Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Blaðsíða 179
165
The main difference between Kms and O here is the order of the verses,
and in this respect the other French MSS follow O. The faet that v. 2542
has been divided and vv. 2544 and 2543 inserted between the two parts
of it shows that this change is not due to a French scribe. The S version
of this passage differs from that of the Icelandic MSS:
Nw bars honum fore annar drom — Kms: pvl næst etc.
oc thottis hema wara i sinne borgh ardeno = 2556
oc sa alzskona diwr radhelik = 2443
oc fughil then som gamber heter. — 2544
oc hans men opto alle oc badho han hialpa sik. = 2546
oc tha thottis honum (wilia) hialpa them oc gat ey. = 2547-48
oc et diwr som heter leon = 2549
thottis tagha badha armlåggia hans i sin mwn. = 2552
oc tho waknadhe han ey widher. =: 2554 (S p. 28612'19).
The Swedish version has omitted some details which must have existed
in the Norwegian original, e.g. the summary of vv. 2537-40 and 2553
(above). This source seems to have had the vv. 2543—46 in the same order
as O, indeed, the pronoun peir in the a version of v. 2542 (ok pottist
honum sem Jjeir vil di----) may possibly be a reminiscence of this: pau, as
in Bb, is the correct form in any case, but if the word just before the pro-
noun was a masculine, gammr, as it presumably was in the Norwegian
source of S, one can understand how the translator happened to put the
masculine demonstrative in the subelause, while the mistake would be less
likely to occur after the neuter dyr, as in the Icelandic text.
The Swedish text seems to have better readings in two cases in this
passage too, in the rendering of vv. 2547-48 and in v. 2552. This verse
has been misunderstood by the original translator, but at any rate, the
word armlaggia is a correct translation of braz. The translator seems to
have read prent ses braz ambesdous and rendered it fekk båda armleggi
hans i munn ser: afterwards, the Icelandic editor may have thought it more
likely that the lion would attack his feet rather than his arms. The word
loiter is correctly rendered fast med (in a), but both Bb and S have de-
cided, quite sensibly, that there was no chance of fighting after the lion had
got Charlemagne’s legs (or arms) in his mouth.
Strangely enough the Danish text of the dreams (which the editor of
that version has moved from their original place and inserted before v.
1670) agrees with aBb rather than with S at this point: