behold this heavenly food first." Christ then washed his hands, removed the cover, and said, "In the name of Allah!” And behold then became visible a large baked fish, with neither bones nor scales, and diffused a fragrance around like the fruits of Paradise. Round the fish there lay five small loaves, and on it salt, pepper, and other spices. “Spirit of Allah,” said Simon, 66 "are these viands from this world or from the other?" But Christ replied, “ Are not both worlds, and all that they contain, the work of the Lord? Receive whatever he has given with grateful hearts, and ask not whence it comes ! But if the appearance of this fish be not sufficiently miraculous to you, you shall behold a still greater sign." Then, turning to the fish, he said, "Live! by the will of the Lord." The fish then began to stir and to move, so that the Apostles fled with fear. But Christ called them back, and said, “Why do you flee from that which you have desired ?" He called to the fish, "Be again what thou wast before!" and immediately it lay then as it had come down from heaven. The disciples then prayed Christ that he might eat of it first; but he replied, "I have not lusted for it: he that has lusted for it, let him eat of it now." But when the disciples refused to eat of it, because they now saw that their request had been sinful, Christ called many aged men-many deaf, sick, blind, and lame, and invited them to eat of the fish. There now came thirteen hundred, which ate of the fish, and were satisfied. But whenever one piece was cut off from the fish another grew again in its place; so that it still lay there entire as if no one had touched. The guests were not only satisfied with it, but even healed of all their diseases. The aged became young, the blind saw, the deaf heard, the dumb spoke, and the lame regained their vigorous limbs. When the Apostles saw this they regretted that they had not eaten; and whoever beheld the men that had been cured and invigorated thereby regretted in like manner not to have shared in the repast. When, therefore, at the prayer of Christ a similar table descended again from heaven, the whole people, rich and poor, young and old, sick and whole, came to be refreshed by these heavenly viands. This lasted during forty days. At the dawn of day the table, borne on the clouds, descended in the face of the sons of Israel; and before sunset it gradually rose up again. But as, notwithstanding this, many still doubted whether it really came from heaven, Christ prayed no longer for its return, and threatened the unbelievers with the punishment of the Lord," etc.- Weil, Bible, Koran and Talmud, pp. 226, etc. There are other circumstances which, perhaps, further connect the Graal story with the East. Borron, with other knights who had taken part in the Crusades, must have had their imaginations impressed with the strange and mysterious ceremonial of the Eastern rites, and some would have been curious to acquaint themselves with their meaning and thereby obtain a knowledge of the liturgy. Now in the prothesis-a preparatory rite in some liturgies the priest pierces the right side of the bread destined for consecration, saying: "One of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side and forthwith came thereout Blood and Water," etc., Neale's "Liturgies," p. 182; the knife used for this purpose is called the holy lance, åyía λóyxn. This utensil was also known in the West. See Martigny, Dict. Ant. Chrét. Again, in the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, "After the Great Entrance the Priest sets down the chalice on the holy table, and taking the holy disc from the hand of the Deacon he places it there also, saying: 'Honourable Joseph took thy spotless body from the cross, and wrapped it in clean linen with spices, and with funeral rites placed it in a new tomb." This is repeated, Neale, Tetralogia Liturgica, p. 62. These rites are at least very suggestive when one reads the graal story. With regard to the Veronica episode, this story clearly rests on traditions and writings of remote origin, as has been pointed out in the text; the same belief is recorded in the old Ambrosian liturgy, which is of high antiquity, on the old feast day of St. Veronica, Feb. 4. As this liturgy has been reformed to some extent, and is now scarce, it may be worth while to quote in extenso the preface from the Ambrosian Missal, printed at Milan, in 1475 : "Eterne deus Qui beatam ueronicam tua caritate plenam igneo candore tui eterni flaminis totaliter accendisti. Nam et semper xpm desiderabat uidere, nec poterat sequi propter ipsius senectutē. Cuius xps desideriū agnoscens et uultum fricauit, et ymago sui in sudario remansit. O fides miraculosa o laudabile miraculum, que filii dei in terra ymagines monstrauit. Que beata ueronica ut sudariu posuit super uoluxianū curuū eū circa tergum. Et tyberiu cesarē ad fidem conuertit atque sanū a lepra mundauit. Quesumus ergo clementia tuam, ut in tua misericordia confidentes nulla nos uitiorum mala procellant sed potius exerceant ad salutem." According to the variant of the legend in the Titurel Romance, the vessel which the Saviour used at His Last Supper, was borne away to heaven by angels, pending the appearance of a knightly organization upon earth which should be worthy of its custody and cultus. Such a corporation was destined to be founded by the Asiatic prince Perillus, who came to Gaul and allied himself to the Armorican chiefs, and Titurel, his descendant, constructed for the reception of the sacred vase a shrine upon the model of Solomon's temple. The vase itself was visible only to eyes of the baptized. From it emanated a mystic bliss, a foretaste of heavenly joy, but also an abundance of temporal good things. From the Graal shrine, the guardians were called templois. They were vowed to chastity, and enjoyed many supernatural privileges. The following are the titles of editions of the text of the romance, or of critical essays upon the subject. L'hystoire du sainct greaal Qui est le premier liure de la table ronde lequel traicte de plusieurs matières recreatiues. Ensemble la queste dudiet sainct greaal, etc. Paris, 1516-1523. Published The History of the Holy Grail, Englisht by Lonelich . . . from the French prose . . of Sires R. de Borron. by the Early English Text Society. Seynt Graal, or the Sank Ryal. The history of the Holy Graal, by Lonelich. With a reprint of the Romanz de l'estore dou graal. Published by the Roxburghe Club. Y Seint Greal. Welsh and English edition, translated by Rev. Robert Williams. London, 1876. 8vo. Le Saint-Graal, ou le Joseph d'Arimathie première branche des Romans de la Table Ronde, publié des Textes et des documents inédits par Hucher. 3 tom. Le Mans, 1875-78. 12mo. Der Prosaroman von Joseph herausg., von G. Weidner. Leip., 1881. 8vo. A. Birch Hirschfeld, Die Sage vom Gral, ihre Entwickelung in Frankreich und Deutschland, etc. 1877. A. Schulz, Parcival-Studien. Leipzig, 1861, etc. 8vo. L. Kraussold, Die Sage vom heiligen Gral und Parceval. 1878. F. G. Bergman, The San Grëal. Edinburgh, 1870. San Marte, in Ersch and Gruber's "Encyclopädie,” art. “Gral.” NAMES (pp. 164, 179). Mr. Leith (on the Legend of Tristan, p. 35), gives the following enumeration of forms of name:-Isolde, Yseus, Yseutz, Yseut, Ysseulz, Izeutz, Yseul, Ysou, Ysolt, Isault, Essyllt, Ysoue, Yseult, Iset, Ysalde, Yseuda, Yzeult, Iseulte, Isot, Isodda, Ysoude, Ysonde, Ysote, Isond, Isotta, Iseo, Isawde, Isowde, Isod, Isold, Ysiaut, and Ysoud, to which Hisolda may be added. Tristan, Tristans, Tristram, Tristrans, Tristant, Tristran, Tritans, Tritan, Tristranz, Tristanz, Tritanz, Tristrant, Trystrem, Trystren, and Trustram. Mark, March, Marc, Mars, Brangwen, Brangæne, Brengain, Brangian, Branwen, Brangien, Brangweyne, Brangueyn, Brangwyna, Bragwaine, Brangwin, Brangwin, Brangwain, Rual, Rohand, Rhyhawd, Morhoult, Morold, Moraunt, Marlot, Morolt, Morhot, Morogh, Martholwch (cf. Marcolf). ... Bron seems to Mr. Leith (on the Legend of Tristan, p. 24), merely a corruption of bran. Mr. Leith, however, does not seem to know the form Hebrons, which also occurs in the Romance texts (see p. 164). Bran he considers is the original Celtic bird of rain and lightning, now personified as a male in Bran the Blessed, now as a female in Branwen. . . . The name Bran may, on the one hand, be derived from the Sanscrit Bhuranyu, by the not unusual suppression of the first vowel and of the affix. As the root Char of Bhuranyu shows the u to be really an a, the older Celtic form would thus be perhaps Baran (compounded with "ton" hill, in the Breton Baranton, the name of Ywain's magic fountain). Bhuranyu is a compound of bhurana (i.e. bharana), and yu, and signifies literally "desirous of carrying." Branwen's rôle in the Tristan legend, as the dispenser of the magic potion, points her out as the feminine personification of the Aryan cloud bird. On the other hand, Bran may be merely the Celtic word for Raven. Lamorat, one of the principal personages in the prose Tristan, is mentioned in one of the songs of the Venetian troubadour, Bartolomeo Zorzi, a fact which shows that the romance was known in Italy prior to 1268. See Der Troubadour B. Zorzi. Emil Levy, Halle, Romania, 1884, p. 483. Giglan, Guinglain, Gyngelayn, Geynleyn, Gynleyn are but different forms of the Welsh Winwaloen (p. 263), or the Bel Inconnu, in the old French; this epithet Ly beauxs desconnus is found metamorphosed as Lybius Disconius, Gifflet le fils Do, of the French poem of Guinglain, and becomes in the prose Gyflroun le fludous. See Romania, Janvier, 1886, pp. 5, 13. KING ARTHUR (p. 229). In the twelfth century, Gervase of Tilbury (Otia Imperialia Ed. Liebrecht, p. 12) was told by the natives that Arthur was imprisoned in Mongibel (= Mount Etna), and that the Bishop of Catana's groom once wandered into the Arthurian palace in search of a strayed horse. A variant of the legend is related by Cæsarius Heisterbacensis. The Old French poem of Florian et Florete locates the marvellous palace of Morgan the Fay within Etna. Alexander N. Vesselovsky, Iz Istorii Romana, etc., 1886, p. 117. See also G. Pitré's article, Le Tradizioni Cavalleresche Popolari in Sicilia, Romania, 1884, p. 391. The classic story of the Cretan poet Epimenides who is fabled to have slept for half a century in a cave, will recur to the memory. MILLES ET AMYs (p. 318). Dr. Paul Schwieger (Die Sage von Amis und Amiles, Berlin, Hayn, 1885) approximates the history of Milles and Amys to that of Siegfried and Gunther. In both narratives a friend (or vassal) conquers a wife for his friend (or lord) by replacing him, and is afterwards punished. This general resemblance, however, hardly authorizes the inference of any radical connection between the two stories. The episode (p. 320) of the leper cured by the blood of the children sacrificed for the purpose by the friend may very probably be of Eastern origin, and may have been transmitted through some Byzantine channel. It has been associated with two persons, of whom the tombs are shown at Mortara, in Piedmont (see p. 317), Romania, No. 54, Avril, 1885, p. 318, 19. The Anglo-Norman Amis and Amiloun, with the English version, have been published by Eugen Koelbing, in t. ii. of the Altenglische Bibliothek, in completion of his work published in 1877, and referred to in the note, p. 318, Amis and Amiloun zugleich mit der altfranzözischen Quelle, Heilbronn, 1884. In Juan Timoneda's "Patrañuelo," No. 37, an only son is sacrificed to save a friend's son. |