Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Qupperneq 232

the author of the Mantie Verses enlarges upon the text of Mottuls saga in
that the ladies of the guests borrowed from Erex saga also must try on the
mantie (III, 41-45). The queen of Småmeyjaland is only eight years of
age, and is noted for her tiny waist, but even for her the mantie turns out
to be too tight; like all the others she has been guilty of infidelity.
Section II of the Skikkju rimur is devoted to the arrival of the stranger
and a description of the wondrous garment which he brings to Arthur’s
court. The author enlarges upon the description of the mantie as we
know it from Mottuls saga. In the prose version of the tale an elf-woman
had so ingeniously woven the garment - out of gold thread and in a leaf
pattern - that no one could discern either the beginning or end of the
thread (9:14-17). The elf-woman derives from Le mantel mautaillié (v.
195), but the physical description of the object is an innovation in the
saga. The Skikkju rimur modify and expatiate on the background and
character of the garment. Three elf-women had labored over the mantie
for no fewer than 15 years (II, 26). The messenger opens a little case and
takes out a garment the like of which has never been seen before; it is
spotlessly white (II, 23). Yet, at the same time the mantie appears to be
yellow and grey, green and black, red and blue (II, 26). The description
of the magic mantie is analogous to that of the little dog in the Norwegian
Tristrams saga, also the gift of an elf-woman (ch. 61). The dog too
changes color depending upon a viewer’s perspective. The topos of sever-
al elf-women working for an extended period of time on an unusual
garment occurs in several Icelandic romances. Both in Elis saga (Abbot
Robert’s translation of Elie de St. Giile) and in Erex saga the respective
heroines are depicted wearing an extraordinarily beautiful mantie, but
without magic properties. In Elis saga three or four elf-women - the
manuscripts disagree - have woven the mantie during a period of nine or
seven or four years (ch. 40 and 67). The mantie which King Arthur
bestows on Evida in Erex saga was also woven by elf-women: four of
them labored nine leagues under the earth in an underground room
which never saw daylight (71:1-2). In both sagas the topos is original, that
is, it is not found in the French source. The description in Skikkju rimur
probably derives neither from Elis saga nor from Erex saga, but from
Samsons saga fagra, a native romance that expands considerably the
history of the chastity-testing mantie (see pp. 224-25). In Samsons saga
fagra four elf-women had woven the magic garment over a period of 18
years, during which time they had no sleep (31:6-8).
The ladies of the resident knights as well as those of the renowned
guests must submit to the chastity test in Section III of the Skikkju rimur.
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