Wolfram's Parzival

1 Wolfram's Parzival A retelling of the Grail Legend Antonio Marques 2014 2 CONTENTS BOOK I: The Black Queen ............................................................... 3 BOOK II: The White Queen ........................................................... 10 BOOK III: The Fool ........................................................................ 20 BOOK IV: Condwiramurs .............................................................. 35 BOOK V: The Grail Castle .............................................................. 44 BOOK VI: Arthur ........................................................................... 58 BOOK VII: Obilot ........................................................................... 71 BOOK VIII: Antikonie ..................................................................... 88 BOOK IX: Trevrizent ...................................................................... 99 BOOK X: Orgeluse....................................................................... 120 BOOK XI: The Castle of Wonders ................................................ 135 BOOK XII: Cidegast ..................................................................... 144 BOOK XIII: Klingsor ..................................................................... 157 BOOK XIV: Gramoflanz ............................................................... 171 BOOK XV: Feirefiz ....................................................................... 172 BOOK XVI: Lohengrin .................................................................. 173 3 BOOK I: The Black Queen Greetings, dear reader! Before I begin what you will surely agree is an epic tale, perhaps it would be fitting that I introduce myself. I am called Wolfram von Eschenbach – once a proud knight, now I am a poet, in the service of the honourable Landgrave1 Hermann I of Thuringia. I devote my life to recounting tales of great wonder, in the hope and anticipation that you, dear reader, will fill the space of these stories with your eager imagination. For these tales are no more mine than yours! They have been given to us all by great seers who accompany our journeys through life, mostly unseen and unrecognised. My good fortune brought me into the company of such a great seer, Kyot the Provençal. For, by myself, I could neither write nor read a letter to save my life! I know you find this hard to believe – you tell yourself: I have before me a book of hundreds of pages – how is this possible? Still it is true. But, please, allow me to begin... The heart of a knight is filled with courage! But woe to such a knight when his heart is besieged with doubt. For then will he know both praise and guilt, both good and ill, but not tell which is true and which is not – such is the motley colour of a magpie's coat! Troubles will follow him like an upstart dog, the worse the smaller they are, nipping at his heels. But, if a moment of quiet seizes him, he will gain a glimpse of peace: for he will recognise that within his own heart beat the wings of heaven and blow the winnows of hell. Such a knight will know the value of doubt and the worth of a true heart. Then will he know to press towards the light and to know the dark. Now, dear reader, do not be put off by these occasional ramblings – I am prone to them as a blind man may be prone to stumbling. But know this also: the story you hold in your hands is yours to seize, if only you have the will to do so. And you may recognise that these indulgent ramblings of a once-knight may, I may say, lead you closer to your goal. What, may you ask, is that goal? Well, surely, it is that our hero reaches his goal! Be patient and forgiving, for this is a tale of a brave man who comes slowly to wisdom. He is sweet to the eyes of women who behold his manhood, but woe to the mother who raised him. But I am forgetting myself...let us begin our story at the very beginning – with the adventures of his father, the noble Gahmuret. It is the custom in many German lands, and certainly in the one where I come from, that the eldest born son will, in the event of his father's death, inherit the whole of his property. And so our story unfolds that brave Gahmuret, a knight of true worth is doubly scorned by destiny: his father dies in combat leaving the loyal Gahmuret to mourn for his passing and also for the dispossession of his inheritance, for you see, he is the second born. And yet, he is so dispossessed less by custom than by his own nature. Let me explain. “Dear brother,” spoke generous Galões, “it is not right that I should keep everything. Please accept a worthy gift of property that once belonged to our beloved father.” “My dear Galões,” replied Gahmuret with a glint of wildness gleaming in his eye. “I want to see the world. All I ask is that you equip me with squires, knightly arms and horses, that I may travel widely across this mysterious earth. And if it pleases God, I may gain the greeting of a good woman, and 1A title awarded in the kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire, equivalent to Duke. A Retelling of Parzival.docx 4 serve her with all the loyalty of my heart. May God bless me with a worthy life, dear brother!” “Oh, such words cut me to the quick, my dear brother. You are indeed blessed, and woe is to me that we must part. Still, it was our dear father's wish to leave us many riches, and I will happily share these with you. Take jewels of red gold, and any attendants you desire, that you may travel as you wish. You are indeed a man of rare courage, brother.” “Dear Galões, I'm sorry to cause you and our dear mother such heartache. But I can do nothing else – such is the desire that burns in my heart. O where is this desire driving me?” Gahmuret finally wondered to himself. Ah! But what was the grief in his mother's heart! “Fils du roi Gandin!2 Will you not stay to soothe the burning ache of the one who bore you into this cruel world? Am I to bury my heart once more, now I hear of your departure? Oh my son! Oh my child! Come to your mother's bosom, and feel the pain of her love!” That desperate lady was beside herself with torment. But upright Gahmuret could do little and looked on in pained silence. “At least tell me when you are to return, my son.” “That I cannot do, dear mother, star of my night. I will seek service and cannot say now in which country nor for how long. Be assured that you have bestowed many gifts upon me through the grace of your being, O woman. I will do justice to all that you are.” And so, upon the eve of his departure, the grief-stricken lady lauded her son with chests of fine cloth, no finer existed, to the value of one thousand marks. Yet no value of gold could count the worth of her friendship! Then Gahmuret turned his back upon everything that was dear to him. Unknown to any of the company, this was the last time that his eyes fell upon the soft countenance of his mother, or indeed that he would see his brother, Galões, or the land of his childhood. To his surprise, all those folk, and there were not a few, to whom he had once shown favour, now lined the road that led to Gahmuret's future and showered him with their great thanks and their fond well wishes. Now hear the will of Gahmuret's heart: he wished to serve the greatest ruler on earth. And he learned that such a one indeed resided in the lands of Baghdad, far to the east. The name, given him by the heathens who were in awe of his majesty, was “The Baruch”3. As the Christians turn to the light of Rome for their faith, so the heathen looks to the authority of the Baruch. It now happened that the Baruch had taken the lands of Nineveh from two Babylonian brothers, Pompey and Ipomidon. Perhaps because these lands had been in the keep of their ancestors, the two brothers waged a stout defence. But upon the arrival in his kingdom, the Baruch took favour with Gahmuret the Angevin (for such was the name of his father's land) and offered him services as a knight of his court. He was now allowed to receive a coat of arms true to his service of the Baruch: an anchor, sown upon his garments and emblazoned upon his shield, upon the horse's caparison4, indeed upon everything that identified Gahmuret as a knight of high aspirations. But alack, though he bore the weight of this heraldry to every foreign place he visited, the sign of the anchor did not give him peace or a steady dwelling place. And where did this valiant knight venture in service of the Baruch? To which lands did he ride? And to which did he take sail? It was known, and such was told to me, that the truth is that he won fame in every corner of the heathen lands, from Morocco to Persia, before Damascus, before Aleppo, and throughout all of Arabia. And in every instance he prevailed, and such became his reputation that none that knew of him dared raise their hand in combat against Gahmuret. 2Son of King Gandin 3The name is Hebrew, meaning “the blessed one”. 4A covering or cloth placed over the saddle. Akin to “cape” from Latin caparo meaning a type of cape worn by women. A Retelling of Parzival.docx 5 Now hear what unexpected adventure lay in store for Gahmuret! On a day when travelling westward, a great storm took hold of his ship, held his life for ransom, and eventually brought him to harbour in a kingdom known as Zazamanc. There he saw, all around the city of Patelamunt, two great armies encamped. He was implored by all who had observed his auspicious entry into their city to take up arms against death itself.

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