[72] It is perhaps only a coincidence that in Gautier the “pucelle de malaire” is named Riseut la Bloie, and that Rosette la Blonde is the name of the loathly damsel whom Perceval meets in company of the Beau Mauvais, and whom Birch-Hirschfeld supposes to have suggested to Chrestien his loathly damsel, the Grail messenger. But from the three versions one gets the following:—Riseut (Gautier), loathly damsel (Didot-Perceval), Grail messenger (Chrestien), = Peredur’s cousin, who in the Mabinogi is the loathly Grail messenger, and the protagonist in the stag-hunt.

[73] I have not thought it necessary to discuss seriously the hypothesis that Chrestien may have used the Mabinogi as we now have it. The foregoing statement of the facts is sufficient to negative it.

[74] The Counsels. Chrestien (v. 1,725, etc.): aid dames and damsels, for he who honoureth them not, his honour is dead; serve them likewise; displease them not in aught; one has much from kissing a maid if she will to lie with you, but if she forbid, leave it alone; if she have ring, or wristband, and for love or at your prayer give it, ’tis well you take it. Never have comradeship with one for long without seeking his name; speak ever to worthy men and go with them; ever pray in churches and monasteries (then follows a dissertation on churches and places of worship generally). Mabinogi (p. 83): wherever a church, repeat there thy Paternoster; if thou see meat and drink, and none offer, take; if thou hear an outcry, especially of a woman, go towards it; if thou see a jewel, take and give to another to obtain praise thereby; pay thy court to a fair woman, whether she will or no, thus shalt thou render thyself a better man than before. (In the italicised passage the Mabinogi gives the direct opposite of Chrestien, whom he has evidently misunderstood.) Sir Perceval (p. 16): “Luke thou be of mesure Bothe in haulle and boure, And fonde to be fre.” “There thou meteste with a knyghte, Do thi hode off, I highte, and haylse hym in hy” (He interprets the counsel to be of measure by only taking half the food and drink he finds at the board of the lady of the tent. The kissing of the lady of the tent which follows is in no way connected with his mother’s counsel.) Wolfram: “Follow not untrodden paths; bear thyself ever becomingly; deny no man thy greeting; accept the teaching of a greybeard; if ring and greeting of a fair woman are to be won strive thereafter, kiss her and embrace her dear body, for that gives luck and courage, if so she be chaste and worthy.” Beside the mother’s counsels Perceval is admonished by Gonemans or the personage corresponding to him. In Chrestien (2,838, et seq.) he is to deny mercy to no knight pleading for it; to take heed he be not over-talkful; to aid and counsel dames and damsels and all others needing his counsel; to go often to church; not to quote his mother’s advice, rather to refer to him (Gonemans). In the Mabinogi he is to leave the habits and discourse of his mother; if he see aught to cause him wonder not to ask its meaning. In Wolfram he is not to have his mother always on his lips; to keep a modest bearing; to help all in need, but to give wisely, not heedlessly; and in especial not to ask too much; to deny no man asking mercy; when he has laid by his arms to let no traces thereof be seen, but to wash hands and face from stain of rust, thereby shall ladies be pleased; to hold women in love and honour; never to seek to deceive them (as he might do many), for false love is fleeting and men and women are one as are sun and daylight.—There seems to me an evident progression in the ethical character of these counsels. Originally they were doubtless purely practical and somewhat primitive of their nature. As it is, Chrestien’s words sound very strange to modern ears.

[75] In the notes to my two articles in the “Folk-Lore Record” will be found a number of references establishing this fact.

[76] The hero renews his strength after his various combats by rubbing himself with the contents of a vessel of balsam. He has moreover to enter a house the door of which closes to of itself (like the Grail Castle Portcullis in Wolfram), and which kills him. He is brought to life by the friendly raven. The mysterious carlin also appears, “there was a turn of her nails about her elbows, and a twist of her hoary hair about her toes, and she was not joyous to look upon.” She turns the hero’s companions into stone, and to unspell them he must seek a bottle of living water and rub it upon them, when they will come out alive. This is like the final incident in many stories of the Two Brothers class. Cf. note, [p. 162].

[77] O’Daly’s version consists of 158 quatrains; Campbell’s of 63. The correspondence between them, generally very close (frequently verbal), is shown by the following table:—

O’D., 1, 2. C., 1, 2.
— C., 3.
O’D., 3. C., 4.
O’D., 4-15. —
O’D., 16. C., 4.
O’D., 17-24. C., 5-12.
O’D., 25. —
— C., 13-15.
O’D., 26-47. C., 16-36.
O’D., 48-56. —
O’D., 57-61. C., 37-40.
O’D., 62. —
O’D., 63-65. C., 41-43.
O’D., 66. C., 45.
O’D., 67. C., 44.
O’D., 68, 69. C., 46, 47.
O’D., 70. C., 49.
O’D., 71. C., 48.
— C., 50.
O’D., 72. C., 52.
O’D., 73. —
O’D., 74. C., 53.
O’D., 75. C., 54.
O’D., 76-80. C., 55-59.
O’D., 81-134. —
O’D., 135, 136. C., 60, 61.
— C., 62.
O’D., 137. —
O’D., 138. C., 63.
O’D., 139-158. —

[78] Of this widely spread group, Grimm’s No. 60, Die zwei Brüder, may be taken as a type. The brethren eat heart and liver of the gold bird and thereby get infinite riches, are schemed against by a goldsmith, who would have kept the gold bird for himself, seek their fortunes throughout the world accompanied by helping beasts, part at crossways, leaving a life token to tell each one how the other fares; the one delivers a princess from a dragon, is cheated of the fruit of the exploit by the Red Knight, whom after a year he confounds, wins the princess, and, after a while, hunting a magic hind, falls victim to a witch. His brother, learning his fate through the life token, comes to the same town, is taken for the young king even by the princess, but keeps faith to his brother by laying a bare sword twixt them twain at night. He then delivers from the witch’s spells his brother, who, learning the error caused by the likeness, and thinking advantage had been taken of it, in a fit of passion slays him, but afterwards, hearing the truth, brings him back to life again. Grimm has pointed out in his notes the likeness between this story and that of Siegfried (adventures with Mimir, Fafnir, Brunhilde, and Gunnar). In India the tale figures in Somadeva’s Katha Sarit Sagara (Brockhaus’ translation, ii., 142, et seq.). The one brother is transformed into a demon through accidental sprinkling from a body burning on a bier. He is in the end released from this condition by his brother’s performing certain exploits, but there is no similarity of detail. Other variants are Zingerle (p. 131) where the incident occurs of the hero’s winning the king’s favour by making his bear dance before him; this I am inclined to look upon as a weakened recollection of the incident of a hero’s making a princess laugh, either by playing antics himself or making an animal of his play them (see supra, [p. 134], Kennedy’s Irish Tale). Grimm also quotes Meier 29 and 58, but these are only variants of the dragon-killing incident. In the variant of 29, given p. 306, the hero makes the king laugh, and in both stories occurs the familiar incident of the hero coming unknown into a tournament and overcoming all enemies, as in Peredur (Inc. 9). Wolf., p. 369, is closer, and here the hero is counselled by a grey mannikin whom he will unspell if he succeeds. Stier, No. I. (not p. 67, as Grimm erroneously indicates) follows almost precisely the same course as Grimm’s 60, save that there are three brothers. Graal, p. 195, has the magic gold bird opening, but none of the subsequent adventures tally. Schott, No. 11, is also cited by Grimm, but mistakenly; it belongs to the faithful-servant group. Very close variants come from Sweden (Cavallius-Oberleitner, Va, Vb) and Italy (Pentamerone, I. 7 and I. 9). The Swedish tales have the miraculous conception opening, which is a prominent feature in tales belonging to the Expulsion and Return group (e.g., Perseus, Cu-Chulaind, and Taliesin), but present otherwise very nearly the same incidents as Grimm. The second of the Italian versions has the miraculous conception opening so characteristic of this group of folk-tales, and of the allied formula group, the attainment of riches consequent upon eating the heart of a sea dragon, the tournament incident (though without the disguise of the hero), the stag hunt, wherein the stag, an inimical wizard haunting the wood, is a cannibal and keeps the captured hero for eating. In the story of the delivery by the second brother, the separating sword incident occurs. The first version opens with what is apparently a distorted and weakened form of the hero’s clearing a haunted house of its diabolical inmates (see infra [Ch. VII.], Gawain) and then follows very closely Grimm’s Two Brothers, save that the alluring witch is young and fair, the whole tale being made to point the moral, “more luck than wit.” Straparola, a 3, is a variant of the dragon fight incident alone. It is impossible not to be struck by the fact that in this widely spread group of tales are to be found some of the most characteristic incidents of the Perceval and allied Great Fool group. The only version, however, which brings the two groups into formal contact is O’Daly’s form of the Great Fool.

[79] The brother feature appears likewise in Wolfram von Eschenbach, where Parzival’s final and hardest struggle is against the unknown brother, as the Great Fool’s is against the Gruagach. This may be added to other indications that Wolfram did have some other version before him besides Chrestien’s.

[80] I cannot but think that these words have connection with the incident in the English Sir Perceval of the hero’s throwing into the flames and thus destroying his witch enemy.