Collection of Chinese Translation Works by Yang Xianyi: the Song of Roland·modern British Poetry Notes

[Roland, the first Paladin in history] The Italians called him [Orlando], the head of the twelve warriors under Charlemagne, who was honored as a count. When Charlemagne was canonized for his meritorious service in protecting the church, Roland and others were canonized as [Paladin] by the Vatican. In the knight's novel "Crazy Orlando", Roland fell in love with the beautiful Angelica, but after failing to woo her (it is said that Angelica committed suicide due to world-weariness), he lost his mind and went crazy. He changed into black armor and rode a black horse (probably because his relatives and friends took his honor into account) and killed everyone. It was not until the paladin [Astolfo] went to the moon to exchange for Roland's sanity at the cost of his own sanity. In addition, Angelica's brother, Algaria, does not play much role in the poem, and he does not have much interaction with Roland. However, after Algaria died in a duel with others, his favorite spear was eventually transferred to the hands of Astolfo, who was unaware of it. At the end of the poem "The Song of Roland", due to the betrayal of the Holy Knight [Ganelon], the Knights were defeated and retreated. Roland and his son stayed behind and fought bloody battles until they died of exhaustion. [Durandal, the Sword of Eternity] One of the three holy swords in Europe, it is said to contain the teeth of St. John, the blood of Saint Basil, the corner of the Virgin Mary's clothes and a strand of hair of Jesus. It is extremely sharp and indestructible. Roland once cut a man and a horse in half with this sword. When Roland was about to die, in order to prevent the holy sword from falling into the enemy's hands, he swung his sword against a three-meter-high marble pillar in an attempt to break the sword. However, Durandal was not damaged at all. Instead, the stone pillar was broken into two pieces, so it was also called the "Marble Sword" in later generations. Roland had no choice but to throw the sword into the abyss, and Durandal became the only lost sword among the Three Holy Swords. The other two are the [Cortana, the Sword of Mercy] held by Roland's colleague [Ogier, the Danish prince favored by six angels, ♥️J] (it is said to have been broken by an angel to prevent a manslaughter; it is still used as a ceremonial sword during the coronation of the British royal family), and the [Jovaeus, the Sword of Joy] held by their monarch [Charlemagne, the Great of the Frank Kingdom, ♥️K] (made of gold, sharpened like clay, now on display in the Louvre Museum). Anecdote It is said that the last owner of the Holy Sword of Durandal was the Trojan hero [Hector] in ancient Greece (♦️J). However, "Homer's Epic" believed that Hector had never used a sword in his life, so some people speculated that the blade of Durandal was the spearhead of Hector's favorite spear. But some people think that in this case, the figure holding the sword on the jack of diamonds in the playing card is not Hector, but probably Roland.

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