they would find some difficulty in distinguishing the rdle of the one from that of the other. We may note that in this (i.e., the Bleheris) version, in that of Wauchier de Denain at the conclusion of his section of the Perceval, in the Prose Lancelot, and in the Quecste, the Host is not maimed.
Again, this proposed origin would explain the wasting of the land, the mysterious Curse of Logres, which is referred to alike in earlier and later versions, and of which no explanation is ever given. As we saw above, the essence of the Rites was the symbolic representation of the processes of Nature. The festival of the death and revival of the god took place at the Spring solstice; it was an objective parable, finding its interpretation in the awakening of Nature from her winter sleep. Here the wasting of the land is in some mysterious manner connected with the death or wounding of the central figure; the successful accomplishment of the Grail quest brings about either the restoration of the land to fruitfulness, or the healing of the King (Chrétien and Wolfram, for example, have no Wasted Land). Thus the object of the Quest would appear to be one with that of the Adonis-ritual.
This wasting of the land is found in three Gawain Grail-stories, that by Bleheris, the version of Chastel Merveilleus, and Diû Crône; it is found in one Perceval text, the Gerbert continuation. Thus, briefly, the object of the Rites is the restoration of Vegetation, connected with the revival of the god; the object of the Quest is the same, but connected with the restoration to health of the King.[1]
I have before noted the fact that the role played by
- ↑ Legend of Sir Perceval, p. 141. In the Didot MS. of the prose Perceval we are told that as the result of the question the 'Roi Pesheor' will not only be healed but restored to youth, 'revenus en sa iuvence.' This is also the result of the question in Parzival. According to Dr. Frazer, it was an essential part of this Nature-cult that the god should be not merely living, but young.
