At the outset each of the champions cuts the horse of the other in two and the fight is continued on foot. Olivier's sword is broken, and Roland invites him to send for another and take a little rest and refreshment. A boatman goes to Vienne and procures from the old Jew a famous sword, called Hauteclere, and some wine. The fight is renewed and lasts till nightfall, when an angel descends from heaven, and orders the two heroes to be reconciled and to fight together against the Saracens. The warriors embrace and Olivier promises Roland the hand of his sister. Such was the beginning of the friendship of the two mighty champions ofChristendom. Hugo's poem, however, is not based directly on the story, but on a modern prose adaptation by Achille Jubinal which appeared in _Le Journal du Dimanche_ in 1846. Léon Gautier indeed, in _Les Épopées françaises, says: `Victor Hugo s'est proposé de traduire notre vieux poème, dont il avait sans doute quelque texte sous les yeux.' But it is clear from the mistake about the word Closamont and other details that Gautier was mistaken and that the source from which Hugo drew was Jubinal's reproduction. Hugo omitted from his adaptation two incidents of great poetic interest, namely, the picture of Aude watching the fight, and the miraculous intervention of the angel. He has, on the other hand, inserted the barbaric incident of the fight with trees. He has eliminated, that is to say, the tender and the religious elements from the story and made it simply the narrative of a Homeric combat, with more than a touch of the grotesque. Nevertheless, he has retained the characteristic incident of the chivalrous behaviour of Roland in sending for a new sword for his enemy and in giving him time for rest, a trait which finds a parallel in many other _Chansons_, notably in the story of the battle of Roland with Ferragus, a Saracen giant. When Ferragus is worn out with fighting, Roland watches over him while he sleeps, and on his awakening enters into a theological discussion with him in the hope of converting him to Christianity. When this pious desire fails, the combat is renewed. _Saint Michael_ is described in Rev. xii. 7-9 as fighting against Satan and casting him out of heaven. Hugo is mistaken in his description of _Olivier_, who was not lord of Vienne and a sovereign count, but only the son of Renier, duke of Genoa. The only statement in these two lines which is correct is that his grandfather was Garin. L. 27. As already noted, in the original story it is an aged Jew who arms Olivier for the fight. _Rollon_ (English _Rollo_) was the Norse pirate who invaded France in A.D. 912 and founded the Duchy of Normandy. The reference to him is of course an anachronism. _estoc_ (_c_ pronounced), a long narrow sword used for thrusting. _cimier_ (from Latin _cyma_, the young sprout of a cabbage), the crest on the helmet.