Page:Studies on the legend of the Holy Grail.djvu/162

136 "Blacker were her face and her two hands than the blackest iron covered with pitch."

"And she greeted Arthur and all his household except Peredur."

In the Mabinogi, Peredur is reproached for not having asked about the streaming spear; in Chrestien "la lance qui saine" is mentioned first although the Grail is added. Had Peredur asked the meaning and cause of the wonders, the "King would have been restored to health, and his dominions to peace."

Whereas now "his knights will perish, and wives will be widowed, and maidens will be left portionless"—

In the "Stately Castle" where dwells the loathly damsel, are five hundred and sixty-six knights, and "the lady whom he loves best with each," in "Castle Orguellos" five hundred and seventy, and not one "qui n'ait s'amie avoeques lui." "And whoever would acquire fame in arms and encounters and conflicts, he will gain it there if he desire it."

"And whoso would reach the summit of fame and honour, I know where he may find it. There is a castle on a lofty mountain,