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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
The romance of Partonopeus de Blois, though widely read and much admired in the Middle Ages, has not aroused a comparable interest among modern scholars. No edition of the French text has been published since 1834, and no exhaustive investigation of its literary sources has yet appeared. The story is usually explained as a medievalized version of the legend of Cupid and Psyche, with the roles of hero and heroine reversed under the influence of Breton lais of the fairy mistress type. Since critical discussions have tended to emphasize—perhaps overemphasize—the indebtedness of Partonopeus to the classical legend and its folk tale analogues, the connections with the Breton lais and the matière de Bretagne have been explored only in a general and rather tentative way. A more specific study of these connections based on the available French edition may help us to reach a clearer understanding of the materials which compose this charming romance, although a comprehensive analysis must await a critical edition of the text.
1 Partonopeus de Blois, ed. A. C. M. Robert, pub. G. Crapelet (Paris, 1834), usually referred to as “the Crapelet edition.” At least two new editions are supposed to be in preparation, one by Leon P. Smith (University of Chicago, Abstracts of Theses, Humanistic Ser., ix [1934], 419-422), the other by H. Martin (Work in Progress 1941, ed. James Osborn, David Kerr, p. 100), but neither has yet been published. Partonopeus is usually dated before 1188: see for discussion and references, L. A. Hibbard, Mediaeval Romance in England (New York, 1924), pp. 200 f.
2 Cf. Hibbard, op. cit., pp. 206-212; Urban T. Holmes, Jr., A History of Old French Literature (New York, 1938), pp. 152 f.
3 See references in Hibbard, op. cit., p. 212 and discussion, p. 208; M. Kawczynski, Bulletin International de l'Académie des Sciences de Cracovie, July 1901, pp. 123-133, and Bausteine zur romanischen Philologie, Festgabe für A. Mussafia (Halle, 1905), pp. 193-210 (I regret that I have been unable to consult the same scholar's book Partonopeus de Blois [Cracow, 1902]); G. Huet, Le Moyen Age, xxii (1909), 22-28, and xxix (1917), 44-52; W. Foerster, Literaturblatt für germanische und romanische Philologie, xxiii (1902), 28-33; C. Pschmadt, Die Sage von der verfolgten Hinde (Greifswald, 1911), p. 97; E. Tegethoff, Studien zum Märchentypus von Amor und Psyche (Bonn, 1922), pp. 124-127; E. Kölbing, Germanist. Studien, ii (1875), 55 ff.
4 The best discussion is to be found in Hibbard, op. cit., pp. 207-210; cf. also W. H. Schofield, English Literature from the Norman Conquest to Chaucer (London, 1906), p. 307. For an excellent treatment of the taboo in Partonopeus with reference to Celtic parallels, see John R. Reinhard, The Survival of Geis in Mediaeval Romance (Halle, 1933), pp. 267-274.
5 According to the French text he is only thirteen years old. In the Middle English version (Partonope de Blois, ed. A. T. Bödtker, EETS, ES, Vol. cix, 1912, l. 521) he is eighteen, but if this is correct, it is hard to understand why Partonopeus is considered too young for knighthood and marriage.
6 There is a lacuna at this point in the Arsenal MS., the basis of Robert's ed. The editor (Partonopeus, ii, 133) believes the text must have contained the following events: the defeat and death of Armans, and Partonopeus' return to his prison, where the widow of Armans releases him from his pledge; the conclusion of the second and third days of the tournament and the deliberations of the judges.
7 J. Bolte, G. Polívka, Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- und Hausmärchen der Brüder Grimm (Leipzig, 1913-32), ii, 318 ff.; H. Holmström, Studier över Svanjungfrumotivet i Völundarkvida och annorstädes (Malmö, 1919); A. H. Krappe, The Science of Folk-Lore (London, 1930), pp. 110-112; J. A. MacCulloch, Medieval Faith and Fable (Boston, 1932), pp. 45-57; E. S. Hartland, The Science of Fairy Tales (London, 1891), pp. 254-352.
8 T. P. Cross, MP, xii (1915), 585-644; R. S. Loomis, Speculum, xx (1945), 189-203.
9 In any case, the chronology is too uncertain to permit any speculation on this point at present. The latest opinion on the dating of Marie's lais is that they were composed before 1189 (Marie de France, Lais, ed. A. Ewert [Oxford, Blackwell, 1944] p. x); Holmes, op. cit., p. 188, dates them 1167-84; Lucien Foulet dates Graelent between 1170-80, ZRP, xxxii (1908), 264, but cf. E. M. Grimes, The Lays of Désiré, Graelent and Melion (New York, 1928), p. 1, who dates Désiré and Graelent “not later than the thirteenth century.” The borrowings from Chrétien's romances which Foerster noted in his edition of Cliges (Halle, 1884), p. 339 and in Literaturblatt, xxiii, 28-33, are largely illusory; see F. Fisher, Narrative Art in Medieval Romances (Cleveland, 1938), pp. 58-64.
10 See below, p. 931.
11 Die Lais der Marie de France, ed. K. Warnke, 3 ed. (Halle, 1925), pp. 233 ff. Cf. Hibbard, op. cit., p. 208; Cross, MP, xii, 590 ff. and Kittredge Ann. Papers (Boston, 1913), pp. 377-387; Schofield, [Harvard] Studies and Notes, v (1896), 221 ff.; L. A. Paton, Studies in the Fairy Mythology of Arthurian Romance (Boston, 1903), pp. 69 f.
12 Cf. Partonopeus, l. 5942: Fiebles ert, de petit pooir; and Partonopeus' speech to Urrake, ll. 6103 ff.:
“Od vos irai, vostre merci,
Mais que portés soie de ci.
Tant sui caitis, febles et las,
Que je ne puis aler trois pas.“
13 Guingamor, ll. 553 f.: “Morz est vostre uncles e sa gent, n'i avez ami ne parent.”
14 H. Zimmer, ZFSL, xiii1 (1891), 7-11; E. Brugger, ZFSL, xlix (1927), 206-216.
15 Schofield, [Harvard] Studies and Notes, v (1896), 221 ff.; Paton, Fairy Mythology, pp. 60 ff.; Cross, MP, xii, 611 ff.; W. Hertz, Spielmannsbuch, 2 ed. (Stuttgart, 1900), pp. 385 f. Cf. also a Welsh folk tale attached to Cwellyn Lake, which contains, like Guingamor, the supernatural lapse of time, in J. Rhys, Celtic Folklore, Welsh and Manx (Oxford, 1901), i, 50. This same lake is the site of a fairy mistress story very similar to those discussed in this paper (ibid., i, 46).
16 F. Lot, Romania, xxx (1901), 14-16; cf. ibid., xxv (1896), 390 f.
17 Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi, ed. Ifor Williams (Cardiff, 1930), pp. 55 f.; White Book Mabinogion, ed. J. G. Evans (Pwllheli, 1907), pp. 34 ff.; Les Mabinogion, trans. J. Loth, 2 ed. (Paris, 1913), I, 159-161. Cf. R. S. Loomis, Celtio Myth and Arthurian Romance (New York, 1927), pp. 321 ff.
18 Hunts of supernatural swine are common in Welsh and Irish tradition; for example, the hunting of the Twrch Trwyth and the chase of the sow Henwen, but these stories are different, as Nitze has justly observed (Perlesvaus, ed. Nitze, ii, 141 ff.). Yet such stories do show that the dangerous pursuit of supernatural white swine was a familiar literary theme in Ireland and Wales. Cf. Rhys, Celtic Folklore, ii, 509-537.
19 Christian von Troyes, Erec und Enide, ed. W. Foerster (Halle, 1890), ll. 1952 ff. Bruce dates the romance about 1168 (Evolution of Arthurian Romance, 2 ed. [Göttingen, 1928] i, 102). Foerster, Wörterbuch (Halle, 1914), suggests a date before 1164.
20 The form in Erec is obviously a variant of Guingamor. Cf. the variants listed in Foerster's 1890 ed.: Guingamars, Guingas, Guigamor, Guilemers.
21 Morgain's connection with Avalon is one of the commonplaces of Arthurian literature. See Paton, op. cit., Index, s.v. “Avalon.” Cf. further, Loomis, RR, xxix (1938), 176 f.
22 For another reference to Guingamor's amour with a fay, see Perceval le Gallois, ed. C. Potvin (Mons, 1866-71), iv, ll. 21857 ff. Here the story is conflated with Welsh traditions: cf. H. Newstead, Bran the Blessed in Arthurian Romance (New York, 1939), pp. 120-134.
23 This is available only in summaries. Cf. Paton, op. cit., pp. 74-80; W. von Wurzbach, Geschichte des französischen Romans (Heidelberg, 1912), p. 77; La Chevalerie Ogier de Danemarche, ed. J. Barrois (Paris, 1842), i, xvii-xxi, lxii-lxiii.
24 Ed. E. M. Grimes. All references to Graelent and to Désiré are to this edition. The identification with Graelent is confirmed by a passage in Renaut de Beaujeu's Le Bel Inconnu, ed. G. P. Williams (Paris, 1929), ll. 5519 ff.:
Grahelens de Fine Posterne
Se rarmoit dalés un ierne,
Les lui ses freres Guingamuer,
Ki s'entramerent de bon cuer.
25 Guingamor (in Warnke, Lais), ll. 358, 178.
26 Middle English Metrical Romances, ed. W. H. French and C. B. Hale (New York, 1930), pp. 345-380. Cf. R. S. Loomis, Speculum, xx, 189 ff.; E. M. Grimes, op. cit., pp. 19 ff.
27 Possibly Marie de France, as Schofield suggested (PMLA, xv [1900], 151), preserves a trace of the same feature in Lanval, l. 46: “Mes sis cheval tremble forment,” when Lanval reaches the bank of a river, but the horse may have behaved in this way because he sensed the supernatural.
28 On rationalization in Partonopeus, see F. Fisher, op. cit., pp. 44-51; Reinhard, Survival of Geis, pp. 267-274.
29 Cf. ll. 1607 f.: Mais son ronci n'i troeve pas
Qu'il i laissa et magre et las.
30 Cf. Hibbard, Mediaeval Romance in England, p. 208; Grimes, op. cit., pp. 23 f.
31 This inconsistency in the fay's behavior has been the subject of much discussion. See Schofield, PMLA, xv, 132 ff. and Cross, MP, xii, 615 ff. Cross proves that since early Celtic tradition is rich in coy fays as well as forth-putting ones, it is unnecessary to postulate Germanic influence, as Schofield argued. Cf. Reinhard, op. cit., p. 245.
32 Désiré, ed. Grimes, ll. 177-181.
33 Graelent, ed. Grimes, ll. 351-392.
34 Sir Launfal, ed. French and Hales, ll. 319 ff.
35 Lanval, ed. Warnke, ll. 173 ff., 112 ff.
36 Lanval, ll. 557 f.: Un blanc palefrei chevalchot, ki bien e suëf la portot.
37 Lanval, ll. 656 ff.: Quant la pucele ist fors de l'us,
sur le palefrei detriers li
de plein eslais Lanval sailli.
Od li s'en vait en Avalun,
çeo nus recuntent li Bretun,
en un isle qui mult est beals;
la fu raviz li dameiseals.
38 In the Welsh Owein, trans. Loth, Les Mabinogion, ii, 36 f., a countess who has medical skill like that of Morgain la Fée, gives Owein a black horse, said to be the best in the world, which Owein rides in a duel with the countess' bitter enemy, whom he defeats. It is also noteworthy that Cuchulainn had a black horse which, with the Gray of Macha, was attached to his battle chariot, See. E. Hull, Cuchullin Saga (London, 1898), pp. 239 f., 259, 277 f. The behavior of the horse that accompanies Partonopeus on his suicidal mission in the Ardennes strongly suggests the behavior of Blaunchard and Graelent's horse. Graelent's horse grieves in the forest for his master, resists capture, and long afterward may be heard neighing at the season when he lost his master (ll. 735 ff.); and “Every yere, vpon a certayn day/ Me may here Launfales stede nay, / And hym se with syght.” The horse of Partonopeus first kills a lion which attacks him, and then runs toward the sea neighing so loudly that he accomplishes the rescue of his master. A common tradition seems to lie behind the three accounts of the neighing horse. The fighting qualities of Partonopeus' horse resemble those of Blaunchard, and the faery steed Baiard in Les Quatre Fils Aymon (ed. F. Castets, Montpellier, 1909), who fights in combat beside his master and defeats many enemy horses (ll. 3969 ff., 9173 ff.), who escapes drowning in the Meuse by breaking a millstone with his hoofs, and who still is said to roam the Ardennes; cf. A. Meyrac, Traditions . . . des Ardennes (Charleville, 1890), pp. 330 f., and Castets, op. cit., p. 121. A parallel to the lion's attack upon the horse appears in Tyolet, ll. 465 ff. (ed. G. Paris, Romania, viii [1879]), but here the horse is killed. At any rate, the belligerent supernatural horse is common in Celtic tradition: cf. Cross, MP, xii, 652 ff.; Loomis, Speculum, xx, 191 f.; T. M. Chotzen, Neophilologus, xviii (1933), 51 ff., 131 ff. The Gray of Macha is the most famous example; he fought beside his master and slew many foes with his teeth and hoofs; and before Cuchulainn's last battle he manifested great sorrow. From such noble and valiant Celtic animals the steeds of Graelent, Launfal, Partonopeus, and Renaud de Montauban seem to have inherited many traits.
39 Speculum, xx, 183 ff.
40 Benoit de Ste. Maure, Roman de Troie, ed. L. Constans, SATF (Paris, 1904), i, ll. 8023 ff. Cf. Loomis, loc. cit., 183-185 for proof that the fay's name was really Morgain. Cf. Paton, Fairy Mythology, p. 21. Cf. also La Bataille Loquifer I, ed. J. Runeberg (Helsingfors, 1913), l. 3665:
Saut ou destrier ki fu Morgain la fee.
On this text, see Runeberg, Etudes sur la geste Rainouart (Helsingfors, 1905).
41 G. L. Kittredge, American Journal of Philology, x (1889), 13 f.; Loomis, Speculum, xx, 189. Olyroun is Oléron, an actual island off the west coast of France. Marie's version, however, is supported by the form Amylyone in Sir Landeval and by Amilion in Sir Lambewell.
42 The name Melior, of course, is no more traditional than the name Tryamour assigned to Launfal's mistress. See Loomis, loc. cit., 189, n. 10.
43 W. Hertz, Spielmannsbuch, 2 ed., p. 354; Kölbing, Garmanist. Studien, ii (1875), 109; Pschmadt, op. cit., pp. 88 f.; Paton, op. cit., pp. 66f.; Marie de France, Lais, ed. Warnke, 3 ed., p. cii; A. C. L. Brown, MP, xiv (1916), 392, n. 4; Hibbard, op. cit., p. 208.
44 Paton, op. cit., pp. 66 f.; Köhler, in Marie de France, Lais, ed. Warnke, p. cii.
46 Floriant et Florete, ed. Francisque-Michel (Roxburghe Club, Edinburgh, 1873). Bruce, Evolution, ii, 254, dates it in the third quarter of the thirteenth century. Cf. for discussion, Paton, Fairy Mythology, pp. 17 f., 189 f., 250 ff.; A. Graf, Miti, Leggende, e Superstizioni del Medio Evo (Torino, 1892-93), ii, 303 ff.
46 Mongibel, or Mt. Etna, in Sicily was another traditional home of Morgain; cf. Le Chevalier du Papegau, ed. F. Heuckenkamp (Halle, 1896), p. 11, l. 18: “je suis seur Morgaine la fee de Montgibel.” For discussion see Paton, Fairy Mythology, pp. 250 ff.; Graf, op. cit., ii, 303 ff. It seems to have been regarded as a substitute for Avalon; cf. Maugis d'Aigremont (ed. F. Castets, Montpellier, 1893), l. 6147: “Que li. i. ne fuiroit por l'or de Mongibel.” This is clearly a variant of the phrase “tot l'or d'Avalon,” which was proverbial as early as 1130, since it appears in the Couronnement Louis. For a discussion of the gold of Avalon, see Loomis, RR, xxxii (1941), 19 f.
47 Although Floriant is Morgain's fosterling, he seems also to have been her lover; cf. ll. 2523 f.:
“Florians, Morgain te salue,
Si comme t'amie et ta drue.“
In Maugis d'Aigremont the fay Oriande is both foster-mother and mistress; see discussion below, p. 933. For other instances of a fay as both foster-mother and mistress, see Paton, Fairy Mythology, p. 194 n.; Fiori de Leggende, ed. E. Levi (Bari, 1914), pp. 63-72; Heinrich von dem Türlin, Diu Krone, ed. Scholl, ll. 24517-24520.
48 Floriant et Florete, ll. 8180 ff.
49 Of course, we need hardly be reminded of the more familiar tradition that Morgain transported Arthur to Avalon in a boat for the healing of his wounds. Note also the similar account in Guingamor, where two damsels sent by the fay convey the enfeebled hero in a boat across the perilous river. But these vessels, though connected with Morgain, are not self-moving.
50 Loomis, Speculum, xx, 188 and n. 1, 190. The son of the Lady of the Sea was Mabuz, a name derived from French Mabon. According to Welsh tradition, Mabon's mother is Modron, who is also the daughter of Avallach and the mother of Owein by Urien. Morgain la Fée was the daughter of Avallo (Avalloc), and the mother of Yvain by Urien. Cf. Loomis, RR, xxix, 176 f.
51 L. A. Paton, Sir Lancelot of the Lake (New York, 1929), pp. 7-12.
52 The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances, ed. H. O. Sommer (Washington, 1908-16), iii, 111-118. Cf. ibid., 86-90, where the Dame du Lac reveals amorous sentiments toward Lancelot that are not entirely maternal.
53 Ed. F. Castets (Montpellier, 1893). The editor (p. 316) thinks that this work is not very much later in date than Beuves d'Aigremont and Renaud de Montauban, which are usually dated in the second half of the twelfth century.
54 The essential identity of Morgain and Oriande has been recognized by Castets, who writes (p. 327): “Notre trouvère a remplacé Morgain par Oriande.” On the omission of the initial in Morgain's name see Loomis, Speculum, xx, 183-185. Cf. the forms Argante and Urganda, both variants of Morgain.
55 The five-hundred-odd lines of introduction are a historical survey doubtless suggested by the Roman de Troie and the Roman d'Eneas. Cf. Fisher, Narrative Art, p. 33; A. Dressier, Der Einfluss des altfr. Eneasromans auf die Altfr. Lit., pp. 38 f.
56 Celtic tradition furnishes an explanation of this double role of Morgain: Loomis, Speculum, xx, 200 ff. and below, p. 937.
57 Ed. Hermann Breuer, Gesellschaft für romanische Literatur, xlvi (Göttingen, 1925), ll. 8359 ff.
58 It is significant that the single combat plays an important part in Sir Launfal and in Désiré, ll. 275 ff., though the connection with the fay is vague.
59 Paton, Sir Lancelot of the Lake, p. 12. This tent heals the ills of those who enter it, a feature that suggests Morgain's well-known medical skill. Melior appears to have inherited this trait as well, for she is skilled in medicine (ll. 4581 ff.), and knows “de tos maus tote la cure.” The tradition of Morgain's magical tent also explains the first appearance of the fay in Lanval and Launfal in a pavilion.
60 Foerster, Literaturblatt, xxiii (1902), 28-33.
61 For discussion see Loomis, Speculum, xx, 185-187; Paton, Fairy Mythology, pp. 19-23.
62 See above, p. 929.
63 Sommer, Vulgate Version, v, 218.
64 Ibid., 216. For the entire episode see ibid., 215-218.
66 Sommer, Vulgate Version, v, 91-95. Cf. also ibid., iv, 123-128, for another story of Lancelot's imprisonment by Morgain. Morgain's advances are similarly rejected by Alixandre l'Orphelin: Thomas Malory, Morte d'Arthur, ed. H. O. Sommer (London, 1891), iii, 308-310; Les Prophecies de Merlin, ed. L. A. Paton (New York, 1926), i, 375-421. Cf. Paton, Fairy Mythology, pp. 55-59.
66 Cf. A. B. Hopkins, The Influence of Wace on the Arthurian Romances of Crestien de Troies (Menasha, Wisconsin, 1913), pp. 82-92, 100-102; Loomis, Romania, lxiii (1937), 390 f.; Newstead, Bran the Blessed in Arthurian Romance, pp. 149-154.
67 Cf. La Bataille Loquifer, where Morgain is at first the ami of Rainouart and is then rejected by him. She also bears him a son. Cf. Paton, Fairy Mythology, pp. 49 f.
68 Loomis, Speculum, xx, 191; Cross, MP, xii, 635-637, shows that the forth-putting lady is as common in Celtic tradition as the fairy mistress. Cf. R. E. Bennett, Speculum, xvi (1941), 50-53. On the motif of Potiphar's wife, see F. E. Faverty, [Harvard] Studies and Notes, xiii (1931), 81-127.
69 Cf. Partonopeus, ll. 5046 ff.:
Urrake le sert en plorant,
Et plore por la soie amor,
Non por la perde sa seror.
70 Salence is thus described, ll. 6172 ff.:
D'espisces i a grant plenté,
Et fruit et car et vins et blés,
Et bos et cans et fruis et prés,
Dras et cevals, argent et or.
71 In this role Urrake resembles in a general way Lunete in Yvain, but there is no evidence that the author of Partonopeus borrowed from Chrétien: cf. Fisher, Narrative Art, p. 59. A similar helpful damsel appears in Désiré (ed. Grimes, ll. 134-200, 665-702). This damsel, discovered by the hero at a fountain, offers to lead him to her mistress, a fay, who accepts him as her lover. After he violates the taboo which she imposes and is not yet reconciled to her, the helpful damsel saves him from discovery and possible death. Despite the confusions in this lai, the association of this helpful damsel with a fay in a story similar to Graelent, Lanval, and Launfal, suggests the likelihood that the feature was traditional and that it came into Partonopeus in the same way as the other traditional elements. Urrake also resembles Meleagant's sister in Chrétien's Charrette (Der Karrenritter, ed. W. Foerster [Halle, 1899] ll. 6664 ff.), who rescues Lancelot from imprisonment, tenderly restores him to health in a “repeire” very like Salence, and sends him off to a tournament with “un merveilleus cheval qu'ele a,/ Le meillor qu'onques vëist nus.” Since he calls her “une moie amie,” her love was apparently not rejected.
72 Partonopeus, ll. 7709 f.: “Si menrrez un bon cheval blanc
Dont l'oreille a color de sanc.“
The hero of the Lai de l'Espine (ed. R. Zenker, ZRP, xvii [1893], 204-255), defeats a supernatural adversary in a combat at the Gué de l'Espine and captures his horse, which is white and red-eared (ll. 308 ff.):
Ses armes sont tote vermeilles
Et du cheval les dous oreilles
Es li autre cors ert toz blans.
He wins a maiden at the same time, and learns that the horse will bring him wealth and will need no food as long as he does not remove its bridle. The Gué de l'Espine, as Loomis has pointed out (Speculum, xx, 193 f.), is a locality frequently connected with Morgain. The association of maiden, supernatural horse, wealth, and taboo suggests the Morgain traditions. For white, red-eared animals in Celtic tradition, see E. Hull, Cuchullin Saga, pp. 106, 166. For polychromatic animals in Celtic tradition see Cross MP, xix, 597, 632; G. Schoepperle, Tristan and Isolt (Frankfort, London, 1913), ii, 322 ff.; RC, xxiv (1903), 129.
73 See Partonopeus, ii, p. 133, on the lacuna in the Arsenal MS.
74 Christian von Troyes, Der Karrenritter, ed. Foerster (Halle, 1899), ll. 5445-5521.
75 Ed. Ezio Levi, Fiore di Leggende (“Scrittori d'Italia,” Bari, 1914). The close connection of this cantare with Partonopeus has been recognized by Levi in his fine study I Cantari Leggendari del Popolo Italiano, Giornale Storica della Letteratura Italiana, supplemento 16 (1914), pp. 32-35, though it is difficult to agree with his conclusion that Gherardino is based on a compendium of Partonopeus.
76 Il Bel Gherardino, ed. Levi, Fiore di Leggende, pp. 21-28. It should be obvious to any reader that the author of Partonopeus is not indebted to Chrétien's Charrette for the story of Armans' wife. Chrétien knows nothing of the lady's hateful husband, the introductory storm, or the white horse with red ears. On the three days' tournament, see J. L. Weston, The Three Days' Tournament (London, 1902).
77 Paton, Fairy Mythology; Cross, MP, xii, 585 ff.; Loomis, Speculum, xx, 183 ff.; Reinhard, Survival of Geis, pp. 218 ff.
78 Cross, loc. cit., 595 ff.
79 Ibid., 605 f., 623 ff.; Loomis, Speculum, xx, 191 f.; Reinhard, op. cit., pp. 234-237; Schofield, PMLA, xv (1900), 166 ff. According to A. C. L. Brown (The Origin of the Grail Legend [Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1943], p. 43), the text goes back to the eighth century.
80 Cross, MP, xii, 606; Paton, Fairy Mythology, p. 160.
81 T. P. Cross, C. H. Slover, Ancient Irish Tales (New York, 1936), pp. 333 f.; MP, xii, 633; Loomis, Speculum, xx, 191 f. Cf. Bricriu's Feast, ed. Henderson (London, 1899), p. 89. On Cuchulainn's black horse, see above n. 38.
82 Cross, MP, xii, 605; Loomis, Speculum, xx, 192; Paton, Fairy Mythology, pp. 146 ff.; cf. on the name Morrígan, C. Donahue, PMLA, lvi (1941), 6, 12, n. 64. Macha often appears as one of a triad of similar beings. So too, does Morgain in the Vulgate Lancelot, La Bataille Loquifer, Floriant et Florete. Here, then, is a possible explanation for the three similar figures in Partonopeus: Melior, Urrake, and Persewis. The last of these is entirely pointless in the story unless she is a traditional figure. Her only role is to pine fruitlessly for the hero.
83 E. Hull, Cuchullin Saga, pp. 164-169.
84 Ibid., p. 166. Cf. above, n. 72.
85 A remarkable instance is the Fingal Ronain, RC, xiii (1892), 368-397. See Cross, MP, xii, 637, for discussion, and R. E. Bennett, Speculum, xvi, 50 ff.
86 Donahue, PMLA, lvi, 5 f.
87 Cross, Slover, Ancient Irish Tales, pp. 38 f.
88 Ibid., 45.
89 The Washer at the Ford, however, usually portends disaster to the person seeing her. Cf. MP, xii, 604, n. 3; RC, xxi (1900), 149-165; Gwenan Jones, Aberystwyth Studies, iv (1922), 105-109; Triumphs of Turlough, ed. J. W. Magrath, trans. S. H. O'Grady, ITS (1929), ii, 93.
90 Loomis, Speculum, xx, 194; T. Gwynn Jones, Welsh Folklore and Folk Custom (London, 1930), p. 107; Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, iii, 292; MacCulloch, Religion of the Ancient Celts (Edinburgh, 1911), pp. 123, 183; J. Rhys, Hibbert Lectures, (London, 1888), pp. 28 f.; E. Hull, Folklore of the British Isles (London, 1928), pp. 48 ff.; Y Cymmrodor, xlii (1931), 140 f.; Celtic Review, iii, (1906), 48. Modron, in Kulhwch and Olwen, is the mother of Mabon, too. Morgain is said to bear a son to Ogier le Danois, Rainouart, and Guiomar; cf. Paton, Fairy Mythology, pp. 50, 61, 77.
91 Aberystwyth Studies, iv, 105-109; Historical MSS. Commission, Report on MSS. in Welsh Language, ed. J. G. Evans (1898), i, p. 911.
92 Les Mabinogion, ed. Loth, ii, 284: “Owein, fils d'Uryen, et Morvudd, sa soeur, en même temps dans le sein de Modron, fille d'Avallach.”
93 R. Thurneysen, Die Irische Helden- und Königsage (Halle, 1921), p. 362.
94 Ed. Grimes, ll. 134-268.
96 Loomis, RR, xxix (1938), 176 f.; Speculum, xx, 190; Paton, Fairy Mythology, pp. 143 f. Cf. Tyolet, ed. Paris (Romania, viii), ll. 629 f.:
Gauvain le baise et Uriain,
Keu et Evain, le filz Morgain.
96 Walter Map, De Nugis Curialium, ed. M. R. James (Oxford, 1914), pp. 72 f.; trans. F. Tupper, M. B. Ogle (London, 1934), pp. 91 f. The other versions have been collected by J. Rhys, Celtic Folklore, Welsh and Manx, i, 1-74. Cf. also Hartland, Science of Fairy Tales, pp. 274-278, and T. Gwynn Jones, Welsh Folklore, pp. 61 ff. For an analysis of these tales and their connection with Modron, see Loomis, Speculum, xx, 195 f.
97 This form of the taboo resembles that in Désiré, when the fay says (ll. 237 f.):
“Se vos mesfetes de noient,
L'anel perdrez hastivement.“
98 Rhys, Celtic Folklore, i, 11, 41, 46, 48, 55, 61. Cf. above, n. 15.
99 Lucius Apuleius, Metamorphoses, ed. S. Gaselee (Loeb Classical Library, London, 1915), Book v, pp. 200 ff. Cf. Pschmadt, op. cit., p. 97 and n. 1; M. Kawczynski, Bausteine zur romanischen Philologie, pp. 199 ff.; Hibbard, Mediaeval Romance in England, pp. 206 f.
100 Speculum, xx, 188 n. 2; J. G. Evans, White Book Mabinogion, p. 70; Les Mabinogion, trans. Loth, ii, 75 f. By a common error this place was identified with Gloucester; for similar examples see Loomis, Celtic Myth, p. 190; PMLA, lvi (1941), 926; J. Rhys, Studies in the Arthurian Legend (Oxford, 1891), pp. 241, 346, n. 1.
101 Cf. Echtra Cormaic, ed. W. Stokes, Irische Texte, iii (1891), 211 ff., in which in a palace of the sea god Manannan the visitor is tended by unseen hands; also in the Echtra Airt Maic Cuind (Eriu, iii [1907], 149 ff.), the visitor to an Otherworld palace is tended and served with food by invisible agency. Cf. also Potvin, Perceval le Gallois, iii, 366, and Heinrich von dem Türlin, Diu Krône, ed. Scholl, 11. 87232 ff. Neither in Partonopeus nor in these Arthurian and Celtic examples is there a parallel to the voices which are so important in the Psyche story.
102 Ed. James, pp. 174 ff.; trans. Tupper, Ogle, pp. 218 ff. Cf. Reinhard, Survival of Geis, pp. 259 f.
103 Désiré, ll. 310-345; cf. the fay's reproach for his doubt of her and her proof that she subscribes to his Christian faith, ll. 411-452.
104 The Fata Bianca gives Gherardino a magic glove to provide all he desires and warns him (Cant. i, st. 35):
“Non sia persona a cui lo manifesti,
che ciò che tu averai, si perderesti.“
He reveals the secret to his mother (st. 44):
E disse siccome egli aveva avuta
la Fata Bianca, che l'era suo sposa.
E, come la parola fu compiuta,
dipartissi la gente ed ogni cosa,
e la vertú del guanto fu perdura.
105 Since the motif of invisibility was part of the lai tradition, the Psyche story was easily adaptable. In Lanval, Graelent, and Launfal, the fays are invisible to all save their lovers. Cf. Lanval, l. 169: “nuls huem fors vus ne me verra”; Graelent, ll. 324 ff.:
“Delez vos me verrez aler,
N'avroiz compaingnon qui me voie,
Ne qui ja sache qui je soie.“
Launfal, ll. 355 f.: “Well priuyly I woll come to þe/ No man alyue ne schall me se.” It should be noted that in Partonopeus, though Melior is supposed to be invisible to her lover, it is within his power to see her.
106 G. L. Kittredge, American Journal of Philology, vii (1886), 176-202; Schoepperle, Tristan and Isolt, ii, 541-544; Hibbard, op. cit., 195-199; R. S. Loomis, MLN, li (1936), 28-30.