And to Parzival the mystery of the Grail should he now reveal-- 345 And he, who of this hath asked me, and since silence my lips must seal Was wroth with me as his foeman, his anger might naught avail, Since I did but as Kiot bade me, for he would I should hide the tale, And tell unto none the secret, till the venture so far were sped That the hidden should be made open, and the marvel of men be read. 350 For Kiot of old, the master whom men spake of in days of yore, Far off in Toledo's city, found in Arabic writ the lore By men cast aside and forgotten, the tale of the wondrous Grail; But first must he learn the letters, nor black art might there avail. By the grace of baptismal waters, by the light of our Holy Faith, 355 He read the tale, else 'twere hidden; for never, the story saith, Might heathen skill have shown us the virtue that hidden lies In this mighty Grail, or Its marvels have opened to Christian eyes. 'Twas a heathen, Flegetanis, who had won for his wisdom fame, And saw many a wondrous vision, (from Israel's race he came, 360 And the blood of the kings of old-time, of Solomon did he share,) He wrote in the days long vanished, ere we as a shield might bear The cross of our Holy Baptism 'gainst the craft and the wiles of Hell, And he was the first of earth's children the lore of the Grail to tell. By his father's side a heathen, a calf he for God did hold, 365 How wrought the devil such folly, on a folk so wise, of old? And the Highest Who knoweth all wonders, why stretched He not forth His Hand To the light of His truth to turn them? For who may His power withstand! And the heathen, Flegetanis, could read in the heavens high How the stars roll on their courses, how they circle the silent sky, 370 And the time when their wandering endeth--and the life and the lot of men He read in the stars, and strange secrets he saw, and he spake again Low, with bated breath and fearful, of the thing that is called the Grail, In a cluster of stars was it written, the name, nor their lore shall fail. And he quoth thus, 'A host of angels this marvel to earth once bore, 375 But too pure for earth's sin and sorrow the heaven they sought once more, And the sons of baptized men hold It, and guard It with humble heart, And the best of mankind shall those knights be who have in such service part'