I do not here include either the mediæval Welsh fragments or Malory's account. The meaning of the former cannot be accurately ascertained, and the latter practically represents the same version as that of the Charrette poem, though the question of source cannot, as I shall prove later on, be held to be definitely settled.
45
Cf. Simrock, Handbuch der deutschen Mythologie, Dornröschen. Some of the details of Arthur's journey to Valerîn's stronghold are worth the attention of folk-lore experts, e.g. the curious account of the Schrîenden Mose, that at certain times utters loud cries, drî tage vor sunegihten sô schrît daz mos und selten mêr, and the curious fish in its stream, which are 'ebenlanc und ebenkurz,' and of which 'die Engellende' have many. Cf. Lanzelet, ll. 7040 et seq.
46
On these varying forms of the 'other-world' dwelling, cf. Rassmann Heldensage, vol. i. p. 152.
47
Legend of Sir Gawain, chap. viii.
48
As a rule, whenever in the Iwein Hartmann does depart from his source, it is with the effect of making the story more coherent and probable. I have noted several instances of this in my study on the Yvain poems, Modern Quarterly for Language and Literature, July and November, 1898.
49
Cf. Parzival, Book VII. 1472.
50
Cf. Parzival, Book VII., as above; also 590 et seq. and 1355 et seq.
51
Cf. Der Gral, P. Hagen: Strassburg, 1900. I am unable to accept the author's contention that the Bætylus-Grail represents the original form of the talisman; but he certainly proves the correctness of the many curious references to Oriental literature which are peculiar to Wolfram's version of the story, and cannot possibly have been within that writer's own knowledge.
52
In this connection, cf. Dr. Brown's study on The Round Table before Wace, vol. vii. of Harvard Studies: Boston, 1900; and the incidental demonstration that Layamon had access to Welsh traditions unknown to Wace.
53
For the first, cf. Legend of Sir Gawain, chap. ix., where I have discussed the variants of the poem. For The Marriage of Sir Gawain, cf. Mr. Maynadier's exhaustive study of The Wife of Bath's Tale, vol. xiii. of the present series. In the case of the Green Knight there are certain peculiarities of names which point to an intermediate French stage, which, in this instance at least, cannot well have been other than an Anglo-Norman poem.
54
The French variant which seems to have most affinity with the tale referred to is that of the Didot Perceval, printed by M. Hucher in vol. i. of his Saint Graal, p. 453.
55
Introduction, Charrette, p. cxxvii.
56
Cf. 'Nouvelles Etudes sur la provenance du cycle Arthurien,' Romania, vols. xxvii. and xxviii.
57
Cf. Artus Kampf mit dem Katzenungetum, E. Freymond, Halle: 1899.
58
Romania, vol. xxix. p. 121 et seq.
59
The evidence of the lais, and the fact that Marie de France was Chrétien's contemporary, forbids us to postulate an entirely oral transmission.
60
Of this the 'runs' of Celtic and Gaelic story-tellers form a good example. Cf. Hyde's Beside the Fire, p. xxv.
61
Mr. E. S. Hartland, to whom I submitted the question.
62
Cf. M. Ferd. Lot 'La patrie des lais Bretons,' Romania, vol. xxviii.
63
Chap. iii.
64
'Morgue la Fée et Morgan Tud,' Romania, vol. xxviii. p. 327.
65
Professor Foerster's references to this character (Charrette, lxxiii.) are perplexing. He prints Chrétien's description of the 'Ile' side by side with a parallel passage from Giraldus Cambrensis, Topographia Hiberniæ, informing us that both are 'ganz einfach eine naturgetreue Beschreibung von Irland.' He cannot mean us to understand that the one description is borrowed from the other; the work of Giraldus is at least thirty years later than the Erec (circa 1186), and that chronicler would hardly go to a romancer like Chrétien for the description of a country he knew personally. But is it a 'Naturgetreue' description of Ireland at all? Professor Foerster is compelled himself to admit naïvely, 'Gewitter und Stürme fehlen nicht ganz!' Is this not rather a description of the fabled Irish Paradise which Chrétien and Giraldus alike have borrowed from a source common to both?
66
Of course I here use the word Breton in a general sense as opposed to French. I do not intend to imply that Arthur is of Continental origin.
67
Ueber die Bedeutung von Bretagne, Breton, Zeitschrift für französische Sprache, xx. 79-162.
