Page:Tirant lo Blanch; a study of its authorship, principal sources and historical setting (IA cu31924026512263).pdf/125

 prayers when he saw the squire approaching and began to read in a book. When the steed stopped at the spring to drink, the rider awoke and was surprised to see the aged hermit before him. After exchanging greetings, the hermit spoke to the youth of things pertaining to knighthood, and when they parted, asked him to come back after he had been made a knight.

The author of Tirant lo Blanch incorporated in his work the incident just mentioned by paraphrasing it and by reproducing certain parts almost literally, as we have already observed, making such changes as he saw fit. In the reproduction of this incident the unknown hermit is William of Warwick; the unnamed king is the King of England; and the squire is Tirant lo Blanch. In Lull's work the hermit invites the squire to return, but he never comes back. Martorell makes his hero accept the hermit's invitation, and Tirant with his companions returns to William of Warwick, when the principal events that took place at the English court, including the marvelous feats of Tirant, are related to him. The deeds that Martorell ascribes to Tirant while at the court of the English king are not similar to those of Guy of Warwick as described in the English romance. They are probably inventions of the author, based on what he witnessed, heard, or read in connection with tournaments or knightly affairs. Tirant remained with the hermit for a few days and then returned to his native land, Brittany. Here ends the William of Warwick episode.

To sum up: All that part of the episode up to and including the retirement of Willam of Warwick to a hermitage after the extermination of the Moors, is based on the English romance, but only on that portion of it that treats of the latter part of the career of the English hero. The subsequent part of the episode at first seems to reveal no other traces of the romance, but suddenly a resemblance emerges.