| 词汇 | roland for an oliver |
| 词源 | Roland for an Oliver. Roland and Oliver were two evenly matched knights of Charlemagne who once engaged in combat that lasted five full days on an island in the Rhine. Every time Roland got in a resounding whack, Oliver replied in kind and the contest to determine who was the better warrior ended in a draw. After the fight, Roland, Char- lemagne’s nephew, and the intrepid Oliver became devoted friends. Both brave knights were killed by the Arabs in a.d. 778, in an ambush at Roncevaux in the Pyrenees, though one legend tells us that Oliver accidentally killed Roland af- ter himself receiving a fatal wound from the enemy. The long epic poem Chanson de Roland of the 11th century tells how Roland and Charlemagne’s paladins died and how the king of the Franks avenged them. Many great deeds are credited to the two knights, so many that a Roland for an Ol- iver can mean an exchange of tall tales as well as blow for blow or tit for tat. |
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