Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Blaðsíða 244
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Roland, and the accounts found in the saga and other sources are later
additions, designed to fill an apparent gap in the tradition. It is the
speciality of later scribes and remanieurs to discover and fill in such “gaps”
in the tales59.
Bédier, who shows a certain predilection for the saga because of its
apparent age and lack of later additions, points out certain parallels to the
Kms episode in the late chanson d’aventure Galien, as well as in certain
MSS of the version rimée, and he is even inclined to assume a gap in O
in this place60. But the nearest parallel to the Kms narrative did not be-
come generally known until the publication by Professor Mario Roques61
in 1932 of the Provengal poem Ronsasvals.
Ronsasvals is an incomplete chanson de geste of 1802 verses. It belongs
to a later stage in the development of the Roland theme than the version
rimée; it has been influenced by Galien, which is a typical roman d!aven-
ture, based on the Pélerinage de Charlemagne d Jerusalem et Constanti-
nople and the Chanson de Roland, but with a number of additions and
changes 62.
Ronsasvals depicts the scene on the battlefield in the same way as the
Chanson de Roland: the emperor has found his nephew, and,
v. 1498: Non pot muydar que non plor e non planha.
In a long passage (vv. 1499-1599) Charlemagne gives vent to his grief,
and ends by recalling the scene when Roland was made a knight, and
received his sword Durendart:
1599: Rendes la mi, si vos ven ha talant.”
1600: Del ponh la trays al palayn Rolian;
Non fon nulh autre que penre l’auzes ane,
Que ayssi s’en desfendia com si fos Dieu estant.
Karle l’esgarda, contra’l solelh resplant:
1605: Mays non vos aura nuls horns que valha tant;
En aquest segle non tenres pron ni dan.”
En un gran lac la va gitar breumant:
Ane pueys non la vi nuls horns petitz ni grans.
Ronsasvals is an original work, not a mere translation. The author
59 Cp. M. Roques, in Romania 66, p. 453-54.
w Lég. ép. III, 3rd ed. p. 388-89.
61 In Romania 58, pp. 9-28, 161-84.
62 Cp. M. Roques in Romania 66, pp. 433-80.