AROUND 1250 THE ROMAN VAN WALEWEIN, the masterpiece of Flemish Arthurian literature, appeared. This romance of more than 11,000 verses was written by two authors. A poet who calls himself Penninc started and wrote most of it, and a Pieter Vostaert completed the work. The protagonist of the romance is Arthur's nephew Walewein, the Flemish counterpart of the French Gauvain. The story is about a quest he undertakes to provide the king with a precious chess-set. The hero experiences adventures of a familiar kind, as in the episode which elaborately relates his confrontation with the Red Knight who abuses a damsel (3676–4915). What makes the romance special, however, is the fairytale character of Walewein's quest.
The romance opens with a marvelous event that takes place at court before the eyes of Arthur and his knights:
[…]
Hebben si wonder groot vernomen:
Een scaec ten veinstren in comen
Ende breede hem neder uptie aerde.
Hi mochte gaen spelen dies beghaerde.
[[…] they witnessed a great marvel: they saw a chess-set fly in through the window and settle itself on the floor. He who wished might play as he pleased]. (47–50)
Suddenly the chess-set flies away again, after which Arthur expresses his desire to possess it. Walewein sets off in search of the valuable object, which brings him to the castle of King Wonder, who owns the chess-set. He is willing to give it to Walewein, but the hero must first deliver him the Sword with the Two Rings, a miraculous weapon owned by King Amoraen. While at Walewein is at his castle, Amoraen agrees to give him the Sword, provided his guest brings him Ysabele, a beautiful princess who lives in a castle in faraway Endi. To get there, Walewein needs the help of a marvelous character: Roges, a fox who can speak, and who, by the end of the romance, turns back into a handsome prince.
In the romance there are three moments when a character assumes the role of narrator. First Walewein, when he reports to King Wonder about the chess-set that appeared at Arthur's court. Then King Amoraen, who describes Ysabele, the castle where she lives, and the garden in which she takes her leisure. The third narrator is the fox Roges; he tells a story about his childhood as a prince and about the woman who magically transformed him.