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The punishment falls on the hero who has failed to put the question, rather than on the land, which, indeed, appears to be in no way affected, either by the wound of the King, or the silence of the hero. The divergence from Chretien's version is here very marked, and, so far, seems to have been neglected by critics.
It is of importance for our investigation, however, to note that where Wauchier does refer to a definite source, it is to an evidently important and already famous collection of tales, Le Grant Conte, comprising several 'Branches, the hero of the collection being not Chretien's hero, Perceval, but Gawain, who, both in pseudo-historic and romantic tradition, is far more closely connected with the Arthurian legend, occupying, as he does, the traditional position of nephew, Sister's Son, to the monarch who is the centre of the cycle; even as Cuchullinn is sister's son to Conchobar, Diarmid to Finn, Tristan to Mark, and Roland to Charlemagne.
There are, not one, but two, disabled kings; one suffering from the effects of a wound, the other in extreme old age. Chretien's poem being incomplete we do not know what he intended to be the result of the achieved Quest, but we may I think reasonably conclude that the wounded King at least was healed. The Parzival of von Eschenbach follows the same tradition, but is happily complete.
We are told that the effect of asking the question will be to restore him to youth; as a matter of fact it appears to bring about his death, as he only lives three days after his restoration. When we come to Chretien's poem we find ourselves confronted with a striking alteration in the presentment.
The Grail Quest was a theme which had been treated not once nor twice, but of which numerous, and conflicting, versions were already current, and, when Wauchier de Denain undertook to complete Chretien's unfinished work, he drew largely upon these already existing forms, regardless of the fact that they not only contradicted the version they were ostensibly completing, but were impossible to harmonize with each other.
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