Page "Holy Grail" Paragraph 7

Chrétien refers to his object not as " The Grail " but as " a grail " ( un graal ), showing the word was used, in its earliest literary context, as a common noun.

For Chrétien a grail was a wide, somewhat deep dish or bowl, interesting because it contained not a pike, salmon or lamprey, as the audience may have expected for such a container, but a single Mass wafer which provided sustenance for the Fisher King ’ s crippled father.

Perceval, who had been warned against talking too much, remains silent through all of this, and wakes up the next morning alone.

He later learns that if he had asked the appropriate questions about what he saw, he would have healed his maimed host, much to his honour.

The story of the Wounded King's mystical fasting is not unique ; several saints were said to have lived without food besides communion, for instance Saint Catherine of Genoa.

This may imply that Chrétien intended the Mass wafer to be the significant part of the ritual, and the Grail to be a mere prop.