These arguments, of course, apply most strongly to his version of the Charrette adventure, the problem of source of which, so far as Malory is concerned, is absolutely unaffected by the evidence we have collected. This alone is certain, there is no proof whatever that he knew anything of the first part of the Lancelot romance, his treatment of the Lady of the Lake seems to show that he was absolutely ignorant of it. He was not in the habit of departing unnecessarily from his source, his variations as a rule are slight, and their motive can generally be detected; when, therefore, we find him giving an entirely different account of the abduction of Guinevere from that given elsewhere, the probabilities are all in favour of his reproducing a separate source, and all against his original invention. So far as the matter stands in the light of the latest evidence, the question remains unsolved, with a decided balance in favour of the theory advanced by M. Gaston Paris, and against that advocated by Professor Foerster.[193]
Leaving the question of Malory, what may we hold to be the result of this examination on the problem of the Queste itself? Is the form in which we possess it practically the original form, or are we to postulate a series of successive redactions? I think that every one who has carefully studied the variants given above must have been struck by the fact that in no case is the question one involving a variety of incident or even an alteration in sequence. It is the same story in every case, told in the same order, in the same words, only certain copies give a fuller and more coherent version than others. In fact, as I said above, the variations are the variations of the copyist, not of the compiler. The one point in which we may postulate either omission or addition, i.e. the greater or less fulness, the presence or absence, of the 'improving' sections, is precisely a point in which we might expect a copyist of a more or less didactic turn of mind to assert himself; it was so easy to expand or to contract such passages. And it is a curious feature that precisely in those versions in which the story, as a whole, is the best told (D. L., 1533, and in a minor degree M.), we find the edifying passages in their shortest forms; while Q., the text of which as compared with the others is decidedly poor, gives them at the greatest length.
Of any previous redaction of Galahad's adventures there is no trace; there are no lengthy interpolations as in the Conte del Graal MSS.; there is no conflict, such as we find in other romances, between an earlier and later form; in sundry passages we have allusions to unrelated adventures: we are told that the heroes ride so many days, weeks, or years, and meet with many and strange adventures, but in no copy do we find any hint of what these adventures may have been; yet had there existed an earlier and fuller form, some fragments of it must surely have been preserved.
And this argument becomes more convincing the more closely we look into it. Above we have compared four versions of the Queste (five if we include W.), but one of these, Dr. Furnivall's edition, does not represent one ms. only, but is founded on a critical collation of two, and contains a specimen of the opening columns of twelve mss. of the Bibliothèque Nationale; while Dr. Sommer states that he has examined four other versions and found that, saving details of style, all agree in incident and sequence. We may therefore take it as certain that one of the four variants represents at least five MSS., while scholars of standing assure us of the practical identity of sixteen more!
Now, side by side with these Queste versions, we have compared four versions of the prose Lancelot, and of these four no two agree perfectly throughout, and all differ from the summary given by M. Paulin Paris.
D. L. and 1533, which on the whole correspond well with each other, yet have their distinctive differences, i.e. D. L. contains adventures not related by 1533; M., while on one side condensing arbitrarily, on the other gives two adventures known to neither of the first; and S. omits an important section altogether. The summary in Romans de la Table Ronde, while agreeing on the whole with the two first, deviates from both in the later sections.[194]
The practical identity of all the versions of a romance transmitted in so large a number of MSS. as the Queste is, I believe, unique in the Arthurian cycle. Such a phenomenon, for it is nothing less, can, I think, only be explained in one way: there was but one version of the story, and that version took shape, not at a period when oral transmission was the rule, but at a later date, when the story could at once find expression in literary form. I do not believe that any story, the earlier stages of which were developed orally, is ever, when committed to writing, found so entirely free from variants.[195]
Can we decide what special form of the Perceval Queste the Galahad variant was intended to supersede? I think not: it is noticeable that the writer never gives any adventure which finds an exact parallel in the older romances, yet he not only knew the Perceval story, but knew it in various forms. The allusions in Book XIV., though slight, are remarkably instructive: he knew that Perceval was the son of a widow, and that his mother died of grief at his departure (Chrétien, Wolfram, Didot Perceval); that in his wanderings in search of the Grail he came to the dwelling of a female recluse, who proved to be a near relative (only related by Wolfram); that he has a sister (Didot Perceval, and Perceval li Gallois). Thus in these few allusions he is in touch with the whole cycle of Perceval romance! When, therefore, we find that he never elsewhere assigns to Perceval any of the adventures traditionally connected with him, but gives him a new series which are duplicated elsewhere, one can only conclude that it is done of set purpose.
Of the parallels given above, the existence of the sister appears to me to be the most important, judging from the prominence of the rôle here assigned to her. She only appears in the two forms of the Perceval Queste which show traces of having formed part of a cycle; and inasmuch as Perceval li Gallois represents the mother as living to see her son return, and regain his kingdom, the correspondence is closer with the Didot Perceval, but the question can hardly be settled.
As a Grail romance the Queste is extremely poor. The utter confusion of the writer as to the identity of the Fisher King and Maimed King; the inter-relation of Grail Winner, owner of Grail Castle, Fisher King and Maimed King; the neglect of the most obvious conditions of the quest, such as ignorance on the part of the predestined Grail Winner; his giving proof of identity by fulfilment of a test; the inaccessibility of the Grail castle to all but the elect knight—all show a most extraordinary carelessness on his part, were he intending to write a Grail romance pure and simple. Ignorance we cannot postulate. He knows too much about Perceval not to know more about the Grail! It is evident throughout that the main anxiety of the author is to keep himself in touch with the Lancelot rather than with the Grail tradition. He is extremely careful to introduce references to that portion of the Lancelot story with which he is familiar; to explain that the adventures foreshadowed in Grand S. Graal and Lancelot have been really fulfilled, and so long as he can demonstrate his hero to be a worthy upholder of the glories of the race of King Ban, he cares very little if he fails to fulfil the necessary conditions of the original Grail Winner. This latter may know from the first what the Grail is, where it is, his own predestined relation to it, his final winning it may be reduced to an absurdity by the presence of eleven or twelve others all equally worthy of beholding the sacred talisman, but that matters nothing to the author; he has contrived to bring the Grail into more or less harmony with the Lancelot legend; he has crowned the most popular of Arthur's knights with reflected glory as father of the Grail Winner, he has put the last touch to the evolution of the Lancelot legend, and in so doing he has achieved the task which he set himself to perform. The Queste is in all essential features not a Grail but a Lancelot romance, and as such primarily it should be judged.