The Hidden Church of the Holy Graal: X. The Suppressed Word and the Mystic Question

X

THE SUPPRESSED WORD AND THE MYSTIC QUESTION

It is agreed that the essential and predominant characteristic of the Perceval literature is the asking and answering of a question which bears on its surface every aspect of triviality, but is yet the pivot on which the whole circle of these romances may be said to revolve. On the other hand, the question is absent from the Galahad story, and in place of it we have a stately pageant of chivalry moving through the world of Logres to find the high mystery of sanctity. But that finding is destined only to dismember the Arthurian empire and to pass, in fine, leaving no trace behind it, except the sporadic vision of a rejected knight, which is mentioned but not described, and occurs under circumstances that justify grave doubts as to its existence in the original texts.

Now, the entire critical literature of the Graal may be searched in vain for any serious explanation as to the actuating motive, in or out of folk-lore, concerning the Graal question. On the part of the folk-lore authorities there have been naturally attempts to refer it to something antecedent within the scope of their subject, but the analogies have been no analogies, and as much extravagance has resulted as we have yet heard of in the connection which some scholars have vaguely termed