An Italian Metrical Version of the Knight of the Swan

Abstract

‘La Naissance du Chevalier au Cygne,’ published by Henry Alfred Todd in vol. iv, Nos. 3 and 4 of the Publications of The Modern Language Association of America, a publication deservedly valued and supplemented as to the introduction, with many important additions by Gaston Paris in the Romania, vol. xix, pp. 314-335, is the earliest version of the legend of the “Children changed into Swans,” contained in the French Cycle of the Crusade. It is not without any interest that the three French versions of this legend have been published in an inverse order of their origin. The younger version, published by Reiffenberg, was followed by Hippeau's publication of the middle version, both connected with the other branches of the Cycle of the Crusade. That now the earliest French version has been published, is of great importance to the scientific understanding of this interesting legend.