Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

THE SANGREAL. 123
and preserved them in perpetual youth. As such, it differs CHAP,
in no way from the horn of Amaltheia, or any other of the ,
oval vessels which can be traced back to the emblem of the
Hindu Sacti. We should be prepared, therefore, to find in
the many forms assumed by the Arthurian nryth some traces
of its connexion with the symbol of the fecundating- power in
nature; nor is this expectation disappointed. The symbol
of the sun has already appeared as a lance, spear, or trident
in the myths of Abaris and Poseidon ; and in this form it
is seen again in the story of the Holy Grail, when Sir Galahad
is to depart with it from the Logrian land. As with his com-
rades he sups in the palace of King Pelles, he sees a great
light, in which he beheld four angels supporting an aged
man clad in pontifical garb, whom they placed before a table
on which lay the Sangreal. ' This aged prelate was Joseph
of ArimathaBa, " the first bishop of Christendom." Then the
other angels appeared bearing candles and a spear, from
which fell drops of blood, and these drops were collected by
angels in a box. Then the angels set the candles upon the
table, and " the fourth set the holy speare even upright upon
the vessel," as represented on an ancient churchyard crucifix,
in rude sculpture, at Sancreed in Cornwall.' l This mysterious
s]3ear is constantly seen throughout the legend. When Sir
Bors had seen the Sangreal in the house of Pelles, he was
led into a fair chamber, where he laid himself in full armour
on the bed.
6 And right as he saw come in a light that he
might wel see a speare great and long* which come straight
upon him point-long.' 2 Indeed the whole myth exhibits
that unconscious repetition and reproduction of the same
forms and incidents which is the special characteristic of the
Greek dynastic legends. Perceval, in the episode of Pecheur,
the Pisher-king, answers to Sir Galahad in the quest of the
Sangreal. In both cases the work can be done only by a
pure-minded knight, and Perceval as well as Galahad goes in
search of a goblet, which has been stolen from the king's
table. The sick king, whom he finds lying on his couch,
has been wounded while trying to mend a sword broken
1 Mr. Gould, from whom these words emblem.— Curious Myth*, ii. 348.
are quoted, gives a drawing of this • Mortc oVArthure. Gould, ib. 340.
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