Chapter 8

The Medicine Man

The _rôle_ of the Medicine Man, or Doctor in Fertility Ritual. Its importance and antiquity. The _Rig-Veda_ poem. Classical evidence, Mr F. Cornford. Traces of Medicine Man in the Grail romances. Gawain as Healer. Persistent tradition. Possible survival from pre-literary form. Evidence of the _Triads_. Peredur as Healer. Evolution of theme. _Le Dist de l’Erberie_.