{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart154.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart154.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart154.htm","text":"CHAPTER I\nHow Sir Tristram de Liones was born, and how his mother\ndied at his birth, wherefore she named him Tristram.\nIT was a king that hight Meliodas, and he was lord and king of\nthe country of Liones, and this Meliodas was a likely knight as\nany was that time living. And by fortune he wedded King Mark's\nsister of Cornwall, and she was called Elizabeth, that was called\nboth good and fair. And at that time King Arthur reigned, and he\nwas whole king of England, Wales, and Scotland, and of many other\nrealms: howbeit there were many kings that were lords of many\ncountries, but all they held their lands of King Arthur; for in\nWales were two kings, and in the north were many kings; and in\nCornwall and in the west were two kings; also in Ireland were two\nor three kings, and all were under the obeissance of King Arthur.\nSo was the King of France, and the King of Brittany, and all the\nlordships unto Rome.\nSo when this King Meliodas had been with his wife, within a while\nshe waxed great with child, and she was a full meek lady, and\nwell she loved her lord, and he her again, so there was great joy\nbetwixt them. Then there was a lady in that country that had\nloved King Meliodas long, and by no mean she never could get his\nlove; therefore she let ordain upon a day, as King Meliodas rode\na-hunting, for he was a great chaser, and there by an enchantment\nshe made him chase an hart by himself alone <279>till that he\ncame to an old castle, and there anon he was taken prisoner by\nthe lady that him loved. When Elizabeth, King Meliodas' wife,\nmissed her lord, and she was nigh out of her wit, and also as\ngreat with child as she was, she took a gentlewoman with her, and\nran into the forest to seek her lord. And when she was far in\nthe forest she might no farther, for she began to travail fast of\nher child. And she had many grimly throes; her gentlewoman\nhelped her all that she might, and so by miracle of Our Lady of\nHeaven she was delivered with great pains. But she had taken\nsuch cold for the default of help that deep draughts of death\ntook her, that needs she must die and depart out of this world;\nthere was none other bote.\nAnd when this Queen Elizabeth saw that there was none other bote,\nthen she made great dole, and said unto her gentlewoman: When ye\nsee my lord, King Meliodas, recommend me unto him, and tell him\nwhat pains I endure here for his love, and how I must die here\nfor his sake for default of good help; and let him wit that I am\nfull sorry to depart out of this world from him, therefore pray\nhim to be friend to my soul. Now let me see my little child, for\nwhom I have had all this sorrow. And when she saw him she said\nthus: Ah, my little son, thou hast murdered thy mother, and\ntherefore I suppose, thou that art a murderer so young, thou art\nfull likely to be a manly man in thine age. And because I shall\ndie of the birth of thee, I charge thee, gentlewoman, that thou\npray my lord, King Meliodas, that when he is christened let call\nhim Tristram, that is as much to say as a sorrowful birth. And\ntherewith this queen gave up the ghost and died. Then the\ngentlewoman laid her under an umbre of a great tree, and then she\nlapped the child as well as she might for cold. Right so there\ncame the barons, following after the queen, and when they saw\nthat she was dead, and understood none other but the king was\ndestroyed, [*7]then certain of them would have slain the child,\nbecause they would have been lords of the country of Liones.\n[*7] Printed by Caxton as part of chap. ii.\n<280>","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK VIII CHAPTER I","type":"page"}