I have therefore treated the Welsh element in the story as deserving a
more prominent place, at least in subsidiary incidents, than it has in
the two old metrical versions. It has been possible to follow neither of
these exactly, as in names and details they are widely apart; but to one
who knows both, the sequence of events will, I think, be clear enough.
I have, for the same reason of the British origin of the legend,
preferred the simple and apposite derivation of the name of "Curan,"
taken by the hero during his servitude, from the Welsh Cwran, "a
wonder," to the Norman explanation of the name as meaning a "scullion,"
which seems to be rather a guess, based on the menial position of the
prince, than a translation.
For the long existence of a Welsh servile population in the lowlands of
Lincolnshire there is evidence enough in the story of Guthlac of
Crowland, and the type may still be found there. There need be little
excuse for claiming some remains of their old Christianity among them,
and the "hermit" who reads the dream for the princess may well have been
a half-forgotten Welsh priest. But the mediaeval poems have
Christianized the ancient legend, until it would seem to stand in
somewhat the same relationship to what it was as the German "Niebelungen
Lied" does to the "Volsunga Saga."
With regard to the dreams which recur so constantly, I have in the case
of the princess transferred the date of hers to the day previous to her
marriage, the change only involving a difference of a day, but seeming
to he needed, as explanatory of her sudden submission to her guardian.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25