In the opening scene of the romance the narrator recounts the appearance of the chess-set and the reactions to it (44–135). The first to react is King Arthur, who promises that he will bequeath realm and crown to the one who brings him the chess-set. The knights of the court remain silent, after which Arthur announces that he will go after the valuable object himself. Ashamed, Walewein asks the king to confirm his promise. When Arthur gives it, Walewein declares himself willing to look for the fantastic object.
About a thousand lines later in the story, when Alidrisonder, the son of King Wonder, asks Walewein for the reason for his arrival, the hero gives an extensive account of the appearance of the chess-set at Arthur’s court (1161–220). The narrator of the romance does not intervene here to prevent repetition for his audience, as happens, for example, in
Erec et Enide, the first romance of Chrétien de Troyes. At the end of his journey, Erec completes the
aventure ‘adventure’ of the ‘Joy of the Court’. Afterwards Enide converses with the lady of the knight defeated by Erec and tells how her marriage to Erec came about: ‘bien li reconta l’avanture / tot mot a mot sanz antrelais’ [She told her the whole adventure, word for word, omitting nothing] (6270–71).
1 All quotations of this text are taken from Chrétien de Troyes, Erec et Enide, ed. Mario Roques (Paris: Honoré Champion, 1981). The translation is taken from Erec and Enide, trans. Carleton W. Carroll, in Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances, trans. William W. Kibler (London: Penguin Books, 1991), p. 114. The narrator has already recounted this
aventure in the first part of the romance; that is why he now omits a reprise:
mes a reconter vos an lais,
por ce que d’enui croist son conte
qui deus foiz une chose conte.
[But I shall spare you the retelling, for he who tells a thing twice expands his tale drearily]. (6272–74)
It is remarkable that the hero in the Roman van Walewein once more recounts the story of the flying chess-set. He does that ‘word for word’ and in the same words that the narrator of the romance used earlier (in the left-hand column). At the beginning of his account, Walewein says (in the right-hand column):
| Daer wi saten tArturs hove, |
| Eens coninx van groten love, |
| Met groter joye, met groten spele, |
Daer die heren aldus saten | Saten daer zire rudders vele. |
Naden etene ende hadden ghedweghen, | Na dat eten ende adden ghedwegen, |
Also hoghe liede pleghen, | Also hoghe lieden pleghen, |
Hebben si wonder groot vernomen: | Daer hebsi wonder groot vernomen: |
Een scaec ten veinstren in comen | Tscaecspel ten veinstren in comen |
Ende breede hem neder uptie aerde. | Ende breedde hem neder uptie aerde. |
Hi mochte gaen spelen dies beghaerde, | Hi mochte spelen dies begaerde! |
Dus laghet daer uptie wile doe. | Dus laghet daer up die wile doe. |
Daer ne ghinc niemen of no toe | Daer ne ghinc niemen of no toe |
Van allen gonen hoghen lieden. | Van al gonen hoghen lieden. |
| Here coninc, ic wilt jou bedieden: |
Dus saghen zijt alle die daer waren. | Wi saghent alle die daer waren |
Metten hieft up ende es ghevaren | Mettien hieft up ende es ghevaren |
Weder dane het quam te voren. | Weder dane het quam te voren! |
| |
[When the barons were thus assembled, having finished their meal and washed their hands (as noble-folk are wont to do), they witnessed a great marvel: they saw a chess-set fly in through the window and settle itself on the floor. He who wished might play as he pleased. And so for the nonce it stood there. Yet not a one of those high-placed lords dared approach it. (…) And so all who were there saw it; then suddenly it rose up and flew off back to where it came from before]. (44–53 and 63–65) | [There we sat at Arthur’s court, that king of great renown, along with many of his knights making merry and in great joy, and we had eaten and washed our hands (as noble-folk are wont to do), when we were witness to a great marvel: the chess-set flew in through the window and settled itself on the floor. He who wished might play as he pleased! And so for the nonce it stood there. Yet none of those high-placed lords dared approach it. Your Majesty, I say to you: All of us who were there saw that it suddenly rose up and flew off back to where it had come from before!]. (1161–77) |
In the text on the right, Walewein reports this marvel to King Wonder and his son, telling them what he and the knights of the court have seen. Walewein does not repeat the passage about the preciousness of the chess-set (54–62), because his listeners know all about it.
Next Walewein recounts Arthur’s reaction, the reward he offers, and the silence of the knights (1178–99).
2 This episode has some striking similarities to the Middle English Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. See in this volume: Larissa Tracy, ‘Shifting Skin: Passing as Human, Passing as Fay in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ and K. S. Whetter, ‘“Oft leudlez alone”: The Isolation of the Hero and its Consequences in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’. In this part, too, Walewein’s account corresponds almost word-for-word with verses 66–87 from the beginning of the romance. Finally, Walewein tells how he decided to look for the chess-set (1200–20), speaking in the first person singular, and largely repeating verses 106–35.
The question arises why the poet lets his hero act as a narrator in this way. Penninc may have intended to imitate the style of the
chanson de geste. Typical of this genre are the repetitions that the poet inserts in the text to facilitate recitation of his work.
3 See: Jean Rychner, La chanson de geste. Essai sur lʼart épique des jongleurs (Genève: Librairie Droz, 1955), pp. 50–63. When a
jongleur recites a
chanson de geste, he holds the attention of his audience by repeating a previously told event important to the story. But even if Penninc considered the recitation of his romance, why a reprise of this magnitude? Behind his presentation of Walewein as a narrator is a playful intention. What Walewein tells King Wonder and his son for some sixty verses is nothing less than a repetition of the beginning of the romance. The judgment in Chrétien’s
Erec et Enide quoted above would therefore apply to Walewein: he ‘expands (the) tale drearily’ (6273).
Anyone who compares the hero’s account with the opening of the romance will also see that Walewein does not tell everything, that something important is
not being told. When the knights of the court remain silent, Arthur exclaims that he intends to go after the chess-set himself (88–105). What he says is shameful for his knights and contrary to how the relationship between hero and king should be in an Arthurian romance.
4 See: B.A. Schmitz, Gauvain, Gawein, Walewein. Die Emanzipation des ewig Verspäteten (Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 2008), pp. 253–55. When an
aventure presents itself, a knight must accomplish it in the service of the court. But now Arthur threatens to embark on a quest in the service of his knights: ‘Ic soude met rechte zijn jou here, / Nu salic zijn jouwer alre knecht’ [I would by rights be your lord – now I shall be to you all a servant] (104–05). Walewein does not repeat Arthur’s words, which are disgraceful for the knights of the court. Because of this, at the end of his account he emphasizes how
he ended the impasse with his promise to look for the chess-set.
The two listeners of Walewein’s account in the romance are pleased to see that their plan has succeeded. After all, King Wonder possesses the chess-set, as he informs his guest: it is mijn scaec ‘my chess-set’ (1230). Therefore, Wonder must have sent the chess-set to King Arthur expecting that the best knight of his court would follow it. And in this way King Wonder finds the hero who can help him obtain the Sword with the Two Rings.