I find it unsurprising that this family of ballads has essentially split into two. The narrative of the attempt to conceal Olaf/Renaud's death from his wife makes a satisfying dramatic arc on its own. Full attention given to both narratives makes for an extremely long ballad, so it's no wonder that more recent versions that emphasize the supernatural encounter only briefly mention the wife's mourning and death, while "le roi Renaud" has been entirely freed from the first half of the story. What's more, that's in keeping with the French cultural tendency away from the fantastic and supernatural.

You could say that there is a thematic balance between the two halves or two ballads, though (both of which center around a question-and-answer conversation). In part one, the hero is out in the wilderness and becomes sexually entangled with a wild, dangerous, supernatural woman, to his disaster. In part two, the consequences of this encounter (or, in the de-fantasticated version, his expedition into the un-homelike setting of a war) go home with him and strike his loyal, lawful wife, despite his mother's attempt to maintain harmony. His wound must inevitably rend the whole family, as appropriately manifested in some versions by the splitting of the earth.