Melion and Biclarel - University of Liverpool

Introduction
in evoking the original aventure and the idea of the truth of the tale, echoes a
motif reiterated in many of the lays. Melion’s author declares the truth of his
narrative, ‘Vrais est li lais de Melïon’ (v. 591), as does Marie at the end of
Bisclavret (vv. 315-18). Avenir, the verb used in Biclarel, occurs elsewhere to
express the truth of a narrative (see Lanval, vv. 1-2). Busby points out that Renart
identifies his authority for the truth of the werwolf story as a Grail book (‘“Je fout
savoir bon lai breton”’, p. 596, see Biclarel, vv. 47-50).
The identification of Biclarel as a lay, tacitly proposed by Raynaud and
Lemaitre and adopted — not without reservation — by the present editor, is
attractive and has some support; yet the absence of generic self-identification in
the narrative remains problematic.
Summaries of the texts
MELION
Melion, a knight in Arthur’s court, vows never to love a lady who has loved or
spoken of another man. Angered, the ladies of the court ostracise Melion, whose
unhappiness makes him lose interest in chivalric pursuits. To cheer him, Arthur
gives him a valuable fiefdom, where he hunts and recovers his good spirits.
While pursuing a stag, Melion meets a lady, riding alone, who tells him she
is the daughter of the King of Ireland and that she has come to meet him, for she
has never been loved by a man, nor will she love any but him. The knight is
delighted and marries her at once. They live together happily for three years and
have two children.
One day, they go hunting, taking a squire. Melion draws his wife’s attention
to a large stag, but she immediately swoons and, weeping, declares that she will
die if she does not eat meat from the stag. Distressed, Melion promises that he
will obtain the venison by transforming himself into a wolf, using a ring with two
magic stones. He undresses, urges his wife to keep the ring safe so that he can
turn back into human form, and tells her to touch his head with one of the stones.
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