefers to expose his body rather than his shield. It seems safe to set down these last-mentioned traits as belonging to the mass of floating jests concerning the fortunes of a simpleton. Other adventures of the hero have no resemblance to that of Perce- val. The second continuator knew that the son of Gawain was called the Fair Unknown ; Renaud de Beaujeu, an imitator of Cres- tien, made him the hero of a poem, and gave him the name of Guinglain. The English version of the tale has an introduction, in which the mother is made to keep her son from the knowledge of arms, and to call him nothing but Fair Son. This idea, as already remarked, appears in Wolfram, being with him a misinterpretation of Crestien, and I see no reason to suppose that a different mode of explanation should be adopted in the English production.

(b.) Carduino. With the poem of Renaud is connected an Italian poem of the fourteenth century, constituting a very free treatment of the theme. The mother of the hero, after the murder of her husband by knights high in favor at Arthur's court, retires to the wilderness. The boy, who is told that his mother and himself are the only human beings, finds two javelins in the wood, and obtains food and clothing by their use. He sees the knights of the king,

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