Parzival

by Wolfram von Eschenbach

  I do not know how many leagues Condwiramurs had ridden by then towards Munsalvæsche in happy mood. – She had learnt the truth earlier on, a message had come to her that her sad state of deprivation was over. Duke Kyot and many other worthy men had thereupon conducted her thence into the forest at Terre salvaæsche, where Segramors had been felled by a lance-thrust and the snow and blood had so resembled her. There Parzival was to fetch her, an excursion he could well endure!

  A Templar reported to him as follows. ‘A group of courtly knights have brought the Queen with all ceremony.’ Parzival decided to take some of the Gral Company and ride out to Trevrizent’s, whose heart rejoiced at the news that Anfortas’s fortunes now stood at the point where he was not to the of his lance-wound, and the Question had won him peace.

  ‘God has many mysteries,’ Trevrizent told Parzival. ‘Whoever sat at His councils or who has fathomed His power? Not all the Host of Angels will ever get to the bottom of it. God is Man and His Father’s Word, God is both Father and Son, His Spirit has power to bring great succour. A greater marvel never occurred, in that, after all, with your defiance you. have wrung the concession from God that His everlasting Trinity has given you your wish. I lied as a means of distracting you from the Gral and how things stood concerning it. Let me atone for my error – I now owe you obedience, Nephew and my lord. You heard from me that the banished angels were at the Gral with God’s full support till they should be received back into His Grace. But God is constant in such matters:* He never ceases to war against those whom I named to you here as forgiven. Whoever desires to have reward from God must be in feud with those angels. For they are eternally damned and chose their own perdition. But I am very sorry you had such a hard time. It was never the custom that any should battle his way to the Gral: I wished to divert you from it. Yet your affairs have now taken another turn, and your prize is all the loftier! Now guide your thoughts towards humility.’

  ‘I wish to see the woman I have not seen once in five years,’ said Parzival to his uncle. ‘When we were together she was dear to me, as she indeed still is. – Of course I wish to have your advice as long as we are both alive: you advised me well in the past, when I was in great need. Now I wish to ride and meet my wife who, as I have heard, has reached a place on the Plimizœl on her way to me.’

  Parzival asked Trevrizent for leave to go, and the good man commended him to God.

  Parzival rode through the night, for the Forest was well-known to his companions. When it dawned, he was approaching a place where many tents had been pitched, a find that pleased him greatly. Many pennants of the land of Brobarz had been planted there, with many shields that had marched behind them. They were the Princes of his own country who were encamped there. Parzival inquired where the Queen herself was quartered, and if she had her own separate ring, and they showed him where she lay surrounded by tents in a sumptuous ring.

  Now Duke Kyot of Katelangen had risen early. Parzival and his men were riding up. The ray of dawn was still silver-grey, yet Kyot at once recognized the Gral escutcheon worn by the company, for they were displaying nothing but Turtle-doves. The old man fetched a sigh when he saw it, since his chaste Schoysiane had won him great happiness at Munsalvæsche and then thed giving birth to Sigune.

  Kyot went up to Parzival and received him and his people kindly. He sent a page to the Queen’s Marshal to ask him to provide good lodgment for whatever knights he saw had reined in there. Parzival himself he led by the hand to where the Queen’s wardrobe stood, a small tent of buckram. There they unarmed him completely.

  Of this the Queen as yet knew nothing. In a tall and spacious pavilion in which numerous fair ladies were lying, here, there, and everywhere, Parzival found Loherangrin and Kardeiz beside her, and – joy perforce overwhelmed him! – Kyot rapped on the coverlet and told the Queen to wake up and laugh for sheer happiness. She opened her eyes and saw her husband. She had nothing on her but her shift, so she swung the coverlet round her and sprang from the bed on to the carpet, radiant Condwiramurs! As to Parzival, he took her into his arms, and I am told they kissed.

  ‘Welcome! Fortune has sent you to me, my heart’s joy,’ she said. ‘Now I ought to scold you, but I cannot. All honour to this day and hour that have brought me this embrace, banishing all my sadness! I have my heart’s desire. Care will get nothing from me!’

  The boys Kardeiz and Loherangrin, who lay there naked in the bed, now woke up. Parzival, nothing loth, kissed them affectionately. Tactful Kyot then had the boys carried out. He also hinted to those ladies that they should leave the pavilion, and this they did after welcoming their lord back from his long journey. Kyot then courteously commended the Queen’s husband to her and led the young ladies away. It was still very early. The chamberlains closed the flaps.

  If ever on a past occasion the company of his wits had been snatched away from him by blood and snow (he had in fact seen them on this very meadow!), Condwiramurs now made amends for such torment: she had it there. He had never received Love’s aid for Love’s distress elsewhere, though many fine women had offered him their love. As far as I know, he disported himself there till towards mid-morning. The men from Brobarz rode up from the whole encampment to gaze at the spectacle of the Templars, who were splendidly arrayed, though their shields were well battered and holed by lance-thrusts delivered at full tilt, as well as gashed by swords. Each was wearing a surcoat either of brocade or samite. They were still wearing their steel jambs, but their other armour had been removed from them.

  There can be no more sleeping.

  The King and Queen rose, a priest sang Mass. There was much jostling in the ring among the gallant knights who had once fought Clamide. After the benediction all those valiant knights who were Parzival’s vassals received him loyally and with honour.

  The flaps and side-walls of the pavilion were now removed.

  ‘Which of the two boys is to rule over your country as its Sovereign?’ asked the King. ‘By rights he shall hold Waleis and Norgals, Kanvoleiz and Kingrivals, Anjou and Bealzenan,’ he announced to all those Princes. ‘If he attains to manhood, accompany him there. My father’s name was Gahmuret, and he left it to me by right of true inheritance. By happy dispensation I have inherited the Gral. Here and now, if I find you to be loyal, receive your fiefs from my son!’

  This was done with good will. Many pennants were brought to the fore, and a tiny hand enfeoffed them with broad domains in many regions. Kardeiz was then crowned. Later, he ruled Kanvoleiz and much else that had been Gahmuret’s.

  Benches were taken and a spacious ring was formed on a meadow beside the Plimizœl, where they were to break bread. After a hasty breakfast, the army made ready for the homeward journey. The tents were all taken down, and they rode back with the young King.

  Many young ladies-in-waiting and other members of the Queen’s train took leave of her with an open expression of their sorrow. Then his lovely mother and the Templars took Loher-angrin and rode away briskly towards Munsalvæsche.

  ‘Once upon a time in this forest,’ said Parzival, ‘I saw a cell through which ran a swift, clear brook. If you know it, show me the way there.’

  His companions told him they knew of one. ‘A maiden dwells there, abandoned to lamentation over her lover’s tomb. She is a treasure-chest of virtue. Our path takes us very close to her. One never sees her free of sorrow.’

  ‘We shall visit her,’ said the King, and for their part they complied.

  They rode on straight ahead at a brisk pace and late that same evening found Sigune dead on her knees in prayer. There the Queen saw a harrowing sight. They broke through the wall to Sigune, and Parzival had them raise the stone slab of the tomb for his cousin’s sake, revealing Schionatulander, lambent as one embalmed, untouched by decay. Close to his side they now laid her in, who, while she lived, had given him virginal love. They then closed the grave. I am told that Condwiramurs broke out into lamentation for her cousin, her great happiness all gone, since the dead maiden’
s mother Schoysiane (who was Parzival’s maternal aunt) had reared her when she was a child* – this is why her happiness left her. If the Provençal spoke true, King Kardeiz’s tutor Duke Kyot knew nothing of his daughter’s death: this story goes straight and truthfully, not curved like a bow. They did what their journey required and rode by night towards Munsalvæsche, where Feirefiz had whiled away the hours pleasantly as he waited for them. They lit candles in such numbers you would have thought the whole forest was on fire. A Templar of Patrigalt in full armour was escorting the Queen. The courtyard was vast. On it many separate companies were drawn up. These all welcomed the Queen, their lord and his son. Then Loherangrin was taken to his uncle Feirefiz. Seeing him all black and white, the boy did not want to kiss him. Noble children are still said to be a prey to fears. The Infidel laughed at this. When the Queen had dismounted, those on the courtyard dispersed, enriched by the happiness her coming had brought. And now she was led to where there was a noble bevy of comely ladies. Beside them on the steps, Feirefiz and Anfortas stood most attentively. Repanse de Schoye, Garschiloye of Greenland and Florie of Lunel were bright of eye and fair of skin, with the added glory of maidenhood. Also standing there, lithe as a wand, was the maiden Ampflise, Jernis of Ryl’s daughter, who lacked neither beauty nor virtue. I am told that Clarischanze of Tenabroc was standing there, a sweet girl, her fair complexion quite perfect and with a waist drawn in like an ant’s.

  Feirefiz stepped towards his lady the Queen, who asked him to kiss her, and she kissed Anfortas too, and expressed her joy at his deliverance. Feirefiz led her by the hand to where she saw their lord’s aunt Repanse de Schoye standing, with much kissing to be gone through. Moreover Condwiramur’s mouth was red enough already, yet it now had to endure a veritable ordeal of kisses, so that I am much put out that I cannot take on this labour for her, for she was already weary when she arrived among them. Young ladies now led their mistress away.

  The knights remained in the Palace which was amply furnished with candles that burned with a brilliant light. And now solemn preparation was made for the Gral.

  The Gral was not carried in at all times as a mere spectacle for the Household, but only for particular festivities. That evening, time past, when they were desolated over the Bloody Lance, the Gral had been brought in because they needed help and imagined consolation was at hand – only Parzival had soon left them to their sorrows. But now it will be carried in to them in jubilation, since their sorrows are now utterly vanquished.

  When the Queen had removed her travelling clothes and donned her head-dress, she came in a style altogether queenly. Feirefiz received her at a door. Now when all is said, it is beyond dispute that no one ever heard or spoke at any time of a woman more lovely. Moreover, she wore on her person a cloth-of-gold woven by a skilful hand according to that weave devised by Sarant in Thasme so ingeniously. Shedding her radiance about her, she was escorted in by Feirefiz Angevin. Three great fires redolent of wood of aloes had been made along the middle of the Palace. There were forty carpets and more seats than on a certain occasion when Parzival had also seen the Gral brought out. One seat was magnificent beyond all others. On it, Feirefiz and Anfortas were to sit beside the lord of that Castle. Those who wished to give service when the Gral was to appear, behaved with discretion and understanding.

  You heard enough before as to how they carried the Gral into the presence of Anfortas. They are now seen to do likewise before noble Gahmuret’s son and Tampenteire’s daughter. The maidens do not keep us waiting – for here they come in due order everywhere, to the number of five and twenty.

  The appearance of the first-comers, with their hair falling in locks, struck the Infidel as comely; but those who came hard behind them he judged even lovelier, the gowns of all most costly. The faces of all those maidens were without exception sweet, charming, winsome. Following them all came fair Re-panse de Schoye, a maiden most rare. By her alone, no other, I am told, did the Gral let itself be carried. Great purity dwelt in her heart. The flesh without was a blossoming of all brightness.

  If I were to tell you how they began to serve them, how many chamberlains offered water for their hands, what tables they brought in… beyond what I mentioned to you before… how vulgarity fled that Palace, all the trolleys they wheeled in laden with precious cups of gold and how the knights’ seating was arranged… the tale would grow too lengthy. Thus for brevity’s sake I shall move fast.

  With ceremony they received from the Gral meats both wild and tame: for this man mead, for another wine, each according to his custom; mulberry wine, tinctured, clary. Fil li roy Gahmuret found Belrepeire in different case when he first came to know it.

  The Infidel inquired how the empty cups of gold became full at the Table – a marvel he delighted to watch!

  ‘My lord,’ replied handsome Anfortas who had been given to him as table-companion, ‘do you not see the Gral straight in front of you?’

  ‘I see nothing but an achmardi,’ replied the particoloured Infidel. ‘My young lady carried it in to us, the one standing there before us, wearing a crown. The sight of her pierces my heart. I imagined myself so strong that no woman, wed or unwed, could rob me of my happiness. If I was ever the recipient of a noble love, it has become odious to me. Bad manners usurp the good in me when I confide my troubles to you – I have done nothing to deserve it of you. What is the use of all my wealth? And all the fighting I did for ladies’ sakes? And any gifts I may have bestowed? Am I to go on living in such torment? O mighty god Jupiter, why didst thou have to send me here to endure such hardships?’

  The power of Love and his low spirits made him blench where he was white. Radiant Condwiramurs now all but found a rival in the fair maiden of the dazzling skin, in whose love-snare the noble stranger Feirefiz was now held fast. His former attachment was suddenly all over, and he wished to forget it. What did Secundille’s love avail her now, or her land of Tribalibot? A maiden was inflicting such pangs on him that this son of Gahmuret of Zazamanc thought little of the love of Clauditte, Olimpia, Secundille and other women elsewhere, far and wide, who had rewarded him for his service and fostered his reputation.

  From the pallor of Feirefiz’s white patches, handsome Anfor-tas saw that his companion was in torment and that his spirit had abandoned him.

  ‘I am very sorry, sir,’ he said, ‘if my sister is the cause of your suffering pangs such as no man endured for her before. No knight has ridden out to serve her, thus none has ever had reward of her. She has been at my side in great sorrow, and her looks have suffered somewhat for her having had so little pleasure. Your brother is her maternal nephew, he can perhaps help you in this affair.’

  ‘If as you say the girl wearing a crown over her unadorned hair is your sister, then advise me how to win her love,’ replied Feirefiz Angevin. ‘All the longing in my heart is for her. If only all the fame I have ever won with the lance had been for her sake, and she were then to grant her reward! The tournament knows five lance-strokes, and I have delivered them all! The first is straight ahead in massed charge; the second known to me is to the right obliquely; the third awaits the others’ charge, selecting one’s adversary; then I have ridden the good thrust at full tilt in regular joust, one to one; and I have not neglected the thrust in pursuit. Of all the days since the shield became my shelter, this is my day of deepest affliction. At the foot of Agremuntin I thrust at a knight all of fire – but for my surcoat of salamander and my other covering, my shield of asbestos-wood, I should have been burned to a cinder in that joust! In whichever places I earned fame at risk of life and limb, ah, if only your adorable sister had been she that had sent me there! I would still be her emissary for war! I shall always resent it in my god Jupiter if he does not avert this great sorrow of mine.’

  The father of these two was Frimutel. Seen beside his sister, Anfortas had the same features and complexion. The Infidel’s gaze rested on her and repeatedly came back to Anfortas. And for all the viands that were being carried to and fro, not a
morsel passed his lips, though he sat like one who was feasting.

  ‘My lord,’ said Anfortas to Parzival, ‘I believe your brother has not yet seen the Gral.’ And Feirefiz himself told his host that he did not see it, which struck all the knights there as mysterious. The aged, bedridden Titurel, too, came to hear of it.

  ‘He is a heathen man,’ he said, ‘and should not aspire without benefit of Baptism to have his eyes share with the others’ in contemplating the Gral. A fence has been raised before it.’ – This message he sent to the Palace.

  His lordship and Anfortas told Feirefiz to note the people’s sole source of nourishment and they explained that all infidels were debarred from seeing it. They urged him to receive the Baptism and with it buy everlasting gain.

  ‘If I were baptized for your sakes, would Baptism help me to win love?’ asked the infidel son of Gahmuret. ‘Until now, all that I have endured in love or war has been as nothing. Whether it be a short time or a long since shield first covered me, I have never been more distressed than now. Good manners require me to conceal my love, but my heart has no power to keep it secret.’

  ‘Whom have you in mind?’ asked Parzival.

  ‘Whom else but that dazzling young lady, the sister of my companion here? If you will help me win her I will give her wealth and sway over broad territories.’

  ‘If you will allow yourself to be given Baptism,’ said his host, ‘you will be in a position to seek her love, dear man. – I can now address you familiarly, since our possessions are just about equal, on my side thanks to the Gral.’

  ‘Help me, Brother, to win your aunt’s friendship,’ answered Feirefiz Angevin. ‘If one gets Baptism by fighting, send me there at once and let me deserve her reward. I have always liked the music of splinters flying in jousts and swords ringing on helmets.’