Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Page 124

and to do his every bidding. Erex responds, however, that he does not
wish to enslave someone whom God himself had rescued in His mercy -
Erex mælti ok pakkar honum sitt bod, segisk eigi /lann prælka sem Gud
hefir frelsat med sinni miskunn (ch. 9, 47:9-12). Instead, Erex sends the
knight whom he has rescued, together with his lady, to King Arthur in
order to report about his exploits.
A variant of a lord offering his daughter to a victorious knight occurs in
the Icelandic Saga af Tristram ok Isodd, where a mother wishes to pre-
sent her daughter to Tristram. Incredible as it may seem, the epitome of
the rejected woman - but only on a verbal level - is Isodd whom Tristram
refuses three times. Just as Tristram’s mother Blenzibly had been attract-
ed to Kalegras because of his appearance and knightly accomplishments,
so also Isodd fannsk mikit um vænleik ok atgervi Tristrams ...på vildi hon
på heldr eiga Tristram en nokkurn annan, pann er hon hafdi fréttir af
(ch. 9, p. 48 ‘admired Tristram’s beauty and accomplishments very much
... and wanted to marry him more than any other man she had ever heard
of). Unlike Tristram’s mother Blenzibly, Isodd does not take the initia-
tive. Instead, her mother Queen Flurent offers her daughter to Tristram
for having slain the dragon. Tristram responds in a manner that suggests
Yvain’s reply in the episode discussed above. He refuses the offer by
suggesting another, more suitable mate for the princess, namely his uncle
Morodd (who corresponds to Markis in the Norwegian Tristrams saga).
In faet, Tristram declares that he is too humble a match for the princess.
Although Queen Flurent reassures him that dottir min parf aldri betra en
pik (ch. 10, p. 54 ‘my daughter will never need any better mate than you
are’), Tristram does not deign to respond, thus intimating that his mind is
made up and the discussion closed.
When Tristram later returns to Ireland for the express purpose of
seeking Isodd’s hånd in marriage for his uncle, Isodd herself appeals to
the hero by making her feelings for him known - it should be noted that
the scene takes place before the two drink the love potion. Isodd camou-
flages the depth of her love for Tristram by understatement: Gat Isodd
pess, at ekki vceri drvænt at gcetisk af henni, pott hann bædi hennar sér til
handa (ch. 10, p. 56 ‘Isodd remarked that it would not be an unlikely
event that she would accept if he were to ask her hånd for himself).
Tristram again refuses the match by refusing to give a response. Isodd is
offered to Tristram a third and final time, ironically enough, by his uncle,
who thereby also implicitly rejects Isodd. Morodd is willing to relinquish
Isodd to his nephew, because their union would be giptusamligra - ‘a
more auspicious match’ - on account of the greater compatibility of their
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