Book IX · TREVREZENT, part 12 of 16

¶Spake the hermit, 'Alas! my nephew, thou speakest the words of woe, Vanished our joy, and sorrow henceforth must we grasp and know, Since folly of bliss betrayed thee: senses five did God give to thee, And methinks, in the hour of thy testing, their counsel should better be. 950 Why guarded they not thine honour, and thy love as a man to men, In the hour that thou satst by Anfortas? Of a truth hadst thou spoken then!'

¶'Nor would I deny thee counsel; mourn not for thy fault too sore, Thou shalt, in a fitting measure, bewail thee, and grief give o'er. For strange are the ways, and fitful, of mankind, oft is youth too wise 955 And old age turneth back to folly, and darkened are wisdom's eyes, And the fruit of a life lieth forfeit, while green youth doth wax old and fade-- Not in this wise true worth shall be rooted, and payment in praise be paid. Thine youth would I see fresh blooming, and thine heart waxing strong and bold, While thou winnest anew thine honour, nor dost homage from God withhold. 960 For thus might it chance unto thee to win for thyself such fame As shall make amends for thy sorrow, and God thee, as His knight, shall claim!'

¶'Thro' my mouth would God teach thee wisdom; now say, didst thou see the spear, In that wondrous Burg of Monsalväsch? As ever the time draws near When Saturn his journey endeth--(that time by the wound we know, 965 And yet by another token, by the fall of the summer snow) Then sorely the frost doth pain him, thy king and uncle dear, And deep in the wound empoisoned once more do they plunge the spear, One woe shall help the other, the spear cure the frost's sharp pain, And crimson it grows with his life-blood ere men draw it forth again!' 970

¶'When the stars return in their orbit, then the wailing it waxeth sore, When they stand in opposition, or each to the other draw. And the moon, in its waxing and waning, it causeth him bitter pain-- In the time that I erst have told thee then the king little rest may gain; His flesh thro' the frost it groweth colder than e'en the snow, 975 But men know that the spear sharp-pointed doth with fiery venom glow, And upon the wound they lay it, and the frost from his flesh so cold It draweth, and lo! as crystals of glass to the spear doth hold, And as ice to the iron it clingeth, and none looseth it from the blade. Then Trebuchet the smith bethought him, in his wisdom two knives he made, 980 Of silver fair he wrought them, and sharp was the edge and keen-- (A spell on the king's sword written had taught him such skill I ween,) Tho' no flame on earth can kindle Asbestos, as men do tell, And never a fire may harm it, if these crystals upon it fell Then the flame would leap and kindle and burn with a fiery glow 985 Till th' Asbestos lay in ashes, such power doth this poison know!'

¶'The king, he rideth never, nor yet may he walk, or lie, And he sitteth not, but, reclining, in tears his sad days pass by. And the moon's changes work him evil--To a lake they call Brimbane They bear him full oft for fishing that the breezes may soothe his pain. 990 This he calleth his day for hunting, tho' what booty shall be his share, And he vex himself to gain it, for his host 'twould be meagre fare! And from this there sprang the story that he should but a Fisher be, Tho little he recked the fable, no merchant I ween was he Of salmon or aye of lamprey, he had chosen far other game 995 Were he freed from the load of sorrow and the burden of bitter pain.'

¶Quoth Parzival, 'So I found him; the king's skiff at anchor lay, And for pastime, e'en as a fisher, the even he wore away; And many a mile had I ridden that day, since from Pelrapär When the sun stood high in the heaven, at noontide I forth must fare; 1000 And at even I much bethought me where my shelter that night might be, Then my uncle did fair entreat me, and my host for a space was he.'

¶'A perilous way didst thou ride there,' spake the host, 'one that well they guard Those Templars, nor strength nor cunning brings a traveller thro' their ward, For danger full oft besets him, and oft he his life shall lose, 1005 Life against life is their penance, all quarter these knights refuse.'

¶'Yet scatheless I passed that woodland in the day that I found the king By the lake,' quoth the knight, 'and at even his palace with grief did ring, And sure, as they mourned, I think me, no folk ever mourned before! In the hall rose the voice of wailing as a squire sprang within the door, 1010 And a spear in his hand he carried, and to each of the walls he stept, Red with blood was the spear, as they saw it, the people they mourned and wept.'

¶Then answered the host, 'Far sorer than before was the monarch's pain, In this wise did he learn the tidings that Saturn drew near again, And the star with a sharp frost cometh, and it helpeth no whit to lay 1015 The spear on the sore as aforetime, in the wound must it plunge alway! When that star standeth high in heaven the wound shall its coming know Afore, tho' the earth shall heed not, nor token of frost shall show. But the cold it came, and the snow-flakes fell thick in the following night Tho' the season was spring, and the winter was vanquished by summer's might. 1020 As the frost to the king brought sorrow and pain, so his people true Were of joy bereft, as the moment of his anguish thus nearer drew.'

¶And Trevrezent quoth, 'In sorrow that folk hath both lot and part, When the spear thro' the king's wound pierceth, it pierceth each faithful heart. And their love to their lord, and their sorrow, such tears from their eyelids drew 1025 That, methinks, in those bitter waters had they been baptized anew.'

¶Spake Parzival unto the hermit, 'Five-and-twenty they were, the maids I saw stand before the monarch, and courteous their part they played.' And the host spake, 'By God's high counsel such maidens alone avail For the care of this wondrous mystery, and do service before the Grail. 1030 And the Grail, It chooseth strictly, and Its knights must be chaste and pure,-- When the star standeth high in the heaven then grief must that folk endure, And the young they mourn as the aged, and God's wrath it lasts for aýe, And ne'er to their supplication doth He hearken and answer "Yea."'