The twelfth and last poem in the collection known as The Lais of Marie de France, it appears in the manuscript Harley 978 at the British Library.
Like the other poems in this collection, "Eliduc" is written in the Anglo-Norman dialect of Old French, in couplets of eight syllables in length.
The text of the lai notes that its correct title should be Guildeluec and Guilliadon, but the name Eliduc has stuck.
Eliduc soon attracts the attention of the princess, Guilliadon, who decides to send him two tokens of love: a belt and a ring.
Thinking Guilliadon has died, Eliduc tosses overboard the sailor who accused him, and the storm subsides.
When they finally reach land, Eliduc decides to go to a chapel deep in the woods where he will bury Guilliadon.
When the servant kills one of the weasels (both female, metaphorically representing the two women), the other one runs into the forest to find a magical flower that revives him.
If this is true, "Eliduc"'s may be compared with the previous poem, "Chevrefoil", a short lai about the adulterous love of Tristan and Iseult that eventually caused the lovers' deaths.
[2] Though "Eliduc" does not have any overt connections to the Arthurian legend, Guilliadon's home, Logres, is traditionally the name given to King Arthur's realm.
Additionally, characters named "Aliduke" or other variations on Eliduc appear in Arthurian stories.
[3] Unlike most of Marie's lais, Eliduc is not found in Old Norse translation (in the Strengleikar), but the motif of a character learning about healing plants by observing weasels appears not only there but in the Icelandic Völsunga saga, which seems to indicate that Eliduc was known in Iceland in some form.