Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Qupperneq 204

190
an expression which is not used in any of the O laisses. There appear to
be three different groups of MSS within the assonanced version here, as
illustrated by the following table de concordancezs:
O laisse LXXXIII = V4 laisse 81 = C laisse 92 = Kms p. 50621-29
O laisse LXXXIV om. V4 om. C Kms pp. 50629-507r>
O laisse LXXXV = V4 laisse 82 = C laisse 93 om. Kms
om. O V4 laisse 83 — C laisse 94 = Kms p. 5075-9
Stengel’s explanation, implicit in his critical text of the passage, and
Gautier’s too, is as follows:
The original Chanson de Roland had four parallel laisses, and O left
out the fourth, V4 and C the second, Kms the third. But four laisses here
is one too many. It is more likely that O represents the original version,
Kms a revision, in which one of the O laisses was rewritten and moved.
The jongleur who, according to my theory, combined these two versions
either preferred the new laisse and left out one of the original ones, or,
and this is perhaps more likely, he included all four laisses, and they were
subsequently reduced to three by a later editor.
In two concluding laisses the poet shows us the French army ready for
battie, vv. 1152-69 and 1170-87. Roland, fully armed and sitting on his
horse, exhorts the Frenchmen to fight bravely, and Oliver follows him, at
the same time repeating his warning that Roland’s obstinate refusal to
blow his trumpet may well cost them their lives. The saga has translated
most of the first laisse, omitting the description of Roland in vv. 1155—59
and cutting down his speech by leaving out vv. 1167-68. Instead of v.
1169:
A cez paroles vunt les oz ajustant,
the saga has:
Blåsit i horn ySur ok hveti hverr ySvarr annan til framgongu (p. SOS16-17),
which looks like a translation of a verse with Munjoie or enseigne in it.
Oliver’s speech is reduced to a short summary:
38 See the discussion of this episode in Horrent: La Chanson de Roland etc. pp.
165-71. Note that the numbering of the laisses in C in Mortier’s edition and in
Horrent’s book is different from that of Stengel (critical edition, table de concor-
dance p. 106) which is based on Foerster’s edition.