THE TALE OF RALPH THE COLLIER: FOOTNOTES

1 There occurred a fearful storm in those wide hills

2 In that severe storm no one knew where to stay

3 In those mountains, in fact, he became completely lost

4 There came a lively countryman making his way

5 The king spoke to the countryman in a friendly manner

6 For I believe that if it is not so [that you find me a noble fellow], some part [of the blame] will be yours

7 Provided that you'll be pleased with such as you found [there]

8 But if we might bring this lodging tonight to a good conclusion

9 Tomorrow, in the morning, when you shall mount up

10 First to praise and then to find fault

11 For she never dared to ignore orders that she heard him give

12 I believe our guest has had just as hard a time on the road

13 Strike down the best capons, out in the barn

14 Acted as if he intended to put the collier in before him

15 He never stopped falling / until he struck the ground

16 You should have good manners enough, but you have none

17 Nothing is better than desisting and making no more trouble

18 Thus were they arranged, without more ado, and paired that night

19 Then the delicacies come in, elegantly arranged on the table

20 They are angry at me for fear of [what I might do to] the deer

21 They drank deeply in turn; they washed and rose [from the table]

22 The king was pleasant and companionable

23 `Without a doubt,' said the king, `I never hesitated to tell'

24 There you can sell, properly, as dearly as you will set the price

25 It seems reasonable to me, by the Cross, that I follow your advice

26 Enclosed with curtains and handsomely covered

27 The King grew weary of this way of life and mounted in haste

28 And he who should perform his duty early in this season / will, without a doubt, be at fault if he's missing

29 Where any collier may trade, I trust to succeed

30 Ten such as these were sent out in every direction

31 Not to mention commoners

32 I will keep my promise, whatever happens

33 In his sound armor, to keep his promises

34 He paused and waited until midmorning and later

35 Very eager to do as commanded, to bring him to the King

36 To handle me roughly or drag me off, though my clothes be foul

37 He bore, engraved in gold and red on a green background, / glittering quite colorfully when light gleamed on it, / a tiger tied to a tree, a token of wrath

38 Truly that wrathful one was shaking [with anger] then

39 Handsomely formed and protected in that bright shield

40 His armor plates were fittingly studded all over with precious stones, / and his knee-armor [was] quite ready [for battle], equally matching

41 May he be graced with victory in every battle

42 Should he [Roland] be as courageous a man as he is a well-formed [one], / that one would have to be very powerful who dared to withstand a hostile encounter with him

43 It might be considered an insult unless you appear

44 Nor did he name you to me / any more than [he named] another man / but [said to bring] whomever I found

45 You found me bringing nothing that led to enmity

46 Who lives with much honesty and hard work, in faith

47 Unless you move out of my path, very quickly you will regret it

48 He hastily took off his armor without delay

49 As he [Roland] was accustomed, with the man who ruled that dwelling

50 There would no valiant man be armed for combat on this day

51 I fear he so daunted you that you dared not have anything to do with him

52 Where are you going, fellow, so quickly this way?

53 Takes hold of the fastenings quickly, before he would stop

54 I would be loath to lose my load; I leave it all here with you

55 That bold man makes his way, in haste, into the hall

56 He believed the man had known about the Wymond he was thinking of

57 They considered the collier hardly worth noticing

58 With tapestries hung up to the doors, whoso would judge [i.e., for all to see], / with various sorts of finery daintily arranged, / encircled with silver, handsome to see, / wondrously various, it [he = the hall] was skillfully decorated

59 From these men, indeed, to go on my way

60 And be intently on the lookout for him [literally: have my eye after him] constantly

61 Quickly he advanced to the forefront of the company

62 In clothes of pure gold, revealing yon man clearly

63 The devil possessed me to teach courtesy to kings

64 How he was lodged and treated and considered of so little worth

65 To make you a good fighting man, I make you powerful

66 That becomes available in France, wherever it happens to be

67 I will take the most direct way to that fine man

68 That I should leave, out of cowardice, while still living

69 And he [the carll] was able to do nothing [i.e., was worthless]

70 Until it was nearly the time of day that he had been there [before]

71 Within the space needed for a joust, he lowered his lance

72 He struck the steed with his spurs; it sprang forward on the moor

73 Those noble, eager men rushed out very quickly

74 Rapidly they exchanged blows; they were reluctant to stop, / to lose the honor of battle that they had previously won

75 There was no safety anywhere until one of them gave up the ghost [i.e., died]

76 You will think it too soon that you have met with me now

77 I don't want to live by letting you [go] in friendship

78 For that [fighting both knights at once, as the Saracen has suggested] would be no knightly deed, some men would say

79 We shall despoil you mercilessly next spring, / make your buildings quite desolate -- I've brought you warning

80 You Saracens are always arrogant and self-willed

81 A bright fire will never come from so green a piece of wood

82 Whoever awaits the Christian to cause him trouble, they are my kin

83 That day, worthy bishops had that bold man brought

THE TALE OF RALPH THE COLLIER: NOTES

4 The phrase `fra Sanct Thomas' has been variously interpreted. Amours takes it to refer to the date of the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, December 21. Walsh follows Browne in reading it as suggesting that those referred to are returning from a pilgrimage to Canterbury, where the tomb of St. Thomas à Becket is located. Bawcutt and Riddy suggest that the phrase seems to refer to a place and note the suggestion of H. M. Smyser that `Thomas' be emended to `Dyonys.' Speed's observation that the reference to the pilgrimage would be a literary device recalling Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is worth keeping in mind. She also notes that `Charlemagne lived and died almost four hundred years before Thomas B Becket but such anachronism is familiar in medieval literature.'

5 The second `thay' in this line means `those,' as it does again in l. 20 (second `thay') and in l. 22 and elsewhere in the text. In l. 21 the `thay' should be translated `that' since `wedderis' (technically a plural) has the singular sense of `storm.'

10 On `duchepeiris,' see the note to Sowdone of Babylone, l. 241 (commenting on the `Dosipers,' an alternate spelling of the same word).

17 The first `deip' in the line has been emended by Speed to `drip' and by Bawcutt and Riddy to `drift.' Herrtage maintains `deip' but glosses it only with a question mark. Walsh suggests that the word may be `a noun or nominalized adjective meaning that the snow was being driven in the ``deep places,'' -- valleys and rock chasms.' This is surely the sense of the line, but the first `deip' (assuming the reading is correct) must refer to the snow itself which has mounted up in the `mony deip dell.'

23 `Prime' is the canonical hour, the fixed part of the Divine Office to be sung or recited at a specific time, for the first hour of the day (6 a.m. or sunrise).

46 A `collier' is one who makes and sells charcoal.

63 `Sanct July' is Saint Julian the Hospitaller, the patron saint of inn keepers and travellers.

84 Bawcutt and Riddy emend `thus' to `us' and translate `so that we might justly be forgiven (for praising the hospitality).' But the emendation doesn't seem necessary if we read `baith' as the object of excuse.

96 The phrase `cheveris with the chin' is the equivalent of `our teeth are chattering.'

123 When `part' is used with a cardinal number, it indicates `a proportion one measure short of a whole' (MED). Thus `twa part' is literally `two-thirds.' The sense of the phrase is probably best conveyed in modern English by the translation of Bawcutt and Riddy: `more than half annoyed.'

126 This line alludes to a proverb: `Nature ought to crawl where it cannot walk.' The line translates: ```Now is one time when,' said the Collier, `nature ought to crawl.''' The suggestion is that his guest's natural courtesy should lead him to act in a way that is appropriate to the circumstances even if different from his normal way of doing things.

134 There seem to be two lines missing at this point in the stanza.

147 In this line `fair' seems to be used in the sense of a `fuss' and `strange' in the sense of `alien'; thus the line suggests that by offering to let Rauf go before him, Charlemagne is once again extending a courtesy that is inappropriate to the circumstances and thus not really a courtesy at all.

235 The shrine of Saint James the Apostle at Compostela was a famous pilgrimage site. According to medieval legend, James preached the gospel in Spain and even fought against the Moors.

239 The Wardrobe is `the office or department of a royal or noble household charged with the care of the wearing apparel' (OED).

309-10 These lines are difficult to make sense of as they stand in other editions (`For thow will never gif the mair / To make ane lesing'). Browne suggested translating them as `Thou wilt nevermore undertake (give thyself) to tell a lie.' Speed translates: `for you will never again undertake (literally, give yourself) to tell a lie.' Walsh proposes translating: `You won't give yourself anymore trouble by telling a lie.' None of these interpretations makes much sense in the context. However, by emending `ane' to `nane' and taking line 310 as a filler of the type employed by the poet in several other places, the lines make perfect sense. Rauf says, in effect, `I'll surely be there tomorrow because you will never give any more, in truth [literally, to make no lie].' That is, he can never expect to receive more than on the day after he has offered shelter to his guest.

344-45 A `convent' of priests would be those living together in one religious community. The phrase `at ane sicht' might mean that the priests are dressed in vestments (`revest') uniformly (as Speed suggests), or it might depend on the verb `se' -- i.e., they were seen `at a glance' or `all together' (as Browne translates).

352 On St. Denis see the note to Sowdone of Babylone, l. 26.

370 Walsh and Speed both suggest that the line implies that Gyliane thinks their guest didn't return the blow because she was present. It is also possible that the line might originally have read `and he ne had bene allane'; that is, if he had his fellow courtiers with him, as he will when Rauf journeys to court, he would have punished Rauf for his insolence.

374 Amours suggests that `layd' is a contraction of `lay it' (i.e., stake it [my life]).

391 Browne suggests that here and in l. 481 `thing' is used to refer to a person.

423 The line translates literally: `Then bade him to cease his courtesy and prepare to go.' That is, Roland wants Rauf to stop kneeling to him, rise and prepare to go with him to court.

441 Bawcutt and Riddy, following Laing, gloss `mad' as `simple.' The term thus refers to Rauf who says he is just a simple man. Walsh and Speed make `mad man' direct address, referring to Roland. In their reading, Rauf, responding to Roland's `sic ten' in the previous line, says, `I am only one, mad man. . . .' Though the meaning `simple' would be unusual for `mad' something like `foolish' is elsewhere attested and `simple' is not an unreasonable extension of that meaning.

450 `To Wymond nor Will' means `to Wymond nor to anyone else.' The common name `Will' is used much as we would use `Tom, Dick and Harry.'

461 Bawcutt and Riddy are probably correct in taking `sene' as `seen' (used pleonastically).

469 The line either means that Roland's greaves (the armor worn on the leg, below the knee) are [like] great clasps of gold indeed; or, as Speed suggests (following Amours and Browne), the word `on' has been omitted and the line means that there are great clasps of gold on his greaves.

473 The line, which translates `tied all over with topazes and true-love knots together,' probably means that the topazes were arranged in the shape of true-love knots, which the OED defines as knots `of a complicated and ornamental form (usually either a double-looped bow, or a knot formed of two loops intertwined), used as a symbol of true love.'

511 `Mat' (meaning `obstruct' or `checkmate,' as in chess) is emended to `mar' by Walsh and by Bawcutt and Riddy.

521 Editors generally take `toun man' to mean a resident of a town as opposed to someone living in the country, but the context would seem to suggest that Roland sees Rauf as an example of a `toun man' and not different from one. OED gives as one meaning of `town' `a farm with its farmhouse' and notes that it still has this meaning in the Scottish dialect. This is surely the sense intended here.

533 `By books and bells' is a mild oath. Roland is swearing by sacred books and church bells.

538 This is a difficult line. Herrtage says simply `I do not understand this line.' Walsh translates as: `to keep my compact unless I put you to the test beforehand.' This translation does, however, ignore the word `now.' I suspect the line is corrupt and that the original reading was something like: `Bot gif I fand the forward [or the alternate form `forrad'] now to keip my cunnand' (which would give an acceptable meaning of: `if I didn't find you more ready now to keep my compact').

563 The earliest reading `bland' is generally emended by modern editors to `band.'

605 Lekpreuik's text reads Bo for Bot.

611 Herrtage glosses `gift' as `message.' This is the sense of the word in this context, if not the literal meaning. The thing that the swain has to give is the message about Rauf. The word was probably chosen more for alliteration than for connotation.

613 The word `leif' is taken by Walsh to mean `leave'; the line then translates literally: `Unless he is let in quickly, he doesn't want to leave.' Bawcutt and Riddy take it as `live' and translate: `Unless he is let in straight away, he does not want to go on living.' The latter seems to make the line coincide more naturally with modern English syntax, but the former seems more in keeping with Rauf's character.

619 The phrase `on ground' means literally `on the ground' or `on the earth' but here is an almost meaningless line filler. The same might be said of `in this stound' in the next line.

701 `Can' is used here as an auxiliary indicating the past tense (the equivalent of `did'). The line thus translates: `He thrust in through them and eagerly pushed.'

706-7 There is a line missing between these two lines. Speed suggests that the missing line had the sense of `He didn't have as splendid an appearance.'

731 The phrase `and sa strait ford' has been interpreted in several different ways. Herrtage takes `ford' as meaning `road' or `way' and the phrase as meaning `so severe was the way.' Bawcutt and Riddy take `ford' to mean `for it' and consider this a pleonastic expression; thus `strait,' like `fell,' would modify `frostis.' Walsh reads `strait ford' as `straight forth'; Charlemagne told how he met Rauf, how fierce the frost was, and so straight forth (to the end of his story). Herrtage's reading, though apparently rejected by later editors, does fit the context of the King's story quite well.

760 A `forfeiture' is an estate confiscated as punishment for a crime; a `free ward' is the estate of a deceased tenant who did not have an heir old enough to inherit the property; in this case the control of the land would revert to the overlord.

762 To `have hy' is literally to `have haste'; Speed seems to capture the sense of the phrase best with her gloss of `have urgent need.'

765 To `win one's shoes' implies proving oneself in combat.

782 `Gest' probably means `guest' here; but Browne takes it as `jest.'

822 Herrtage and Bawcutt and Riddy read `bair'; Speed, following Browne, emends to `baft' (`struck') and Walsh to `bait.' The basic sense of the line does not change whichever of these readings we accept: `These men rained blows on [each other's] helmets before they stopped.'

850 Mahoun (Mahomet or Mohammed) and Termagant were thought to be gods worshipped by the Saracens.

861 Speed takes `Rude' to mean `a rod' (a measure equivalent to sixteen and a half feet). But, considering the religious nature of the conflict, the meaning of `Cross' might apply equally well: `He made him move back the length of a broad Cross.' (Browne translates `Rude braid' as `Rood-breadth.')

882 Walsh notes that Browne thought `breif' to be an error for `brey' (frighten) and that the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue cites this use of `breif' as a possible erroneous form. But it is likely that Bawcutt and Riddy are correct in reading `breif' as a form of `breven,' which is commonly used in alliterative verse to mean `repeat or tell.' Their extension of the meaning to `address' in this line seems plausible.

886 Walsh cites Browne's observation that the line `the tane is in power to mak that presoun' would make better sense if the poet had written `the' instead of `that' but does not emend the line. Only Bawcutt and Riddy emend to `the.' I follow them in so emending. It seems an obvious slip to have read `that' instead of `the' -- especially given the appearance of the word `that' in the previous and the following lines. The line then translates: `The one of us has the power to make you a prisoner.'

904 Tartary was the area inhabited by the Tartars, who dwelt in `the region of Central Asia extending eastward from the Caspian Sea. . . . First known in the West as applied to the mingled host of Mongols, Tartars, Turks, etc., which under the leadership of Jenghiz Khan (1202B1227) overran and devastated much of Asia and Eastern Europe . . .' (OED).

926 Walsh suggests that `be that ressoun' is a line filler and rhyme tag that is `probably best left untranslated.'

936 Bawcutt and Riddy say that `god' is an `obvious error' and emend to `gold,' as do Walsh and Speed. However, `god' in the sense of `goods' (i.e., worldly possessions) seems a possible reading here.

957 It is interesting that Magog is given `Gawteir' as his Christian name. In the Sege of Melayne there is reference to a `Sir Gawtere' as a close relative of Charlemagne (ll. 377B378). Though the characters can not be one and the same, it seems clear that the author of Rauf Coilyear is borrowing a traditional name for one of Charlemagne's knights.

967 Bawcutt and Riddy emend `thame' to `thane' and translate `to live thenceforward'; but `leif thame' (meaning `live together') seems more appropriate to the context.