Book contents
8 - Counter-Quest
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
Summary
WHEN CONSTANTIN RETURNS to the city following Rother's elopement with his daughter, the queen reveals to him with no little pleasure and ample disdain “Dietrich”'s true identity:
“der sich da nante Dietherich,
daz was der koninc Rother
unde hat gevort over mere
mine tochter unde din.
wie mochte si baz bestadet sin? …
her hat uns rechte getan,
wir hetten wonderlichen wan:
wat reken mochte dar so riche sin?
ir sit gewarnet, Constantin:
kome u imer mer gein vetriven man,
da solit ir uch baz vor warnan! (lines 2998–3012)
[“He who called himself Dietrich was King Rother and has taken my daughter and yours across the sea. How could she ever be better situated? … He treated us as we deserved, for we had strange delusions: what exile could have been so mighty? Be warned, Constantin: should any exiled man ever come to you again, you had better be wary of him!”]
Constantin, in contrast to his gloating wife, weeps over the loss of his daughter — “owi, vrou koningin, / nu rowet mich die thochter min” (Alas, my queen, how I rue the loss of my daughter, lines 3017–18) — and then faints from the sorrow (line 3023). This is symbolic of his helplessness in dealing with the unexpected situations that confront him (Meves 1976, 52), such as the giants' aggression or Ymelot's attack.
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- King Rother and his BrideQuest and Counter-Quests, pp. 158 - 167Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2010