MARIE DE FRANCE 



Superior. Then Eliduc wedded his love, and 

 after some years of happiness they too resolved 

 to retire from the world, Guilliadun joining 

 Guildeluec, who received her as a sister, and 

 Eliduc going to a monastery which he had 

 founded near by. 1 



In this charming romance, given here in 

 epitome only, the two most interesting points, 

 after noting the mutual suffering of the lovers 

 for love's sake, are the episode of the sacrifice 

 to the sea, and that of the weasel and the life- 

 giving flower. Both these incidents point to 

 the great antiquity of the fundamental theme 

 of the story, which Marie, possibly like many 

 another before her, merely reclothed in garments 

 suited to the fancy of the time. In most stories 

 where the sea has to be appeased by the sacrifice 

 of some one, it is the guilty person who is thrown 

 overboard, or if the offender is not known, lots 

 are cast to determine who shall be the one to 

 make expiation to the god. In the present 

 instance Eliduc is clearly the wrong-doer, but 

 he is the hero, and must be treated as such, and 

 accordingly the hostile voice is the one to be 

 silenced in the depths of the sea. 



The other incident the restoration to life by 

 means of a flower or a herb frequently occurs 



1 M. Gaston Paris (Poesie du Moyen Age^ vol. ii.), in recalling 

 various legends of "Le Mari aux deux femmes," suggests that the 

 present story, borrowed by Marie from Celtic tradition, is probably 

 of Occidental, and not Oriental, origin, since in the polygamous 

 East the story of two wives would not have furnished a sufficient 

 motive for a special narration. 



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