Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1975, Síða 317
301
The source of A (Gering, I, pp. 136-139) is 657b, while that of B
(Gering, I, pp. 139-146) is 66. Since 66 is a late seventeenth-century
paper manuscript, the first editor felt it appropriate not only to
alter the spelling, but also to archaize the language. Quotations
below from 66 are from the manuscript itself, while several mis-
takes in Gering’s transcription are mentioned in the notes.
The text of 238 XXIV, which corresponds to lines 42-129 in
Gering, I, pp. 140-143, is virtually the same as in B, but there are
frequent variations in the wording. On the other hånd, the text
of A is quite different from that of B and 238 XXIV and shorter
in Gering’s edition by 122 lines. Not only are there no verbal agree-
ments, but there are some discrepancies in the events which make
it unlikely that A could be an abridgement of the B-238 XXIV
text.
In the latter version it is related that a powerful nobleman with
vast estates lived with his wife and daughter near a Dominican
monastery. The nobleman was very pious and invited a monk to
hold a sermon at his castle. At dinner afterward, the conversation
turned to God’s ability to deprive a man of all his wealth in a mo-
ment. Because of his pride, the earl maintained that this was, in
his case, impossible, so vast were his possessions. The monk was
astounded and wished that God might teach the wealthy man a
lesson. One day the earl went to the bathhouse and had his atten-
dants wait outside. When finished he called his servants, but none
answered, and he was finally forced to depart naked. Upon return-
ing to his castle he reprimanded his subjects for leaving him alone
in the bath, but he was beaten by them for his troubles. At last he
understood that he was being punished for his arrogance. Finding
a large, black cloth, he wrapped it about himself, visited the same
monk in the monastery and received the advice to go back to his
dining hall. He did so and from the doorway caught glimpses of a
man sitting next to his wife, conversing with the guests. Finally,
the man within asked a servant if he knew the wretched fellow,
but was told that the servant did not. The new “earl” then had the
poor fellow brought in and given food, drink and a place to sleep.
After the wife had gone to bed, the lord of the castle revealed him-
self as an angel of God, admonished the earl to abandon his pride
and arrogance, and then vanished.