Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Page 210

the result of conflation, patterning, and itemizing. Three and five robbers
in the romance become eight in the saga. The robber who claims Evida
because he is the leader of the group, and thus has first choice, is a
composite of the leader of each group in Erec et Enide. The leader’s
speech in Erex saga is the result of fusion and modification. Similarly,
five horses in the romance merge into Erex’ horse (claimed by the sev-
enth robber) in the saga. A tendency opposite to conflation is also notice-
able: the fifth robber in Erec et Enide wants the hero’s arms; in the saga
these are itemized and distributed among four robbers. The process of
merging episodes and redistributing property is somewhat complicated
and one is at a loss to explain, for example, the last robber’s claim to
Erex’ right foot, hånd, and life.
The idea of conflating the two episodes and modifying their content
probably came to the author of Erex saga through familiarity with an
analogous episode in Pidriks saga. The robber episode in Erex saga con-
flates existing material from the French source but plagiarizes Pidriks
saga for supplementary material. One section of Pidriks saga is devoted
to the exploits of Vi5ga, the son of Velent, the famous smith. In one of
the episodes Vidga wants to cross a bridge controlled by twelve robbers.
When they observe his approach, each of them lays claim to a different
possession. Their speeches are easily recognizable in Erex saga. With the
exception of the leader of the robbers in Erex saga - whose claim on
Evida is determined by the exigencies of plot in Erec et Enide as well as
by the internal structure of Erex saga - the various speeches of the
robbers have exact counterparts in the robber episode from Pidriks saga
(see Appendix III).
Pidriks saga must have been the source of the flying dragon episode in
Erex saga, as well as the source of supplementary material for the robber
episode - not vice versa. While certain evidence cannot be offered in
support of this hypothesis, sufficient circumstantial evidence is available
to lend credibility to the theory that the author of Erex saga borrowed
from Pidriks saga rather than the other way around. Unfortunately the
sources of Pidriks saga are not extant and we cannot determine how
faithful a translation the saga is. Moreover, the relationship of the vari-
ous manuscripts of Pidriks saga is rather complicated.9 Nonetheless, the
two episodes in question are found in what is considered the primary
manuscript of the saga, the vellum Stockholm 4 fol., dating from the
9 See E. F. Halvorsen, “Didriks saga af Bern,” KLNM, III, cols. 73-76; also, de Vries,
Allnordische Literaturgeschichte, 2nd edit., II, pp. 514-20.
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