Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Page 194

adopting the latter attitude are usually, but not always, discernible. The
treatment accorded two passages in the Harpins de la Montaingne epi-
sode in Yvain by the author of Ivens saga illustrates the extent to which
the content of a particular scene could be altered as the material passed
through the hånds of the Norwegian translators and the Icelandic redac-
tors, that is, those responsible for the extant texts of the riddarasogur.
Especially in Erex saga the changes in the content and structure of the
French romance are so extensive as to constitute a revision of plot.
Analogous to the change in the giant episode in Ivens saga - albeit a
more extended and extreme form - is the modification in Erex saga of the
meeting between Enide and the Count of Limors, and the events that
follow. In Erec et Enide the episode opens as Enide is mourning the loss
of Erec, whom she believes to be dead. Enide is so grief-stricken that she
intends to take her own life by falling on Erec’s sword. She is stopped,
however, at the last moment, by the arrival of the Count of Limors and
his men. The count tries to comfort her by reassuring Enide that her
beauty has destined her for great things: he will make her his wife, his
countess, and his lady (w. 4699-4702). The count takes Enide and what
he supposes to be Erec’s corpse to the castle of Limors. Once there, he
acts swiftly. He informs his barons that he intends to wed Enide and
sends for the chaplain and for the prospective bride. Despite protests on
her part, the count marries her, and immediately the hall is readied for
the wedding banquet:
Mes totes voies l’esposa
Li cuens, qu’einsi feire li plot.
Et quant il esposee l’ot,
Tot maintenant li conestables
Fist el palés metre les tables
Et fist le mangier aprester. (w. 4770-75)
In Erex saga the incident with Earl Placidus corresponds to the Count of
Limors episode except for a crucial detail: the actual performance of the
wedding ceremony. Just like the Count of Limors in Erec et Enide, Earl
Placidus proposes to Evida, and like Enide in the romance, Evida rejects
him. When the earl nonetheless sends for the chaplain, the saga interca-
lates - vis-å-vis the French text:
180
En hirOin segir: “Pat eru gu5s log eigi nema hon gefi leyfi til.
En f>at fékksk eigi af henni. (ch. 11, 56:5-6)