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

by von Eschenbach Wolfram

'Would to God that were true! Now I think me it well-nigh a year shall be
That I fain would be knight, lacking knighthood all else seemeth ill to me!
Now make thou no more delaying, be knighthood my lot straightway.' 620
Quoth the king, 'I were fain to do so if worth fail me not alway,
So noble art thou to look on; and goodly gifts and rare
Would I give thee; to do thee service I'll naught of my treasure spare.
Yea, loath had I been to refuse thee, wait but for to-morrow's light,
And I myself will dower thee with all that befits a knight.' 625

The lad like a bird new cagèd, he shook himself to and fro,
And he quoth, 'For naught do I ask thee! But that knight who as fire doth glow
If thou givest me not his armour no gift will I take from thee,
My mother will not withhold it—For a queen shall she surely be.'

Then Arthur he quoth, 'That armour so gallant a knight doth wear 630
That to give thee a gift so goodly methinks I may hardly dare.
And guiltless I live in sorrow since his homage I must forego,
Ither he is of Gaheviess; thro' my joy hath he wrought me woe.'

'Now my King sure it were ungracious to say to his pleading nay,
Thou shalt give him what he desireth, nor think it too great,' quoth Kay,635
'Let him forth to the plain; bid him bring thee the cup if it be thy will!
Here hast thou the whip, there the top is, let the child have of sport his fill.
The women, forsooth, will praise him, and it seemeth good to me
He should learn to take blows an he gives them, many such will his portion be.
For the life of the twain what care I? Each of us needs must have his day,640
If thy dogs for the spoil shall hunger, thou must e'en give thy dogs their way.'
'I were loath to refuse his pleading, yet I feared lest he here be slain,
And to knighthood I fain had helped him.' Thus Arthur he spake again.

Thus the lad won the gift he craved for, which many perforce must rue,
And young and old they followed, as forth from the hall he flew. 645
By the hand would Iwanet lead him, 'fore a bower that was none too high,
And backward and forward turning the lad gazed with eager eye.
And the bower was so low that within it the lad he both heard and saw,
And therefrom did he win a sorrow that vexed him with torment sore.

The queen from her bower window to look on the sight was fain, 650
And her knights and maidens round her they gazed and they gazed again.
And the maiden Kunnewaaré she sat there, the fair and proud,
And never, that man might wot of, had she laughed or low or loud.
For never she vowed, an she died first, would she laugh ere her eyes might see
That knight, who of knights the bravest or was, or henceforth should be.655
As the lad rode beneath the window she brake into laughter sweet,
And her back was sore from the guerdon—reward for a maid unmeet!
For Kay the Seneschal seized her, the maiden of fair Lalande,
By her waving hair, and the tresses he wound fast around his hand,
Without a band he bound her—Tho' never an oath she sware 660
His staff he laid unknightly on her maiden shoulders fair,
And ere ever the sound of the smiting on the ear had died away
Thro' white skin and royal raiment had he wounded the maid that day.

And thus did he speak in his folly, 'Now hast thou thine own fair fame
Cast aside, and I wot thou hast done it to thine own mending shame!665
Now see, e'en in flight have I caught it, and I bring it to thee once more
In such wise thou mayst well remember, and be e'en in the memory sore:
For I wot well unto King Arthur, to his court and his palace hall
Many gallant men have ridden, yet hast thou despised them all,
And ne'er hast thou smiled upon them—And now doth thy laughter ring670
For one knowing naught of knighthood! Unseemly I deem this thing!'

Now whate'er might be done in anger I wot well no king's decree
Had bid him thus smite the maiden; and her friends mourned her bitterly.
(Might she bear knightly shield and armour it had helped not this sore disgrace,
Discourteous the blows were smitten.) She came of a royal race, 675
Had her gallant brothers seen it, Lähelein and Orilus
Far fewer blows had fallen; she ne'er had been smitten thus.

Now Sir Antanor the Silent, who thro' silence a fool was thought,
(His speech and the maiden's laughter on a self-same thread were wrought)
For never a word would he utter till she laughed whom Kay thus did smite,680
As clear rang the maiden's laughter, aloud spake the silent knight,
'Now here before God I tell thee, Kunnewaaré of fair Lalande
Thou hast wronged for that lad, and thy guerdon awaiteth thee at his hand,
Nor so weak shall he be, nor so foolish, but he turneth thy bliss to bale!'
'And thy speech thou hast found but to threaten for joy shall it naught avail.'685
His food would he make full bitter.—Kay smote him upon the ear
With his fist till naught but a singing and a whispering might he hear.
And Parzival saw the sorrow of the maiden and Antanor,
And his heart was hot for their shaming, and grief for their sake he bore,
And he grasped his javelin tightly, but the throng pressed so close around690
That perforce the dart must he lower, lest some other aim it found.

Thus alone from the court of King Arthur rode the son of Gamuret,
And he came to the plain where the Red Knight his foeman awaited yet;
And he bare unto him the tidings how in Nantes was there never a knight
Whose heart yet yearned for jousting, or who lusted with him to fight.695
'But a gift King Arthur gave me—I spake as thou saidst before,
That without thy will had it chanced thee the wine o'er the queen to pour,
Thy discourtesy sorely vexed thee—They think not to fight with thee.
Now give me the steed thou ridest, and thine harness give thou to me,
They were given me in the palace, therein shall I be a knight, 700
Wouldst withhold them, I will not greet thee—Yield thou what is mine of right!'