Around 1400 the German author Wichbolt turned the novel of Alexander into prose, based on various Latin sources. It is a loyal transposition, the author is discrete and stays as close as possible to the source texts. In this article the author discusses a number of problems caused by the technique of quasi literal translation and the solutions presented by Wichbolt. She sets out to prove the translator was aware of the limitations of word-by-word translation and that he mainly succeeded in avoiding the traps of lexical and grammatical order, thus, to a very large extent, remaining a fidus interpres.