Book III · GURNEMANZ, part 1 of 13
¶ARGUMENT
¶In the Introduction the poet speaks of the honour in which he holds all true women, though he be wroth with one who has wronged him. Yet, though women shall count him their friend, he would fain that they should honour him for his knightly deeds, rather than for this his song.
¶In Book III. he tells of the sorrow and the faith of Queen Herzeleide; of Parzival's childhood; of his meeting with the knights; of his faring forth to seek knighthood from King Arthur; and of the death of Herzeleide. How Parzival met with Jeschuté, and robbed her of her token, and of the wrath of her husband Orilus. Of the sorrow of Siguné, and how Parzival learnt his name and his lineage. How Parzival met with the Red Knight and bare his challenge to the court of King Arthur, and how he craved a boon of the king. Of the shaming of Kunnewaaré; and of the death of the Red Knight. How Parzival came to Gurnemanz of Graharz and was cured by him of his folly and taught all knightly wisdom, and how he rode forth from the land of Graharz.
¶BOOK III
¶GURNEMANZ
¶Is there ever a singer among you, who singeth a sweeter song Of the favour and love of women, I hold not he does me wrong! Full fain am I still to hearken to aught that may give them joy, But to one alone among women my homage I still deny. Nay, ever the fire of my anger doth kindle and flame anew, 5 And the sorrow her treason wrought me, it grieveth me still I trow! I, whom men have named the singer, I, Wolfram of Eschenbach, The words that against a woman I spake, I may ne'er take back. Nay, I hold fast my wrath for ever, and clasp it closer still, As I think how in soul and body alike hath she wrought me ill! 10 How can I do aught but hate her, till death setteth seal on life? Yet it grieveth me sore that others should mingle in this our strife;
¶It grieveth me sore that maidens should say, as they name my name, 'Forsooth he hath shamed all women, let it be unto him for shame!' Nay, then, an they reckon for evil the words that in grief I spake, 15 I will speak them no more for ever, though my heart should in silence break! But let them beware in their anger, these warlike maidens fair, How they stir from his eyrie the eagle, rouse the lion from his lair! Full well I know how to defend me, full well know I what beseems The maid of a knight's devotion, the maid of the poet's dreams! 20 Let a maiden be steadfast-hearted, pure and true in word and deed, And her champion true she'll find me, comes there ever an hour of need.
¶I hold his renown waxeth slowly, and halteth upon the road, Who, for wrong at the hand of one woman, shall slander all womanhood: But if any will look upon me, and hearken to what I sing, 25 Of a sooth I will not deceive them, though my tale over-strange may ring. Born was I unto the bearing of knightly shield and spear, And though sweet be the song of the singer, I hold it not all too dear: I had rather my love should love me for my deeds of high renown, Than because in the hall of the Wartburg they should crown me with music's crown! 30 With the shield and the spear of knighthood will I seek for a knight's reward, Nor charm, with the harp of the singer, what I failèd to win with the sword!
¶Nor in praise of fair women only runs this tale that I have to tell, Full many strange deeds it holdeth, and marvels that once befell Ere the course of this wondrous venture be tracèd unto its end; 35 Yet he who heareth shall reckon, if he fain would account me friend, That this is no book he readeth, for no maker of books am I! But a singer of strange adventures, and of knightly prowess high: Stripped bare will I be of all honour, naked and reft of fame, Ere I trust my renown unto letters, and give to a book my name! 40
¶It vexes me, soul and body, that so many should bear the name And speak with the tongue of women, who reck not of woman's fame; That those who have known no falsehood, and those who are swift to fall, Should carry one name in common, be counted as sisters all! A truth that has faltered never, a faith that has aye withstood, 45 Is the only glory of woman, the crown of her womanhood!
¶Many will say, 'What good thing can come out of poverty?' She who for love endures it, she 'scapeth Hell thereby, And, in the kingdom of Heaven, receiveth a hundredfold For all she has borne for love's sake, new joys for her sorrows old! 50 Not one have I known in my lifetime, I count it a bitter truth, Neither a man nor a maiden, who the joy and the pride of youth, And all earth's riches and honour, will leave as a worthless thing If weighed with the glory of Heaven, and the service of Heaven's King! But Queen Herzeleide only, she left her fair estate, 55 In her youth of all joy bereavèd, with sorrow afar to mate. So holy was she and gentle, so faithful and pure of mind, That no tongue spake a word against her, and no eye a fault could find. Sunlight or shadow, what recked she? the day was to her as night, For her heart was the home of sorrow, and dead was the world's delight. 60 And in sorrow and grief she wandered, till she came to Soltanè's strand, A woodland wild and lonely afar from her native land: Fair flowers might bloom and blossom without, on the sunlit plain, And be woven in rosy chaplets, but for her they would bloom in vain! And there, mid the woodland shadows, she hid with Gamuret's son, 65 For she willed that her life's last treasure be revealed unto none: So she called her folk around her, (who toiled in the upland field With oxen and plough, that the furrows their daily bread might yield,) And she charged them all, by the service which she as their queen might claim, That they hide from the boy his birthright and the fame of his father's name. 70 'For the knightly deeds ye vaunt of, and the glory and pride of war, Have wrought me but heart's affliction, and trouble and anguish sore, So, lest I yet more should suffer, I pray you, my servants dear, That ye speak no word of knighthood, lest my son perchance should hear!'