Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/165

Rh CHAP. of conquests wrought by it in the hands of Roland we may add the exploits of the good brands Excalibur, and Gram, and Balmung, and in short, the swords of all the Hellenic and Teutonic heroes. We are thus prepared for the issue when Alda (Hilda), to whom he has been betrothed, falls dead when she hears that Roland is slain. Kleopatra and Brynhild cannot survive Meleagros and Sigurd.^

As useless for all historical purposes, and as valuable to the com- The romance of parative mythologist, is the magnificent romance of King Arthur. Arthur. Probably in no other series of legends is there a more manifest recur- rence of the same myth under different forms. The structure of the tale is simple enough. Arthur himself is simply a reproduction of Sigurd or Perseus. Round him are other brave knights, and these, not less than himself, must have their adventures ; and thus Arthur and Balin answer respectively to Achilleus and Odysseus in the Achaian hosts. A new element is brought into the story with the Round Table, which forms part of the dowry of Guinevere ; and the institution of the Knights furnishes the starting-point for a series of exploits on the part of each knight, which are little more than a clog to the narrative, and may easily be detached from the main thread of it. They answer in fact to those books in our Iliad which relate the fortunes of the Achaian chieftains during the inaction of Achilleus. A third series of narratives, rising gradually to a strain of surpassing beauty and grandeur, begins with the manifestation of the Round Table in the form of the holy Grail; and the legend of the quest for the sacred vessel, while it is really an independent story, is in its essential features a mere repetition of some which have preceded it. In short, the original meaning of these myths had been completely forgotten by the mediaeval romancers ; but, like the Homeric poets, they have felt the irresistible spell, and have adhered to the traditional types with marvellous fidelity.

Stripped thus of its adventitious matter, the poem assumes a form The birth common to the traditions and folk-lore of all the Teutonic or even all of Arthur. the Aryan nations. Not only is the wonderful sword of Roland seen again in the first blade granted to King Arthur, but the story of the mode in which Arthur becomes master of it is precisely the story of the Teutonic Sigurd and the Greek Theseus. We might almost say with truth that there is not a single incident with which we are not familiar in the earlier legends. The fortunes of Igraine, Arthur's mother, are precisely those of Alkmene, Uther playing the part of Zeus, while Gorlois takes the place of Amphitryon.''^ As soon as he

' This is the story of Lord Nann and ^ The scene in which Sigurd person- thc Korrigan. — Keighlley, /''a/rj J/////!?- ates Gunnar in order to win Brynhild /o^qj', 433. for the latter is but slightly different