Pilgrim Reindeer in Pisa, 1348 a free multimedia novel by Thomas A. DuBois, University of Wisconsin-Madison

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 Part II. The Hansa Lands and France. 29. Ogier [November 4, 1347]

In this chapter, Bávlos hears a song of heroes as imagined in the court minstrelsy of the fourteenth century. I wanted to use this and the next chapter to explore a little the differing ideas of heroism that one can find in medieval European tales and in Sámi legendry. Of course, if I had used other medieval materials—for instance, tales of Renard the fox, the two narrative traditions would not be so far from one another. But Jacques idealizes the romantic medieval past of Charlemagne, and he is Bávlos's companion. So that is the confrontation of narrative tastes and expectations that I wanted to illustrate here.