Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Side 193

sakir mikilleik(s) hans ok jmnga, |)å kafnaåi hon undir hon-
um ok sprakk. (ch. 78, 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 episode seems to have been transferred from Thomas’ Tristan with-
out any attempt to palliate the substance - through either condensation
or omission - of a passage that might have offended some ears.2 The
above anecdote is remarkable for its indelicacy. The tenor of some verses
in Chrétien’s Yvain is just as coarse. A giant threatens to kill four young
men - in addition to the two he has already slain - unless their father
delivers to him his only daughter. The giant intends to humiliate the giri
by delivering her into the hånds of his roughest stableboys, so that they
can take their pleasure at will - As plus vius gargons qu’il avra/An sa
meison et as plus orz/La liverra por lor deporz (vv. 3872-74). Yvain learns
these sad facts from the girl’s father. When the giant himself appears, his
intentions are reiterated and enlarged upon. The giant declares that he is
himself not interested in the giri, but that she is to serve as whore to his
stableboys - et a sa gargonaillelLa liverra a jaelise (vv. 4116-17) - in all, a
good one thousand knaves (vv. 4120-24). The author of Ivens saga must
have been more squeamish in regard to vulgarity than Brother Robert
(and the redactors who transmitted the lines in question), since he modi-
fied the Harpins de la Montaingne episode - so called after the giant’s
name - presumably in order to render it less objectionable. Fjallsharfir,
as the giant is named in Ivens saga, has honorable intentions although his
means are anything but commendable. The giant threatens to kill the
four brothers unless he receives their sister in marriage (ch. 10, 111:11-
12; ch. 11, 115:4-5).
The transmission of the insensitive depiction of Elena’s death in Tris-
trams saga on one hånd, and the modification in Ivens saga of a similar
passage on the other, exemplifies extremes in attitude toward a text to be
translated or copied, both represented in the Arthurian riddarasogur:
scrupulous fidelity to the content of the sources and substantial accom-
modation to the author’s or his audience’s sensitivities. The motives for
2 See Bédier, I, pp. 307-308.
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