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

by von Eschenbach Wolfram

'Wouldst thou force thy God with thine anger? He who heareth that thou hast sworn525
Hatred against thy Maker, he shall hold thee of wit forlorn!
Of Lucifer now bethink thee, and of those who must share his fall,
Bethink thee, the angel nature was free from all taint of gall,
Say, whence sprang that root of evil which spurred them to endless strife,
And won its reward in Hell's torments, and the death of an outcast life?530
Ashtaroth, Belcimon, and Belat, Rhadamant, yea, and many more!
Pride and anger the host of Heaven with Hell's colours have painted o'er!'

'When Lucifer and his angels thus sped on their downward way,
To fill their place, a wonder God wrought from the earth and clay:
The son of His hands was Adam, and from flesh of Adam, Eve 535
He brought, and for Eve's transgression, I ween, all the world doth grieve.
For she hearkened not her Creator, and she robbed us of our bliss.
And two sons sprang forth from her body, and the elder he wrought amiss,
Since envy so worked upon him that from wrath there sprang disgrace,
And of maidenhood did he rob her who was mother of all his race! 540
Here many a one doth question, an the tale be to him unknown,
How might such a thing have chancèd? It came but by sin alone!'

Quoth Parzival, 'Now, I think me that never such thing might be,
And 'twere better thou shouldst keep silence, than tell such a tale to me!
For who should have borne the father, whose son, as thou sayest, reft545
Maidenhood from his father's mother? Such riddle were better left!'
But the hermit again made answer, 'Now thy doubt will I put away,
O'er my falsehood thou canst bemoan thee if the thing be not truth I say,
For the Earth was Adam's mother, of the Earth was Adam fed,
And I ween, tho' a man she bare here, yet still was the Earth a maid.550
And here will I read the riddle, he who robbed her of maidenhood
Was Cain the son of Adam, who in wrath shed his brother's blood:
For as on the Earth, so stainless, the blood of the guiltless fell,
Her maidenhood fled for ever! And true is the tale I tell.
For wrath of man and envy, thro' Cain did they wake to life, 555
And ever from that day forward thro' his sin there ariseth strife.'

'Nor on earth shall aught be purer than a maiden undefiled,
Think how pure must be a maiden, since God was a Maiden's Child!
Two men have been born of maidens, and God hath the likeness ta'en
Of the son of the first Earth-Maiden, since to help us He aye was fain.560
Thus grief alike and gladness from the seed of Adam spring,
Since He willed to be Son of Adam, Whose praises the angels sing.
And yet have we sin as our birthright, and sin's pain must we ever bear,
Nor its power may we flee! Yet pity He feeleth for our despair,
Whose Strength is aye linked with Mercy, and with Mercy goes hand in hand,565
And for man, as a Man, He suffered, and did falsehood by truth withstand.'

'No longer be wroth with thy Maker! If thou wouldst not thy soul were lost—
And here for thy sin do penance, nor longer thus rashly boast,
For he who, with words untamèd, is fain to avenge his wrong,
His own mouth shall, I ween, speak his judgment ere ever the time be long.570
Learn faith from the men of old-time, whose rede ever waxeth new,
For Plato alike and the Sibyls in their day spake words so true,
And long years ere the time had ripened His coming they did foretell
Who made for our sin's Atonement, and drew us from depths of Hell.
God's Hand from those torments took us, and God's Love lifted us on high,575
But they who His love disdainèd, they yet in Hell's clutches lie!'

'From the lips of the whole world's Lover came a message of love and peace,
(For He is a Light all-lightening, and never His faith doth cease,)
And he to whom love He showeth, findeth aye in that Love his bliss,
Yet twofold I ween is the message, and His token some read amiss; 580
For the world may buy, as it pleaseth, God's Wrath or His Love so great.
Say, which of the twain wilt thou choose here, shall thy guerdon be Love or Hate?
For the sinner without repentance, he flieth God's faith and Face,
But he who his sin confesseth, doth find in His presence grace!'

'From the shrine of his heart, who shall keep Him? Tho' hidden the thought within,585
And secret, and thro' its darkness no sunbeam its way may win,
(For thought is a secret chamber, fast locked, tho' no lock it bear,)
Yet, tho' against man it be closèd, God's light ever shineth there.
He pierceth the wall of darkness, and silent and swift His spring,
As no sound betrayed His coming, as no footstep was heard to ring, 590
So silent His way He goeth—And swift as our thoughts have flown,
Ere God passed of our heart the threshold, our thoughts unto Him were known!
And the pure in heart He chooseth; he who doth an ill deed begin,
Since God knoweth the thoughts of all men, full sorely shall rue his sin.
And the man who by deeds God's favour doth forfeit, what shall he gain?595
Tho' the world count him honour-worthy, his soul seeketh rest in vain.
And where wilt thou seek for shelter if God as thy foeman stand,
Who of wrath or of love giveth payment, as men serve Him, with equal hand?
Thou art lost if thy God be against thee—If thou wouldst His favour earn,
Then away from thy wrath and thy folly thy thoughts to His goodness turn!'600

Quoth Parzival, 'Here I thank thee, from my heart, that such faithful rede
Thou hast given of him who withholdeth from no man his rightful meed,
But evil, as good, requiteth—Yet my youth hath been full of care,
And my faith hath but brought me sorrow, and ill to this day I fare!'

Then the hermit he looked on the Waleis, 'If a secret be not thy grief,605
Right willing thy woe I'll hearken, I may bring thee perchance relief;
Of some counsel may I bethink me such as yet to thyself dost fail!'
Quoth Parzival, 'Of my sorrows the chiefest is for the Grail,
And then for my wife—none fairer e'er hung on a mother's breast,
For the twain is my heart yet yearning, with desire that ne'er findeth rest.'610
Quoth his host, 'Well, Sir Knight, thou speakest, such sorrow is good to bear;
If thus for the wife of thy bosom thy heart knoweth grief and care,
And Death find thee a faithful husband, tho' Hell vex thee with torments dire
Yet thy pains shall be swiftly ended, God will draw thee from out Hell-fire.
But if for the Grail thou grievest, then much must I mourn thy woe,615
O! foolish man, since fruitless thy labours, for thou shalt know
That none win the Grail save those only whose names are in Heaven known,
They who to the Grail do service, they are chosen of God alone;
And mine eyes have surely seen this, and sooth is the word I say!'
Quoth Parzival, 'Thou hast been there?' 'Sir Knight,' quoth the hermit, 'Yea!'620
But never a word spake our hero of the marvels himself had seen,
But he asked of his host the story, and what men by 'The Grail' should mean?
Spake the hermit, 'Full well do I know this, that many a knightly hand
Serveth the Grail at Monsalväsch, and from thence, throughout all the land,
On many a distant journey these gallant Templars fare, 625
Whether sorrow or joy befall them, for their sins they this penance bear!'

'And this brotherhood so gallant, dost thou know what to them shall give
Their life, and their strength and their valour—then know, by a stone they live,
And that stone is both pure and precious—Its name hast thou never heard?
Men call it Lapis Exilis—by its magic the wondrous bird, 630
The Phœnix, becometh ashes, and yet doth such virtue flow
From the stone, that afresh it riseth renewed from the ashes glow,
And the plumes that erewhile it moulted spring forth yet more fair and bright—
And tho' faint be the man and feeble, yet the day that his failing sight
Beholdeth the stone, he dies not, nor can, till eight days be gone,635
Nor his countenance wax less youthful—If one daily behold that stone,
(If a man it shall be, or a maiden 'tis the same,) for a hundred years,
If they look on its power, their hair groweth not grey, and their face appears
The same as when first they saw it, nor their flesh nor their bone shall fail
But young they abide for ever—And this stone all men call the Grail.'640
'And Its holiest power, and the highest shall I ween be renewed to-day,
For ever upon Good Friday a messenger takes her way.
From the height of the highest Heaven a Dove on her flight doth wing,
And a Host, so white and holy, she unto the stone doth bring.
And she layeth It down upon It; and white as the Host the Dove 645
That, her errand done, swift wingeth her way to the Heaven above.
Thus ever upon Good Friday doth it chance as I tell to thee:
And the stone from the Host receiveth all good that on earth may be
Of food or of drink, the earth beareth as the fulness of Paradise.
All wild things in wood or in water, and all that 'neath Heaven flies,650
To that brotherhood are they given, a pledge of God's favour fair,
For His servants He ever feedeth and the Grail for their needs doth care!'