Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Qupperneq 262

248
XV
The death of La belle Aude
In S and D this episode comes immediately after the punishment of
Ganeion, and as already pointed out above (p. 56), the episode must
have occupied this place in the original translation. The text is certainly
based on O vv. 3705-33, but with many omissions:
3708: En sidan kora bida fæsthemøø rolandz och systher oliffær
3709: Och sporde k Magnus hwar ær roland
3710: fæstiman min
add.: ællas oliffær brodher min
3713: Godh iomffrv sagde han roland ok oliffær fiølle i rwnciffal
add.\ En tagan (h)on thz hørde
3720: tha fiøll hon nidher (SI, S2, S4, D: tha sprak henna hiarta sunder)
3721: (oc)h doo i harme
3724-25: En karl magnus (tho)tte thz saa ønkeligth ath fiøll (ni)dher
och wiste inthe til sin.
3730: Sidan (lot)h han bæra liik hænne till (nu)nno closther
3732: och iorda winstra (m)æghin widher altare
3733: och gaffuo (siæ)l hænne gudh alz wollande (S3 ed. Kornhall,
pp. 10916-1112, cp. D p. 1751-H).
The variants in the other Swedish MSS and in D are of no real im-
portance. The omission of many of the O verses may be due to both the
original translator and the Swedish and Danish adaptors. There is no
mention of Charlemagne’s offer to marry Aude to his son and her answer
(O vv. 3714—19) ; the other omissions are unimportant.
The version rimée has developed this episode and created a new and
very different tale, which has nothing in common with the Kras text83.
The real difference between the Scandinavian and the French versions
is that in the former the episode is placed after the punishment of Ganeion.
In the original Chanson de Roland it was natural that the death of Aude
should precede rather than follow the long scene of the judicial combat,
and therefore O has the episode immediately after the return of Charle-
magne to Aix, while in the version rimée it takes place at Blaye. When
the Pinabel episode is omitted, the trial scene is comparatively short, and
this has induced the author of the Kms version (k) to preserve the unity of
*3 Cp. Horrent: La Chanson de Roland etc., pp. 198-202.