Parzival: A Knightly Epic (vol. 1 of 2)

by von Eschenbach Wolfram

BOOK II

HERZELEIDE

Now there in the Spanish country he thought him the king to greet,
His kinsman and cousin Kailet, and he followed with footsteps fleet
To Toledo, but thence had he ridden unto deeds of knighthood fair,
Where many a spear should be splintered, and men thought not their shields to spare.
Then he thought him to make him ready (so the venture doth tell I ween)5
With many a blazoned spear-shaft, and many a sendal green;
For each spear it bare a pennon, with the anchor in ermine white,
And well was it wrought, the symbol, and costly in all men's sight.
And long and broad were the pennons, and e'en to the hand hung low
When men on the spear-blade bound them, a span-breadth the point below.10
And a hundred spears were ready for that true and gallant knight,
And his cousin's folk they bare them, and with him went forth to fight;
And honour and loyal service they showed him as fit and fair,
Nor I think had their lord been wrathful that his kinsman their love should share.

I know not how long he sought him, till shelter at length he found 15
In the Waleis land: 'fore Kanvoleis were pitched on the open ground
Many tents so fair and knightly; (I speak not from fancy light
But sooth are the words I tell ye if the tale ye would hear aright)
Then he bade his folk to halt there, and he sent on before his face
The chief of his squires, and he bade him to seek them a resting-place.20
He would fain do his master's bidding, and swift to the town he sped,
And many a pack-horse laden his comrades behind him led.
And never a house he saw there but its roof was a shield I trow,
And the walls were hung and circled with spears in a goodly row,
For the queen of the Waleis country had ordered at Kanvoleis 25
That a Tourney fair be holden, and they ordered it in such wise
That a coward had little liked it—for whoever would seek such strife
At his will doth it chance but seldom! She was maiden, not yet a wife,
And herself and two lands she offered to him who the prize should hold;
And many to earth had fallen in whose ear had this tale been told, 30
And he who such fall must suffer he held that his chance was o'er.
And many a dauntless hero showed knighthood those walls before,
And many a horse rushed onward as the knight spurred to onslaught fierce,
And the sword-blades rang clear on each other, and spears did the shield rims pierce.

A bridge from the plain was builded that crossed o'er the river's flow,35
And 'twas closed by a tower-portal; nor the squire at his task was slow,
But he opened the gates, unwearied, when one would an entrance win.
And above it there stood the palace, and the queen sat the hall within,
And she gazed from the high hall window with many a maiden fair,
And they looked on the squires beneath them to see what had brought them there.40
'Twixt themselves had they taken counsel, and a tent did they rear on high
For the winning of love ungranted a king wrought it in days gone by,
('Twas in service of Queen Belakané). The squires laboured with might and main
Till the burden of thirty pack-steeds they raised on the grassy plain,
A pavilion rich to look on, and the meadow it was so wide 45
That the silken ropes that held it might stretch forth on either side.
And Gamuret, their master, ate without in the open air—
And then for his courtly entrance with skill would the knight prepare,
Nor longer might be delaying—His squires take the spears straightway,
And they bind them fast together, and five in each band they lay, 50
And the sixth in their hand they carry, with its pennon and anchor white;
So proudly into the city came riding this gallant knight.

Then the queen she heard the tidings that a noble guest was come
From a far-off land and distant, and in sooth was he known to none.
'And courteous his folk in bearing; both heathen and French I trow, 55
And Angevin, some among them if their speech I aright may know;
And their courage is high, and their raiment both rich and well shaped shall be.
But now was I with his people, and they seem me from falsehood free,
And they say, 'Who hath lust for riches, if he to our lord shall seek
He will free him from fear of scarceness!' The while I with them did speak,60
I asked them to tell of their master, and they thought not to hide the thing,
But spake of a true heart freely, 'Of Zassamank is he king.'

'Twas a page who brought the tidings—'Ah me! that pavilion fair!
Wouldst thou pledge thy crown and thy kingdom not half of its cost were there!'
'Thou needst not to praise so highly, my mouth ne'er shall say thee nay,65
A rich man shall be its owner, no lack doth he know alway.'
And in this wise she spake, the lady, the fair and gracious queen,
'Why cometh he not to the castle? For fain I his face had seen.'

This she bade her page to ask him—Then the hero was fain to make
Brave entry into the city, and the sleepers must needs awake. 70
Many shields he saw fair shining—The blast of the trumpets clear
Rang loud and long before him, and two drummers ye needs must hear
As they tossed and smote their tambours, and the walls echoed back the sound,
With the notes of the flutes 'twas mingled as the train through the city wound,
'Twas a march that they played so gaily—Nor forget we how he must ride75
Their master and lord, he followed with the fiddlers his rein beside.

Then he threw his leg o'er his charger, that hero so bold and fair,
And boots did he wear of leather, or else had his limbs been bare.
And his mouth it was e'en as a ruby, and red, as a fire doth burn,
And full, not too thin; fair his body wherever the eye might turn; 80
And fair was his hair and curling, and wherever one saw the skin
I ween 'twas as costly cover as ever a head might win.
And of samite green was his mantle, and the sable shone dark thereon
Tho' white was his vest, and the gazers they came in a goodly throng.
And many must ask the question, 'Who was he, the beardless knight 85
Who rode with such pomp of riches?' Then the tale it was spread aright,
For they spake it as truth who knew it—So they drew to the bridge anear
The folk of the town, and his people; and so bright was the radiance clear
That shone from the queen that it thrilled him thro' his strong limbs, that goodly knight,
And he braced himself as a falcon that plumeth its wings for flight,90
And the lodging he deemed it goodly; so thought he that hero wise;
And his hostess with joy beheld him, the lady of fair Waleis!