Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Blaðsíða 201
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field. Again, the omission might be accidental, and due to the translator,
who knew nothing of the geographical position of these two places. But
Kms makes up for the omission by adding, after the scene of the boasting
(vv. 860-989) and the adoubement (vv. 990-99):
ok peystu uvigan her ut af Spanie
til Runzivals, add. BbS;
å hendr Rollant ok hans liSi, a only (p. 50613"14).
The change must then be deliberate, carried out by a remanieur, who
possibly felt that the boasting should not go on practically within sight
of the French army (v. 857), and some verses might possibly appear to
lend support to this view, e.g. v. 901:
En Rences vals irai mun cors juer!
and cp. also vv. 892, 912, 923, 934, etc. If the remanieur thought that the
distance between the city and Roncevaux was fairly short, the change
might have been made by a Frenchman, but since it is clear from vv. 2443-
75 that this is not so, and since the French remanieur s would never let
the knights ride forth fully armed, I am inclined to think that this change
is due to the translator, who probably did not know that knights never
put on their heavy armour until just before the battie. The words peystu
uvigan her ut af Spanie til Runzivals is an explanatory addition in the
Norse text.
The verses which describe how the pagans put on the hauberks and
change from muls e tuz les palefreiz (v. 1000) to war horses, are only sum-
marized, and I agree with M. Aebischer that these lines were probably
particularly difficult, with their technical terms35.
The following scene, which shows us the pagans approaching Roncevaux,
and the beginning of the discussion between the proud and foolhardy
Roland and the wise and brave Oliver, has been ruthlessly cut down in
the saga. This sequence of laisses, O LXXIX vv. 1002-16, LXXX-
LXXXII, is one of the most effective scenes in the poem, in which the
power of the pagan army and the mortal danger are gradually revealed,
while Roland proudly refuses to heed the warnings of his comrade36:
35 Rol. Bor. p. 157.
M Vide Bédier, Lég. ép. III, 3rd ed. pp. 429-34, on Roland’s attitude.