Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Page 57
apologia in the saga, the episodes are misplaced: they are out of style and
character not only with the rest of the saga, but also with the level and
type of situation found in the other translated romances, Mottuls saga
excepted. Although giants are by no means unknown in Arthurian ro-
mance, a giant who wants Arthur’s beard as a souvenir borders on the
burlesque. Moreover, the extra detail of the beard and skin of the slain
chieftains being fashioned into a cloak is unexpectedly morbid. The ac-
count of Elena’s death in the other episode seems in poor taste; it is
matter for fabliau rather than romance:
En at hon var hin fridasta kona, på girntisk hann likams
losta af henni. En J?å er hann gat ekki unnit f>at er hann vildi,
sakir mikilleiks hans ok Jmnga, på kafnadi hon undir honum
ok sprakk (p. 161).
(Because she was a very beautiful woman, he desired to have carnal
relations with her. But he was unable to accomplish his purpose
because of his huge size and weight, and she suffocated and burst
beneath him.)
The two Arthurian episodes are in keeping with the spirit of the Icelandic
Saga af Tristram ok Isodd (see pp. 198-211), but hardly^with the otherwise
courtly Norwegian Tristrams saga, despite its being a tale of adulterous
love. One wonders why on the one hånd the two episodes were not
deleted in translation or transmission, and why on the other they did not
find their way into the Icelandic saga.
These very episodes exist also in Breta sogur, but the accounts are
longer and somewhat different.45 In the Icelandic version of Geoffrey’s
Historia the giant whom Arthur engages in combat for the sake of his
beard had been forcing kings to send him their beards in the form of
tribute.46 He threatened to kill them, should they choose not to acquiesce
to his demands. In this way he acquired much territory and was able to
fashion for himself the infamous cloak. When the giant sends for Arthur’s
beard, the king prefers to meet him in battie and kills him. This version of
the incident differs from the account in Tristrams saga primarily in that
the other kings themselves send their beards out of fear of being killed.
45 The account in AM 573 4to is more detailed than the corresponding passage in the
Hauksbok version.
46 Hauksbok, 289:33 ff.; AM 573 4to, 53r-v.
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