The Legend of the Holy Grail. 1 93
jewelled leash of a hound for a lady who sets her hand as the price of the achievement, the hero sets out on a task understood to be attend- ant with danger. The idea may probably have been borrowed from some French story, like that of the "Mule sans frein," in which a knight is sent to a (fairy) castle in order to procure a magic bridle ; but the details of the action could have had no origin save in the ready invention of the minnesinger. Into this tale Wolfram intro- duced many of the new proper names, obviously of his own devising, which occur in the Parzival, and even extended the number of such personages ; the verse, therefore, was either subsequent to the more epic production, or, at all events, composed after the plan of the latter had been completed. It does not appear that the poet per- fected any considerable part of his new undertaking ; it is likely that his good sense perceived the inadequacy of the thin thread of dramatic movement, too slender to allow of sustained interest.
In an account of the poem of Crestien, it has been explained that the work consists of two portions nearly unrelated. The story of Perceval leaves the education complete in arms, love, and ethical insight ; the hero is thus prepared for the accomplishment of his part in the action, but the incompletion of the poem makes his future activity entirely conjectural. On the other hand, the adven- tures of Gawain break off in the midst of an undecided quarrel, leaving the knight still under the obligation of performing a series of tasks, concerning which conjecture cannot offer the least ray of light. Even after the accomplishment of these duties, it would still be necessary for the poet to interweave the strands of his narration, and unite the interests of the two heroes in a single scheme ; re- specting the nature of this intent, no contemporary had the least inkling. Wolfram was familiar with the tale of Crestien, but either did not know, or else preferred to ignore, the task of the continu- ators ; he was therefore left to finish the history in his own manner, and proceeded to cut the Gordian knot in a very summary fashion. The proposed combat he ended by a reconciliation ; the remaining duties of Gawain he altogether overlooked, and went on directly to the task of combining the sections of the narrative, and bringing the two chief actors into relation. For this purpose he had recourse to an expedient borrowed from another poem of Crestien (that relating to Yvain) ; Gawain is made to meet his friend Parzival without recognition, and to fight with him an undecided battle, terminated by discovery. In Wolfram's mind, Parzival has not yet accom- plished sufficient to pass for a hero of the Grail ; he has indeed proved himself the peer of the best knight of Christendom, but heathenesse remains (just as we find contemporary French ro- mancers disposed to introduce into the Grail legend the heathen
vol. xii. — no. 46. 13
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