Page:Studies on the legend of the Holy Grail.djvu/240

214 nature of this curious institution. In the Irish hero-tales geasa attach themselves to the hero from his birth up, and are the means by which fate compasses the downfall of the otherwise invincible champion; thus it is a gess of Diarmaid that he never hunt a swine, and when he is artfully trapped into doing it by Fionn he meets his death; it is a gess of Cuchulainn's that he never refuse food offered him by women, and as he goes to his last fight he accepts the poisoned meal of the witches though he full well knows it will be fatal to him. But, besides this, geasa may also be an appeal to the hero's honour as well as a magic charm laid upon him, and it is sometimes difficult to see by which of the two motives the hero is moved. Thus Graine, wife of Fionn, lays geasa upon Diarmaid that he carry her off from her husband, and though he is in the last degree unwilling he must comply.

Enough has been said to show that we have in the geasa a cause quite sufficient to explain the mysterious prohibition to ask questions laid upon Perceval, if the first explanation I have offered of this prohibition be thought inadequate.