When he found the chance, Perceval asks the lady there when his friend, Lancelot, who he is looking for, is. Interestingly enough, the title of the work, Quest of the Holy Grail, is mentioned in his conservation with her.
The lady revealed to Perceval that she is his aunt. The knight, in turn, asks if she knows how his mother is doing, and she responds, to his dismay, that his mother died as soon as he had left the king’s court. In response, he asked her how she knew this, and she says (without directly answering) that his mother had died that very day. Likewise, she claims, his mother had been broken-hearted over his departure. Responding, Percival asked again about his friend knight, and whether or not she has seen him, though her response was more concerned with a legend of Joseph of Arimathea, and his discovery of the holy grail many years ago.
The lady told Perceval that the round table is a successor to another table that Joseph of Arimathea sat at. In return, knights have come to the round table from all ends of the earth, for much power resides with the table. She speaks of the love that all the knights have for it including Perceval’s own adoration. Finally, she reveals that Merlin has anticipated the day that the knights would search for the grail since the table’s founding.
Perceval was told of how that God awaited the coming of Galahad who was described as the ''good and perfect knight (The Quest of the Holy Grail, 1969, Penguin Books). '' Afterwards, Percival was asked his own identity and he replied that he was a knight of King Arthur.
Later in the text of the Vulgate-Grail, Perceval was attacked by an enemy of the Christian faith. However, as the knight lifted his cross, his enemy went asunder out of fear. After this, Perceval also came into battle against a wild serpent. Interestingly enough, the knight also came into contact with a lion*. The lion was pleased by his slaying of the serpent.
Upon following the battle with the serpent, Percival is described by the text as the most pious of all Arthur's knights. The text, furthermore, connects Wales to the Arthurian tradition.
As Perceval continued his journey, he asked God to protect him not only from the devil but also from his own sinful thoughts.
Along the way, Perceval encountered two women. One rode on a lion while the other rode on a serpent. As he talked to them, the text describes the woman that sat upon the lion as being and faith, hope, belief, and baptism. Indeed, she is even described as the rock that Christ built his church. As a side note, I find this interesting as this medieval text does not identify either Peter alone or the papacy in general as the rock of Matthew 16.
Along his way, Perceval encounters a temptress who attempts to divert him from the quest of the grail. In turn, he took off his clothes and nearly gave up the quest for the cup of Christ. Tragically, the knight stabs himself as he mourns over the sin that almost destroyed him altogether.
My Commentary:
My Own Thoughts are quite positive about this story. It lacks the humor of The Canterbury Tales, but I don't think that that is a reason to not read it. As I have said before, The Quest of the Holy Grail is significantly more spiritual (albeit, more allegorical) than is The Canterbury Tales. Both are fine works of Medieval literature. Along with The Canterbury Tales, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Everyman, I consider The Quest of the Holy Grail to be one of the masterpieces of Medieval literature.
*A lion was often a symbol of Christ in Medieval art. No doubt, this must-have served as an inspiration to Aslan's depiction of a Christ-figure in The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis.
