Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Síða 116

reason he challenges Erex to a duel. At the conclusion of the armed
encounter, we learn that the knight challenges all who come into the
vicinity in order to protect from abduction the woman whom he himself
had abducted from her father - albeit with her consent. Like her French
counterpart, she had extracted from her lover a promise to go into seclu-
sion; not caprice had moved her, however, to make such a strange and
exorbitant demand, but human respect and fear of her father. Since her
lover was only a knight, she dreaded social censure, should the faet of his
low standing become known (66:10). Moreover, she foresaw her forcible
removal, if her father, the powerful Earl Tracon of Acusborg, were to
discover their hiding place.
Abduction is the most drastic and anti-social expedient to attaining a
desirable woman. In the riddarasogur occur also less violent manifesta-
tions of attraction to the other sex. Beauty or outstanding accomplish-
ments are usually the compelling factors that evoke a confession of infat-
uation. In Erex saga Evida’s beauty is direetly responsible for two at-
tempts to seduce her, and in each case she is called upon to reaffirm her
fidelity to her husband. In one episode Erex and Evida receive hospitality
for a night in a castle whose lord is Earl Miion (= Count Galoain in Erec
et Enide). When the earl catches sight of Evida he responds immediately
and overwhelmingly with an unambiguous offer:
Heyr mik hin fridasta kvinna i allri veroldinni, |u'n fegrd sigr-
ar alla ve raidar makt, ok lofadr sé Gud, sem kann svå skapa
frida skepnu. Mitt hjarta stiknar allt fyrir jrina fegrd. Skaltu
min fru vera, ok alla hluti skipa i minu riki eptir binum vil ja.
(36:11-37:2)
(Listen to me, fairest woman in all the world, your beauty overpow-
ers all the might of this earth - praised be God for knowing how to
create such a beautiful being - and because of your beauty my heart
is being consumed by fire. You must become my lady and rule my
realm as you piease.)
Because of the emphasis on Evida’s beauty, the tone of the scene in the
saga diverges considerably from that in the French romance. To be sure,
in both works a stranger is intent on seducing someone else’s wife, but
Chrétien’s Count Galoain is more subtle than the saga’s Miion. The
former evinces compassion for Enide’s unhappy lot (vv. 3316-17) - we
recall that in the romance Enide is no more than Erec’s lackey at this
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