Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series B - 01.10.1983, Síða 20

XVIII
wegian translation. E2’s incompleteness means that in
most cases it is impossible to determine whether the
innovations shared by the Nordic versions13 against
the Spanish version were also shared by E2. The
13 Innovations shared by Partal. and P & K in that part of the
narrative which is contained in E2 are as follows: (1) Partal. and
P & K do not refer to Urraque in connection with Melior’s youth,
while E2 and the Spanish romance do so (but not PartFra) (Trampe
Bodtker, op. cit., p. 17). - (2) The ‘horreurs’ of the Ardennes are
not mentioned in Partal. and P & K but they are in E2, the Spanish
version and PartFra (Trampe Bodtker, op. cit., p. 20). - (3) When
the hero enters the hall of the heroine for the first time, he hears
music in both Partal. and P & K; this feature is absent from E2; in
the Spanish version the music does not make an appearance until
the third night in the bedroom (Trampe Bodtker, op. cit., p. 21). In
PartFra it is emphasised that there was no music, vv. 902-03. -
These three agreements between the two Nordic versions may all,
however, be fortuitous and they are by no means positive proof
that these two versions had a common source of which E2 was
independent.
In fact, a case that is, if anything, slightly stronger could be made
for P & K and E2 being derived from a common source of which
Partal. is independent: (1) In P & K the heroine frequents the
“Black School” for three years and grows as wise “som noger
mester i Paris”; in E2 she learns more in a twelvemonth “thanne
other Clerkys dede in yerys three”. There is no mention of a three-
year-education in Partal. (or PartFra). - (2) In P & K and E2 the
hero hunts a stag; in Partal. A (as well as the Spanish version and
PartFra) a wild-boar. In Partal. B, however the prey is a stag. See
p. lxxxix below, where it is assumed that B substituted a stag for a
wild-boar independently of the English and Danish versions, which,
on the other hand, may or may not be independent of one another
on this point. - (3) The magical ship which brings the hero to the
heroine’s palace is described as being omamented with gold and
precious stones in P & K and E2 but not in Partal. (or PartFra).
This was noticed by Klockhoff in his edition of the saga (cf. below,
p. xxv), p. IX, but Trampe Bodtker thought the description too
commonplace to be of any significance (op. cit., p. 47). A more
detailed investigation of the Spanish version, which has not been
available to me, might perhaps throw light on the interrelationship
of the Z-texts.