Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Síða 248
234
This episode is told in essentially the same way in P (vv. 3338-55)
and T (vv. 2528-55), while L and CV7 omit it (above, p. 223).
In the second Roncevaux scene all the MSS of the version rimée have
a miracle very similar to the one described in Kms, but told in much
greater detail. There are no important differences between the texts, ex-
cept that L is, as usual, much shorter than the others:
After his lament for Roland and threats against Ganeion, Charlemagne orders
his men to bury the Christians, but they object that it will be impossible to distin-
guish them from the dead pagans (C vv. 604CMr5). The emperor then says that
they must pray for a miracle. The miracle happens, and the Christians are buried
(C vv. 6046-96). The emperor sees the angels carrying the souls to Paradise (C
vv. 6117-20).
There are no verbal parallels between the saga and the version rimée
in this part of the poem. There are also many details in the French MSS
which do not occur in Kms, e.g. the long prayers and the repeated descrip-
tions of Charlemagne’s grief, but it is a common tendency in the later
chansons de geste to expand descriptions, while it is equally characteristic
of the saga to shorten them. But the sequence of events is the same in
both versions, and there can hardly be any doubt that they are derived
from a common source.
It is convenient to survey the whole of the Roncevaux scene as it appears
in the saga, and compare it with the second scene in the version rimée:
C
5885-91: The French arrive at Ronce-
vaux.
5892-5911: The cons de Frortdax finds
Oliver, his nephew. Laments.
5912-25: The emperor is full of grief,
issues orders that they are to leave next
morning.
5926-89: The emperor laments his loss,
threatens Ganeion. The barons (Ogier
and Naimes PTL) ask him to hånd over
Ganeion to them for punishment. The
emperor lies down, cannot sleep. He
mounts his horse, prepares to leave.
5990-6011: He discovers the body of
Roland under a tree, runs up to it, em-
Kms
p. 5 2 721-24: The French arrive at Ronce-
vaux, search the battlefield.
p. 52724-29: They find Roland with his
sword. The emperor dismounts, kisses