Stories Pictures Tell. Book 6

by Flora L. Carpenter

The Holy Grail was the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper. It was bought from Pilate by Joseph of Arimathæa, and placed in a castle where it was guarded night and day. It was passed on to Joseph’s children, who received the charge in sacred trust, continuing to guard it faithfully. The cup itself was most mysterious and wonderful. It could be seen only by those who were perfectly pure in word, thought, and deed. If an evil person came near, it would seem to be borne away, completely disappearing from view. The sight of it was as food and new life to the one to whom it was revealed, and hence would enable him to live forever, make him very wise, and of course preserve him from death in battle. But there was one thing it did not do,—it did not take away temptation to sin. No matter how perfect the knight, he could still be tempted. He must continue to resist evil as long as he lived.

After a time, the Holy Grail was left in the care of a king named Amfortas, who, weakly yielding to an evil enchantment, was severely punished. Not only was the sight of the Grail denied him, but a spell was cast upon him and all his court, so that they lived in a sort of trance, neither sleeping nor waking. Thus they must remain and suffer until a knight should come, pure in body and soul, who should break the spell and set them free.

Many a young man began to plan the quest of the Grail. He must so live that by his good thoughts and deeds he might reach the enchanted castle, see the Holy Grail, and so set free the unhappy knights. He must be perfect, indeed, if he would achieve this, and full of courage, perseverance, and patience.

In our picture we see Sir Galahad all ready to mount his snow-white horse and start out on his search for the Holy Grail. He is in full armor. His coat of mail, which all knights wore, was proof against any opponent of the time, except one equally armed and armored. It is said that a party of knights could ride unharmed through a host of common soldiers. The horses, too, were protected. But if the knight were once unhorsed and thrown upon his back, he was so weighed down by the stiff and heavy armor that he could not rise again without help. The knight’s weapons consisted of the lance, the two-handed sword, and a short, sharp dagger.

Sir Galahad had secured his sword and shield in a most mysterious way. The sword had been discovered protruding from the side of a wonderful rock of red marble jutting out from the surface of a river. This wonderful sword no one had been able to draw out of the rock. But when Sir Galahad tried, the sword came out without the slightest difficulty, and when he placed it in his empty scabbard, it fitted there exactly. The shield had been found by Sir Galahad in an old church, where it had been left for him by an ancestor, and where it had remained undiscovered for those many years.

Then, too, when Sir Galahad came to the Round Table of King Arthur and his knights in Camelot, he found them in the midst of a solemn meeting. Launcelot had just declared that according to prophecy a knight should come that very day who should occupy the Siege Perilous. The Siege Perilous was a chair over which the magician Merlin had cast a spell: only a stainless knight could sit in it without danger of instant death. As Sir Galahad entered the room he was preceded by a strange old man, whom none had ever seen before. Then the doors and windows quietly and mysteriously closed of their own accord, and the room was filled with a strange light. These words, in letters of fire, appeared over the chair: “This is Galahad’s seat.” By all these mysterious happenings the knights knew that Sir Galahad would be successful in finding the Grail, and many accompanied him on his quest.

Sir Galahad met with many adventures on his quest for the Grail and, in all of them, came out victorious. At length he reached the Castle of the Grail, and here he met his first defeat.

Entering the castle he gazed silently about him, at the feeble old king and at the wretched company whom he had come to free from their living death. Before him passed the vision of the Grail, which he alone of all that company was permitted to see. But it was not enough to see all this; he was expected to ask the meaning of what he saw, and by his question remove the enchantment. But, overconfident in his own knowledge, he tried to solve the mystery without asking, and so was forced to depart without success.

Here, at the very moment he was about to succeed, he was found to be possessed of the one fault, overconfidence, lacking in that humbleness which seeks constantly for higher knowledge. Because of his failure to ask the necessary question, the enchanted company had to continue to suffer. His personal purity alone was not enough; wisdom was necessary, attainable not through himself alone, but from the experience and understanding of others. As he left the castle grounds the drawbridge closed with a crash, there was a great sound of groaning and of voices reproaching him for having failed in his quest, and the castle disappeared from his sight. Much discouraged, he sought it again through many years, until at last he found it once more, and this time, a much wiser man, he asked the vital question, broke the wicked spell, and eventually found the Holy Grail.

Tennyson has given us the story in verse in his “Holy Grail.”