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"The Fisher King".
Parry tells the story of the Fisher King and the Holy Grail.
Did you ever hear the story of the Fisher King? It begins with the Fisher King as a boy--who had to spend a night alone in the forest so that he could become a king. While he was alone in the forest, he was visited by a sacred vision. Out of the fire appeared the Holy Grail, the symbol of God's divine grace. And a voice spoke to the boy, saying "You shall be the keeper of the Grail, that it may heal the hearts of men."
But the boy was blinded by greater visions, by a life ahead filled with power and glory...and beauty...And in this state of radical amazement, he felt...for a brief moment...not like a boy, but invincible, like God. And so he reached into the fire to take the Grail. And the Grail vanished. And the boy's hands were left in the flames, to be terribly wounded.
Now, as this boy grew older, his wound grew deeper, until one day he had no faith left in any man, not even himself. He couldn't love or feel love. And he was so sick with experience that he started to die. As he did, so did his kingdom, and that terrified his people, so they mobilized to find the one thing they knew could save him, the Holy Grail.
One day, a fool wandered into the castle and found the king alone. Being simple-minded, he didn't see a king, he saw a man alone and in pain. "What ails you, friend?" he asked the king. The king replied, "I'm thirsty. I need a sip of water to cool my throat." So the fool took a cup from the bedside table, filled it with water, handed it to the king. As the king began to drink he realized that his wound was healed. He looked at his hands, and there in them was the Holy Grail. And he turned to the fool and asked, "How could you find what my brightest and bravest could not?" And the fool replied, "I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty."
Very beautiful, isn't it? I think I heard it at a lecture once...I don't know...a professor...at Hunter.
