The Fisher King is, in addition to being a film by
Terry Gilliam, one of the
legends associated with
King Arthur. Though there are several versions of the
story, the general
idea is this:
A
young man vows that he will find the
Holy Grail. After doing so, he sees a
vision of the
Grail in the firelight. Overcome by the feeling of
power, he reaches out to grasp it, but it
vanishes, leaving his hand to be burned in the fire.
Many years later, he has become a
king, and has sent many
knights to search for the
Grail, but he has never found it. He lies in his bed, a
broken old man. A
jester comes to comfort him, and seeing not a
king but a
human being in need of
help, asks what he can do. The
king says that he is
thirsty, and would like some
water. The
jester fetches a
cup of
water for the
king.
After drinking, the
king sees that the cup is, in fact, the
Holy Grail. He asks, "How is it that you have been able to find what my
knights were unable to find?" The
jester answers simply, "I do not know. I only knew that you were
thirsty."