Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Page 223
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1873: Jamais n’iert home plus se voeillet venger.
Si cum li cerfs s’en vait devant les chiens,
1875: Devant Rollant si s’en fuient paiens.
Dist l’arcevesque: “Asez le faites ben!
1883: Respunt Rollant: “Ferez, nes esparignez!”
Kms has a special version:
ok feldi hann hvern ofan å annan,
ok mælti vi5 på siSan: Flyit undan, illir hundar,
ella skulut J>ér allir hér dauSa pola (p. 5197-8).
The first line is a Norse stock phrase, cp. Kms p. 51524: Nu fellu
heidingjar hverr at odrum, and is possibly a free rendering of v. 1873. The
rest is probably a free translation of the verses quoted above, the changes
being partly due to the faet that the translator was not familiar with
dogs chasing stags. The French text should not have caused any difficulty
here, so the Norse text must have been deliberately changed, probably by
the translator.
Vv. 1876-82 are Turpin’s famous praise of chivalry and his somewhat
contemptuous allusion to those who are not forz e fiers, and who ought
to become monks and pray for the souls of the knights. This must have
been rather strong stuff for some of the scribes; L omits the whole passage,
and vv. 1881-82 are omitted in all the MSS of the version rimée. It is
not possible to decide whether it is the translator or his source who has
taken offence in our case.
After translating the O text as far as v. 1910, the saga has a short addi-
tion at the end of chapter 32 and the beginning of chapter 33; in the same
place V4 and the version rimée have an additional laisse:
V4 2031: Li roi Marsilio li pung destre oit perdu.
Incontre terre pois gete son escu.
V4 2034: Laseit sa reine, vers Enspagna s’en fu,
V4 2035: E tels .XX. M. s’en vont aré lu.
Ni oit cels al cors n’i soit feru.
Dist l’uns a l’autre: “Ne nef Carlo n’a veneu.”
This is adequately rendered in Kms-.
Rollant hefir yfirkomit oss alla. cp. V4 2037
Nu hefir Marsilius konungr tynt hoegri hendi sinni, aS, om. Bb; — V4 2031
ok syni sinum, aS, om. Bb
14 Bibliotheca Amamagnæana, XIX