Judging also from the appearance on the scene of Gawain’s son, Guinglain, and the numerous allusions in Wauchier’s text to the length and importance of the grande conte of which these tales formed a part, it seems most probable that the original collection included a version of the adventures of the hero we know as Sir Libeaus Desconus, whose feats will be found recorded in vol. v. of this series. The English poem there modernised says that the hero was begotten by a forest side, thus apparently identifying him with the child of the picturesque adventure related in these pages. At the same time the adventures summarised by Wauchier—for he gives but little detail concerning Guinglain—do not agree with the English tradition. At a considerably later point of the collection, however, we find the young knight giving his name in terms which accord completely with our poem; on meeting his father,
Sire, fait il, ’ie sui Giglain
Votre fis, qui le roi Artus
Mist nom Le Biax Desconeus.
Which may well refer to the tale we know.
