The Mammoth Book of King Arthur (64 page)

Perceval is a young country boy who has been kept in ignorance of worldly matters by his mother. He does not know his name, and it is not revealed until nearly halfway through the story. He does
not know that his father and brothers met their deaths as knights, and knows nothing of knights, lords, ladies or the church. However, one day he sees some knights passing, their armour reflecting
the sun so that he thinks them angels. This gives him the desire to be a knight and, much against his mother’s wishes, he sets off for Arthur’s castle. He sees his mother faint from
despair but does not return. She has given him some words of advice, but like so much of the advice he receives throughout his adventures he either takes it too literally or misinterprets it,
constantly giving the impression that he is a fool. Early in his travels he encounters a maiden asleep in a tent. He steals a kiss, takes her rings and also her food, puzzled that she is so
affronted by this. When her lover returns he believes she has been unfaithful and vows to track down the young squire. Meanwhile, Perceval reaches Arthur’s court where he is the subject of
much ridicule, mostly as the butt for Kay’s derision.

The queen had just been insulted by the Red Knight, who is leaving the court as Perceval arrives. Perceval desires the knight’s red armour and asks Arthur if he may pursue the knight. A
damsel, who had earlier laughed at Perceval, states her belief that he will be the greatest knight of all, but Kay derides and slaps her.
Perceval vows revenge. He follows and
challenges the Red Knight and kills him, taking his armour. This gratuitous act has repercussions in some of the later stories.

Finding his way to Gornemant’s castle, Perceval receives instruction in chivalry and combat, and is knighted. Gornemant advises Perceval not to ask too many questions at the risk of
appearing ignorant. He travels to the castle of Beaurepaire, where Gornemant’s niece Blancheflor lives, and where he defeats Clamadeu of the Isles who is besieging the castle. Perceval vows
his love for Blancheflor and says he will return, but says he must first visit his mother.

After a day’s journey he encounters a man fishing, who directs him to a magnificent castle where he can shelter for the night. Perceval is well received and given fresh clothing, and
subsequently invited to dine with the lord of the castle. Perceval does not recognise the lord as the fisherman he saw earlier. He does, however, discover that the lord has been injured in some
way. The lord presents Perceval with a fine sword. Perceval learns that only three such swords had been made and that this sword could never be broken save in one perilous circumstance. Perceval
sits down to dine and witnesses the strange Grail procession. First into the room comes a youth holding a white lance with blood oozing from its tip. Perceval is puzzled, but heeding
Gornemant’s advice does not ask how or why this is happening. Next into the room come two youths bearing gold candelabra inlaid with black enamel, followed by a damsel who holds a grail of
gold which shines so brightly that it makes the candles seem dim. Behind the damsel comes another maiden with a silver carving dish. These are laid on the table, but once again Perceval fails to
query their nature or who is to be served from the Grail. The elaborate procession is followed by a sumptuous meal, after which host and guest both retire to bed. When Perceval awakes the next day
he finds the castle empty and is unable to find a soul, not even someone to raise the drawbridge as he leaves.

Perceval encounters a young damsel whose lover has been killed. From her he learns that he has stayed at the castle of the Fisher King, and she admonishes him for not asking about the Grail or
the lance. She asks Perceval his name, and this is the first time we learn it. We discover the damsel is his cousin, and she
tells him his mother is dead. Perceval now pursues
the knight who had killed her lover and after defeating the knight sends him back to Arthur’s castle. There Arthur learns of Perceval’s wanderings and sends knights out to recover him.
They do not recognise him, and Perceval defeats Sagremor and Kay before Gawain recognises him and returns him to Arthur.

A few days later a “Loathly Damsel” (called Cundrie by Wolfram) arrives and berates Perceval, saying that had he asked the right question, the Fisher King would have been cured and
his land would not be waste. “All these evils will be your doing,” she tells Perceval. She invites any knights to accompany her on her quest to Proud Castle to rescue a besieged maiden.
Many knights offer to go on the quest, including Perceval and Gawain, but before he can go Gawain is diverted in his quest.

The story now follows Gawain’s adventures to clear his name of a charge brought by Guigambresil, of having killed his lord, the king of Escavalon, without issuing a challenge. We learn
that Gawaine is armed with the sword Escalibor (Excalibur). En route he encounters other adventures and it is some time before he is able to enter upon what has become the Grail Quest. He is given
leave of a year to quest for the Bleeding Lance, before he must return to fight in single combat with Guigambresil.

In the meantime, we learn that Perceval has spent five godless years wandering, perhaps trapped in some fairy realm, and seeming to have lost all understanding. He meets a hermit, who he learns
is his uncle, and who tells him that the Fisher King is also an uncle. The reason that Perceval had been unable to ask the right question was because he was impure, having sinned by leaving his
mother when she collapsed and not helping her. At this point Chrétien stops his story of Perceval, leaving it uncertain, and instead continues with Gawain’s quest.

Gawain is led into the clutches of an evil damsel and an enchanted castle wherein lies the Bed of Marvels. Gawain is warned that anyone who lies on this bed will be killed. Gawain does so
anyway, and manages to shield himself against five hundred arrows and a lion, which he kills. With this Gawain breaks the enchantment. Gawain then meets a knight called Guiromelant, who, although
not recognising Gawain, regards him as his mortal enemy. From Guiromelant Gawain learns that
the castle, the Rock of Champguin, also holds his own mother whom he has not seen
for twenty years, and Arthur’s mother Igraine, whom Arthur has not seen for sixty. When Guiromelant discovers who Gawain is he challenges him to a duel, but as Guiromelant is not armed Gawain
agrees to hold it in a week’s time. He sends a messenger to Arthur’s court so that Arthur can be witness to the combat. At this point Chrétien’s story ends, and the first
continuation carries on.

→
Peredur son of Efraug.
Although the Welsh version covers much the same territory as the first half of Chrétien’s, it is severely truncated and loses
much of its mystical aspect, except for the Grail element. There is no mystery about Peredur’s name or identity, or that he is related to the Fisher King (who is not described as such). There
is more about the nature of the sword presented to Peredur, which he breaks and repairs three times. The procession is led by two youths carrying the bleeding lance. They are followed by two
maidens carrying the Grail (here called a salver) on which is a man’s head swimming in blood. Peredur does not ask, nor is he told, what it all means. Neither is the castle deserted the next
day. It is as if whoever copied or revised this story did not comprehend its significance and simply edited it as an ordinary adventure. It may well have been revised from an earlier story common
also to Chrétien, in which case Chrétien had a far better understanding of its significance.

PERCEVAL, FIRST CONTINUATION
, anon. (French, c.1190s) 19,600 lines.

The author was once believed to be Gautier de Denain, but with no clear attribution the author is now termed Pseudo-Gautier. This continues exactly where Chrétien
finished and doubles the length of the story, though does not bring it to a conclusion. Because Gawain is the hero it is sometimes called the
Gawain Continuation.

Arthur responds to Gawain’s summons and travels to the Castle Rock of Champguin where Gawain is trapped. Arthur
witnesses the duel between Gawain and Guiromelant, and
is reunited with his mother and sister. The various threads involving Guiromelant and Clarissant (Gawain’s sister) are resolved, allowing Gawain to continue on his Grail Quest.

Gawain reaches the Grail Castle but finds a new challenge: he is asked to repair a broken sword, which he is unable to do. He sees the Grail Procession as Perceval had described. For the first
time the vessel is actually called the Holy Grail and the maiden bearing it is weeping. Gawain finds a dead knight with a broken sword and learns that whoever can mend this sword can explain the
mysteries of the Grail. However, Gawain is entranced and when he recovers finds himself in a field. The Grail Castle has disappeared.

Gawain returns to Escavalon to fight in single combat against Guigambresil, as previously agreed. Fortunately, Arthur is able to resolve the matter and Guigambresil marries Arthur’s
granddaughter. The continuation now gets rather lost in a series of other adventures, including Arthur’s siege of the castle of Brun de Branlant who has refused to swear fealty, and a
separate substantial story about Caradoc. Many believe it was once a separate story, referred to as the
Livre de Caradoc.
Caradoc is portrayed as the illegitimate son of Arthur’s niece
Ysave and the sorcerer Elïavrés, though he is long believed to be the genuine son of Caradoc, King of Nantes. He enters Arthur’s court and takes up the challenge of the Beheading
Game, which he survives because his opponent is his true father. There is much conflict between Caradoc and his parents who attach a deadly serpent to his arm which will gradually drain away his
life force. This image suggests Caradoc had a withered arm which his French epithet
Briefbras
(“short arm”) may also indicate. However, Caradoc is saved by Guigner, a maiden he
had previously rescued. At the end Caradoc passes the drinking test as described in “The Lai of the Horn”.

There is also a quest by Girflet to Proud Castle (the subject of the Loathly Damsel’s request), where he is captured and imprisoned. In order to free him Gawain becomes involved in a
series of single combats, which he wins. Only then does Gawain return to the Grail Castle. Gawain fails to mend the broken sword, but he learns that the Bleeding Lance was the one that
pierced Christ’s side at the Crucifixion. He does succeed in asking the right question about the Grail, but once again falls into an enchanted sleep and does not hear the
answer. The
Continuation
ends with an unconnected episode about Gawain’s brother Guerrehet (Gareth).

→
Gest of Sir Gawain
(
c
l450). An English poem based on one of the episodes in the First Continuation, in which Gawain is interrupted by the brothers of
a girl whom he is seducing. They each do battle with him but only one, Brandiles, is a match. Unable to complete their match they vow to meet again, but never do.

PERCEVAL, SECOND CONTINUATION
, Gautier de Denain (French,
c
1190s) 13,000 lines.

In an attempt to wrap up previous unsatisfactory loose ends this story becomes overly episodic. Perceval finds himself on various quests, none of which he satisfactorily
resolves. He also meets his sister and learns the truth about his mother’s death, and becomes involved in a tournament at Proud Castle where he defeats many of Arthur’s best knights.
Most of these adventures are incidental to his main quest to recover a magic hound and the antlers of a white stag, which have been stolen from a maiden who declares her love for Perceval. He is
not successful but does at length return to the Grail Castle. He restores the broken sword but a small notch remains, showing he has still not reached perfection and is thus not ready to learn the
truth about the Grail. At this point Gautier abandons the story.

PERCEVAL, FOURTH CONTINUATION
, Gerbert de Montreuil (French, late 1220s) 17,000 lines.

Although regarded as the fourth, this version fits best
before
the “Third Continuation”. Apparently both were written at the same time, with neither author
knowing what the other was doing. Both continuations show the influence of the works of Robert de Boron.

Perceval realizes that he has failed because he has still not expiated the sin of neglecting his mother. As he leaves the castle we realize we are no longer in the secular world but in some
transitional semi-paradise. Perceval had almost reached perfection, but not quite. He tries to enter a garden, breaking his sword in the process, but though he learns that the Earthly Paradise is
beyond he cannot enter. Perceval finds himself fighting demons and ghosts. He returns to his first love Blancheflor, and they marry but do not consummate their marriage in the belief that they must
remain pure.

In contrast to Perceval’s adventures, Gawain’s are far more mundane and he now seems far removed from his quest for an answer to the Bleeding Lance. Perceval, however, at last makes
it back to the Grail Castle and mends the Broken Sword completely.

PERCEVAL, THIRD CONTINUATION
, Manessier (French, late 1220s) 10,000 lines.