The Grail legend goes as follows: Parsifal was brought up by his mother in the seclusion of the wilderness after his father had died in a battle with his elder brothers. His mother, grief stricken sought to protect her only remaining son from the world of chivalry by withholding from him all knowledge of arms and of the outside world. He was only allowed to play with sticks, bows and arrows in the use of which he became very proficient. One day, he happened to see some knights in full armour in the distance and asked his mother who these people were. The mother told him that they were angels. Parsifal then said that if these people were angels he would go and become an angel like them. He went over to them exchanged a few words with them and was able to learn that these people were not angels but knights. He intimated this knowledge to his mother who fainted as a result. He left her in that state and went to make a saddle for one of his mother's horses imitating what he had seen with the knights. When he returned, his mother had recovered sufficiently to ask him of his decision. He declared that he would go if she allowed him and the mother gave him leave. He left home and the accounts of his numerous adventures followed. He was trained to be a knight by a hermit called Gournemart. One day while he was returning home to see his mother, he happened to be riding along the bank of a river when he saw two fishermen and he asked them where he could find a passage across the river.

Since the passage was a long way off and he could not by any chance reach it by daylight, he asked for where he could get shelter. He was then directed by one of the fishermen to the top of a mountain where he would find a castle. He found the castle, was welcomed, fed and entertained. While he was dining with the master of the house however, a procession of youths passed several times with what appeared to be the Grail, a large cup which outshone all the lights in the room. A spear was also paraded which appeared to be dripping with blood from its tip. Though his curiosity was aroused by the spectacle and he wanted to ask about what he had seen, he however held his tongue, always calling to mind what he had been taught by the old knight, Gornemant, who had warned him against loquaciousness. This king, called the fisher king because he regularly fishes, is infirm having been wounded some say in a javelin battle in the thighs or as in some versions as a result of his sins when he looked with lustful eye upon the female worshipper, with the lance spontaneously falling upon him as mentioned above. In any case, this king is maimed and is not able to carry out his functions fully as keeper of the Grail as he is in continuous pain. His cure according to the legend was for Parsifal to ask the magic question about the Grail which is "Whom does one serve with the Grail?" He fails to do this however, and the country as a consequence becomes a barren land or a waste land as is so called in the legend.

Parsifal leaves the castle without asking these questions and came to meet a lady who happens to also be his first cousin. She told him of the terrible deed he had committed for failing to ask these questions and that the reason he failed was the sin he committed against his mother who had died grieving for him after he left her. That sin had been responsible for his failure. Parsifal hearing this broke down in woes of sorrow and did not return home again since his mother whom he was going to see had died. He left the lady and embarked on more adventures and entered Arthur's court as a celebrated knight. While there a loathsome lady made her entrance and addressed Parsifal, bemoaned of his failure to ask the question and warned of the consequences of his deed which would lead to the land being rendered wasted as mentioned above. Thereafter, he made a vow that he would not rest until he had found the Grail and learnt whom one served with it. He lost his way for five years and eventually on a Good Friday met a priest, made his confession because he had forgotten God for all these years and was absolved of his sins. Chrétien left his work unfinished.

We move on to the work of Wolfram. He believed that the Grail was a stone fallen from heaven which is a sharp contrast to the popular belief that it was a chalice. He however, gave the fisher king a name and called him Anfortas. The Grail resided in a magnificent castle and whatever was asked of it was given. Men ate, drank their fills and all these bounties were provided by the Grail. This stone had been brought down by neutral angels during the war between God and Lucifer and since then only the pure ones have been chosen to guard the Grail. This of course is in contrast to Chrétien's cup and there was no attempt to associate it with Jesus. The bleeding lance was also present and Parsifal in this account also failed to ask the magical question. His failure to ask the question however, was not attributed to his sin against his mother but to something else. Anfortas had been wounded in a battle between the thighs. He had been engaged in this battle because of the love he had for a woman. He had remained in agony since then and despite all the remedies in the whole world he remained in pain.

Confounded, his knights prayed that help should come to them and as if by some miracle, a writing appeared on the Grail stone, that a knight would come whom by asking the right questions would heal the king. Chrétien's Gornemant became Wolfram's Gurnemanz, the knight who trained Parsifal in the art of arms, and the loathsome lady of Chrétien became Kundrie. Parsifal however, achieved the Grail eventually and became the king by returning to the castle to ask the right questions. There are significant differences between the two works and some of these would include the differences in their perceptions as to the origin and the nature of the Grail and Parsifal's achieving the quest, which did not happen in Chrétien's work probably because this work remained unfinished. Parsifal however, achieved the Grail in one of the "continuations" of Chrétien's work by the author Manessier completed in 1230A.D.

As time went on other characters came to be added to the legends and the stories became more and more complicated and in some versions, attention shifted completely away from Parsifal to another knight named Galahad who was the son of Lancelot of the lake, a product of the union between Lancelot and king Arthur's daughter. The legends grew this way until interest in them waned towards the dawn of the renaissance with the last true work on Arthur and his round table being that of Sir Thomas Mallory in the 15th century.

After a very long lull in interest in the legends came the work of Richard Wagner. Parsifal, finished in 1882 was a complete shift of emphasis from the Arthurian court to that of the Grail knighthood. The knights in Wagner's opera were not those of Arthur but of the Grail. The guardians of the Grail had become knights and the focus of the whole play was on these. It was the struggle between good and evil that was dramatised with good ultimately triumphing. He drew heavily on Wolfram's work but refused to accept the idea of the Grail as being a stone. Instead he stuck with de Boron's conclusions about the sacred association of these relics with Christ.

The Grail land itself thereby became the focus and centre of attraction of the whole play. Amfortas, the young knight had been appointed by his father Titurel to succeed him since he was getting old and was not able to perform his duties fully as first guardian of the Grail. Amfortas performed this duty until he succumbed to the evil machinations of the wicked one, Klingsor who had been denied membership in the Grail Order. The brotherhood came to be in possession of the relics (the holy spear and the Grail) through the appearance of the Saviour, Jesus to one of the founding fathers of the order. Jesus had entrusted the relics to them for safekeeping and had adjured them to be pure. Since then they had been the guardians of the Grail and the holy spear.

Things however were not looking so good for the brotherhood for they had lost many knights to the temptations of Klingsor who had built a beautiful garden of maidens who laid in waiting to seduce the weary travellers. Denied admittance in to the brotherhood, Klingsor had become versed in all sorts of magic, which he now used against the brotherhood in his hatred for them and in his desire to seize the chalice. The latter, called the Holy Grail was to the knights, the cup, which Jesus had used during the Last Supper with His disciplines and in which His Blood had been caught. The Grail also was to them a kind of manna from heaven. It provided heavenly food, which was sustenance for them and as long as they ate of the wafer, which the Grail provided, they would not grow old.

For the blessings of the Grail to flow however, it had to be uncovered and this task was given to Amfortas. Amfortas, tired of the continual loss of his knights to Klingsor set forth with the holy spear in his hand to challenge him in battle. Klingsor however, laid in waiting and had already planned his destruction. He summoned his servant, Kundry who was partly good and partly evil to seduce him. Amfortas, with his defences weakened by her embraces let go of the holy spear. Klingsor appears snatches the spear, inflicted a deep wound with the spear on Amfortas and made his escape. Amfortas in agony was rescued and taken home and has lived with the pain ever since.

All treatments were to no avail and his sufferings grew worse by the day as the wound would not heal. He was meanwhile condemned to serve the Grail and as long as he looked on it he could not die, thereby prolonging his anguish. He prayed for death, to be released from service, as the pains were unbearable, made worse each day that he had to uncover the Grail. Amfortas had been shown a vision while praying in anguish that he should wait for one who would cure him. One who through pity, knowing, would be his healer, the pure fool, (in German der reine Tor). The Knight Gurnemanz was busy recounting the story of how the brotherhood came to lose the spear when suddenly shouts of confusion were heard. A swan had been killed on holy land and a youth had been arrested. Brought before Gurnemanz, he was reproached but could not tell why he had shot the swan nor could he give his name. He appeared to have completely lost his memory.

At this point Gurnemanz began to hope that this might be the pure fool that was promised. Kundry however, happened to have been present while all this was going on and being ageless herself had seen quite a lot and remembers the youth and recounts his story. He had been brought up only by his mother, his father Gamuret, having died in battle just before he was born. But before he died he had pronounced his name. The mother, grief stricken retired into the woods and brought the boy up in complete seclusion withholding any knowledge of the outside world or of arms. He was only allowed a bow and arrows in the use of which he became very proficient. Parsifal however, left home without telling his mother in order to become a knight. His departure left the mother so devastated that she died from the effects of this.

All this Kundry recited and Parsifal, shocked at this account flung himself at Kundry and tried to strangle her. He was however, restrained by Gurnemanz. It was however, time for the holy meal and Gurnemanz proceeded with Parsifal to the Grail castle. A castle of great pillars, a round table, which can be regarded as an altar, an opening at the top. All the knights gather round the altar. Amfortas was brought in a litter as has become customary, as he was too much in pain to walk. A procession of Esquires brings in the Grail, encased in a box. Titurel, Amfortas' father orders him to uncover the Grail. At first he refused but after much pressure he relented and uncovered it. The Grail shines bright and streams of light descend on it from the height. All receive of this power and the wafer and wine were distributed.

Parsifal witnesses all this without understanding. He only clutched his heart in compassion in response to Amfortas' pain and agony. After the ceremony Parsifal looks around dumbfounded not grasping any of the happenings. Gurnemanz now asks him about what he had seen but he only shakes his head. The old knight, his hopes apparently having been mislaid sent the youth away in anger but a voice came from above in warning about the promised one. Shocked he became pensive but Parsifal was already gone.

Meanwhile, Klingsor had already seen Parsifal coming and knew that he could be their greatest foe yet. He summoned Kundry once more and convinced her to take up the assignment of tempting Parsifal and added that he who could brave her would save her as she was living under a curse, which she carried after having mocked Christ on the cross. Parsifal stumbled upon Klingsor's realm and found himself after battling his way through among the most beautiful of maidens he had ever seen. After initially chiding him for wounding their playmates, they asked that he stay with them. Parsifal soon got tired of their childish pranks and was about to escape when he heard someone uttered a name, which had never been uttered. He turned and there appeared the most beautiful woman he had ever seen: Kundry. Her objective was his destruction just as she had done with Amfortas.

Using all the pathos she could muster, she told him about his mother's sorrowful death after he had abandoned her and promised to fill the void, which was surely to be left. Parsifal broke down in tears of sorrow for his mother and blamed himself for her death. Kundry using all her powers of persuasion tried to convince him that all was not lost and that he should love in a passionate way like his father did. Parsifal's defences weakened she gave him a long kiss. During this however, Parsifal suddenly jumped up with an expression of intense fear clutching his heart and shouted "Amfortas, die Wunde, die Wunde" (Amfortas, the wound, the wound). The spell had been broken and all the efforts of Kundry to hold him failed. All her appeals fell on deaf ears. In a rage, she cursed him to wander and called out to Klingsor who appeared and hurled the spear at Parsifal hoping that he would be killed. The spear however remained hovering over Parsifal's head. He grasped the spear and destroyed the realm with the power that rested in the spear. Parsifal had recognised what the problem of Amfortas was through his own experiences. He felt exactly the same pain and with this he recognised his mission, which was to heal Amfortas and return to the Grail realm as its king.

Kundry's curse had an effect. Parsifal was lost for a long time not knowing where to find Amfortas. Eventually on a Good Friday, he founds his way. He chanced upon the knight Gurnemanz who had now become a hermit since Amfortas, in a final act of defiance had pointedly refused for a long time to uncover the Grail. All the knights were growing old as a result of this and old Titurel died as a direct result of being denied his manna from heaven, which had kept him and others alive. Kundry appears again cured of her curse for she had been braved. She now serves in loyalty. Gurnemanz seeing the spear was transported with joy and as it was predicted anointed the head of Parsifal as the new king of the Grail. But they still had to make their way to the castle where Titurel was being prepared for burial. Amfortas had promised that on this occasion he would uncover the Grail so that the body of his father could be sanctified.

The procession came into the hall of the Grail with Titurel's coffin and all were shocked by the state of his body when the coffin was removed. Amfortas however, still refused to uncover the Grail. He tore his clothes revealing the wound which had already started bleeding again and in the ensuing confusion with the knights demanding that he must do it enters Parsifal with the holy spear, Kundry and Gurnemanz. Parsifal points the lance at Amfortas' breast healing him. Amfortas overwhelmed by the experience staggers back. Parsifal orders that the Grail be uncovered and should never be concealed. Amfortas was relieved of his duties, the Grail shines brightest, the chalice was raised, all kneel worshipping, Kundry falls dying being able at last to die blameless, and the white dove appears hovering over Parsifal's head.

By all means the most absorbing and the most mystical of all the Grail stories. An extraordinary tale, which induced its creator to declare it sacred and pointedly forbade its performance outside his theatre. Though he may have borrowed from medieval sources especially Wolfram, his creativity cannot be denied. The battle between good and evil was clearly played out and the legends of Arthur took a back seat. The Grail itself and its central character, Parsifal received the treatment they deserved. Wagner's aim was to cut off all the frippery and present us with a crystal clear story, something which had not always characterised the legends. Many medieval authors in their attempt to interpret the legends added so much of their own thoughts that the Grail itself and its central character almost lost their lustre and their powers of appeal to the human spirit.

The profusion of characters certainly did not help matters and many authors got bogged down in narrating the many adventures of the king Arthur that they forgot the central theme, which was the Grail. Wagner therefore, brought out the essential and refocused attention once more on the most important, the Grail, the power of which had induced men in the first place to search for it. Through his work interest has once more been generated and the quest once more could be resumed devoid of all externals. The Grail shines forth once more to exert its power of attraction on those who are open to this influence. These then would continue the search for it in the proper manner, their attentions having been redirected and refocused on the essential and core. The search for the Grail is a religious experience and all those who have concerned themselves with it have felt this and this is where attention should shift. The religious and mystical significance of the Grail is what should be focussed on.

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