author Jessie Weston suggested that the origin of the motif lies with an otherwise unattested pagan fertility cult. The book is mostly disregarded today, though T. S. Eliot credited it as the source of the title and the largest single influence on his famous poem The Waste Land. The Wasteland is depicted in the 1981 John Boorman film Excalibur, Boorman's retelling of the Arthurian legend. When King Arthur (Nigel Terry) finds Queen Guenevere (Cherie Lunghi) and Sir Lancelot (Nicholas Clay) naked and sleeping in the woods, Arthur plunges Excalibur into the earth, abandoning it. The land and Arthur grow sick, and his knights seek the Grail to restore both to health. Perceval wanders through the Wasteland, finally receiving a vision of the Grail and gains possession of it by answering the riddle of the secret of the Grail: Arthur and the land are one. Arthur drinks from the Grail and is restored. References Bibliography Norris J. Lacy (editor), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, "Wasteland". New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1991 Roger Sherman Loomis, The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol, 1991. Locations associated with Arthurian legend Irish mythology Welsh mythology Holy Grail Literary motifs