The Philosopher's Stone
marvellous stone—reappears in the "Grail Story," which is from beginning to end a Christianised Keltic myth. In it the Grail is originally not invariably a basin or goblet, but a stone. It is so in Wolfran von Eschenbach's Parsival. In that there is no thought of it as a chalice: it is a stone which feeds and delights all who surround, cherish, and venerate it.
Whatsoever the earth produces, whatsoever exhales,
Whatever is good, and sweet, in drink and meat.
That yields the precious stone, that never fails.
In the Elder Edda, in the Fiölvinnsmal, Svipdagr is represented as climbing to the golden halls of heaven, and when he comes there he asks who reigns in that place. The answer given him is:—
Menglöd is her name . . .
She here holds sway,
And has power over
These lands and glorious halls."
Now Menglöd means she who rejoices in the Men, the Precious Stone,[1] that is, the sun. She is the holder of the sun, as in the Yorkshire story the lass holds the golden ball.
Matthew Paris says that King Richard Cœur de Lion was wont to tell the following story:—"A rich and miserly Venetian, whose name was Vitalis, was
- ↑ Egilson, Lex. poet. linguæ Sept. Men = monile, thesaurus, saxum, lapis.
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