Then they bare to the hall these tidings, and the host and Anfortas told How that which the folk did nourish, Feirefis, he might ne'er behold, Since from heathen eyes It was hidden, and they prayed him to seek the grace Of Baptism, by its virtue he should win him in Heaven a place. 440 'If I, for your sake, be baptizèd, will that help me to win my love?' Spake Gamuret's son, the heathen--'As a wind shall all sorrows prove, That wooing or war shall have brought me, to the grief that I now must feel! If long or short the time be since I first felt the touch of steel, And fought 'neath a shield, such anguish ne'er hath fallen unto my share, 445 And tho' love should, I ween, be hidden, yet my heart would its grief declare!' 'Of whom dost thou speak?' quoth the Waleis, 'Of none but that lady bright, Who is sister to this, thy comrade--If thou, as a faithful knight, Wilt help me to win the maiden, I will give her with kingly hand Great riches, and men shall hail her as queen over many a land!' 450 'If to Baptism thou wilt yield thee,' spake the host, 'then her love is thine, (And as _thou_ I right well may hail thee, since the Grail and Its realm are mine, And our riches methinks are equal)'--Quoth Feirefis Angevin, 'Then help me to bliss, my brother, that the love of thine aunt I win. And, if Baptism be won by battle, then help me to strife I pray, 455 That I, for sweet love's rewarding, may do service without delay. And mine ear well doth love the music when the spear-shafts in splinters break, And the helmet rings clear 'neath the sword-thrust, and the war-cry the echo wakes.' Then Parzival laughed out gaily, and Anfortas, he laughed yet more, 'Nay, nay,' quoth the host, 'such blessing is no guerdon for deeds of war. 460 I will give unto thee the maiden, by true Baptism's grace and power, But the god and the love of a heathen shalt thou leave in the self-same hour; And to-morrow, at early dawning, will I give to thee counsel true, Whose fruit shall be seen in the crowning of thy life with a blessing new!'