The Romance of Morien | Page 2

in the case of the Lancelot sections.
It is true that with regard to the romance here translated, _Morien_, the
Dutch scholars responsible for the two editions in which it has
appeared, MM. Jonckbloet and Te Winkel, the former the editor of the
whole compilation, the latter of this section only, are both inclined to
regard the poem as an original Dutch composition; but M. Gaston Paris,
in his summary of the romance (_Histoire Litteraire_, vol. xxx. p. 247)
rejects this theory as based on inadequate grounds. It must be admitted
that an original Arthurian romance of the twelfth or thirteenth century,
when at latest such a poem would be written, in a language other than
French, is so far unknown to us; and although as a matter of fact the
central motif of the poem, the representation of a Moor as near akin to
the Grail Winner, Sir Perceval, has not been preserved in any known
French text, while it does exist in a famous German version, I for one
find no difficulty in believing that the tradition existed in French, and
that the original version of our poem was a metrical romance in that
tongue.
So far as the story of Morien is concerned, the form is probably later
than the tradition it embodies. In its present shape it is certainly
posterior to the appearance of the Galahad _Queste_, to which it
contains several direct references; such are the hermit's allusion to the
predicted circumstances of his death, which are related in full in the
_Queste_; the prophecy that Perceval shall "aid" in the winning of the
Holy Grail, a quest of which in the earlier version he is sole achiever;
and the explicit statements of the closing lines as to Galahad's arrival at
Court, his filling the Siege Perilous, and achieving the Adventures of
the Round Table. As the romance now stands it is an introduction to the
_Queste_, with which volume iii. (volume ii. of the extant version) of
the Dutch Lancelot opens.
But the opening lines of the present version show clearly that in one
important point, at least, the story has undergone a radical modification.
Was it the Dutch translator or his source who substituted Agloval,
Perceval's brother, for the tradition which made Perceval himself the
father of the hero? M. Gaston Paris takes the former view; but I am
inclined to think that the alteration was already in the French source.
The Grail of Sir Agloval's vision is the Grail of Castle Corbenic and the
_Queste_; unless we are to consider this vision as the addition of the

Dutch compiler (who, when we are in a position to test his work does
not interpolate such additions), we must, I think, admit that the
romance in the form in which it reached him was already at a stage in
which Perceval could not, without violence to the then existing
conception of his character, be considered as the father, or the brother,
of Morien. To reconstruct the original story it would be necessary not
merely to eliminate all mention of Agloval, as suggested by M. Gaston
Paris, but the Grail references would also require modification. As it
stands, the poem is a curious mixture of conflicting traditions.
In this connection it appears to me that the evidence of the Parzival is
of primary importance; the circumstances attending the birth of Feirefis
are exactly parallel with those of Morien--in both a Christian knight
wins the love of a Moorish princess; in both he leaves her before the
birth of her son, in the one case with a direct, in the other with a
conditional, promise to return, which promise is in neither instance kept;
in both the lad, when grown to manhood, sets out to seek his father; in
both he apparently makes a practice of fighting with every one whom
he meets; in the one version he is brother, in the other son or nephew,
to Perceval. The points of difference are that whereas Morien is black
all over, save his teeth, Feirefis is parti-coloured, black and white--a
curious conception, which seems to point to an earlier stage of thought;
Morien is a Christian, Feirefis a heathen--the more probable version.
It is easy to understand why the hero ceased to be considered Perceval's
son--the opening lines of the poem describe the situation perfectly; but
I do not think it has been sufficiently realised that precisely the same
causes which would operate to the suppression of this relationship
would equally operate to the suppression of that of the Parzival.
Perceval, the virgin winner of the Grail, could not have a liaison with a
Moorish princess, but neither could Perceval's father, the direct
descendant of Joseph of Arimathea, and hereditary holder of the Grail.
The Early History of