The Fisher King

Once upon a time, there was a mighty King, who was known throughout the World as the Keeper of the Holy Grail. His lineage had inherited the honor and privilege of protecting the Grail when it was brought back from the Holy Land during the Crusades. All who needed healing could come to his castle and ask to drink from the Grail, and upon drinking, receive healing.

This King had a handsome, young son who spent his days scouting the woodlands of his father’s Kingdom, often alone, hunting and fishing for weeks at a time. He was always happy in the woods, among the sounds and sights of nature; there, he had freedom, time to be himself, and long and happy rides in his father’s woodland Kingdom.

He had friends as well among the woodland creatures and they did not fear his coming, often coming to his hand for treats and petting.

One night during a midnight ride, he came upon a campfire in a wooded glen. Above the fire, a salmon was spitted and was sizzling as it cooked. No one seemed to be around, so the Prince waited for a time, waiting for the camper to return. Finally, fearing that the fish might burn, he removed the fish from over the fire and laid it upon the clean grass to cool.

After waiting for a bit longer and deciding that the owner might not return soon, the Prince took a small bit of the salmon and thrust it into his mouth. In sudden pain, the Prince jerked away, spitting the hot fish out of his mouth, for the fish was much too hot to eat. Then, off balance, he toppled into the fire, screaming in agony as a sharp hot brand pierced his groin, impaling his testicles.

The Prince passed out with the pain and fell unconscious to the ground.

He was found in the morning by a patrol of his father’s, and brought back to the castle. But the wound would not heal. Infected and terribly burned, it festered and resisted all efforts by the court physician to heal it. In time, the boy was crippled—nearly an invalid—and no longer could ride the fields and woods of his Kingdom. Soon, he began to complain that he was cold all the time, and couldn’t get warm even when sitting in front of the roaring fire in the Great Hall.

He was therefore bound to his court and castle, immersed in the constant arguments, negotiations, and courtly conversations with the business and government men and women who came and went in the court. His life became filled with the business of the Kingdom. No longer could he go on his long solitary rides in the woods, nor relax in the glens and lochs among the hills.

After several years, his aging father stepped down, and the Prince became the King, but his wound still would not heal, and as his strength diminished with his inactivity, his Kingdom also fell into waste. The crops stopped growing, disease decimated his great herds of sheep and goats, the cattle would not breed, and even the wildlife disappeared. It seemed that the curse visited upon the King had also fallen upon the land. The only activity that seemed to give the King peace was the time he spent fishing in the lakes and streams close to his castle.

With the coronation of the wounded King, the Kingdom seemed to pass into some other dimension. It seemed insubstantial, the castle seeming to float, mist-like, above the land, disconnected from the Earth. Eventually, traders would set out for the Kingdom, following the same roads as before, and find themselves arriving in some other region of the land. It seemed that the Kingdom no longer existed within normal time or place, as though the Earth itself had given up the Kingdom and her wounded King to heaven or hell. Occasionally, some traveler would chance upon the King, fishing in one of the lochs or streams of the vast woodland, and would be directed to his castle, high above her surrounding hills. Only a few received an invitation to enter and stay for the night. Those who were, were told: “It’s only a short way down the road, turn left, and cross the bridge."

Few were the travelers invited in, but those who were spoke afterward about the nightly feast served by the King. As the story went, there was a grand procession preceding the feast. A fair damsel would carry the Patton—the plate that carried the bread at the Last Supper. A handsome Knight followed carrying the lance used to pierce the side of Christ on the Cross. Still another champion carried the Grail itself, which glowed with a light from within, bringing the procession to a climax.

Each person at the feast, it was said, was offered the chance to drink from the Grail and instantly received the wish most dear to his or her heart—whether he or she spoke their wish or not. Only the King, lying groaning on his litter, was unable to rise and take the healing of the Grail.

In the morning, the traveler would thank his hosts and leave. From these few, the legend grew of the Fisher King—the King of the Lost Kingdom of the Grail.

In a neighboring Kingdom, a young man was living with his mother, Heart’s Sorrow, in the forest. He was so unimportant that he didn’t even have a name. They made a living the best they could, for his father had been killed on a Knightly quest some years before. Like their father, his brothers also had gone out to seek their fortunes, had become Knights, and been killed in battle. The mother, determined that her youngest son would not follow in her husband’s and other son’s footsteps, had kept her son separate from the community and unaware of the rigorous training programs for Knights-to-be. One day, the young man was playing in the forest, when five Knights rode by in all their dazzling red and gold regalia. The sight of the shining armor and weapons overwhelmed the Young Man, and he raced home to tell his mother he’d seen five gods. Heart’s Sorrow was greatly saddened by this, and told the boy that his father was killed as a Knight as were his two brothers. She told him that this was the reason she had brought him to such an isolated place so that he could grow up safe, away from the perils of Knighthood.

Heart’s Sorrow blessed her son and sent him on his way. She gave him a single homespun garment and told him to wear it always, and two pieces of advice: “Respect fair damsels” and “Don’t ask too many questions.” He embarked happily on his journey to find the Knights and become a man. It is said that as soon as he passed from her sight, that Heart’s Sorrow was overcome with grief and died.

In his travels, the Young Man came upon a tent. Having grown up in a hut, he had never seen a tent before, and was truly amazed. His mother had told him of a divine cathedral, where all of the nourishment he would need for his whole life would be made available to him. He thought this place so grand that it surely must be God’s place, so he burst in to worship. Inside he found a fair maiden, and a table set out for a banquet. This confirmed his suspicions, so he sat down to eat.

He remembered his mother’s instructions to respect fair damsels, so he embraced the maiden and took a talisman from her, to be his inspiration for the rest of his life. The damsel was waiting for her Knight, and begged the Young Man to leave else he be killed when the Knight returned. He obeyed and left, after stealing the maiden’s ring. He found that life was good, just as his mother had foretold.

The Young Man asked everyone he met about the five Knights, and how he should go about becoming a Knight. People told him to go to King Arthur’s court. There, if he was brave and strong enough, he would be knighted.

He eventually found his way to King Arthur’s Court, and there asked to enter Knight training. The Knights just laughed at him. They told him that Knighthood had to be earned through a life of valor and noble deeds. The Young Man persisted, however, until finally he was taken before King Arthur. Arthur was kind and did not laugh, but explained how a man must learn and achieve many things before he may become a Knight.

In Arthur’s court at this time was a damsel who had neither laughed nor smiled for six years. Legend had it that when the best Knight in the world appeared, she would burst into laughter. As the damsel saw the Young Man in his homespun tunic, she did indeed burst into joyful laughter. Everyone in the court was very impressed by this. King Arthur knighted him on the spot.

Outrageously, the Young Man requested of Arthur the armor and horse of the infamous Red Knight— the most feared Knight in the land. Again everyone laughed, but wise Arthur said “You have my permission. You may have them—if you can get them."

As the Young Man left Arthur's court, he was met at the door by none other than the Red Knight himself. The Young Man was dazzled by the Red Knight's trappings and regalia, but nevertheless asked him for his armor. The Red Knight was amused, but said, “You may have it—if you can take it.” The Red Knight and the Young Man battled briefly, and the Young Man was knocked to the ground. It seemed the Red Knight had won and would surely kill the Young Man, but as he lay there, he threw his dagger at the Red Knight, piercing his eye and killing him. The Red Knight was the last person the Young Man ever killed. From that point on, he always chose instead to spare the lives of those he conquered. In exchange for this, he required them to travel to Arthur's court and swear fealty to King Arthur.

Having defeated the Red Knight, the Young Man claimed the Knight's armor and horse as his own. He tried to put the armor on, but had never seen anything as complex as a buckle before and could not manage by himself. A page helped him with these matters, and tried to convince the Young Man to take off his one-piece homespun garment. The Young Man refused, clinging to the clothing given to him by his mother. Instead he put the armor on over the homespun item.

The Knight Gournamond was assigned to train him. Gournamond, in preparing the Young Man for his training, took him aside and told him, “You must always remember that a Knight takes orders, and he doesn’t ask questions. He just does what he is told!”; also, “Never seduce or be seduced by a fair maiden,” and “You must search for the Grail Castle with all of your might!” Finally, “When you find the castle, you must ask ‘Whom does the Grail serve?’” This was a hard lesson for the young Knight to understand, but he soon learned that conflict and punishment came whenever he asked “why?” about virtually anything.

The young Knight endured the rigorous training for several years and began finally to be sent on lesser missions commensurate with his skills and experience. Like many others in the court, he was entertained by the stories told by traveling bards of a mysterious castle in the mist, where a crippled King held court and, it was said, where the Holy Grail was kept. But no other Knight had ever seen the castle.

He continued his journey and met a fair damsel named Blanche Fleur. The castle of Blanche Fleur was under siege, and she implored the Young Man to rescue her Kingdom. He did exactly that, by first seeking out the second-in-command, and then the Commander, of the besieging army. He dueled with each of them, then sent them in fealty to King Arthur's court.

After raising the siege from her castle, the Young Man returned to spend one night with Blanche Fleur. They slept together in the most intimate embrace—head to head, shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip, knee to knee, and toe to toe. Nevertheless, the embrace was chaste and worthy of the Young Man's vow that he never seduce nor be seduced by a fair maiden.

The Young Man traveled all day, and at nightfall asked someone if there was a lodge nearby where he might spend the night. He was told there was no habitation within thirty miles. Soon he found a man in a boat fishing on a lake. Again, he asked if there was any place to stay the night. The man, who was the Fisher King, invited the Young Man to his own home. “Just go down the road a little way, turn left, across the drawbridge.” The Young Man followed these directions, and found the castle. The drawbridge slammed shut just as he crossed it, clipping the back hooves of his horse.

The Young Man found himself in the keep of a great castle, where four youths took his horse, bathed him, and gave him fresh clothing. They then led him to the master of the castle, the Fisher King, and the whole court of the castle—four hundred Knights and Ladies—greeted him. A great ceremony took place, including the nightly rituals of the Grail castle. The Fisher King lay groaning in his litter while three maidens entered. The first carried the lance that pierced Christ's side at the crucifixion, the second had the metal plate from the Christ's Last Supper, and the third held the Holy Grail itself.

A banquet was held. Everyone, except the Fisher King, drank from the Holy Grail and each was granted their greatest wish, even before they knew what it was they wished. The Fisher King's niece brought forth a sword which the King strapped to the Young Man's waist. This sword was to be the Young Man's for the rest of his life. But the Young Man did not ask the question that Gournamond had told him to ask, “Whom does the Grail serve?” He stood there dumb. Several of the maidens began to laugh at him, saying that he was just a simple fool.

Soon the King was taken from the chamber, moaning in agony. All the other Knights and ladies dispersed and the Young man was escorted to his sleeping chamber by the four youths. The next morning, the Young Man found himself alone. He saddled his horse and rode across the drawbridge, which again snapped at his horse’s back hooves as it slammed shut. Turning about, the Young Man found the castle was nowhere to be seen.

Riding on, the Young Man came upon a tearful maiden, holding her dead Knight lover in her arms. She explained that her lover had been killed by another Knight, in vengeance over something the Young Man did in one of his earlier, more naive adventures. The maiden asked where the Young Man had been, and he explained. She said that this was not possible, as there was no habitation within thirty miles. When he told her more details, she said, “Oh, you have been in the Grail castle!” The maiden asked the Young Man his name, and as the answer abruptly came to him, he blurted it out: “Parsifal.”

Parsifal rode on again, and found another weeping maiden, who also had suffered through some repercussion from Parsifal's earlier, naive times. This maiden informed Parsifal that his sword would break the first time he used it, and that it could only be mended by the one who forged it. Once repaired, it would never break again.

Parsifal conquered many Knights, sending them all back to Arthur's court. He rescued many damsels, lifted sieges, protected the poor, and slew many dragons. When the fame of Parsifal's deeds came back to Arthur, the King set out to find this great hero in his land. Arthur vowed “not to sleep two nights in the same bed" until he found this wonderful Knight.

The farther he rode, the more the Young Man realized that he had failed his quest and himself. The greatest mystery and quest of his life lay behind him. But the castle was now gone and when he might again come across the old fisherman, he could not guess. He continued his training in Knight errantry however, and for many years fought and jousted with the Knights and armies of Arthur’s enemies.

Gradually, as the years passed, he grew gray and tired of the constant warring and suffering. He lost the certainty that he was fighting for the forces of the light and that the enemy Knights he faced were defending the dark. The faces of the enemy began to remind him of his own friends and his younger opponents reminded him of the faces of his own children. He felt the meaning go out of his work and life, and began to question whether he should retire to a small house in the forest where he could sit and rethink his life.

As Parsifal traveled on, a falcon attacked three geese that were flying over his head. Three drops of blood fell on the snow next to Parsifal and he fell abruptly into a lover's trance. He stared at the drops of blood transfixed, thinking of nothing but Blanche Fleur. It was in this state that Arthur's men found him. Two of them tried to lead him back to Arthur, but Parsifal fought them off. He broke the arm of one—a man who had jeered at him when the sad maiden laughed in Arthur's court. Parsifal had vowed to avenge her for that scorn, and that vow was now completed. Gawain, the third Knight, asked Parsifal gently and humbly if he would return with them to Arthur's court, and Parsifal agreed. When they arrived, Arthur set Parsifal at the head of the court and declared a three day festival and tournament in the Knight's honor.

At the very height of the festival, a most hideous damsel appeared. She rode in on a twisted mule that limped on all four feet. She recited to the court all of Parsifal's sins and stupidities, the worst being his inability to ask the healing question in the Grail castle. Parsifal was left humbled and silent before the court that had moments before been praising him. From the Hideous Damsel, Parsifal learned his new task—to find the Grail castle a second time. He vowed not to sleep in the same bed twice until he found the castle again. The hideous Damsel reminded the court that the search for the Grail required chastity from the Knights and limped off, her task complete.

Parsifal then spent twenty years searching for the Grail castle. He grew more and more bitter, more disillusioned; he grew further away from his beloved Blanche Fleur, sometimes forgetting the reason for his search.

On one hot afternoon he came upon a castle at the edge of a dark forest. It was strangely quiet, and he made his way in, looking for shelter from the sun and perhaps some food and drink. No one was to be found downstairs, but when he came to the top of the stairs he saw a door open into a bed chamber. When he came to that door, he saw a beautiful woman inside. Not just any woman, but the mysterious Kundry, consort to Merlin She had been seduced by dark powers and Merlin had sent her off into the world. Kundry was dressed in seductive finery of a regal courtesan so that any man who looked at her would see his heart’s desire. She was laying on a divan in a lushly appointed chamber; Parsifal felt himself go flush with the flames of awakened passion. She twined her arm about his neck like a serpent, and drew him into a kiss. He pulled away disturbed, clutching his heart. “What!” Said Kundry, shaken out of her role by this outburst. “The cost of such bliss,” said Parsifal, “would be endless cycles of doubly damned torment for both of us. The sin is not in the act, but in the actors. If the heart and motives are pure, the love is blessed. If not, there will yet be the Devil to pay.” At this she ripped off her flimsy raiment, and spread her arms and legs wide, offering herself desperately for a thrust and penetration that did not come. Parsifal only stared at her in pity; his fool’s look gone, though not his compassion.

Then he came upon a group of ragged pilgrims wandering on the road. They said to him “What are you doing riding in full armor on this, the day of our Lord? It is Good Friday. Come with us to the Forest Hermit, say your confession and be shriven in preparation for Easter Sunday.” Parsifal was wakened from his dark mood and went with the pilgrims to the old hermit.

Before the old hermit, Parsifal was berated again with the long list of his faults and failures. He mocked him for still wearing the simple homespun tunic under his armor. Again, the worst was his failure to ask the healing question in the Grail castle. That night he prepared for his journey, and finally put away his homespun. The next morning, the hermit was gentler with Parsifal, and took him out on the road.

He gave Parsifal instructions: “Go a short way, turn left and cross the drawbridge. The grail castle is always close at hand.”

That night, Parsival again witnessed the strange procession, the bringing of the Grail, and the healing of the guests. This time, when the King failed to rise, the aged Parsival rose and spoke: “Whom does the Grail serve? Why is this man not allowed to be healed of his great wound?”

The procession stopped as everyone turned to the aging Knight. A voice sounded in the silence: “The Grail serves the Grail King!” At his question, the crippled King rose from his litter and took up the Grail, healed. The court erupted in cheers and all gave thanks. For many years, the castle had waited for a hero who would come and ask the question that would lead to the healing of the Kingdom.

Outside, the Land began to change, as fields and pastures began to form in the midst of the forest, crops sprung up, and wildlife returned. Gradually, over the next three days, the castle slowly settled firmly onto its foundation and life returned to the old Kingdom. Free of pain, the Fisher King celebrated his healing, but once again part of this world, he rapidly aged and after three days, died an old man.

Parsival retired to his forest home with his family and was happy and at peace at last, seeing that his life had led up to this moment: despite all the years he had spent fighting useless battles benefitting no one, he had finally really made a difference in the World. He had done so by seeing how he had allowed himself to be defined and controlled by the values of a society he had never understood or agreed with, by speaking up and questioning injustice—any arbitrary use of authority—when he encountered it, and by serving something greater than himself. By being true to himself and his own sense of conscience, he had made a difference in the world.