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The Knight of the Lion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Extract

The following pages are a discussion of the origin of the second half of Chrétien's Ivain; the part of the story, namely, in which the hero wins the title Chevalier au Lion. They are a continuation of a study published in 1903, which dealt chiefly with the first half of the romance. That study, to which frequent reference must necessarily be made, endeavored to show that the Ivain is a partly rationalized fairy mistress story. The kernel of the evidence there presented was a detailed comparison of the Ivain with stories in the Lebor na h-Uidre (LU) and the Book of Leinster (LL), two Irish manuscripts that were actually written before the time of Chrétien de Troyes. The first part of the Ivain was shown to be founded, almost incident for incident, on the well-known Celtic tale, of which the Serglige Conculaind is an ancient example, about a mortal who is invited to fairyland, journeys thither successfully and weds a fairy queen, but disobeys her injunctions, loses her, becomes insane and has to be cured by a magic remedy.

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Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1905

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References

page 673 note 1 The writer acknowledges the courtesy with which authorities of Harvard University Library have given access to its great resources.

page 673 note 2 Iwain: A Study in the Origins of Arthurian Romance, in Studies and Notes, viii, 1–147. (This study was written in 1900.)

page 673 note 3 See especially pp. 43 2.

“L'autre comtava de Galvain,

E del leo que fon compain

Del cavallier qu'estors Luneta.”

(Roman de Flamenca, vv. 665–7.)

page 673 note 1 See reviews of Iwain A Study: Golther, Studien zur vgl. Litteraturgeschichte, iv, 481–85 (1904); Zt. f. franz. Sp., xxviii, Kef. 34–37 (1905); Jeanroy, Rev. Critique, lix, 4–5; Huet, Moyen Age, (1904) 65–66; McKerrow, Mod. Lang. Quarterly, vii, 100–102; Nitze, Mod. Lang. Notes, xix, 82–84; and cf. Golther's review of Foerster's Yvain, edition of 1902, Zt. f. franz. Sp., xxv, Kef. 138–140; and the important article by Ehrismann, Märchen im höfischen Epos, Beiträge z. Gesch. d. deut. Sp., xxx, 14—54. Even the distinguished editor of Chrétien's works, whose resolute opposition to any theory that should detract from the originality of the author of Ivain is well known, has of late admitted the presence of more and more folk-lore features. Compare Foerster's Yvain, ed. 1891, p. xii, with his new edition, 1902, p. xli. Professor Foerster's recent admission that the “märchen” of a maid freed from the power of a giant lies at the bottom of the Esclados combat, restricts his conception of the independence of Chretien considerably. Professor Foerster's view is of course quite different from my contention in Iwain A Study, which is that almost the whole of the Ivain is based on one märchen. That this märchen, which is in its main outlines an unmistakable fairy mistress story, had been contaminated by a second theme, that of a giant with a captive maid, was noticed in Iwain A Study, p. 50 ff. Professor Foerster absolutely refuses to call the märchen of which he speaks Celtic (Yvain, ed. 1902, p. xlviii).

page 673 note 1 Cf. Foerster, Yvain, ed. 1902, p. xxvi.

page 673 note 2 See besides the references given in Twain A Study, pp. 129–132; Thomas, Romania, xxxiv, 55–56; McKenzie in these Publications, xx, 397–98; Foerster, op. cit., p. xlvii; and cf. O. M. Johnston, Proc. of Am. Phil. Assoc., Vol. xxxii (1901), p. li.

page 673 note 1 Scarcely an incident of the 31 here enumerated resists explanation as the more or less rationalized form of an episode originally belonging to an Otherworld Journey Story.

page 673 note 1 Inferred from Ivain, vv. 1004 ff. In the version in Malory's Mart Darthur, Bk. vii, which has some features more archaic than Chrétien's poem, Lynet appears as messenger at Arthur's court. Such messengers are: Liban in the Serglige Conculaind, the “demoiselle” messenger in La Mule sans Frein, p. 692, below, and in Chevalier du Papegau, p. 698, below; Hélie in Bel Inconnu, Nereja in Wîgalois, the “pucele” in Rigomer. On the fairy messenger see Paris, Rom., x, 476 f.

page 673 note 2 Cf. Loegaire and Conall in Fled Bricrend, and Kay in La Mule sans Frein.

page 673 note 3 See p. 690, below.

page 673 note 4 Cf. the “large house in the glen “in Tochmarc Emere, p. 689, below; Evrain in Erec (Joy of the Court); the abbot of the “jæmerlîchen” monastery in Lanzelet (ed. Hahn, vv. 3828 ff.); “Le Chevalier Amoureux” in Papegau, p. 699, below; Geriaume in Huon (ed. Guessard, Dunostre episode); Meliadus in Méraugis (ed. Friedwagner, v. 2910 ff.); “Dodines der wilde” who pilots Arthur across the screaming moss and entertains him (Lanzelet, vv. 7084 ff.): cf. also Ehrismann, Beit. z. Gesch. d. deut. Sp., xxx, 24, 26 and 46 f. In MacManus, In Chimney Corners, p. 43, is an Irish tale with a similar figure.

page 673 note 5 See p. 682, below.

page 673 note 6 Such a path is in Tochmarc Emere, p. 689, below; La Mule sans Frein, p. 692; Papegau, p. 699, and Wîgalois, v. 4505.

page 673 note 7 See Twain A Study, p. 82 ff., p. 133 ff., and to the lists there given add that traces of this landscape occur in La Mule sans Frein; Lanzelet (Iweret episode); Huon (Dunostre); Papegau; Wîgalois; Wolfdietrich; Fergus (ed. Martin, vv. 3656 ff.), etc., etc.

page 673 note 8 A storm of wind and rain defending the Otherworld Castle is a not uncommon motive. In Fled Bricrend the heroes on their way to the castle of Curoi are overtaken by a hideous black cloud, a sort of druidical mist (Iwain A Study, p. 53, note). Mailduin and other adventurers in the imrama pass through great storms (Iwain A Study, pp. 60, 96). The Isle of St. Brandan, a variant of the Celtic Other “World, is defended by terrible storms, see d'Avezac, Les Isles Fantastiques de V Ocean Occidental, Nouvelles Annales des Voyages (1845), i, 303; Higginson, Tales of the Enchanted Islands, p. 211. In the Mabinogi Manawyddan, son of Llyr, after a thunderstorm and a fall of mist, Pryderi and Rhiannon vanish into the Other World, Loth, Les Mab., i, 107 (cf. i, 101, where an enchantment is accompanied by thunder and rain). In Wîgalois, vv. 6804 ff., the castle of Roaz is defended by a magic mist. A mist defends the castle of Malduc, Lanzelet, vv. 7589 ff. Both in Wîgalois, v. 6866 f., and in Papegau, p. 73, a blast of air near the revolving wheel is mentioned: cf. the blast of wind in La Salade (quoted by Miss Paton, Studies in Fairy Mythol., p. 53, note). A storm is before the Otherworld Castle in the Turk and Gawain, vv. 65 ff., and one beside the turning castle in the Pèlerinage Charlemagne, vv. 378 ff. (For the suggestion of this note, and for references to the Turk and Gawain and to the Pèlerinage, I am indebted to Dr. K. G. T. Webster, who is preparing a detailed study of the last named poem).

page 673 note 1 A more natural challenge is in Lanzelet, vv. 3899 ff., where L. strikes a gong. Foerster thinks that this gong survives in the Ivain, v. 211 ff., in the episode of the Hospitable Host (Foerster, Ivain, ed. 1902, p. xxxv ff.). In Malory, Book vii, the Red Knight is challenged by blowing a horn hanging by a sycamore; cf. Perceval, vv. 21967 ff., 26508 ff. In Garel the challenge is by breaking flowers in the garden of “Eskilabôn der Wilde,” ed. Walz, vv. 3234 ff., cf. Huon, vv. 4734 ff. In LU, Cuchulinn throws the withe on the pillar stone of the Dun of Nechta's sons into the water as a challenge to the fairy folk (Faraday, Cattle Raid of Cualnge, p. 30), or, according to LL, he throws the whole pillar stone (Hull, Cuchullin Saga, p. 148); cf. Hyde's note on striking a “pole of combat” as a challenge, Beside the Fire, p. 180.

page 673 note 2 To the epithet “red” compare “the Rede Knyght of the Reed Laundes,” Malory, Bk. vii (Iwain, p. 143); Mabonagrain clad in red, Erec (Joy of the Court); Iweret with a red lion as his coat of arms, and a shield all red, Lanzelet, vv. 4420 ff.; the Marshal in red armour in Papegau, p. 699, below; “Estamus le roux” in Ysaye le Triste, Zt. f. rom. Phil., xxv, 657 ff.; Margarijs “mit roden wapenen” and “enen roden scilt” in the Dutch Lancelot, ed. Jonckbloet, vv. 4484 ff.; Avartach clad in a scarlet mantle in the Gilla Decair (Iwain, p. 105); the Red Gruagach in the Tale of Manus, p. 697, below, and the mysterious character Tomás Fuilteach (Thomas the Bloody), lord of an enchanted castle in Irish folk-tales, Hyde, An Sgéaluidhe Gaedhealach, p. 83, et passim.

page 673 note 1 See Twain A Study, p. 75 f. Cf. the copper men with clashing flails in Huon (Dunostre), vv. 4552 ff.; the revolving wheels in Papegau, p. 699, below, and in Wîgalois, vv. 6775 ff.; “La vielle moussue” with a flail, Fergus, vv. 3734 ff.; and Voretzsch, Epische Studien, p. 133 ff., where the sword-bridge motive is compared.

page 673 note 2 This personage is unexplained. Compare, however, the “femme sauvage” in Papegau, p. 72, 1. 6, from whose ferocious embrace the hero had difficulty in escaping. In Kulhwch and Olwen Kay had a similar escape from the wife of Custennin, the shepherd who points out the way (Loth, Les Mab., i, 228). The figure is doubtless a traditional one, as inhabitant of the tangled forest at the margin of the Other World.

page 673 note 3 A corresponding situation occurs three times in Wolfdietrich B (ed. Amelung and Jänicke). W. helps an elephant against a “wurm,” str. 512 ff., and a lion against a “wurm,” str. 667 ff. and 722 ff. Wolfdietrich B contains the Marvellous Fountain, str. 796 ff. and Landscape, str. 350 ff.; “ein waltman” that shows the way to an adventure, str. 661 ff.; the lion and serpent combat and the helpful lion; the carrying of the wounded lion to a castle to be healed, str. 730 ff. (cf. Ivain, vv. 4652 ff.), the releasing of the lion just at the critical moment to help the hero overcome a vassal (Wildunc) who has ursurped the hero's rightful place beside the lady, str. 782 ff. (cf. I wain's combat with the wicked seneschal and the aid given by the lion, p. 701, below). Of course the Wolfdietrich is a hodge-podge of materials, but it is impossible that all of these incidents should occur both in it and in the Ivain by accident. W. must then have borrowed from I. Evidently from some version more primitive than Chrétien's, for W. has the entrance through the marvellous fountain to reach the Other World, str. 796 ff., an archaic motive not in I. (see Twain A Study, p. 117). The lion helping W. fight a serpent (not vice versa) is primitive for the incident must have arisen out of a helpful lion's guiding the hero through a vale of serpents (see p. 686, below). The circumstances of the lion's helping Wolfdietrich in his fight with the wicked vassal are better explained in W. than in I. (see p. 682, below).

page 673 note 1 Paris surmised that in this incident Chrétien was not following his source, Journal des Savants (1902), p. 290, note 2.

page 673 note 1 Loth, Les Mabinogion, ii, 1 ff.

page 673 note 2 See, however, p. 701, below.

page 673 note 1 In the Welsh, not a seneschal but two pages are the ursurpers.

page 673 note 2 Ivain, vv. 329–30.

page 673 note 3 Loth, Les Mab., ii, 8–9.

page 673 note 1 A monster herdsman who plays the part of guide to the Other World can be pointed out both in Irish and in Welsh story before the time of Chrétien. In Irish such a figure occurs in the Imram Mailduin, and has been previously compared (Baist, Zt. f. rom. Phil., xxi, 402–405; Twain A Study, p. 62). A similar figure in the admittedly ancient Welsh tale Kulhwch and Olwen has hitherto escaped notice. In the course of the great quest, which forms the main incident of the tale, King Arthur is directed to the Otherworld Castle of the giant Yspaddeden by a shepherd (Custennin) who is accompanied by a marvellous dog (Loth, Les Mab., i, 228): “They beheld a vast flock of sheep which was boundless and without end. And upon the top of a mound there was a herdsman keeping the sheep. And a rug made of skins was upon him: and by his side was a shaggy maistiff larger than a steed nine winters old. Never has he lost even a lamb from his flock…. All the dead trees and bushes in the plain he burnt with his breath down to the very ground.”

page 673 note 2 Campbell, Pop. Tales of the W. Highlands, iv, 297–98: cf. ii, 212; also iii, 382–86, where MacPhie's version of the Lay of Manus is given. This tells of an “Athach” [=Fathach “giant”] with but one eye, who comes as herald from the king of Lochlann and acts as guide for Finn and the Fianna to Lochlann. There, after Manus has been slain, Finn marries the daughter and fetches her home with him. A figure like the Fáchan is in the Irish tale “Children of the King of Norway,” Irish Texts Soc., i, 135, and another called Roc, son of Diocan, in “Finn's Visit to Conan in Ceann Sleibhe,” Trans. of Oss. Soc., ii, 141. Roc is a transformed man. According to my explanation of the Ivain the Monster Herdsman must have been in origin some creature of the fay in disguise, that is some one transformed: Iwain A Study, p. 114. In the Livre d'Artus, which copies the incident from the Ivain, we are told that the Huge Herdsman is Merlin, who has taken that disguise in order to lead Calogrenant to the fountain, see Zt. f. franz. Sp. u Litt., xvii, 54, and Freymond's long note on monstra hominum. To refer all one-eyed monsters to the classic cyclop is an easy but dangerous process. The combination of one eye, one foot [and one hand] is tolerably rare, and the appearance of such a monster as woodsman and guide seems peculiar to Celtic. But see Reinfrit von Braunschweig, ed. Bartsch, vv. 19308–319, where men with one eye and one leg occur. On cyclops see Bartsch, Herzog Ernst, pp. cxxxiv and clxvi f., and the learned essay in Laistner, Rätsel der Sphinx, ii, 1 ff.

page 673 note 1 Beside the Fire, xx-xxii.

page 673 note 1 In two particulars, not mentioned in the Welsh, Chretien's account of the monster herdsman agrees with the Irish and Scottish descriptions quoted above; namely, in the garment of the skins of beasts, and in the appellation vilain (“churl”). This fits perfectly with the hypothesis that both Chrétien and the Welsh version go back to a common original x, of which in general the Welsh has kept the more primitive features, but from which, as is natural, Chrétien may from time to time have retained a detail dropped out by the Welsh.

page 673 note 2 Loth, Les Mab., ii, 9.

page 673 note 1 Foerster's text mentions only wild bulls; “Tors sauvages et espaarz,” v. 280, but the variants “lions,” and in another ms. “Ors et lieparz,” exist, while the Swedish version reads, “lions, bears and panthers,” and the English “leopards, lions and bears,” Yvain, ed. 1902, p. xxxix.

page 673 note 2 The helpful lion probably fought the serpents, and such an incident suggested the lion and serpent combat. (In Wolfdietrich a lion helps W. slay the serpent, see note on p. 680, above). The precise form, however, which the combat, and the behavior of the lion, take in Chrétien's poem (and probably already in Chrétien's original), appears to be due to the influence of some chivalric legend like that attached to Goufier de Lastours.

page 673 note 1 To the vexed question of the relationship existing between three Welsh stories in the Red Book of Hergest and three corresponding romances by Chrétien de Troves, I hope to return in another article. The evidence given above tends strongly to prove that both Chrétien's poem and the Lady of the Fountain go back to a common original. This lost French version x must have itself rested, perhaps through several intermediaries, on an essentially Celtic folk-tale. In x the original story was probably already partly rationalized. Perhaps it was also somewhat confused and corrupted. It is not necessary to attribute all of the inconsistencies of Chrétien's version to his lack of interest in, and probable lack of comprehension of, the Otherworld meaning of some of the folk-lore motives that he used. The reader will of course turn to Foerster's discussion, Karrenritter, 1899, pp. cxxvii ff.

page 673 note 1 The lion was a familiar figure both in ancient Irish and in ancient Welsh literature. A Dinnshenchas in the Book of Leinster gives as an etymology of lumman “shield” the word leoman “lion,” because, adds the Dinnshenchas, “every shield has a lion on it.”—Iwain, p. 130. In Math the son of Mathonwy, one of the four genuine Mabinogion which are the oldest of the tales in the Red Book of Hergest, is a character called “Lion of the Steady Hand,” Loth, Les Mab., i, 139. It is useless to multiply examples.

page 673 note 2 Partly summarized and partly quoted from Kuno Meyer's translation of the longer version, from mss. LU and Stowe 992, in Archæological Review, i, 234–35, 298–306. It happens that LU breaks off shortly before the lion is mentioned, but this cannot alter our opinion of the age of the incident, since LU agrees with the later mss. word for word so far as it goes. Indeed Meyer thinks the shorter version of Tochmarc Emere is a piece of Irish of the eighth century, and the longer of the eleventh (Rev. Celt., xi, 439). Because of its importance I quote the passage from both versions: “A mbai ann iarum co n-acai biastæ vathmair máir ina docum amail levmon” (the longer version, ed. Meyer, Zt. f. Celt. Phil., iii, 248, § 63): “Fochairt iarom allaili m-beasti n-vathmair amail leoman” (the shorter version, Rev. Celt., xi, 446, line 43).

page 673 note 1 For a ball as guide see Folk-Lore Record, ii, 186; Hyde, Beside the Fire, p. 131, and An Sgéaluidhe Gaedhealach, p. 441; Curtin, Myths and Folk Lore of Ireland, p. 35.

page 673 note 2 In the Siaburcharpat Conculaind, from LU, printed by O'Beirne Crowe in Proc. of Royal Hist. and Arch. Assoc. of Ireland, 4th series, i, 385 f. (1871), are verses describing an expedition of Cuchulinn to the Land of Scath (Shadow). Evidently it is a second version of Cuchulinn's Otherworld journey, and therefore parallel to the Tochmarc Emere. Here we have serpents, and a house full of toads and monsters, mentioned as obstacles (cf. the serpents before the Castle of Falerîn, Lanzelet, vv. 7357 ff.):

'Seven walls about that city—

Hateful was the fort:

A rampart of irons on each wall,

On that were nine heads.

Doors of iron on each flank—

Against us not great defences:

I struck them with my leg,

Until I drove them into fragments.

There was a pit in the Dun

Belonging to the king it is related—

Ten serpents burst

Over its border—it was a deed! …

A house full of toads

They were let fly at us:

Sharp beaked monsters,

They stuck in my snout.

Fierce draconic monsters

To us they used to fall: …

Horse-tribe though they explained them.”

page 673 note 1 Vv. 176–177.

page 673 note 2 “Parmi une forest espesse.

Mout i ot voie felenesse,

De ronces et d'espines plainne.”—Vv. 181–3.

“L'estroit santier tot boissoneus

Que trop an est cusançoneus.”—Vv. 699–700.

“[Santier] Plain de ronces et d'oscurté.”—V. 769.

page 673 note 3 Cf. the magic bridge in Perceval, vv. 28554 ff., 28825 (ed. Potvin, iv, 277ff.).

page 673 note 1 This parallel is more striking than that instanced in Iwain A Study, p. 56, from LL and LU, where Cuchulinn slew a giant (Curoi) who inhabited a whirling castle, and married the giant's supernatural wife; for, in the Tochmarc Emere, we are expressly told that Cochar Cruifne is a mere champion and creature of the fay Scathach. In my former study I argued that in a primitive form of the episode the warrior must have been a mere creature of the fay, conjured up by her to test the hero's valour (just as Lynet conjures up an armed knight to fight the hero, in Malory, Bk. vii). Since the champion is a mere creature of the fay, no surprise need be felt at her speedy acceptance of the conqueror. The turning up of this parallel, overlooked in my former study, strengthens notably my contention that we have in an incident of this type the key to the puzzle of Laudine's speedy marriage to the slayer of Esclados.

page 673 note 1 Cf. “Et itel vie, ce me sanble,

Com il orent la nuit menee,

Ont ansanble andui (i. e., Iwain and the lion) demenee

Pres trestote cele semainne

Tant qu’ avanture a lafontainne

Desoz le pin les amena.”—Vv. 3486–91.

page 673 note 2 Méon, Nouveau Recueil de Fabliaux, i, 1–37. La Mule sans Frein has already been compared to the Ivain: Iwain A Study, p. 80, note; Foerster, Yvain, ed. 1902, p. lxvi, note. An incident resembling La Mule sans Frein is in Diu Krône, vv. 12627 ff.

page 673 note 1 The beasts and the champions that had to be fought were all in origin the creatures of the fay. See p. 691, note 1.

page 673 note 2 See, however, p. 686, above.

page 673 note 3 Compare the description in La Mule sans Frein, vv. 147–54:

“Mès les bestes par conoissance

De la dame, e par enorance

page 673 note 1 Ed. Longnon, Soc. Anc. Text, vv. 28362 ff.

page 673 note 1 Vv. 30343 ff. (Of course carrying beasts connect themselves with guiding beasts which are extremely well known as fairy messengers. I forbear to cite examples. See the long list in Miss Paton's Studies in Fairy Mythology, p. 230, note 3, and Hertz, Spielmannsbuch, 1900, p. 354.)

page 673 note 2 In the Acallamh na Senórach, a compilation at least considerably older than the fifteenth century, Ciabán and his companions when like to perish in a terrible storm were taken upon the back of Manannán's horse and carried across the waves to the Other World: O'Grady, Silv. Gad., ii, 198–201. In the Gilla Decair, Finn's men, stuck fast on the back of a monster horse, were borne over-sea to the “Land of Promise:” Silv. Gad., ii, 297 ff.

page 673 note 3 Loth, Les Mab., i, 261 ff.

page 673 note 1 The appearance of Mabon in connection with an Otherworld Journey and a helpful beast arouses special interest because there are various reasons for suspecting that in early Welsh tradition Mabon was a parallel figure, perhaps a doublet, to Owain [Ivain]. Kulhwch and Olwen makes Modron the mother of Mabon. Modron was also the mother of Owain: “Modron, daughter of Avallach and mother of Owein ab Uryen” (Loth, Les Mob., ii, 260, translating from a Welsh triad in Myv. Arch., 392. 52). Mabon and Owain then were brothers. An ancient poem from the Book of Taliessin, Skene, Four Books, i, 363, associates Mabon and Owain. It is well known that the names Mabon and some variant of Owain are often mentioned together and applied to Otherworld figures: Mabon, Eurain in Bel Inconnu; Mabon, Irayn in Libeaus Desconus; Mabonagrain, Evrain in Erec; Mabounain, Urain in Perceval; Urbain in Didot-Perceval (see Philipot, Rom., xxv, 275–77, Miss Paton, Studies in Fairy Mythology, p. 210), cf. Mabuz and Iweret in Lanzelet.

page 673 note 2 A capital of the fourteenth century on one of the pillars of the left side of the nave of St. Peter's Church in Caen, represents eight figures, one of them an unarmed man riding on a lion. Trebutien, Caen: Precis de son Histoire (1855), p. 36. Two of the other figures are unmistakably Arthurian (Lancelot on the sword bridge, and Lancelot on the perilous couch) and De La Rue explained this as “Ivain, le Chevalier au Lion.” The explanation is not, however, certain. See Gasté, Un Chapiteau de l'Eglise Saint-Pierre de Caen (1887).

page 673 note 1 Can Arthur's extraordinary and romantic dream (Layamon, ed. Madden, in, 120–21, vv. 28058–93) about being carried to sea on the back of a golden lion and brought to shore by a friendly fish, be a reminiscence of some Otherworld journey tale?

page 673 note 2 Campbell, Tales of the W. Highlands, iii, 367 ff., contains a recently collected Gaelic tale about Manus that presents many similarities to the Ivain. Manus, on his way to fairyland, was entertained at a Hospitable House where he obtained a number of marvellous belongings: a sword, a helmet, a cloth that spread itself with food, a chain that gave marvellous strength, and especially a lion whelp which Manus carried away with him wrapped in the folds of the magic cloth (cf. Iwain's carrying his wounded lion on a shield to a castle to be healed, vv. 4652–80. Wolfdietrich like-wise carried his wounded lion to a castle, Wolf. B, str. 730 ff. This curious incident perhaps shows that the helpful beast was in origin a dog). Later Manus took the part of a White Gruagach who was at war with a Bed Gruagach. The lion carried Manus on its back across the sea to an otherwise inaccessible land [the Other World]. It cleared a castle full of monsters, and slew a “brown lap dog” that “came to eat Manus.” It helped Manus in his battle with the Bed Gruagach and finally it slew a venomous horned creature (Beannach Nimhe), in which was the life of the Bed Gruagach. The Bed Gruagach was killed, his head was put on a stake, and Manus was crowned king of Lochlann. (On the Tale of Manus, cf. Alex. Bugge, Contributions to the Hist. of Norsemen in Ireland, ii, Norse Elements in Gaelic Trad. of Mod. Times, p. 9, Videnskabsselskabets Skrifter, hist. fil. klasse, 1900, no. 5.)

page 673 note 3 Beiträge z. Gesch. d. deut. Sp., xxi, 253–420; see esp. 413–417.

page 673 note 4 Ed. Heuckenkampf (1896), p. 24, line 31 ff.

page 673 note 1 A well known term for the Celtic Other World; cf. “Isle as Puceles” in the Castle-of-Ill-Adventure Episode, Ivain, v. 5257; “meide lant” in Lanzdet, v. 4685, etc.

page 673 note 2 Cf. Iwain's fighting the seneschal under the sobriquet “Chevalier au Lion” (28), and Wîgalois’ fighting under the name “Rîter mit dem Rade,” Wîgalois, v. 6279, etc.

page 673 note 3 Cf. the “Fontainne Perilleuse,” Ivain, v. 810, and the “Castle Perilous” in Malory, Bk. vii.

page 673 note 4 So Iwain's lion bowed before him:—

“Et ses piez joinz li estandoit

Et vers terre ancline sa chiere,

S'estut sor les deus piez deriere

Et puis si se ragenoilloit

Et tote sa face moilloit

De lermes par humilité.” Vv. 3396–3401.

It also pulled down a stag, “Aussi com uns brachez feist,” v. 3439. Compare the behavior of the beasts in the Lady of the Fountain, etc., p. 686, above.

page 673 note 5 The corresponding description in Wîgalois, ed. Pfeiffer, vv. 3853 ff., is: “Ein tier daz ist so wolgetan …. daz ich niht schoeners han gesehen …. ûf sînem houbet …. eine guldîne krône …. bewahsen schône mit zwein swarzen hornen …. in sînem munde die hitze …. von sînem houbet…. geschaffen als ein liebart.” (To the fiery breath of this guiding beast compare the breath of the dog of the guiding shepherd in Kulhwch and Olwen, page 683, note 1, above).

page 673 note 1 Cf. the path in Ivain (6), in Tochmarc Emere, and in La Mule sans Frein.

page 673 note 2 Cf. 10.

page 673 note 3 Cf. “Esclados the Red” (9).

page 673 note 4 In Wîgalois it is “geschaffen als ein liebart.”

page 673 note 1 Page 683, note 2, above.

page 673 note 2 Some reviews of Iwain A Study, have objected to my use of “modern” folk-tales. In that study I endeavored to prove, in duplicate, that the Ivain is based on an Otherworld story. First, by using only parallels the antiquity of which is attested by LU and LL. Then by using recently collected Celtic tales. Since the evidence of the two sorts of material agrees, the second is a valuable confirmation of the first. LU and LL are preserved to us almost by accident. Let us suppose that the Danes had made another inroad and destroyed these precious mss., Ivain would still be based on Celtic Otherworld Story, but it would be impossible to prove it, except by the use of tales transcribed later than the time of Chrétien. The value of the “modern” folk-tale is thus evident. A chapter on analogies between the second part of the Ivain and recently collected folk-tales seems to me indispensable, though I am willing to let the argument rest for those who desire it on the Tochmarc Emere, supported by Kulhwch and Olwen and La Mule sans Frein.

page 673 note 1 Summarized from Seumas MacManus, In Chimney Corners, N. Y. (1899), pp. 127–46.

page 673 note 2 Hawk, hound, and horse were the typical companions of an ancient hunter.

page 673 note 3 I abbreviate very much at this point. The hare is the Hag in disguise.

page 673 note 1 Loth, Les Mab., ii, 42. Owain is mentioned in connection with ravens in the Gododin poems in the Bk. of Aneurin, Skene, Four Books, i, 374.

page 673 note 2 Loth, Les Mab., i, 303 ff. Cf. Loth's note, p. 308.

page 673 note 3 Cf. Conte du Mantel (a twelfth century text), ed. Wulff, Romania, xiv, 358–380: “Yvain …. qui tant ama chiens et oiseaus,” vv. 496–99. Irish tales very often assign three animals of this sort to their hero. Cf. “The King of the Black Desert,” Hyde, An Sgêaluidhe Gaedhealach, pp. 143 ff., with its refrain eight times repeated: “His dog at his heels, his falcon on his wrist, riding on his good black horse.” It is to be noted that the ravens, according to Welsh tradition, won Owain's victories for him: “Partout où il allait avec eux [the ravens], il était vainqueur,” Loth, Les Mob., ii, 42. It is precisely thus with the lion in the Ivain. Wherever Iwain goes with the lion he conquers. Mabon, Iwain's doublet, was a marvellous hunter, p. 695 above.

page 673 note 1 See p. 697, note 2.

page 673 note 2 Pop. Tales of the West Highlands, i, 96 ff.

page 673 note 3 i, 102 ff. Cf. Curtin, Hero Tales of Ireland, pp. 373–406, where the hero slays “Hung up Naked,” a supernatural foe, by the aid of a Hound, a Hawk and an Otter.

page 673 note 4 “Knight Rose” in Jones and Kropf, Folk-Tales of the Magyars, pp. 54–58, is the closest of these analogues. Knight Rose slew three giants. He then met their dam, a witch who had killed his two older brothers. He released his brother's dogs. The witch was afraid of the dogs, and by their aid he slew her. He then restored his brothers to life. This story is manifestly an imperfect distortion of the theme better represented by “The Old Hag” (O. H). (1) In it the [enchanted] hounds are not explained but turn up casually, while in O. H. to each of three sons the king gave, at the outset, a filly that could overtake anything, a hound that could, etc. (2) It lacks, though it implies, the preliminary adventures of the two older brothers. (3) Knight Rose pursues a hare and cooks it before a fire, but it is not explained, as in O. H., that the hare is the Hag, the dam of the giants, who took this shape to lure away the slayer of her sons. (4) Knight Rose actually sees the dogs of his brothers. O. H. much better has the dogs turned to stone and invisible.

Other analogues, for the most part even less symmetrically preserved than “Knight Rose,” are: “Marya-Morevna,” Curtin, Myths and Folk Tales of the, Russians, pp. 203–17. The hero Ivan is helped by a raven, eagle, falcon, and by a horse that kicks the supernatural foe Koshchéi the Deathless: “Ivan, the Bird and the Wolf,” Curtin, op. cit., pp. 20 ff. A wolf eats Ivan's steed but himself carries Ivan better than any steed; cf. pp. 106 ff., 165 ff.: “The Three Brothers,” Denton, Serbian Folk-lore, pp. 256–294: “How the Rájá's son won the Princess Labám,” Stokes (Maive S. H.), Indian Fairy Tales, pp. 153–163, where a tiger helps the hero slay two demons [W. Stokes in a note on p. 287 suggests an analogy to “Owain's fight with the giant in the Lady of the Fountain”]: “Ivan Kupiskas S⊘n,” Friis, Lappiske Eventyr og Folkesagn, pp. 170 ff., a helpful dog, bear and wolf dig out under two clashing mountains to aid the hero: “The Tower of Ill Luck,” Pedroso, Portuguese Folk-Tales, pp. 45 ff., helpful horse and lion; also “The Slices of Fish,” op. cit., pp. 100 ff., helpful horse and lion: cf. “La Cerva Fatata,” Il Pentamerone (ninth tale of the first day).

page 673 note 1 Helpful animals have been pointed out in LU and LL. See Iwain A Study, p. 131, note 2: Cuchulinn's steed Grey of Macha, and Conall's horse Dewy Red, fought along with their masters.