India where there is a house fairer than that at Montsalvatsch.[35]

Princes and princesses from India or Persia abound in the poems of the
court-writers and minstrels. Thus in "Solomon und Morolf" Salme is the
daughter of the King of _Endian_;[36] in Wolfram's "Willehalm" King
Alofel of Persia and King Gorhant from the _Ganjes_ figure in the battle
of Alischanz.[37] In Konrad von Würzburg's "Trojanischer Krieg" the
kings Panfilias of Persia and Achalmus of India are on the Trojan
side.[38] In the same poet's "Partenopier" the Sultan of Persia is the
hero's chief rival.[39] In "Der Jüngere Titurel" Gatschiloe, a princess
from India, becomes bearer of the Grail; similarly in a poem by Der
Pleiaere, Flordibel, who comes to the Knights of the Round Table to
learn courtly manners, reveals herself as a princess from India.[40]
According to a poem of the fourteenth century the father of St.
Christopher is king of Arabia and Persia.[41] Even the folk-epic
"Kudrun" knows of Hilde of India, Hagen's wife.[42]

Again, wonderful things from India are abundant in this class of poetry.
The magic lance which Wigalois receives, when he is about to do battle
with a fire-spitting dragon, is from that land.[43] So also is the magic
ring given to Reinfrit when he sets out on his crusade.[44] Wigamur's
bride Dulceflur wears woven gold from the castle Gramrimort in
India,[45] and in the "Nibelungen" Hagen and Dancwart, when going to the
Isenstein, wear precious stones from that land.[46]

To some poets India and Persia are a sort of Ultima Thule to denote the
furthest limits of the earth, as for instance, when in the "Rolandslied"
Ganelun complains that for the ambition of Roland even Persia is not too
far,[47] or, when in the "Willehalm" King Tybalt, whose daughter has
been carried off, lets his complaint ring out as far as India.[48]