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| | Floris and Blancheflour: Introduction |
 | | The hero himself, Floris, performs no act of martial skill at all, and is in fact not even a knight; it is only at the very end of the story that the Emir, impressed by Floris' account of his adventures, has him dubbed a knight and invites him to join his retinue (lines 1181-83). |
 | | The cup as a vessel, or container, is a feminine symbol, so, when Floris has given up the gold cup, i.e., the symbol of Blancheflour, to the porter, he receives in return a new but equivalent symbol of her. |
 | | Both at the beginning and at the end Floris has to overcome the resistance of a male opponent, the king and the Emir respectively, but on both occasions he is supported by a female assistant, his mother, the queen, and Claris, Blancheflour's friend in the Emir's harem. |
| www.lib.rochester.edu /Camelot/teams/ekfbintro.htm (4337 words) |
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