ABSTRACT
The basic elements of the Grail story as they appear in Malory include the cup shape of the Grail, the connection with Joseph of Arimathea, the Fisher King, the Dolorous Stroke, 1 and the Flowering Wasteland. 2 According to this tradition upon Joseph's death, the cup passes to the Fisher King, who had duplicated Jesus's miracle of feeding a multitude with a fish. This Fisher King guards the Grail until it comes time for him to die, when he passes it on to the next Fisher King. In later Grail tradition a foreign knight, usually Balin, wields the Spear of Longinus against the Fisher King, maiming him. 3 As a result the kingdom of the Fisher King is laid waste until the coming of the Grail Knight, who restores water to the Wasteland, causing the kingdom to bloom once again.
