g. the chapters on The Medicine Man, and The Freeing of the
Waters. The studies will, I hope, and believe, be accepted as offering
a definite contribution towards establishing the fundamental character
of our material; as stated above, when we are all at one as to what
the Holy Grail really was, and is, we can then proceed with some
hope of success to criticize the manner in which different writers
have handled the inspiring theme, but such success seems to be
hopeless so long as we all start from different, and often utterly
irreconcilable, standpoints and proceed along widely diverging roads.
One or another may, indeed, arrive at the goal, but such unanimity of
opinion as will lend to our criticism authoritative weight is,
on such lines, impossible of achievement.
CHAPTER II
The Task of the Hero
As a first step towards the successful prosecution of an investigation
into the true nature and character of the mysterious object we know as
the Grail it will be well to ask ourselves whether any light may be
thrown upon the subject by examining more closely the details of the
Quest in its varying forms; i.e., what was the precise character of
the task undertaken by, or imposed upon, the Grail hero, whether that
hero were Gawain, Perceval, or Galahad, and what the results to
be expected from a successful achievement of the task.
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