Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1970, Blaðsíða 209

185
MS Kk.1.6, as well as a printed edition from 1510-1515 by Wynkyn
de Worde. None of these has as many tales in common with the
Icelandic versions as does 9066, nor are their texts as close. 7333
and 9066, along with selected variants from Kk.1.6, were first edi-
ted by Sir Frederic Madden in 183810 and reedited by Sidney J.H.
Herrtage 41 years later.* 11
The Icelandic texts are so often parallel to 9066, that the latter
is evidently a sister manuscript to the copy used by the original
Icelandic translator. The few instances where 7333 seems doser
to the Icelandic than does 9066 are footnoted under the English
text, which is printed here according to Madden’s edition, along
with its number and position in 9066 in the margin.
In the tale common to N and O, number 5 in the English text,
the “twoo” (i.e. two angels) between whom the mother appears
(5,22-23) have been omitted, and there are a few minor additions
(5,3 Gode]+heyitdi hans bæn ok N, heyrde bæn hans og O; 5,13
Ånde]+ jamn skiott N, jafn ooooo O; 5,22 ende] + sem hann var
staddur enn einn samt j kirkiunne N, sem hann uar stadur ein
saman O; 5,28 therto] + ok huarf hun honum sidann N, huarf
sidan O). Some omissions occur in the parts which are found only
in N or O (e.g. 2,10 Ye — everychone, 3,9-11 for—anone); they
may be due to the translator or to the scribe of the manuscript
in question. It seems certain that the translator did not treat the
concluding moral interpretations (“declarationes”) with the same
care as the tales themselves: in 1, 2 and 3 the declaratio is entirely
left out, in 7 and 8 abridged (7,23-29 and 8,22-24 omitted, 8,30
changed). There are a few additions here and there (e.g. 1,35;
3,13; 4,8-9; 8,5-6; 9,4; 9,20) but they are not significant.
The existence of an Icelandic manuscript older than N and O
is evident from the exemplum which they have in common. O
cannot have been copied from N, for it agrees in some places with
the English text while N does not:
5,11 that he will shewe] at hann uilie syna O, at hann syne N.
5,14—15 a brennynge hande, in the which she was wonte to bere rynges]
[sina ho]nd brenannde a huere hun uar uon [at bera gu]ll hring O, -f-N.
10 The Old English Versions of the Gesta Romanorum (London).
11 The Early English Versions of the Gesta Romanorum (London, 1879).