Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Side 117

point in the plot - and approaches the subject uppermost in his mind
from a different perspective and in a more indirect fashion than his
counterpart in the saga. Enide’s beauty demands commensurate honors
and social standing - A vostre biauté covandroit/Granz enors et granz
seignorie (w. 3322-23) - and Count Galoain proffers a facile solution: he
suggests that Enide become his beloved - Je feroie de vos m’amie (v.
3324). The vehemence and directness with which Miion declares his love
for Evida in Erex saga is to some extent a consequence of the terse style
of the saga. Unlike Chrétien, the author of Erex saga eschews a gradual,
circuitous approach to the plot. Milon’s reaction, based as it is on Evida’s
overpowering beauty, is subtle, however, when compared with that of
Earl Placidus (= the Count of Limors in Erec et Enide), who comes upon
Evida just as Erex has fallen into a death-like swoon from which he
cannot be roused. To outward appearances her husband is dead, and in
her grief Evida attempts to take her own life. Her effort at suicide is
frustrated by the earl and his men, however. The earl saves her life, but
she is forced to pay a price by having to suffer his unwanted attentions.
The earl tries to comfort her by declaring that with her beauty and noble
bearing - hennar fegrd ok kurteisi (55:11-12) - she would quickly find a
superior husband; he is thinking only of himself. Moreover, when Evida
spurns his offer of marriage, the earl is aroused all the more. The author
informs us that the earl’s desire for physical union with Evida was so
overwhelming that he felt as though ignited by sparks of fire - jarlinn
pykkisk eldi ausinn, er hann skal eigi pegar vid hana eiga samrædi (56:3-
4). Fortunately, Erex recovers consciousness at a critical moment and
comes to Evida’s rescue.
The immediate and passionate reaction by two strangers to Evida’s
beauty is analogous to Evida’s effect on Erex when he first meets her. In
faet, nowhere does a change of content and structure in the saga vis-å-vis
the romance have a more pronounced effect on the development of the
plot than in the initial meeting between Erex and Evida. In spite of her
worn and tattered clothing, Evida presents such a lovely appearance that
Erex fails in love with her on the spot. His first words to the host, Evida’s
father, seem as unpremeditated and impulsive as Milon’s to Evida:
Pin dottir er hin fridasta mær i allri veroldinni, en [rat undra
ek, at hon er svå fåtækliga klædd, en ydr af at segja, [rå er |3at
minn vili ok bænarstadr, at [ru giptir mér [ressa jungfru, ok
betr ann ek henni en gulli ok riki mins fodrs, ok skal ydr [rat
fyrir sæmd verda ef ek må. Vil ek eigi minu nafni leyna: ek
8’
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