[Arthurian] Grail (Graal) - Magic vessel with miraculous healing powers protected by an otherworldly keeper or "king." Pagan fertility myths and their related talismans along with the concept of a symbiotic union between the king and the land were all precursors to what was to eventually become the object of Arthur and his knights' Quest. There is a subsequent Christian reassessment that reassigns its powers to the spiritual rather than physical realm although the mysterious iconography related to it never quite disappears. The word Graal in Old French denoted a large platter or serving dish. Chretien de Troyes, in the Conte del Graal, recounts the visit of Perceval to the wounded Fisher King's stronghold where a maiden, after a procession of bizarre objects, bears a magnificently bejeweled graal. This graal has the supernatural power to sustain life and is of sacred origin. Perceval's failure to inquire about the strange procession prevents the healing of the Fisher King. Celtic myths of magic ...
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