Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Side 56

tan must have lived one or two generations after Arthur.42 The two
episodes with King Arthur are also found in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s
Historia regum Britanniae and therefore also in the Icelandic translation
of the same, Breta sogur.43
In the Arthurian episodes in Tristrams saga, the king engages twice in
combat with a giant, in the one case to protect his beard, in the other to
avenge the death of a fair maiden, who was a relative of his. King Arthur
behaves in Tristrams saga in a manner different from that to which we are
accustomed in the other sagas. There he goes hunting (Erex saga, Januals
Ijod) and sets out with great pomp to witness the wonders of a marvelous
spring (Ivens saga), yet his pursuits are more social than martial. Al-
though Arthur pours the water in Ivens saga, and thus evokes both the
destruction of the storm and the wrath of the master of the spring,44 he,
the challenger, does not engage in combat; that is left to Kay. In Tris-
trams saga, however, Arthur is challenged and accepts the challenge -
contrary to custom in the other riddarasogur - in one episode (ch. 71),
and in the other he takes it upon himself to avenge the injury inflicted on
another (ch. 78).
In chapter 71 we learn of a giant who had slain many chieftains, cut off
their beards and fashioned from them a fur cloak so large and long that it
dragged on the ground behind him. To Arthur the giant is willing to be
more generous. Because of the king’s renown, surpassing that of all other
kings, the giant makes a request: that Arthur himself cut off his own
beard and send it to him as tribute. In return the giant promises to esteem
Arthur’s beard above all others, and to fashion from il a border and
tassels for his cloak. Arthur is furious and informs the giant that he would
rather meet him in combat than lose his beard. In the ensuing battie
Arthur is the victor. In the other Arthurian episode in Tristrams saga
Arthur is not challenged by a giant, but seeks him out at the request of
Duke Orsl, whose daughter had been abducted, ravished and killed by
him. The king slays the giant, but only after an arduous and violent
struggle.
These are the two Arthurian digressions in Tristrams saga. Despite the
42 Le roman de Tristan par Thomas, p. 289. ,
43 Bédier points out that according to Fr. Novati the source of the second giant episode is
Geoffrey’s Historia (I, pp. 308-09).
44 Arthur pours the water in only one of the primary manuscripts of Ivens saga. In AM
489 and in Stockholm 46, a shorter and in part differing redaction of Ivens saga, the
redactor has Kay pour the water.
42