\section{Parsifal Considered}

\lettrine{P}{arsifal} begins with a simple longing: to become a knight. It is lowercase-L ``longing'' 
--- for status, for achievement, for arrival at a destination called ``knighthood.''

His mother tried to protect him by raising him in ignorance. But the call was stronger than her protection. Destiny --- or the nature of Longing itself --- reaches him even in the isolation of the forest.

He arrives at the Grail Castle filled with the confidence of his training and the exuberance of youth. He thinks he has learned the ways of knighthood. He believes himself ready. But at the crucial moment, he fails. He is lacking something.

The Fisher King's wound in his ``thigh'' is a medieval euphemism for his genitals. In other words, it's a wound to his Erōs, his capacity to reach, to desire, to create, to generate. Instead, he is wounded, diminished, sterile.

And the land mirrors his wound: barren fields, twisted trees, a poisoned stream. The desolation spreads from the King's wound. His Erōs is broken, and so is his kingdom. Abundance and desolation occupy the same space --- the feast spreads before a king who cannot participate in it, cannot generate, cannot move Life forward.

Parsifal, facing this suffering, remains silent. He has been taught that a knight must not speak unless spoken to. He follows the rule. He does not ask the compassionate, mature, fully human question.

The crone's mockery is savage because it names what was possible: one question, one reaching toward the Fisher King's suffering, would have healed everything. 
%But Parsifal remained bound by his training, unable to break the rule, unable to act.

The crone leaves him alone with the weight of his failure. 

Years of desolate wandering follow --- a descent into the dark wilderness. The comfortable assumptions of his early training are stripped away. What seemed like virtue turns out to be blindness. What seemed like wisdom turns out to be cruelty.

Finally, the Hermit appears. He teaches that true chivalry is compassionate response to suffering, not unthinking, unfeeling obedience. Through this teaching, Parsifal transforms from a naive knight into a fully human being.

When Parsifal returns, he boldly asks the question, now understanding its deep meaning and implications. 
The wound closes. The poisoned stream runs clear. The barren fields bloom. The land is restored. Parsifal becomes the new king, the new guardian of the Grail 
--- forever holding the Question, forever the benevolent king of those who also seek the Grail.
