The Nonexistent Knight

Torrismund was seeking the Knights of the Holy Grail while Agilulf was in Morocco. His random searches brought him no success, though he often felt that he was close. During a visit to the village of Koowalden to restock his supplies, he was told by the locals about a cadre of knights who had recently passed through the town and bought up all the provisions. Torrismund visits the nearby woods, finding a knight who is playing a harp. This knight leads Torrismund to the other knights. When Torrismund asks them about the Knights of the Holy Grail, however, they caution him to never say this name. Torrismund insists that he is the son of the Knights of the Holy Grail, but he is told that, in this holy clearing, there is no such thing as fathers or sons. Those kinds of earthly relationships are left outside the clearing. Torrismund asks whether he can join the knights, whereupon he is challenged to prove himself by staring so intently at a drop of dew that he feels the “infinite strength of the Grail” (115). The knight who speaks to Torrismund explains that the knights in the clearing are almost entirely silent, as they do not want to profane their pure existences with the impurity of words.