Galahad, as Tennyson portrays him, will always hold the first place with English readers as the ideal knight of the Holy Grail. The matchless diction of Tennyson has given the less perfect form of the legend a supreme charm and beauty. But Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parsifal, as spiritualized and humanized in Wagner's lyric drama, will be seen to be in fuller accord with the whole cycle and development of the Grail legends, and at the same time gives the nobler story. It is a consummate parable of the contending passions and the heavenly aspiration, the ineffable pity and the mystic glory, of the human heart. It portrays an intensely human and heroic life, imaginatively identified with that of the very Christ. "However mediaeval the language and symbolism of Parsifal may be," says a modern critic, "one cannot but acknowledge the simplicity and power of the story. Its spiritual significance is universal. Whatever more it may mean, we see clearly that the guileless knight is Purity, Kundry is the Wickedness of the world expressed in its most enticing form, and King Amfortas suffering with his open wound is Humanity. One cannot read the drama without a thrill, without a clutching at the heart, at its marvellous meaning, its uplifting and ennobling lessons." O.H. Baltimore, Maryland, January 7th, 1903. PARSIFAL. PART I THE COMING OF PARSIFAL Within a noble stretch of mountain woods, Primeval forest, deep and dark and grand, There rose a glorious castle towering high,-- And at its foot a smiling, shimmering lake Lay in the still lap of a verdant glade. 'T was daybreak, and the arrows of the dawn Were shot in golden glory through the trees, And from the castle came a trumpet blast To waken life in all the slumbering host,-- Warriors and yeomen in the castle halls. And at the trumpet Gurnemanz rose up,-- Ancient and faithful servant of the Grail,-- Who sleeping lay under a spreading oak, And called aloud to two youths sleeping yet: "Hey! ho! ye foresters, loving the woods, Loving your sleep as well. Wake with the day! Hear ye the trumpet! Come, let us thank God That we have power to hear the call of life, And power to answer as the duty calls!" And up they started, knelt in prayer with him, And offered unto God their morning praise. Then Gurnemanz: "Up now, my gallant youths, Prepare the royal bath, and wait the King!... Behold, his litter now is coming forth, I see the heralds coming on before.... Hail, royal heralds! Hail and welcome both! How fares my Lord Amfortas' health to-day? I hope his early coming to the bath Doth presage nothing worse. I fain had thought The healing herb that Sir Gawain had found With wisest skill and bravest deed might bring Some quick and sure relief unto the King."