Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1992, Page 253

Reykjahólabók
251
der kunec dó suohte iren fuoz,
er bót ir minniclíchen gruoz.
er sprach: ‘ich suoche gnáde dín,
láz mich in dínen hulden sín!’
sie sprach: ‘gewinnet hulde gotes
unt wartet ebene sínes gebotes,
rmne hulde habet ir wol!’
er sprach: ‘ze wáre vrouwe ich sol
des leides wol ergetzen dich.’
alle fursten vrouten sich.
dár wart gróz lobes schal,
diz mére erlute uberal. (w. 1585-96)20
Since the prose version in the Passionael ultimately derives from this very
work, the concordance between the Icelandic translation and the oldest
German version suggests that the source of the reconciliation scene in the
Icelandic legend was a redaction that strongly resembled Ebernand’s text in
presenting the matter as a dramatic encounter in which the emperor breaks
the silence and asks his wife for forgiveness. This redaction was Low
German, as the Icelandic “mistranslation,” which was noted earlier, “En af
mier hafit þier ydvarn vilia” (I, 55:6-7) attests, for in the High German prose
redactions the expression used is “ir habt mein huld” (Augsburg 1487;
Nurnberg 1488), just as in the verse legend.
Similar evidence is provided by the legend of St. Lawrence, which is one
of four texts in Reykjahólabók - the other three being the legends of Sts.
Ambrose, Augustine, and Stephen - that are copies of older Icelandic
redactions rather than translations from the Low German. Because the texts
in Reykjahólabók occasionally are fuller than those in the older Icelandic
redactions, Widding and Bekker-Nielsen thought they had been revised to
conform to “the style found in the other stories of the collection,” and that
“the compiler has rewritten the older sagas, and revised them from the
Passionael, from which he also now and then supplements his narrative”
(“Low German Influence,” p. 251). This is not the case, for it can be shown
that what might be interpreted as stylistic revision or scribal interpolation in
the legends copied from older Icelandic redactions actually represents matter
existing in deviating or fuller redactions of a legend. For that reason the
additional text in Reykjahólabók must be interpreted as having existed in the
20 Reinhold Bechstein, ed., Heimich und Kunegunde von Ebernand von Erfurt
(Quedlinburg und Leipzig, 1860): The emperor fell at her feet and spoke to her
lovingly: “I seek your forgiveness; grant me your goodwill!” She said: “Seek God’s
goodwill and follow His commands; my goodwill you already have!” He said: “In
truth, lady, I intend to make up to you for the suffering I have caused you.” All the
lords rejoiced and gave praise. The story of this was told far and wide.