VII THE KEEPERS OF THE HALLOWS
Such was the Abode of the Halloo, s; and those who dwelt therein, the succession of Graal Keepers, belong to that Order which we should expect in such precincts. It should be noted that in the poem of Chrétien the Keeper is called the Fisher King, but his other name and his lineage are not disclosed. It is, however, the beginning only of a very long story, and though it is difficult to say how the poet would have carried it to its term, personally I do not question that he would have borne no different witness to the rest of the Graal cycle in Northern French. By this, without exception, Joseph of Arimathæa is the first guardian of the Sacred Vessel, but either he passes from the scene before it has found a sanctuary or he assumes a secondary position in his son's favour. According to the metrical romance of De Borron and the Lesser Chronicles generally, he was succeeded by his son-in-law, Brons; but according to the Greater Chronicles, as I have termed them, he was succeeded by his own son, the second Joseph, who is unknown to the other cycle. The Lesser Chronicles bridge the centuries between that generation which saw the Ascension of Christ and that which was to behold the Flower of Chivalry in Arthur, by means of a single keeper, who was to remain on earth until he had seen his grandson, Perceval, and had remitted into his hands the secrets and Hallows of which he had been in charge so long. Perceval is the third who counts in the line of election to complete the human trinity of Graal guardians, reflecting, after their own mystic manner, those Three who bear witness in heaven, namely, the Divine Trinity. To accomplish the hero's geniture, Alain, the son of Brons, although he had accepted celibacy, married in some undeclared manner, and it was as his issue that
