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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
Le Chevalier du Papegau (The Knight of the Parrot) is an anonymous French prose romance from the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century (possibly the dérimage of a lost verse version) in which a young King Arthur takes as his emblem an extraordinary performing parrot and becomes the ‘Chevalier du Papegau’. A skilled singer and storyteller who provides others with immense pleasure, the papegau is introduced into the narrative as: ‘le meilleur oysel du monde pour chanter doulx champ amoureux plaisant et pour parler mieulx et adroit ce que vient a plaisir a cuer d'omme et a cuer de femme.’ (‘the best bird in the world for singing the sweet, pleasant song of love and for speaking well and cleverly about matters which please the hearts of men and women.’*) (5; 5) The bird both fosters in the narrative a general sense of cheer and helps the plot progress towards a happy end. In so doing, the parrot functions as the primary purveyor of the comic in Le Chevalier du Papegau.
In defining ‘comic’ I follow the lead of Marcel Gutwirth who, in Laughing Matter: An Essay on the Comic, employs ‘comic’ as the ‘general term for the range of events, willed or unwilled, aimed at bringing amusement (or simply having that effect)’. Accordingly, that which diverts, pleases or brings joy may be considered comic. Gutwirth's definition is valuable for considering medieval literature in its historical context, that is as entertainment, and for understanding how the comic functions in much of medieval narrative.
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