Alternate names: Perlesvaus, Peredur, Percival

According to one legend, Perceval was raised in the woods becasue his mom did not want him to have anything to do with knighthood. He grew up thinking that stealing was basically O.K. His mom would have had her wish, had he not seen some knights passing by and became determined to become one.

Gornemant de Goort (poor guy!) taught Perceval chilvary and eventually knighted him. He then rescued a damsal in distress, Blanchefleur, by beating her captor, King Clamadeus, in single combat. He became her lover.

Perceval's story about the grail goes pretty much like this (although there is a lot more to it):
Perceval was directed to the Fisher King's castle, where he was given a sword and he saw the grail. Perceval said nothing. The next morning, the castle was deserted and his sword was broken. He went to see his cousin who informed him that he should have asked, "To whom does the Grail serve?" He was told to take the sword to Trebuchet. Here he has a few adventures and forgets about God for five years before he becomes absolved and the story ends (the writer never finsihed it).

Others, however, picked up the story from there and said that Perceval went back to the castle and asked the question. The Fisher King, however, was wounded by pieces of a sword. Since he could not be healed until the one who did this was killed, Perceval goes out to kill the murderer and heal the king. He acheives the grail and the land around the castle is restored. At some point, the grail is taken to heaven after a particular knight dies.

Some stories have Arthur and Perceval related. It seems that no two stories can agree on who his parents really were. Some stories have Galahad or Gawain getting the grail and one story has Perceval, Galahad, and Bors all getting it together. Perceval, however, was the first knight to be associated with the grail.