21 
The Scandinavian song is said to have originated in 
Denmark, where it was first recorded in writing, before the 
middle of the sixteenth century. 
A folk theme widely familiar in the Germanic countries 
long ago, was embodied in a poem, on the Rhine; that of the 
“ Knight of Staufenberg,” which was known in Scandinavia and 
gave birth to the folk-song. This song travelled widely and 
grew into three branches: a Scottish ballad, a Slavonic song, 
and a gwerz in Celtic Brittany. The French song originated 
from the gwerz and developed into several adaptations: Basque, 
Venetian, Catalan, and Hispano-Portuguese. 
The nine songs of this series, in as many languages, are not 
all of the same importance, according to Doncieux. Six of them 
follow the Scandinavian or the French forms closely, when they 
are not awkward adaptations. But three of them are authentic 
compositions with distinct individuality: “Sire Olaf”, “The 
Count Nann”, and “Renaud”. Linked as they are through 
descent from the same theme, they constitute a lineage of master- 
pieces in traditional literature that may be considered unique. 
They bear equally the stamp of creative genius. If a Dane 
first used the folk theme, a Breton transferred it to a gwerz, and 
a Frenchman of genius made of it a song that is hardly surpassed 
anywhere for power and beauty. 
The encounter of the knight with a fairy is the outstanding 
feature of the Danish song. To the folk theme the poet adds 
the flight on horseback at dawn, which he drew from his powerful 
imagination, the dance of the elves on the hillside, and the 
invitation to join in when the fairy shows her passion for the 
knight. The vivid charm of this scene wherein legend and truth 
mingle, belongs wholly to Scandinavia; it is hardly transposed 
into the Breton song; it is not even hinted at in the French. The 
plot in the Danish Vise moves on rhythmically, with growing 
anguish and terror, from the moment when the knight meets the 
fairy to that of his death, after he arrived home. The fiancee’s 
three questions about the sound of the bells, the women weeping, 
and the absence of her beloved, are included but undeveloped. 
The Breton gwerz and the French complainte alone make full 
use of them. 
