{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_14244/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_14244","id":"gutenberg_14244","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14244","summary":null,"tags":["Arthurian romances -- Adaptations","Category: British Literature","Category: Historical Novels","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Romance","Iseult (Legendary character) -- Romances -- Adaptations","Tristan (Legendary character) -- Romances -- Adaptations"],"text":"THE ROMANCE OF TRISTAN AND ISEULT\n\nThe Romance of Tristan & Iseult Drawn from the best French Sources and\nRetold by J. B\u00e9dier Rendered into English by H. Belloc\n\nLondon: George Allen & Company, Ltd. Ruskin House, Rathbone Place.\nMcmxiii\n\n[All rights reserved]\n\n\u201cLe Roman de Tristan et Iseut,\u201d by M. Joseph B\u00e9dier, was crowned by\nthe French Academy\n\nPrinted by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co.\n\nat the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nPART THE FIRST\n\nThe Childhood of Tristan\nThe Morholt out of Ireland\nThe Quest of the Lady with the Hair of Gold\nThe Philtre\nThe Tall Pine-Tree\nThe Discovery\nThe Chantry Leap\n\nPART THE SECOND\n\nThe Wood of Morois\nOgrin the Hermit\nThe Ford\nThe Ordeal by Iron\n\nPART THE THIRD\n\nThe Little Fairy Bell\nIseult of the White Hands\nThe Madness of Tristan\nThe Death of Tristan\n\n\nPART THE FIRST\n\nTHE CHILDHOOD OF TRISTAN\n\nMy lords, if you would hear a high tale of love and of death, here is\nthat of Tristan and Queen Iseult; how to their full joy, but to their\nsorrow also, they loved each other, and how at last they died of that\nlove together upon one day; she by him and he by her.\n\nLong ago, when Mark was King over Cornwall, Rivalen, King of Lyonesse,\nheard that Mark\u2019s enemies waged war on him; so he crossed the sea to\nbring him aid; and so faithfully did he serve him with counsel and\nsword that Mark gave him his sister Blanchefleur, whom King Rivalen\nloved most marvellously.\n\nHe wedded her in Tintagel Minster, but hardly was she wed when the\nnews came to him that his old enemy Duke Morgan had fallen on Lyonesse\nand was wasting town and field. Then Rivalen manned his ships in\nhaste, and took Blanchefleur with him to his far land; but she was\nwith child. He landed below his castle of Kano\u00ebl and gave the Queen in\nward to his Marshal Rohalt, and after that set off to wage his war.\n\nBlanchefleur waited for him continually, but he did not come home,\ntill she learnt upon a day that Duke Morgan had killed him in foul\nambush. She did not weep: she made no cry or lamentation, but her\nlimbs failed her and grew weak, and her soul was filled with a strong\ndesire to be rid of the flesh, and though Rohalt tried to soothe her\nshe would not hear. Three days she awaited re-union with her lord, and\non the fourth she brought forth a son; and taking him in her arms she\nsaid:\n\n\u201cLittle son, I have longed a while to see you, and now I see you the\nfairest thing ever a woman bore. In sadness came I hither, in sadness\ndid I bring forth, and in sadness has your first feast day gone. And\nas by sadness you came into the world, your name shall be called\nTristan; that is the child of sadness.\u201d\n\nAfter she had said these words she kissed him, and immediately when\nshe had kissed him she died.\n\nRohalt, the keeper of faith, took the child, but already Duke Morgan\u2019s\nmen besieged the Castle of Kano\u00ebl all round about. There is a wise\nsaying: \u201cFool-hardy was never hardy,\u201d and he was compelled to yield to\nDuke Morgan at his mercy: but for fear that Morgan might slay\nRivalen\u2019s heir the Marshal hid him among his own sons.\n\nWhen seven years were passed and the time had come to take the child\nfrom the women, Rohalt put Tristan under a good master, the Squire\nGorvenal, and Gorvenal taught him in a few years the arts that go with\nbarony. He taught him the use of lance and sword and \u2019scutcheon and\nbow, and how to cast stone quoits and to leap wide dykes also: and he\ntaught him to hate every lie and felony and to keep his given word;\nand he taught him the various kinds of song and harp-playing, and the\nhunter\u2019s craft; and when the child rode among the young squires you\nwould have said that he and his horse and his armour were all one\nthing. To see him so noble and so proud, broad in the shoulders,\nloyal, strong and right, all men glorified Rohalt in such a son. But\nRohalt remembering Rivalen and Blanchefleur (of whose youth and grace\nall this was a resurrection) loved him indeed as a son, but in his\nheart revered him as his lord.\n\nNow all his joy was snatched from him on a day when certain merchants\nof Norway, having lured Tristan to their ship, bore him off as a rich\nprize, though Tristan fought hard, as a young wolf struggles, caught\nin a gin. But it is a truth well proved, and every sailor knows it,\nthat the sea will hardly bear a felon ship, and gives no aid to\nrapine. The sea rose and cast a dark storm round the ship and drove it\neight days and eight nights at random, till the mariners caught\nthrough the mist a coast of awful cliffs and sea-ward rocks whereon\nthe sea would have ground their hull to pieces: then they did penance,\nknowing that the anger of the sea came of the lad, whom they had\nstolen in an evil hour, and they vowed his deliverance and got ready a\nboat to put him, if it might be, ashore: then the wind, and sea fell\nand the sky shone, and as the Norway ship grew small in the offing, a\nquiet tide cast Tristan and the boat upon a beach of sand.\n\nPainfully he climbed the cliff and saw, beyond, a lonely rolling heath\nand a forest stretching out and endless. And he wept, remembering\nGorvenal, his father, and the land of Lyonesse. Then the distant cry\nof a hunt, with horse and hound, came suddenly and lifted his heart,\nand a tall stag broke cover at the forest edge. The pack and the hunt\nstreamed after it with a tumult of cries and winding horns, but just\nas the hounds were racing clustered at the haunch, the quarry turned\nto bay at a stones throw from Tristan; a huntsman gave him the thrust,\nwhile all around the hunt had gathered and was winding the kill. But\nTristan, seeing by the gesture of the huntsman that he made to cut the\nneck of the stag, cried out:\n\n\u201cMy lord, what would you do? Is it fitting to cut up so noble a beast\nlike any farm-yard hog? Is that the custom of this country?\u201d\n\nAnd the huntsman answered:\n\n\u201cFair friend, what startles you? Why yes, first I take off the head of\na stag, and then I cut it into four quarters and we carry it on our\nsaddle bows to King Mark, our lord: So do we, and so since the days of\nthe first huntsmen have done the Cornish men. If, however, you know of\nsome nobler custom, teach it us: take this knife and we will learn it\nwillingly.\u201d\n\nThen Tristan kneeled and skinned the stag before he cut it up, and\nquartered it all in order leaving the crow-bone all whole, as is meet,\nand putting aside at the end the head, the haunch, the tongue and the\ngreat heart\u2019s vein; and the huntsmen and the kennel hinds stood over\nhim with delight, and the Master Huntsman said:\n\n\u201cFriend, these are good ways. In what land learnt you them? Tell us\nyour country and your name.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood lord, my name is Tristan, and I learnt these ways in my country\nof Lyonesse.\u201d\n\n\u201cTristan,\u201d said the Master Huntsman, \u201cGod reward the father that\nbrought you up so nobly; doubtless he is a baron, rich and strong.\u201d\n\nNow Tristan knew both speech and silence, and he answered:\n\n\u201cNo, lord; my father is a burgess. I left his home unbeknownst upon a\nship that trafficked to a far place, for I wished to learn how men\nlived in foreign lands. But if you will accept me of the hunt I will\nfollow you gladly and teach you other crafts of venery.\u201d\n\n\u201cFair Tristan, I marvel there should be a land where a burgess\u2019s son\ncan know what a knight\u2019s son knows not elsewhere, but come with us\nsince you will it; and welcome: we will bring you to King Mark, our\nlord.\u201d\n\nTristan completed his task; to the dogs he gave the heart, the head,\noffal and ears; and he taught the hunt how the skinning and the\nordering should be done. Then he thrust the pieces upon pikes and gave\nthem to this huntsman and to that to carry, to one the snout to\nanother the haunch to another the flank to another the chine; and he\ntaught them how to ride by twos in rank, according to the dignity of\nthe pieces each might bear.\n\nSo they took the road and spoke together, till they came on a great\ncastle and round it fields and orchards, and living waters and fish\nponds and plough lands, and many ships were in its haven, for that\ncastle stood above the sea. It was well fenced against all assault or\nengines of war, and its keep, which the giants had built long ago, was\ncompact of great stones, like a chess board of vert and azure.\n\nAnd when Tristan asked its name:\n\n\u201cGood liege,\u201d they said, \u201cwe call it Tintagel.\u201d\n\nAnd Tristan cried:\n\n\u201cTintagel! Blessed be thou of God, and blessed be they that dwell\nwithin thee.\u201d\n\n(Therein, my lords, therein had Rivalen taken Blanchefleur to wife,\nthough their son knew it not.)\n\nWhen they came before the keep the horns brought the barons to the\ngates and King Mark himself. And when the Master Huntsman had told him\nall the story, and King Mark had marvelled at the good order of the\ncavalcade, and the cutting of the stag, and the high art of venery in\nall, yet most he wondered at the stranger boy, and still gazed at him,\ntroubled and wondering whence came his tenderness, and his heart would\nanswer him nothing; but, my lords, it was blood that spoke, and the\nlove he had long since borne his sister Blanchefleur.\n\nThat evening, when the boards were cleared, a singer out of Wales, a\nmaster, came forward among the barons in Hall and sang a harper\u2019s\nsong, and as this harper touched the strings of his harp, Tristan who\nsat at the King\u2019s feet, spoke thus to him:\n\n\u201cOh master, that is the first of songs! The Bretons of old wove it\nonce to chant the loves of Gra\u00eblent. And the melody is rare and rare\nare the words: master, your voice is subtle: harp us that well.\u201d\n\nBut when the Welshman had sung, he answered:\n\n\u201cBoy, what do you know of the craft of music? If the burgesses of\nLyonesse teach their sons harp\u2014play also, and rotes and viols too,\nrise, and take this harp and show your skill.\u201d\n\nThen Tristan took the harp and sang so well that the barons softened\nas they heard, and King Mark marvelled at the harper from Lyonesse\nwhither so long ago Rivalen had taken Blanchefleur away.\n\nWhen the song ended, the King was silent a long space, but he said at\nlast:\n\n\u201cSon, blessed be the master that taught thee, and blessed be thou of\nGod: for God loves good singers. Their voices and the voice of the\nharp enter the souls of men and wake dear memories and cause them to\nforget many a mourning and many a sin. For our joy did you come to\nthis roof, stay near us a long time, friend.\u201d\n\nAnd Tristan answered:\n\n\u201cVery willingly will I serve you, sire, as your harper, your huntsman\nand your liege.\u201d\n\nSo did he, and for three years a mutual love grew up in their hearts.\nBy day Tristan followed King Mark at pleas and in saddle; by night he\nslept in the royal room with the councillors and the peers, and if the\nKing was sad he would harp to him to soothe his care. The barons also\ncherished him, and (as you shall learn) Dinas of Lidan, the seneschal,\nbeyond all others. And more tenderly than the barons and than Dinas\nthe King loved him. But Tristan could not forget, or Rohalt his\nfather, or his master Gorvenal, or the land of Lyonesse.\n\nMy lords, a teller that would please, should not stretch his tale too\nlong, and truly this tale is so various and so high that it needs no\nstraining. Then let me shortly tell how Rohalt himself, after long\nwandering by sea and land, came into Cornwall, and found Tristan, and\nshowing the King the carbuncle that once was Blanchefleur\u2019s, said:\n\n\u201cKing Mark, here is your nephew Tristan, son of your sister\nBlanchefleur and of King Rivalen. Duke Morgan holds his land most\nwrongfully; it is time such land came back to its lord.\u201d\n\nAnd Tristan (in a word) when his uncle had armed him knight, crossed\nthe sea, and was hailed of his father\u2019s vassals, and killed Rivalen\u2019s\nslayer and was re-seized of his land.\n\nThen remembering how King Mark could no longer live in joy without\nhim, he summoned his council and his barons and said this:\n\n\u201cLords of the Lyonesse, I have retaken this place and I have avenged\nKing Rivalen by the help of God and of you. But two men Rohalt and\nKing Mark of Cornwall nourished me, an orphan, and a wandering boy. So\nshould I call them also fathers. Now a free man has two things\nthoroughly his own, his body and his land. To Rohalt then, here, I\nwill release my land. Do you hold it, father, and your son shall hold\nit after you. But my body I give up to King Mark. I will leave this\ncountry, dear though it be, and in Cornwall I will serve King Mark as\nmy lord. Such is my judgment, but you, my lords of Lyonesse, are my\nlieges, and owe me counsel; if then, some one of you will counsel me\nanother thing let him rise and speak.\u201d\n\nBut all the barons praised him, though they wept; and taking with him\nGorvenal only, Tristan set sail for King Mark\u2019s land.\n\nTHE MORHOLT OUT OF IRELAND\n\nWhen Tristan came back to that land, King Mark and all his Barony were\nmourning; for the King of Ireland had manned a fleet to ravage\nCornwall, should King Mark refuse, as he had refused these fifteen\nyears, to pay a tribute his fathers had paid. Now that year this King\nhad sent to Tintagel, to carry his summons, a giant knight; the\nMorholt, whose sister he had wed, and whom no man had yet been able to\novercome: so King Mark had summoned all the barons of his land to\nCouncil, by letters sealed.\n\nOn the day assigned, when the barons were gathered in hall, and when\nthe King had taken his throne, the Morholt said these things:\n\n\u201cKing Mark, hear for the last time the summons of the King of Ireland,\nmy lord. He arraigns you to pay at last that which you have owed so\nlong, and because you have refused it too long already he bids you\ngive over to me this day three hundred youths and three hundred\nmaidens drawn by lot from among the Cornish folk. But if so be that\nany would prove by trial of combat that the King of Ireland receives\nthis tribute without right, I will take up his wager. Which among you,\nmy Cornish lords, will fight to redeem this land?\u201d\n\nThe barons glanced at each other but all were silent.\n\nThen Tristan knelt at the feet of King Mark and said:\n\n\u201cLord King, by your leave I will do battle.\u201d\n\nAnd in vain would King Mark have turned him from his purpose,\nthinking, how could even valour save so young a knight? But he threw\ndown his gage to the Morholt, and the Morholt took up the gage.\n\nOn the appointed day he had himself clad for a great feat of arms in a\nhauberk and in a steel helm, and he entered a boat and drew to the\nislet of St. Samson\u2019s, where the knights were to fight each to each\nalone. Now the Morholt had hoisted to his mast a sail of rich purple,\nand coming fast to land, he moored his boat on the shore. But Tristan\npushed off his own boat adrift with his feet, and said:\n\n\u201cOne of us only will go hence alive. One boat will serve.\u201d\n\nAnd each rousing the other to the fray they passed into the isle.\n\nNo man saw the sharp combat; but thrice the salt sea-breeze had wafted\nor seemed to waft a cry of fury to the land, when at last towards the\nhour of noon the purple sail showed far off; the Irish boat appeared\nfrom the island shore, and there rose a clamour of \u201cthe Morholt!\u201d When\nsuddenly, as the boat grew larger on the sight and topped a wave, they\nsaw that Tristan stood on the prow holding a sword in his hand. He\nleapt ashore, and as the mothers kissed the steel upon his feet he\ncried to the Morholt\u2019s men:\n\n\u201cMy lords of Ireland, the Morholt fought well. See here, my sword is\nbroken and a splinter of it stands fast in his head. Take you that\nsteel, my lords; it is the tribute of Cornwall.\u201d\n\nThen he went up to Tintagel and as he went the people he had freed\nwaved green boughs, and rich cloths were hung at the windows. But when\nTristan reached the castle with joy, songs and joy-bells sounding\nabout him, he drooped in the arms of King Mark, for the blood ran from\nhis wounds.\n\nThe Morholt\u2019s men, they landed in Ireland quite cast down. For when\never he came back into Whitehaven the Morholt had been wont to take\njoy in the sight of his clan upon the shore, of the Queen his sister,\nand of his niece Iseult the Fair. Tenderly had they cherished him of\nold, and had he taken some wound, they healed him, for they were\nskilled in balms and potions. But now their magic was vain, for he lay\ndead and the splinter of the foreign brand yet stood in his skull till\nIseult plucked it out and shut it in a chest.\n\nFrom that day Iseult the Fair knew and hated the name of Tristan of\nLyonesse.\n\nBut over in Tintagel Tristan languished, for there trickled a\npoisonous blood from his wound. The doctors found that the Morholt had\nthrust into him a poisoned barb, and as their potions and their\ntheriac could never heal him they left him in God\u2019s hands. So hateful\na stench came from his wound that all his dearest friends fled him,\nall save King Mark, Gorvenal and Dinas of Lidan. They always could\nstay near his couch because their love overcame their abhorrence. At\nlast Tristan had himself carried into a boat apart on the shore; and\nlying facing the sea he awaited death, for he thought: \u201cI must die;\nbut it is good to see the sun and my heart is still high. I would like\nto try the sea that brings all chances. \u2026 I would have the sea bear me\nfar off alone, to what land no matter, so that it heal me of my\nwound.\u201d\n\nHe begged so long that King Mark accepted his desire. He bore him into\na boat with neither sail nor oar, and Tristan wished that his harp\nonly should be placed beside him: for sails he could not lift, nor oar\nply, nor sword wield; and as a seaman on some long voyage casts to the\nsea a beloved companion dead, so Gorvenal pushed out to sea that boat\nwhere his dear son lay; and the sea drew him away.\n\nFor seven days and seven nights the sea so drew him; at times to charm\nhis grief, he harped; and when at last the sea brought him near a\nshore where fishermen had left their port that night to fish far out,\nthey heard as they rowed a sweet and strong and living tune that ran\nabove the sea, and feathering their oars they listened immovable.\n\nIn the first whiteness of the dawn they saw the boat at large: she\nwent at random and nothing seemed to live in her except the voice of\nthe harp. But as they neared, the air grew weaker and died; and when\nthey hailed her Tristan\u2019s hands had fallen lifeless on the strings\nthough they still trembled. The fishermen took him in and bore him\nback to port, to their lady who was merciful and perhaps would heal\nhim.\n\nIt was that same port of Whitehaven where the Morholt lay, and their\nlady was Iseult the Fair.\n\nShe alone, being skilled in philtres, could save Tristan, but she\nalone wished him dead. When Tristan knew himself again (for her art\nrestored him) he knew himself to be in the land of peril. But he was\nyet strong to hold his own and found good crafty words. He told a tale\nof how he was a seer that had taken passage on a merchant ship and\nsailed to Spain to learn the art of reading all the stars,\u2014of how\npirates had boarded the ship and of how, though wounded, he had fled\ninto that boat. He was believed, nor did any of the Morholt\u2019s men know\nhis face again, so hardly had the poison used it. But when, after\nforty days, Iseult of the Golden Hair had all but healed him, when\nalready his limbs had recovered and the grace of youth returned, he\nknew that he must escape, and he fled and after many dangers he came\nagain before Mark the King.\n\nTHE QUEST OF THE LADY WITH THE HAIR OF GOLD\n\nMy lords, there were in the court of King Mark four barons the basest\nof men, who hated Tristan with a hard hate, for his greatness and for\nthe tender love the King bore him. And well I know their names:\nAndret, Guenelon, Gondo\u00efne and Denoalen. They knew that the King had\nintent to grow old childless and to leave his land to Tristan; and\ntheir envy swelled and by lies they angered the chief men of Cornwall\nagainst Tristan. They said:\n\n\u201cThere have been too many marvels in this man\u2019s life. It was marvel\nenough that he beat the Morholt, but by what sorcery did he try the\nsea alone at the point of death, or which of us, my lords, could\nvoyage without mast or sail? They say that warlocks can. It was sure a\nwarlock feat, and that is a warlock harp of his pours poison daily\ninto the King\u2019s heart. See how he has bent that heart by power and\nchain of sorcery! He will be king yet, my lords, and you will hold\nyour lands of a wizard.\u201d\n\nThey brought over the greater part of the barons and these pressed\nKing Mark to take to wife some king\u2019s daughter who should give him an\nheir, or else they threatened to return each man into his keep and\nwage him war. But the King turned against them and swore in his heart\nthat so long as his dear nephew lived no king\u2019s daughter should come\nto his bed. Then in his turn did Tristan (in his shame to be thought\nto serve for hire) threaten that if the King did not yield to his\nbarons, he would himself go over sea serve some great king. At this,\nKing Mark made a term with his barons and gave them forty days to hear\nhis decision.\n\nOn the appointed day he waited alone in his chamber and sadly mused:\n\u201cWhere shall I find a king\u2019s daughter so fair and yet so distant that\nI may feign to wish her my wife?\u201d\n\nJust then by his window that looked upon the sea two building swallows\ncame in quarrelling together. Then, startled, they flew out, but had\nlet fall from their beaks a woman\u2019s hair, long and fine, and shining\nlike a beam of light.\n\nKing Mark took it, and called his barons and Tristan and said:\n\n\u201cTo please you, lords, I will take a wife; but you must seek her whom\nI have chosen.\u201d\n\n\u201cFair lord, we wish it all,\u201d they said, \u201cand who may she be?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said he, \u201cshe whose hair this is; nor will I take another.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd whence, lord King, comes this Hair of Gold; who brought it and\nfrom what land?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt comes, my lords, from the Lady with the Hair of Gold, the swallows\nbrought it me. They know from what country it came.\u201d\n\nThen the barons saw themselves mocked and cheated, and they turned\nwith sneers to Tristan, for they thought him to have counselled the\ntrick. But Tristan, when he had looked on the Hair of Gold, remembered\nIseult the Fair and smiled and said this:\n\n\u201cKing Mark, can you not see that the doubts of these lords shame me?\nYou have designed in vain. I will go seek the Lady with the Hair of\nGold. The search is perilous: never the less, my uncle, I would once\nmore put my body and my life into peril for you; and that your barons\nmay know I love you loyally, I take this oath, to die on the adventure\nor to bring back to this castle of Tintagel the Queen with that fair\nhair.\u201d\n\nHe fitted out a great ship and loaded it with corn and wine, with\nhoney and all manner of good things; he manned it with Gorvenal and a\nhundred young knights of high birth, chosen among the bravest, and he\nclothed them in coats of home-spun and in hair cloth so that they\nseemed merchants only: but under the deck he hid rich cloth of gold\nand scarlet as for a great king\u2019s messengers.\n\nWhen the ship had taken the sea the helmsman asked him:\n\n\u201cLord, to what land shall I steer?\u201d\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d said he, \u201csteer for Ireland, straight for Whitehaven harbour.\u201d\n\nAt first Tristan made believe to the men of Whitehaven that his\nfriends were merchants of England come peacefully to barter; but as\nthese strange merchants passed the day in the useless games of\ndraughts and chess, and seemed to know dice better than the bargain\nprice of corn, Tristan feared discovery and knew not how to pursue his\nquest.\n\nNow it chanced once upon the break of day that he heard a cry so\nterrible that one would have called it a demon\u2019s cry; nor had he ever\nheard a brute bellow in such wise, so awful and strange it seemed. He\ncalled a woman who passed by the harbour, and said:\n\n\u201cTell me, lady, whence comes that voice I have heard, and hide me\nnothing.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d said she, \u201cI will tell you truly. It is the roar of a\ndragon the most terrible and dauntless upon earth. Daily it leaves its\nden and stands at one of the gates of the city: Nor can any come out\nor go in till a maiden has been given up to it; and when it has her in\nits claws it devours her.\u201d\n\n\u201cLady,\u201d said Tristan, \u201cmake no mock of me, but tell me straight: Can a\nman born of woman kill this thing?\u201d\n\n\u201cFair sir, and gentle,\u201d she said, \u201cI cannot say; but this is sure:\nTwenty knights and tried have run the venture, because the King of\nIreland has published it that he will give his daughter, Iseult the\nFair, to whomsoever shall kill the beast; but it has devoured them\nall.\u201d\n\nTristan left the woman and returning to his ship armed himself in\nsecret, and it was a fine sight to see so noble a charger and so good\na knight come out from such a merchant-hull: but the haven was empty\nof folk, for the dawn had barely broken and none saw him as he rode to\nthe gate. And hardly had he passed it, when he met suddenly five men\nat full gallop flying towards the town. Tristan seized one by his\nhair, as he passed, and dragged him over his mount\u2019s crupper and held\nhim fast:\n\n\u201cGod save you, my lord,\u201d said he, \u201cand whence does the dragon come?\u201d\nAnd when the other had shown him by what road, he let him go.\n\nAs the monster neared, he showed the head of a bear and red eyes like\ncoals of fire and hairy tufted ears; lion\u2019s claws, a serpent\u2019s tail,\nand a griffin\u2019s body.\n\nTristan charged his horse at him so strongly that, though the beast\u2019s\nmane stood with fright yet he drove at the dragon: his lance struck\nits scales and shivered. Then Tristan drew his sword and struck at the\ndragon\u2019s head, but he did not so much as cut the hide. The beast felt\nthe blow: with its claws he dragged at the shield and broke it from\nthe arm; then, his breast unshielded, Tristan used the sword again and\nstruck so strongly that the air rang all round about: but in vain, for\nhe could not wound and meanwhile the dragon vomited from his nostrils\ntwo streams of loath-some flames, and Tristan\u2019s helm blackened like a\ncinder and his horse stumbled and fell down and died; but Tristan\nstanding on his feet thrust his sword right into the beast\u2019s jaws, and\nsplit its heart in two.\n\nThen he cut out the tongue and put it into his hose, but as the poison\ncame against his flesh the hero fainted and fell in the high grass\nthat bordered the marsh around.\n\nNow the man he had stopped in flight was the Seneschal of Ireland and\nhe desired Iseult the Fair: and though he was a coward, he had dared\nso far as to return with his companions secretly, and he found the\ndragon dead; so he cut off its head and bore it to the King, and\nclaimed the great reward.\n\nThe King could credit his prowess but hardly, yet wished justice done\nand summoned his vassals to court, so that there, before the Barony\nassembled, the seneschal should furnish proof of his victory won.\n\nWhen Iseult the Fair heard that she was to be given to this coward\nfirst she laughed long, and then she wailed. But on the morrow,\ndoubting some trick, she took with her Perinis her squire and Brangien\nher maid, and all three rode unbeknownst towards the dragon\u2019s lair:\nand Iseult saw such a trail on the road as made her wonder\u2014for the\nhoofs that made it had never been shod in her land. Then she came on\nthe dragon, headless, and a dead horse beside him: nor was the horse\nharnessed in the fashion of Ireland. Some foreign man had slain the\nbeast, but they knew not whether he still lived or no.\n\nThey sought him long, Iseult and Perinis and Brangien together, till\nat last Brangien saw the helm glittering in the marshy grass: and\nTristan still breathed. Perinis put him on his horse and bore him\nsecretly to the women\u2019s rooms. There Iseult told her mother the tale\nand left the hero with her, and as the Queen unharnessed him, the\ndragon\u2019s tongue fell from his boot of steel. Then, the Queen of\nIreland revived him by the virtue of an herb and said:\n\n\u201cStranger, I know you for the true slayer of the dragon: but our\nseneschal, a felon, cut off its head and claims my daughter Iseult for\nhis wage; will you be ready two days hence to give him the lie in\nbattle?\u201d\n\n\u201cQueen,\u201d said he, \u201cthe time is short, but you, I think, can cure me in\ntwo days. Upon the dragon I conquered Iseult, and on the seneschal\nperhaps I shall reconquer her.\u201d\n\nThen the Queen brewed him strong brews, and on the morrow Iseult the\nFair got him ready a bath and anointed him with a balm her mother had\nconjured, and as he looked at her he thought, \u201cSo I have found the\nQueen of the Hair of Gold,\u201d and he smiled as he thought it. But\nIseult, noting it, thought, \u201cWhy does he smile, or what have I\nneglected of the things due to a guest? He smiles to think I have for\u2014\ngotten to burnish his armour.\u201d\n\nShe went and drew the sword from its rich sheath, but when she saw the\nsplinter gone and the gap in the edge she thought of the Morholt\u2019s\nhead. She balanced a moment in doubt, then she went to where she kept\nthe steel she had found in the skull and she put it to the sword, and\nit fitted so that the join was hardly seen.\n\nShe ran to where Tristan lay wounded, and with the sword above him she\ncried:\n\n\u201cYou are that Tristan of the Lyonesse, who killed the Morholt, my\nmother\u2019s brother, and now you shall die in your turn.\u201d\n\nTristan strained to ward the blow, but he was too weak; his wit,\nhowever, stood firm in spite of evil and he said:\n\n\u201cSo be it, let me die: but to save yourself long memories, listen\nawhile. King\u2019s daughter, my life is not only in your power but is\nyours of right. My life is yours because you have twice returned it\nme. Once, long ago: for I was the wounded harper whom you healed of\nthe poison of the Morholt\u2019s shaft. Nor repent the healing: were not\nthese wounds had in fair fight? Did I kill the Morholt by treason? Had\nhe not defied me and was I not held to the defence of my body? And now\nthis second time also you have saved me. It was for you I fought the\nbeast.\n\n\u201cBut let us leave these things. I would but show you how my life is\nyour own. Then if you kill me of right for the glory of it, you may\nponder for long years, praising yourself that you killed a wounded\nguest who had wagered his life in your gaining.\u201d\n\nIseult replied: \u201cI hear strange words. Why should he that killed the\nMorholt seek me also, his niece? Doubtless because the Morholt came\nfor a tribute of maidens from Cornwall, so you came to boast returning\nthat you had brought back the maiden who was nearest to him, to\nCornwall, a slave.\u201d\n\n\u201cKing\u2019s daughter,\u201d said Tristan, \u201cNo. \u2026 One day two swallows flew, and\nflew to Tintagel and bore one hair out of all your hairs of gold, and\nI thought they brought me good will and peace, so I came to find you\nover-seas. See here, amid the threads of gold upon my coat your hair\nis sown: the threads are tarnished, but your bright hair still\nshines.\u201d\n\nIseult put down the sword and taking up the Coat of Arms she saw upon\nit the Hair of Gold and was silent a long space, till she kissed him\non the lips to prove peace, and she put rich garments over him.\n\nOn the day of the barons\u2019 assembly, Tristan sent Perinis privily to\nhis ship to summon his companions that they should come to court\nadorned as befitted the envoys of a great king.\n\nOne by one the hundred knights passed into the hall where all the\nbarons of Ireland stood, they entered in silence and sat all in rank\ntogether: on their scarlet and purple the gems gleamed.\n\nWhen the King had taken his throne, the seneschal arose to prove by\nwitness and by arms that he had slain the dragon and that so Iseult\nwas won. Then Iseult bowed to her father and said:\n\n\u201cKing, I have here a man who challenges your seneschal for lies and\nfelony. Promise that you will pardon this man all his past deeds, who\nstands to prove that he and none other slew the dragon, and grant him\nforgiveness and your peace.\u201d\n\nThe King said, \u201cI grant it.\u201d But Iseult said, \u201cFather, first give me\nthe kiss of peace and forgiveness, as a sign that you will give him\nthe same.\u201d\n\nThen she found Tristan and led him before the Barony. And as he came\nthe hundred knights rose all together, and crossed their arms upon\ntheir breasts and bowed, so the Irish knew that he was their lord.\n\nBut among the Irish many knew him again and cried, \u201cTristan of\nLyonesse that slew the Morholt!\u201d They drew their swords and clamoured\nfor death. But Iseult cried: \u201cKing, kiss this man upon the lips as\nyour oath was,\u201d and the King kissed him, and the clamour fell.\n\nThen Tristan showed the dragon\u2019s tongue and offered the seneschal\nbattle, but the seneschal looked at his face and dared not.\n\nThen Tristan said:\n\n\u201cMy lords, you have said it, and it is truth: I killed the Morholt.\nBut I crossed the sea to offer you a good blood-fine, to ransom that\ndeed and get me quit of it.\n\n\u201cI put my body in peril of death and rid you of the beast and have so\nconquered Iseult the Fair, and having conquered her I will bear her\naway on my ship.\n\n\u201cBut that these lands of Cornwall and Ireland may know no more hatred,\nbut love only, learn that King Mark, my lord, will marry her. Here\nstand a hundred knights of high name, who all will swear with an oath\nupon the relics of the holy saints, that King Mark sends you by their\nembassy offer of peace and of brotherhood and goodwill; and that he\nwould by your courtesy hold Iseult as his honoured wife, and that he\nwould have all the men of Cornwall serve her as their Queen.\u201d\n\nWhen the lords of Ireland heard this they acclaimed it, and the King\nalso was content.\n\nThen, since that treaty and alliance was to be made, the King her\nfather took Iseult by the hand and asked of Tristan that he should\ntake an oath; to wit that he would lead her loyally to his lord, and\nTristan took that oath and swore it before the knights and the Barony\nof Ireland assembled. Then the King put Iseult\u2019s right hand into\nTristan\u2019s right hand, and Tristan held it for a space in token of\nseizin for the King of Cornwall.\n\nSo, for the love of King Mark, did Tristan conquer the Queen of the\nHair of Gold.\n\nTHE PHILTRE\n\nWhen the day of Iseult\u2019s livery to the Lords of Cornwall drew near,\nher mother gathered herbs and flowers and roots and steeped them in\nwine, and brewed a potion of might, and having done so, said apart to\nBrangien:\n\n\u201cChild, it is yours to go with Iseult to King Mark\u2019s country, for you\nlove her with a faithful love. Take then this pitcher and remember\nwell my words. Hide it so that no eye shall see nor no lip go near it:\nbut when the wedding night has come and that moment in which the\nwedded are left alone, pour this essenced wine into a cup and offer it\nto King Mark and to Iseult his queen. Oh! Take all care, my child,\nthat they alone shall taste this brew. For this is its power: they who\ndrink of it together love each other with their every single sense and\nwith their every thought, forever, in life and in death.\u201d\n\nAnd Brangien promised the Queen that she would do her bidding.\n\nOn the bark that bore her to Tintagel Iseult the Fair was weeping as\nshe remembered her own land, and mourning swelled her heart, and she\nsaid, \u201cWho am I that I should leave you to follow unknown men, my\nmother and my land? Accursed be the sea that bears me, for rather\nwould I lie dead on the earth where I was born than live out there,\nbeyond. \u2026\n\nOne day when the wind had fallen and the sails hung slack Tristan\ndropped anchor by an Island and the hundred knights of Cornwall and\nthe sailors, weary of the sea, landed all. Iseult alone remained\naboard and a little serving maid, when Tristan came near the Queen to\ncalm her sorrow. The sun was hot above them and they were athirst and,\nas they called, the little maid looked about for drink for them and\nfound that pitcher which the mother of Iseult had given into\nBrangien\u2019s keeping. And when she came on it, the child cried, \u201cI have\nfound you wine!\u201d Now she had found not wine \u2014 but Passion and Joy most\nsharp, and Anguish without end, and Death.\n\nThe Queen drank deep of that draught and gave it to Tristan and he\ndrank also long and emptied it all.\n\nBrangien came in upon them; she saw them gazing at each other in\nsilence as though ravished and apart; she saw before them the pitcher\nstanding there; she snatched it up and cast it into the shuddering sea\nand cried aloud: \u201cCursed be the day I was born and cursed the day that\nfirst I trod this deck. Iseult, my friend, and Tristan, you, you have\ndrunk death together.\u201d\n\nAnd once more the bark ran free for Tintagel. But it seemed to Tristan\nas though an ardent briar, sharp-thorned but with flower most sweet\nsmelling, drave roots into his blood and laced the lovely body of\nIseult all round about it and bound it to his own and to his every\nthought and desire. And he thought, \u201cFelons, that charged me with\ncoveting King Mark\u2019s land, I have come lower by far, for it is not his\nland I covet. Fair uncle, who loved me orphaned ere ever you knew in\nme the blood of your sister Blanchefleur, you that wept as you bore me\nto that boat alone, why did you not drive out the boy that was to\nbetray you? Ah! What thought was that! Iseult is yours and I am but\nyour vassal; Iseult is yours and I am your son; Iseult is yours and\nmay not love me.\u201d\n\nBut Iseult loved him, though she would have hated. She could not hate,\nfor a tenderness more sharp than hatred tore her.\n\nAnd Brangien watched them in anguish, suffering more cruelly because\nshe alone knew the depth of evil done.\n\nTwo days she watched them, seeing them refuse all food or comfort and\nseeking each other as blind men seek, wretched apart and together more\nwretched still, for then they trembled each for the first avowal.\n\nOn the third day, as Tristan neared the tent on deck where Iseult sat,\nshe saw him coming and she said to him, very humbly, \u201cCome in, my\nlord.\u201d\n\n\u201cQueen,\u201d said Tristan, \u201cwhy do you call me lord? Am I not your liege\nand vassal, to revere and serve and cherish you as my lady and Queen?\u201d\n\nBut Iseult answered, \u201cNo, you know that you are my lord and my master,\nand I your slave. Ah, why did I not sharpen those wounds of the\nwounded singer, or let die that dragon-slayer in the grasses of the\nmarsh? But then I did not know what now I know!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what is it that you know, Iseult?\u201d\n\nShe laid her arm upon Tristan\u2019s shoulder, the light of her eyes was\ndrowned and her lips trembled.\n\n\u201cThe love of you,\u201d she said. Whereat he put his lips to hers.\n\nBut as they thus tasted their first joy, Brangien, that watched them,\nstretched her arms and cried at their feet in tears:\n\n\u201cStay and return if still you can \u2026 But oh! that path has no\nreturning. For already Love and his strength drag you on and now\nhenceforth forever never shall you know joy without pain again. The\nwine possesses you, the draught your mother gave me, the draught the\nKing alone should have drunk with you: but that old Enemy has tricked\nus, all us three; friend Tristan, Iseult my friend, for that bad ward\nI kept take here my body and my life, for through me and in that cup\nyou have drunk not love alone, but love and death together.\u201d\n\nThe lovers held each other; life and desire trembled through their\nyouth, and Tristan said, \u201cWell then, come Death.\u201d\n\nAnd as evening fell, upon the bark that heeled and ran to King Mark\u2019s\nland, they gave themselves up utterly to love.\n\nTHE TALL PINE-TREE\n\nAs King Mark came down to greet Iseult upon the shore, Tristan took\nher hand and led her to the King and the King took seizin of her,\ntaking her hand. He led her in great pomp to his castle of Tintagel,\nand as she came in hall amid the vassals her beauty shone so that the\nwalls were lit as they are lit at dawn. Then King Mark blessed those\nswallows which, by happy courtesy, had brought the Hair of Gold, and\nTristan also he blessed, and the hundred knights who, on that\nadventurous bark, had gone to find him joy of heart and of eyes; yet\nto him also that ship was to bring sting, torment and mourning.\n\nAnd on the eighteenth day, having called his Barony together he took\nIseult to wife. But on the wedding night, to save her friend, Brangien\ntook her place in the darkness, for her remorse demanded even this\nfrom her; nor was the trick discovered.\n\nThen Iseult lived as a queen, but lived in sadness. She had King\nMark\u2019s tenderness and the barons\u2019 honour; the people also loved her;\nshe passed her days amid the frescoes on the walls and floors all\nstrewn with flowers; good jewels had she and purple cloth and tapestry\nof Hungary and Thessaly too, and songs of harpers, and curtains upon\nwhich were worked leopards and eagles and popinjays and all the beasts\nof sea and field. And her love too she had, love high and splendid,\nfor as is the custom among great lords, Tristan could ever be near\nher. At his leisure and his dalliance, night and day: for he slept in\nthe King\u2019s chamber as great lords do, among the lieges and the\ncouncillors. Yet still she feared; for though her love were secret and\nTristan unsuspected (for who suspects a son?) Brangien knew. And\nBrangien seemed in the Queen\u2019s mind like a witness spying; for\nBrangien alone knew what manner of life she led, and held her at mercy\nso. And the Queen thought Ah, if some day she should weary of serving\nas a slave the bed where once she passed for Queen \u2026 If Tristan should\ndie from her betrayal! So fear maddened the Queen, but not in truth\nthe fear of Brangien who was loyal; her own heart bred the fear.\n\nNot Brangien who was faithful, not Brangien, but themselves had these\nlovers to fear, for hearts so stricken will lose their vigilance. Love\npressed them hard, as thirst presses the dying stag to the stream;\nlove dropped upon them from high heaven, as a hawk slipped after long\nhunger falls right upon the bird. And love will not be hidden.\nBrangien indeed by her prudence saved them well, nor ever were the\nQueen and her lover unguarded. But in every hour and place every man\ncould see Love terrible, that rode them, and could see in these lovers\ntheir every sense overflowing like new wine working in the vat.\n\nThe four felons at court who had hated Tristan of old for his prowess,\nwatched the Queen; they had guessed that great love, and they burnt\nwith envy and hatred and now a kind of evil joy. They planned to give\nnews of their watching to the King, to see his tenderness turned to\nfury, Tristan thrust out or slain, and the Queen in torment; for\nthough they feared Tristan their hatred mastered their fear; and, on a\nday, the four barons called King Mark to parley, and Andret said:\n\n\u201cFair King, your heart will be troubled and we four also mourn; yet\nare we bound to tell you what we know. You have placed your trust in\nTristan and Tristan would shame you. In vain we warned you. For the\nlove of one man you have mocked ties of blood and all your Barony.\nLearn then that Tristan loves the Queen; it is truth proved and many a\nword is passing on it now.\u201d\n\nThe royal King shrank and answered:\n\n\u201cCoward! What thought was that? Indeed I have placed my trust in\nTristan. And rightly, for on the day when the Morholt offered combat\nto you all, you hung your heads and were dumb, and you trembled before\nhim; but Tristan dared him for the honour of this land, and took\nmortal wounds. Therefore do you hate him, and therefore do I cherish\nhim beyond thee, Andret, and beyond any other; but what then have you\nseen or heard or known?\u201d\n\n\u201cNaught, lord, save what your eyes could see or your ears hear. Look\nyou and listen, Sire, if there is yet time.\u201d\n\nAnd they left him to taste the poison.\n\nThen King Mark watched the Queen and Tristan; but Brangien noting it\nwarned them both and the King watched in vain, so that, soon wearying\nof an ignoble task, but knowing (alas!) that he could not kill his\nuneasy thought, he sent for Tristan and said:\n\n\u201cTristan, leave this castle; and having left it, remain apart and do\nnot think to return to it, and do not repass its moat or boundaries.\nFelons have charged you with an awful treason, but ask me nothing; I\ncould not speak their words without shame to us both, and for your\npart seek you no word to appease. I have not believed them \u2026 had I\ndone so \u2026 But their evil words have troubled all my soul and only by\nyour absence can my disquiet be soothed. Go, doubtless I will soon\nrecall you. Go, my son, you are still dear to me.\n\nWhen the felons heard the news they said among themselves, \u201cHe is\ngone, the wizard; he is driven out. Surely he will cross the sea on\nfar adventures to carry his traitor service to some distant King.\u201d\n\nBut Tristan had not strength to depart altogether; and when he had\ncrossed the moats and boundaries of the Castle he knew he could go no\nfurther. He stayed in Tintagel town and lodged with Gorvenal in a\nburgess\u2019 house, and languished oh! more wounded than when in that past\nday the shaft of the Morholt had tainted his body.\n\nIn the close towers Iseult the Fair drooped also, but more wretched\nstill. For it was hers all day long to feign laughter and all night\nlong to conquer fever and despair. And all night as she lay by King\nMark\u2019s side, fever still kept her waking, and she stared at darkness.\nShe longed to fly to Tristan and she dreamt dreams of running to the\ngates and of finding there sharp scythes, traps of the felons, that\ncut her tender knees; and she dreamt of weakness and falling, and that\nher wounds had left her blood upon the ground. Now these lovers would\nhave died, but Brangien succoured them. At peril of her life she found\nthe house where Tristan lay. There Gorvenal opened to her very gladly,\nknowing what salvation she could bring.\n\nSo she found Tristan, and to save the lovers she taught him a device,\nnor was ever known a more subtle ruse of love.\n\nBehind the castle of Tintagel was an orchard fenced around and wide\nand all closed in with stout and pointed stakes and numberless trees\nwere there and fruit on them, birds and clusters of sweet grapes. And\nfurthest from the castle, by the stakes of the pallisade, was a tall\npine-tree, straight and with heavy branches spreading from its trunk.\nAt its root a living spring welled calm into a marble round, then ran\nbetween two borders winding, throughout the orchard and so, on, till\nit flowed at last within the castle and through the women\u2019s rooms.\n\nAnd every evening, by Brangien\u2019s counsel, Tristan cut him twigs and\nbark, leapt the sharp stakes and, having come beneath the pine, threw\nthem into the clear spring; they floated light as foam down the stream\nto the women\u2019s rooms; and Iseult watched for their coming, and on\nthose evenings she would wander out into the orchard and find her\nfriend. Lithe and in fear would she come, watching at every step for\nwhat might lurk in the trees observing, foes or the felons whom she\nknew, till she spied Tristan; and the night and the branches of the\npine protected them.\n\nAnd so she said one night: \u201cOh, Tristan, I have heard that the castle\nis fa\u00ebry and that twice a year it vanishes away. So is it vanished now\nand this is that enchanted orchard of which the harpers sing.\u201d And as\nshe said it, the sentinels bugled dawn.\n\nIseult had refound her joy. Mark\u2019s thought of ill-ease grew faint; but\nthe felons felt or knew which way lay truth, and they guessed that\nTristan had met the Queen. Till at last Duke Andret (whom God shame)\nsaid to his peers:\n\n\u201cMy lords, let us take counsel of Frocin the Dwarf; for he knows the\nseven arts, and magic and every kind of charm. He will teach us if he\nwill the wiles of Iseult the Fair.\u201d\n\nThe little evil man drew signs for them and characters of sorcery; he\ncast the fortunes of the hour and then at last he said:\n\n\u201cSirs, high good lords, this night shall you seize them both.\u201d\n\nThen they led the little wizard to the King, and he said:\n\n\u201cSire, bid your huntsmen leash the hounds and saddle the horses,\nproclaim a seven days\u2019 hunt in the forest and seven nights abroad\ntherein, and hang me high if you do not hear this night what converse\nTristan holds.\u201d\n\nSo did the King unwillingly; and at fall of night he left the hunt\ntaking the dwarf in pillion, and entered the orchard, and the dwarf\ntook him to the tall pine-tree, saying:\n\n\u201cFair King, climb into these branches and take with you your arrows\nand your bow, for you may need them; and bide you still.\u201d\n\nThat night the moon shone clear. Hid in the branches the King saw his\nnephew leap the pallisades and throw his bark and twigs into the\nstream. But Tristan had bent over the round well to throw them and so\ndoing had seen the image of the King. He could not stop the branches\nas they floated away, and there, yonder, in the women\u2019s rooms, Iseult\nwas watching and would come.\n\nShe came, and Tristan watched her motionless. Above him in the tree he\nheard the click of the arrow when it fits the string.\n\nShe came, but with more prudence than her wont, thinking, \u201cWhat has\npassed, that Tristan does not come to meet me? He has seen some foe.\u201d\n\nSuddenly, by the clear moonshine, she also saw the King\u2019s shadow in\nthe fount. She showed the wit of women well, she did not lift her\neyes.\n\n\u201cLord God,\u201d she said, low down, grant I may be the first to speak.\u201d\n\n\u201cTristan,\u201d she said, \u201cwhat have you dared to do, calling me hither at\nsuch an hour? Often have you called me \u2014to beseech, you said. And\nQueen though I am, I know you won me that title\u2014and I have come. What\nwould you?\u201d\n\n\u201cQueen, I would have you pray the King for me.\u201d\n\nShe was in tears and trembling, but Tristan praised God the Lord who\nhad shown his friend her peril.\n\n\u201cQueen,\u201d he went on, \u201coften and in vain have I summoned you; never\nwould you come. Take pity; the King hates me and I know not why.\nPerhaps you know the cause and can charm his anger. For whom can he\ntrust if not you, chaste Queen and courteous, Iseult?\u201d\n\n\u201cTruly, Lord Tristan, you do not know he doubts us both. And I, to add\nto my shame, must acquaint you of it. Ah! but God knows if I lie,\nnever went cut my love to any man but he that first received me. And\nwould you have me, at such a time, implore your pardon of the King?\nWhy, did he know of my passage here to-night he would cast my ashes to\nthe wind. My body trembles and I am afraid. I go, for I have waited\ntoo long.\u201d\n\nIn the branches the King smiled and had pity.\n\nAnd as Iseult fled: \u201cQueen,\u201d said Tristan, \u201cin the Lord\u2019s name help\nme, for charity.\u201d\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d she replied, \u201cGod aid you! The King wrongs you but the Lord\nGod will be by you in whatever land you go.\u201d\n\nSo she went back to the women\u2019s rooms and told it to Brangien, who\ncried: \u201cIseult, God has worked a miracle for you, for He is\ncompassionate and will not hurt the innocent in heart.\u201d\n\nAnd when he had left the orchard, the King said smiling:\n\n\u201cFair nephew, that ride you planned is over now.\u201d\n\nBut in an open glade apart, Frocin, the Dwarf, read in the clear stars\nthat the King now meant his death; he blackened with shame and fear\nand fled into Wales.\n\nTHE DISCOVERY\n\nKing Mark made peace with Tristan. Tristan returned to the castle as\nof old. Tristan slept in the King\u2019s chamber with his peers. He could\ncome or go, the King thought no more of it.\n\nMark had pardoned the felons, and as the seneschal, Dinas of Lidan,\nfound the dwarf wandering in a forest abandoned, he brought him home,\nand the King had pity and pardoned even him.\n\nBut his goodness did but feed the ire of the barons, who swore this\noath: If the King kept Tristan in the land they would withdraw to\ntheir strongholds as for war, and they called the King to parley.\n\n\u201cLord,\u201d said they, \u201cDrive you Tristan forth. He loves the Queen as all\nwho choose can see, but as for us we will bear it no longer.\u201d\n\nAnd the King sighed, looking down in silence.\n\n\u201c King,\u201d they went on, \u201cwe will not bear it, for we know now that this\nis known to you and that yet you will not move. Parley you, and take\ncounsel. As for us if you will not exile this man, your nephew, and\ndrive him forth out of your land forever, we will withdraw within our\nBailiwicks and take our neighbours also from your court: for we cannot\nendure his presence longer in this place. Such is your balance:\nchoose.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lords,\u201d said he, \u201conce I hearkened to the evil words you spoke of\nTristan, yet was I wrong in the end. But you are my lieges and I would\nnot lose the service of my men. Counsel me therefore, I charge you,\nyou that owe me counsel. You know me for a man neither proud nor\noverstepping.\u201d\n\n\u201cLord,\u201d said they, \u201ccall then Frocin hither. You mistrust him for that\norchard night. Still, was it not he that read in the stars of the\nQueen\u2019s coming there and to the very pine-tree too? He is very wise,\ntake counsel of him.\u201d\n\nAnd he came, did that hunchback of Hell: the felons greeted him and he\nplanned this evil.\n\n\u201cSire,\u201d said he, \u201clet your nephew ride hard to-morrow at dawn with a\nbrief drawn up on parchment and well sealed with a seal: bid him ride\nto King Arthur at Carduel. Sire, he sleeps with the peers in your\nchamber; go you out when the first sleep falls on men, and if he love\nIseult so madly, why, then I swear by God and by the laws of Rome, he\nwill try to speak with her before he rides. But if he do so unknown to\nyou or to me, then slay me. As for the trap, let me lay it, but do you\nsay nothing of his ride to him until the time for sleep.\u201d\n\nAnd when King Mark had agreed, this dwarf did a vile thing. He bought\nof a baker four farthings\u2019 worth of flour, and hid it in the turn of\nhis coat. That night, when the King had supped and the men-at-arms lay\ndown to sleep in hall, Tristan came to the King as custom was, and the\nKing said:\n\n\u201cFair nephew, do my will: ride to-morrow night to King Arthur at\nCarduel, and give him this brief, with my greeting, that he may open\nit: and stay you with him but one day.\u201d\n\nAnd when Tristan said: \u201cI will take it on the morrow;\u201d\n\nThe King added: \u201cAye, and before day dawn.\u201d\n\nBut, as the peers slept all round the King their lord, that night, a\nmad thought took Tristan that, before he rode, he knew not for how\nlong, before dawn he would say a last word to the Queen. And there was\na spear length in the darkness between them. Now the dwarf slept with\nthe rest in the King\u2019s chamber, and when he thought that all slept he\nrose and scattered the flour silently in the spear length that lay\nbetween Tristan and the Queen; but Tristan watched and saw him, and\nsaid to himself:\n\n\u201cIt is to mark my footsteps, but there shall be no marks to show.\u201d\n\nAt midnight, when all was dark in the room, no candle nor any lamp\nglimmering, the King went out silently by the door and with him the\ndwarf. Then Tristan rose in the darkness and judged the spear length\nand leapt the space between, for his farewell. But that day in the\nhunt a boar had wounded him in the leg, and in this effort the wound\nbled. He did not feel it or see it in the darkness, but the blood\ndripped upon the couches and the flour strewn between; and outside in\nthe moonlight the dwarf read the heavens and knew what had been done\nand he cried:\n\n\u201cEnter, my King, and if you do not hold them, hang me high.\u201d\n\nThen the King and the dwarf and the four felons ran in with lights and\nnoise, and though Tristan had regained his place there was the blood\nfor witness, and though Iseult feigned sleep, and Perinis too, who lay\nat Tristan\u2019s feet, yet there was the blood for witness. And the King\nlooked in silence at the blood where it lay upon the bed and the\nboards and trampled into the flour.\n\nAnd the four barons held Tristan down upon his bed and mocked the\nQueen also, promising her full justice; and they bared and showed the\nwound whence the blood flowed.\n\nThen the King said:\n\n\u201cTristan, now nothing longer holds. To-morrow you shall die.\u201d\n\nAnd Tristan answered:\n\n\u201cHave mercy, Lord, in the name of God that suffered the Cross!\u201d\n\nBut the felons called on the King to take vengeance, saying:\n\n\u201cDo justice, King: take vengeance.\u201d\n\nAnd Tristan went on, \u201cHave mercy, not on me\u2014for why should I stand at\ndying?\u2014Truly, but for you, I would have sold my honour high to cowards\nwho, under your peace, have put hands on my body\u2014but in homage to you\nI have yielded and you may do with me what you will. But, lord,\nremember the Queen!\u201d\n\nAnd as he knelt at the King\u2019s feet he still complained:\n\n\u201cRemember the Queen; for if any man of your household make so bold as\nto maintain the lie that I loved her unlawfully I will stand up armed\nto him in a ring. Sire, in the name of God the Lord, have mercy on\nher.\u201d\n\nThen the barons bound him with ropes, and the Queen also. But had\nTristan known that trial by combat was to be denied him, certainly he\nwould not have suffered it.\n\nFor he trusted in God and knew no man dared draw sword against him in\nthe lists. And truly he did well to trust in God, for though the\nfelons mocked him when he said he had loved loyally, yet I call you to\nwitness, my lords who read this, and who know of the philtre drunk\nupon the high seas, and who, understand whether his love were\ndisloyalty indeed. For men see this and that outward thing, but God\nalone the heart, and in the heart alone is crime and the sole final\njudge is God. Therefore did He lay down the law that a man accused\nmight uphold his cause by battle, and God himself fights for the\ninnocent in such a combat.\n\nTherefore did Tristan claim justice and the right of battle and\ntherefore was he careful to fail in nothing of the homage he owed King\nMark, his lord.\n\nBut had he known what was coming, he would have killed the felons.\n\nTHE CHANTRY LEAP\n\nDark was the night, and the news ran that Tristan and the Queen were\nheld and that the King would kill them; and wealthy burgess, or common\nman, they wept and ran to the palace.\n\nAnd the murmurs and the cries ran through the city, but such was the\nKing\u2019s anger in his castle above that not the strongest nor the\nproudest baron dared move him.\n\nNight ended and the day drew near. Mark, before dawn, rode out to the\nplace where he held pleas and judgment. He ordered a ditch to be dug\nin the earth and knotty vine-shoots and thorns to be laid therein.\n\nAt the hour of Prime he had a ban cried through his land to gather the\nmen of Cornwall; they came with a great noise and the King spoke them\nthus:\n\n\u201cMy lords, I have made here a faggot of thorns for Tristan and the\nQueen; for they have fallen.\u201d\n\nBut they cried all, with tears:\n\n\u201cA sentence, lord, a sentence; an indictment and pleas; for killing\nwithout trial is shame and crime.\u201d\n\nBut Mark answered in his anger:\n\n\u201cNeither respite, nor delay, nor pleas, nor sentence. By God that made\nthe world, if any dare petition me, he shall burn first!\u201d\n\nHe ordered the fire to be lit, and Tristan to be called.\n\nThe flames rose, and all were silent before the flames, and the King\nwaited.\n\nThe servants ran to the room where watch was kept on the two lovers;\nand they dragged Tristan out by his hands though he wept for his\nhonour; but as they dragged him off in such a shame, the Queen still\ncalled to him:\n\n\u201cFriend, if I die that you may live, that will be great joy.\u201d\n\nNow, hear how full of pity is God and how He heard the lament and the\nprayers of the common folk, that day.\n\nFor as Tristan and his guards went down from the town to where the\nfaggot burned, near the road upon a rock was a chantry, it stood at a\ncliff\u2019s edge steep and sheer, and it turned to the sea-breeze; in the\napse of it were windows glazed. Then Tristan said to those with him:\n\n\u201cMy lords, let me enter this chantry, to pray for a moment the mercy\nof God whom I have offended; my death is near. There is but one door\nto the place, my lords, and each of you has his sword drawn. So, you\nmay well see that, when my prayer to God is done, I must come past you\nagain: when I have prayed God, my lords, for the last time.\n\nAnd one of the guards said: \u201cWhy, let him go in.\u201d\n\nSo they let him enter to pray. But he, once in, dashed through and\nleapt the altar rail and the altar too and forced a window of the\napse, and leapt again over the cliff\u2019s edge. So might he die, but not\nof that shameful death before the people.\n\nNow learn, my lords, how generous was God to him that day. The wind\ntook Tristan\u2019s cloak and he fell upon a smooth rock at the cliff\u2019s\nfoot, which to this day the men of Cornwall call \u201cTristan\u2019s leap.\u201d\n\nHis guards still waited for him at the chantry door, but vainly, for\nGod was now his guard. And he ran, and the fine sand crunched under\nhis feet, and far off he saw the faggot burning, and the smoke and the\ncrackling flames; and fled.\n\nSword girt and bridle loose, Gorvenal had fled the city, lest the King\nburn him in his master\u2019s place: and he found Tristan on the shore.\n\n\u201cMaster,\u201d said Tristan, \u201cGod has saved me, but oh! master, to what\nend? For without Iseult I may not and I will not live, and I rather\nhad died of my fall. They will burn her for me, then I too will die\nfor her.\u201d\n\n\u201cLord,\u201d said Gorvenal, \u201ctake no counsel of anger. See here this\nthicket with a ditch dug round about it. Let us hide therein where the\ntrack passes near, and comers by it will tell us news; and, boy, if\nthey burn Iseult, I swear by God, the Son of Mary, never to sleep\nunder a roof again until she be avenged.\u201d\n\nThere was a poor man of the common folk that had seen Tristan\u2019s fall,\nand had seen him stumble and rise after, and he crept to Tintagel and\nto Iseult where she was bound, and said:\n\n\u201cQueen, weep no more. Your friend has fled safely.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I thank God,\u201d said she, \u201cand whether they bind or loose me, and\nwhether they kill or spare me, I care but little now.\u201d\n\nAnd though blood came at the cord-knots, so tightly had the traitors\nbound her, yet still she said, smiling:\n\n\u201cDid I weep for that when God has loosed my friend I should be little\nworth.\u201d\n\nWhen the news came to the King that Tristan had leapt that leap and\nwas lost he paled with anger, and bade his men bring forth Iseult.\n\nThey dragged her from the room, and she came before the crowd, held by\nher delicate hands, from which blood dropped, and the crowd called:\n\n\u201cHave pity on her\u2014the loyal Queen and honoured! Surely they that gave\nher up brought mourning on us all\u2014our curses on them!\u201d\n\nBut the King\u2019s men dragged her to the thorn faggot as it blazed. She\nstood up before the flame, and the crowd cried its anger, and cursed\nthe traitors and the King. None could see her without pity, unless he\nhad a felon\u2019s heart: she was so tightly bound. The tears ran down her\nface and fell upon her grey gown where ran a little thread of gold,\nand a thread of gold was twined into her hair.\n\nJust then there had come up a hundred lepers of the King\u2019s, deformed\nand broken, white horribly, and limping on their crutches. And they\ndrew near the flame, and being evil, loved the sight. And their chief\nIvan, the ugliest of them all, cried to the King in a quavering voice:\n\n\u201cO King, you would burn this woman in that flame, and it is sound\njustice, but too swift, for very soon the fire will fall, and her\nashes will very soon be scattered by the high wind and her agony be\ndone. Throw her rather to your lepers where she may drag out a life\nfor ever asking death.\u201d\n\nAnd the King answered:\n\n\u201cYes; let her live that life, for it is better justice and more\nterrible. I can love those that gave me such a thought.\u201d\n\nAnd the lepers answered:\n\n\u201cThrow her among us, and make her one of us. Never shall lady have\nknown a worse end. And look,\u201d they said, \u201cat our rags and our\nabominations. She has had pleasure in rich stuffs and furs, jewels and\nwalls of marble, honour, good wines and joy, but when she sees your\nlepers always, King, and only them for ever, their couches and their\nhuts, then indeed she will know the wrong she has done, and bitterly\ndesire even that great flame of thorns.\u201d\n\nAnd as the King heard them, he stood a long time without moving; then\nhe ran to the Queen and seized her by the hand, and she cried:\n\n\u201cBurn me! rather burn me!\u201d\n\nBut the King gave her up, and Ivan took her, and the hundred lepers\npressed around, and to hear her cries all the crowd rose in pity. But\nIvan had an evil gladness, and as he went he dragged her out of the\nborough bounds, with his hideous company.\n\nNow they took that road where Tristan lay in hiding, and Gorvenal said\nto him:\n\n\u201cSon, here is your friend. Will you do naught?\u201d\n\nThen Tristan mounted the horse and spurred it out of the bush, and\ncried:\n\n\u201cIvan, you have been at the Queen\u2019s side a moment, and too long. Now\nleave her if you would live.\u201d\n\nBut Ivan threw his cloak away and shouted:\n\n\u201cYour clubs, comrades, and your staves! Crutches in the air\u2014for a\nfight is on!\u201d\n\nThen it was fine to see the lepers throwing their capes aside, and\nstirring their sick legs, and brandishing their crutches, some\nthreatening: groaning all; but to strike them Tristan was too noble.\nThere are singers who sing that Tristan killed Ivan, but it is a lie.\nToo much a knight was he to kill such things. Gorvenal indeed,\nsnatching up an oak sapling, crashed it on Ivan\u2019s head till his blood\nran down to his misshapen feet. Then Tristan took the Queen.\n\nHenceforth near him she felt no further evil. He cut the cords that\nbound her arms so straightly, and he left the plain so that they\nplunged into the wood of Morois; and there in the thick wood Tristan\nwas as sure as in a castle keep.\n\nAnd as the sun fell they halted all three at the foot of a little\nhill: fear had wearied the Queen, and she leant her head upon his body\nand slept.\n\nBut in the morning, Gorvenal stole from a wood man his bow and two\ngood arrows plumed and barbed, and gave them to Tristan, the great\narcher, and he shot him a fawn and killed it. Then Gorvenal gathered\ndry twigs, struck flint, and lit a great fire to cook the venison. And\nTristan cut him branches and made a hut and garnished it with leaves.\nAnd Iseult slept upon the thick leaves there.\n\nSo, in the depths of the wild wood began for the lovers that savage\nlife which yet they loved very soon.\n\nPART THE SECOND\n\nTHE WOOD OF MOROIS\n\nThey wandered in the depths of the wild wood, restless and in haste\nlike beasts that are hunted, nor did they often dare to return by\nnight to the shelter of yesterday. They ate but the flesh of wild\nanimals. Their faces sank and grew white, their clothes ragged; for\nthe briars tore them. They loved each other and they did not know that\nthey suffered.\n\nOne day, as they were wandering in these high woods that had never yet\nbeen felled or ordered, they came upon the hermitage of Ogrin.\n\nThe old man limped in the sunlight under a light growth of maples near\nhis chapel: he leant upon his crutch, and cried:\n\n\u201cLord Tristan, hear the great oath which the Cornish men have sworn.\nThe King has published a ban in every parish: Whosoever may seize you\nshall receive a hundred marks of gold for his guerdon, and all the\nbarons have sworn to give you up alive or dead. Do penance, Tristan!\nGod pardons the sinner who turns to repentance.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd of what should I repent, Ogrin, my lord? Or of what crime? You\nthat sit in judgment upon us here, do you know what cup it was we\ndrank upon the high sea? That good, great draught inebriates us both.\nI would rather beg my life long and live of roots and herbs with\nIseult than, lacking her, be king of a wide kingdom.\u201d\n\n\u201cGod aid you, Lord Tristan; for you have lost both this world and the\nnext. A man that is traitor to his lord is worthy to be torn by horses\nand burnt upon the faggot, and wherever his ashes fall no grass shall\ngrow and all tillage is waste, and the trees and the green things die.\nLord Tristan, give back the Queen to the man who espoused her lawfully\naccording to the laws of Rome.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe gave her to his lepers. From these lepers I myself conquered her\nwith my own hand; and henceforth she is altogether mine. She cannot\npass from me nor I from her.\u201d\n\nOgrin sat down; but at his feet Iseult, her head upon the knees of\nthat man of God, wept silently. The hermit told her and re-told her\nthe words of his holy book, but still while she wept she shook her\nhead, and refused the faith he offered.\n\n\u201cAh me,\u201d said Ogrin then, \u201cwhat comfort can one give the dead? Do\npenance, Tristan, for a man who lives in sin without repenting is a\nman quite dead.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh no,\u201d said Tristan, \u201cI live and I do no penance. We will go back\ninto the high wood which comforts and wards us all round about. Come\nwith me, Iseult, my friend.\u201d\n\nIseult rose up; they held each other\u2019s hands. They passed into the\nhigh grass and the underwood: the trees hid them with their branches.\nThey disappeared beyond the leaves.\n\nThe summer passed and the winter came: the two lovers lived, all\nhidden in the hollow of a rock, and on the frozen earth the cold\ncrisped their couch with dead leaves. In the strength of their love\nneither one nor the other felt these mortal things. But when the open\nskies had come back with the springtime, they built a hut of green\nbranches under the great trees. Tristan had known, ever since his\nchildhood, that art by which a man may sing the song of birds in the\nwoods, and at his fancy, he would call as call the thrush, the\nblackbird and the nightingale, and all winged things; and sometimes in\nreply very many birds would come on to the branches of his hut and\nsing their song full-throated in the new light.\n\nThe lovers had ceased to wander through the forest, for none of the\nbarons ran the risk of their pursuit knowing well that Tristan would\nhave hanged them to the branches of a tree. One day, however, one of\nthe four traitors, Guenelon, whom God blast! drawn by the heat of the\nhunt, dared enter the Morois. And that morning, on the forest edge in\na ravine, Gorvenal, having unsaddled his horse, had let him graze on\nthe new grass, while far off in their hut Tristan held the Queen, and\nthey slept. Then suddenly Gorvenal heard the cry of the pack; the\nhounds pursued a deer, which fell into that ravine. And far on the\nheath the hunter showed \u2014 and Gorvenal knew him for the man whom his\nmaster hated above all. Alone, with bloody spurs, and striking his\nhorse\u2019s mane, he galloped on; but Gorvenal watched him from ambush: he\ncame fast, he would return more slowly. He passed and Gorvenal leapt\nfrom his ambush and seized the rein and, suddenly, remembering all the\nwrong that man had done, hewed him to death and carried off his head\nin his hands. And when the hunters found the body, as they followed,\nthey thought Tristan came after and they fled in fear of death, and\nthereafter no man hunted in that wood. And far off, in the hut upon\ntheir couch of leaves, slept Tristan and the Queen.\n\nThere came Gorvenal, noiseless, the dead man\u2019s head in his hands that\nhe might lift his master\u2019s heart at his awakening. He hung it by its\nhair outside the hut, and the leaves garlanded it about. Tristan woke\nand saw it, half hidden in the leaves, and staring at him as he gazed,\nand he became afraid. But Gorvenal said: \u201cFear not, he is dead. I\nkilled him with this sword.\u201d\n\nThen Tristan was glad, and henceforward from that day no one dared\nenter the wild wood, for terror guarded it and the lovers were lords\nof it all: and then it was that Tristan fashioned his bow \u201cFailnaught\u201d\nwhich struck home always, man or beast, whatever it aimed at.\n\nMy lords, upon a summer day, when mowing is, a little after\nWhitsuntide, as the birds sang dawn Tristan left his hut and girt his\nsword on him, and took his bow \u201cFailnaught\u201d and went off to hunt in\nthe wood; but before evening, great evil was to fall on him, for no\nlovers ever loved so much or paid their love so dear.\n\nWhen Tristan came back, broken by the heat, the Queen said\n\n\u201cFriend, where have you been?\u201d\n\n\u201cHunting a hart,\u201d he said, \u201cthat wearied me. I would lie down and\nsleep.\u201d\n\nSo she lay down, and he, and between them Tristan put his naked sword,\nand on the Queen\u2019s finger was that ring of gold with emeralds set\ntherein, which Mark had given her on her bridal day; but her hand was\nso wasted that the ring hardly held. And no wind blew, and no leaves\nstirred, but through a crevice in the branches a sunbeam fell upon the\nface of Iseult and it shone white like ice. Now a woodman found in the\nwood a place where the leaves were crushed, where the lovers had\nhalted and slept, and he followed their track and found the hut, and\nsaw them sleeping and fled off, fearing the terrible awakening of that\nlord. He fled to Tintagel, and going up the stairs of the palace,\nfound the King as he held his pleas in hall amid the vassals\nassembled.\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d said the King, \u201cwhat came you hither to seek in haste and\nbreathless, like a huntsman that has followed the dogs afoot? Have you\nsome wrong to right, or has any man driven you?\u201d\n\nBut the woodman took him aside and said low down:\n\n\u201cI have seen the Queen and Tristan, and I feared and fled.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere saw you them?\u201d\n\n\u201cIn a hut in Morois, they slept side by side. Come swiftly and take\nyour vengeance.\u201d\n\n\u201cGo,\u201d said the King, \u201cand await me at the forest edge where the red\ncross stands, and tell no man what you have seen. You shall have gold\nand silver at your will.\u201d\n\nThe King had saddled his horse and girt his sword and left the city\nalone, and as he rode alone he minded him of the night when he had\nseen Tristan under the great pine-tree, and Iseult with her clear\nface, and he thought:\n\n\u201cIf I find them I will avenge this awful wrong.\u201d\n\nAt the foot of the red cross he came to the woodman and said:\n\n\u201cGo first, and lead me straight and quickly.\u201d\n\nThe dark shade of the great trees wrapt them round, and as the King\nfollowed the spy he felt his sword, and trusted it for the great blows\nit had struck of old; and surely had Tristan wakened, one of the two\nhad stayed there dead. Then the woodman said:\n\n\u201cKing, we are near.\u201d\n\nHe held the stirrup, and tied the rein to a green apple-tree, and saw\nin a sunlit glade the hut with its flowers and leaves. Then the King\ncast his cloak with its fine buckle of gold and drew his sword from\nits sheath and said again in his heart that they or he should die. And\nhe signed to the woodman to be gone.\n\nHe came alone into the hut, sword bare, and watched them as they lay:\nbut he saw that they were apart, and he wondered because between them\nwas the naked blade.\n\nThen he said to himself: \u201cMy God, I may not kill them. For all the\ntime they have lived together in this wood, these two lovers, yet is\nthe sword here between them, and throughout Christendom men know that\nsign. Therefore I will not slay, for that would be treason and wrong,\nbut I will do so that when they wake they may know that I found them\nhere, asleep, and spared them and that God had pity on them both.\u201d\n\nAnd still the sunbeam fell upon the white face of Iseult, and the King\ntook his ermined gloves and put them up against the crevice whence it\nshone.\n\nThen in her sleep a vision came to Iseult. She seemed to be in a great\nwood and two lions near her fought for her, and she gave a cry and\nwoke, and the gloves fell upon her breast; and at the cry Tristan\nwoke, and made to seize his sword, and saw by the golden hilt that it\nwas the King\u2019s. And the Queen saw on her finger the King\u2019s ring, and\nshe cried:\n\n\u201cO, my lord, the King has found us here!\u201d\n\nAnd Tristan said:\n\n\u201cHe has taken my sword; he was alone, but he will return, and will\nburn us before the people. Let us fly.\u201d\n\nSo by great marches with Gorvenal alone they fled towards Wales.\n\nOGRIN THE HERMIT\n\nAfter three days it happened that Tristan, in following a wounded deer\nfar out into the wood, was caught by night-fall, and took to thinking\nthus under the dark wood alone:\n\n\u201cIt was not fear that moved the King \u2026 he had my sword and I slept \u2026\nand had he wished to slay, why did he leave me his own blade? \u2026 O, my\nfather, my father, I know you now. There was pardon in your heart, and\ntenderness and pity \u2026 yet how was that, for who could forgive in this\nmatter without shame? \u2026 It was not pardon it was understanding; the\nfaggot and the chantry leap and the leper ambush have shown him God\nupon our side. Also I think he remembered the boy who long ago harped\nat his feet, and my land of Lyonesse which I left for him; the\nMorholt\u2019s spear and blood shed in his honour. He remembered how I made\nno avowal, but claimed a trial at arms, and the high nature of his\nheart has made him understand what men around him cannot; never can he\nknow of the spell, yet he doubts and hopes and knows I have told no\nlie, and would have me prove my cause. O, but to win at arms by God\u2019s\naid for him, and to enter his peace and to put on mail for him again \u2026\nbut then he must take her back, and I must yield her \u2026 it would have\nbeen much better had he killed me in my sleep. For till now I was\nhunted and I could hate and forget; he had thrown Iseult to the\nlepers, she was no more his, but mine; and now by his compassion he\nhas wakened my heart and regained the Queen. For Queen she was at his\nside, but in this wood she lives a slave, and I waste her youth; and\nfor rooms all hung with silk she has this savage place, and a hut for\nher splendid walls, and I am the cause that she treads this ugly road.\nSo now I cry to God the Lord, who is King of the world, and beg Him to\ngive me strength to yield back Iseult to King Mark; for she is indeed\nhis wife, wed according to the laws of Rome before all the Barony of\nhis land.\u201d\n\nAnd as he thought thus, he leant upon his bow, and all through the\nnight considered his sorrow.\n\nWithin the hollow of thorns that was their resting-place Iseult the\nFair awaited Tristan\u2019s return. The golden ring that King Mark had\nslipped there glistened on her finger in the moonlight, and she\nthought:\n\n\u201cHe that put on this ring is not the man who threw me to his lepers in\nhis wrath; he is rather that compassionate lord who, from the day I\ntouched his shore, received me and protected. And he loved Tristan\nonce, but I came, and see what I have done! He should have lived in\nthe King\u2019s palace; he should have ridden through King\u2019s and baron\u2019s\nfees, finding adventure; but through me he has forgotten his\nknighthood, and is hunted and exiled from the court, leading a random\nlife. \u2026\u201d\n\nJust then she heard the feet of Tristan coming over the dead leaves\nand twigs. She came to meet him, as was her wont, to relieve him of\nhis arms, and she took from him his bow, \u201cFailnaught,\u201d and his arrows,\nand she unbuckled his sword-straps. And, \u201cFriend,\u201d said he, \u201cit is the\nKing\u2019s sword. It should have slain, but it spared us.\u201d\n\nIseult took the sword, and kissed the hilt of gold, and Tristan saw\nher weeping.\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d said he, \u201cif I could make my peace with the King; if he\nwould allow me to sustain in arms that neither by act nor word have I\nloved you with a wrongful love, any knight from the Marshes of Ely\nright away to Dureaume that would gainsay me, would find me armed in\nthe ring. Then if the King would keep you and drive me out I would\ncross to the Lowlands or to Brittany with Gorvenal alone. But wherever\nI went and always, Queen, I should be yours; nor would I have spoken\nthus, Iseult, but for the wretchedness you bear so long for my sake in\nthis desert land.\u201d\n\n\u201cTristan,\u201d she said, \u201cthere is the hermit Ogrin. Let us return to him,\nand cry mercy to the King of Heaven.\u201d\n\nThey wakened Gorvenal; Iseult mounted the steed, and Tristan led it by\nthe bridle, and all night long they went for the last time through the\nwoods of their love, and they did not speak a word. By morning they\ncame to the Hermitage, where Ogrin read at the threshold, and seeing\nthem, called them tenderly:\n\n\u201cFriends,\u201d he cried, \u201csee how Love drives you still to further\nwretchedness. Will you not do penance at last for your madness?\u201d\n\n\u201cLord Ogrin,\u201d said Tristan, \u201chear us. Help us to offer peace to the\nKing, and I will yield him the Queen, and will myself go far away into\nBrittany or the Lowlands, and if some day the King suffer me, I will\nreturn and serve as I should.\u201d\n\nAnd at the hermit\u2019s feet Iseult said in her turn:\n\n\u201cNor will I live longer so, for though I will not say one word of\npenance for my love, which is there and remains forever, yet from now\non I will be separate from him.\u201d\n\nThen the hermit wept and praised God and cried: \u201cHigh King, I praise\nThy Name, for that Thou hast let me live so long as to give aid to\nthese!\u201d\n\nAnd he gave them wise counsel, and took ink, and wrote a little writ\noffering the King what Tristan said.\n\nThat night Tristan took the road. Once more he saw the marble well and\nthe tall pine-tree, and he came beneath the window where the King\nslept, and called him gently, and Mark awoke and whispered:\n\n\u201cWho are you that call me in the night at such an hour?\u201d\n\n\u201cLord, I am Tristan: I bring you a writ, and lay it here.\u201d\n\nThen the King cried: \u201cNephew! nephew! for God\u2019s sake wait awhile,\u201d but\nTristan had fled and joined his squire, and mounted rapidly. Gorvenal\nsaid to him:\n\n\u201cO, Tristan, you are mad to have come. Fly hard with me by the nearest\nroad.\u201d\n\nSo they came back to the Hermitage, and there they found Ogrin at\nprayer, but Iseult weeping silently.\n\nTHE FORD\n\nMark had awakened his chaplain and had given him the writ to read; the\nchaplain broke the seal, saluted in Tristan\u2019s name, and then, when he\nhad cunningly made out the written words, told him what Tristan\noffered; and Mark heard without saying a word, but his heart was glad,\nfor he still loved the Queen.\n\nHe summoned by name the choicest of his baronage, and when they were\nall assembled they were silent and the King spoke:\n\n\u201cMy lords, here is a writ, just sent me. I am your King, and you my\nlieges. Hear what is offered me, and then counsel me, for you owe me\ncounsel.\u201d\n\nThe chaplain rose, unfolded the writ, and said, upstanding\n\n\u201cMy lords, it is Tristan that first sends love and homage to the King\nand all his Barony, and he adds, \u2018O King, when I slew the dragon and\nconquered the King of Ireland\u2019s daughter it was to me they gave her. I\nwas to ward her at will and I yielded her to you. Yet hardly had you\nwed her when felons made you accept their lies, and in your anger,\nfair uncle, my lord, you would have had us burnt without trial. But\nGod took compassion on us; we prayed him and he saved the Queen, as\njustice was: and me also\u2014though I leapt from a high rock, I was saved\nby the power of God. And since then what have I done blameworthy? The\nQueen was thrown to the lepers; I came to her succour and bore her\naway. Could I have done less for a woman, who all but died innocent\nthrough me? I fled through the woods. Nor could I have come down into\nthe vale and yielded her, for there was a ban to take us dead or\nalive. But now, as then, I am ready, my lord, to sustain in arms\nagainst all comers that never had the Queen for me, nor I for her a\nlove dishonourable to you. Publish the lists, and if I cannot prove my\nright in arms, burn me before your men. But if I conquer and you take\nback Iseult, no baron of yours will serve you as will I; and if you\nwill not have me, I will offer myself to the King of Galloway, or to\nhim of the Lowlands, and you will hear of me never again. Take\ncounsel, King, for if you will make no terms I will take back Iseult\nto Ireland, and she shall be Queen in her own land.\u2019\u201d\n\nWhen the barons of Cornwall heard how Tristan offered battle, they\nsaid to the King:\n\n\u201cSire, take back the Queen. They were madmen that belied her to you.\nBut as for Tristan, let him go and war it in Galloway, or in the\nLowlands. Bid him bring back Iseult on such a day and that soon.\n\nThen the King called thrice clearly:\n\n\u201cWill any man rise in accusation against Tristan?\u201d\n\nAnd as none replied, he said to his chaplain:\n\n\u201cWrite me a writ in haste. You have heard what you shall write. Iseult\nhas suffered enough in her youth. And let the writ be hung upon the\narm of the red cross before evening. Write speedily.\u201d\n\nTowards midnight Tristan crossed the Heath of Sand, and found the\nwrit, and bore it sealed to Ogrin; and the hermit read the letter;\n\u201cHow Mark consented by the counsel of his barons to take back Iseult,\nbut not to keep Tristan for his liege. Rather let him cross the sea,\nwhen, on the third day hence, at the Ford of Chances, he had given\nback the Queen into King Mark\u2019s hands.\u201d Then Tristan said to the\nQueen:\n\n\u201cO, my God! I must lose you, friend! But it must be, since I can thus\nspare you what you suffer for my sake. But when we part for ever I\nwill give you a pledge of mine to keep, and from whatever unknown land\nI reach I will send some messenger, and he will bring back word of\nyou, and at your call I will come from far away.\u201d\n\nIseult said, sighing:\n\n\u201cTristan, leave me your dog, Toothold, and every time I see him I will\nremember you, and will be less sad. And, friend, I have here a ring of\ngreen jasper. Take it for the love of me, and put it on your finger;\nthen if anyone come saying he is from you, I will not trust him at all\ntill he show me this ring, but once I have seen it, there is no power\nor royal ban that can prevent me from doing what you bid\u2014wisdom or\nfolly.\u201d\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d he said, \u201chere give I you Toothold.\u201d\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d she replied, \u201ctake you this ring in reward.\u201d\n\nAnd they kissed each other on the lips.\n\nNow Ogrin, having left the lovers in the Hermitage, hobbled upon his\ncrutch to the place called The Mount, and he bought ermine there and\nfur and cloth of silk and purple and scarlet, and a palfrey harnessed\nin gold that went softly, and the folk laughed to see him spending\nupon these the small moneys he had amassed so long; but the old man\nput the rich stuffs upon the palfrey and came back to Iseult.\n\nAnd \u201cQueen,\u201d said he, \u201ctake these gifts of mine that you may seem the\nfiner on the day when you come to the Ford.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile the King had had cried through Cornwall the news that on the\nthird day he would make his peace with the Queen at the Ford, and\nknights and ladies came in a crowd to the gathering, for all loved the\nQueen and would see her, save the three felons that yet survived.\n\nOn the day chosen for the meeting, the field shone far with the rich\ntents of the barons, and suddenly Tristan and Iseult came out at the\nforest\u2019s edge, and caught sight of King Mark far off among his Barony:\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d said Tristan, \u201cthere is the King, your lord\u2014his knights and\nhis men; they are coming towards us, and very soon we may not speak to\neach other again. By the God of Power I conjure you, if ever I send\nyou a word, do you my bidding.\u201d\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d said Iseult, \u201con the day that I see the ring, nor tower, nor\nwall, nor stronghold will let me from doing the will of my friend.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy then,\u201d he said, \u201cIseult, may God reward you.\u201d\n\nTheir horses went abreast and he drew her towards him with his arm.\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d said Iseult, \u201chear my last prayer: you will leave this land,\nbut wait some days; hide till you know how the King may treat me,\nwhether in wrath or kindness, for I am afraid. Friend, Orri the\nwoodman will entertain you hidden. Go you by night to the abandoned\ncellar that you know and I will send Perinis there to say if anyone\nmisuse me.\u201d\n\n\u201cFriend, none would dare. I will stay hidden with Orri, and if any\nmisuse you let him fear me as the Enemy himself.\u201d\n\nNow the two troops were near and they saluted, and the King rode a\nbow-shot before his men and with him Dinas of Lidan; and when the\nbarons had come up, Tristan, holding Iseult\u2019s palfrey by the bridle,\nbowed to the King and said:\n\n\u201cO King, I yield you here Iseult the Fair, and I summon you, before\nthe men of your land, that I may defend myself in your court, for I\nhave had no judgment. Let me have trial at arms, and if I am\nconquered, burn me, but if I conquer, keep me by you, or, if you will\nnot, I will be off to some far country.\u201d\n\nBut no one took up Tristan\u2019s wager, and the King, taking Iseult\u2019s\npalfrey by the bridle, gave it to Dinas, and went apart to take\ncounsel.\n\nDinas, in his joy, gave all honour and courtesy to the Queen, but when\nthe felons saw her so fair and honoured as of old, they were stirred\nand rode to the King, and said:\n\n\u201cKing, hear our counsel. That the Queen was slandered we admit, but if\nshe and Tristan re-enter your court together, rumour will revive\nagain. Rather let Tristan go apart awhile. Doubtless some day you may\nrecall him.\u201d\n\nAnd so Mark did, and ordered Tristan by his barons to go off without\ndelay.\n\nThen Tristan came near the Queen for his farewell, and as they looked\nat one another the Queen in shame of that assembly blushed, but the\nKing pitied her, and spoke his nephew thus for the first time:\n\n\u201cYou cannot leave in these rags; take then from my treasury gold and\nsilver and white fur and grey, as much as you will.\u201d\n\n\u201cKing,\u201d said Tristan, \u201cneither a penny nor a link of mail. I will go\nas I can, and serve with high heart the mighty King in the Lowlands.\u201d\n\nAnd he turned rein and went down towards the sea, but Iseult followed\nhim with her eyes, and so long as he could yet be seen a long way off\nshe did not turn.\n\nNow at the news of the peace, men, women, and children, great and\nsmall, ran out of the town in a crowd to meet Iseult, and while they\nmourned Tristan\u2019s exile they rejoiced at the Queen\u2019s return.\n\nAnd to the noise of bells, and over pavings strewn with branches, the\nKing and his counts and princes made her escort, and the gates of the\npalace were thrown open that rich and poor might enter and eat and\ndrink at will.\n\nAnd Mark freed a hundred of his slaves, and armed a score of squires\nthat day with hauberk and with sword.\n\nBut Tristan that night hid with Orri, as the Queen had counselled him.\n\nTHE ORDEAL BY IRON\n\nDenoalen, Andret, and Gondoin held themselves safe; Tristan was far\nover sea, far away in service of a distant king, and they beyond his\npower. Therefore, during a hunt one day, as the King rode apart in a\nglade where the pack would pass, and hearkening to the hounds, they\nall three rode towards him, and said:\n\n\u201cO King, we have somewhat to say. Once you condemned the Queen without\njudgment, and that was wrong; now you acquit her without judgment, and\nthat is wrong. She is not quit by trial, and the barons of your land\nblame you both. Counsel her, then, to claim the ordeal in God\u2019s\njudgment, for since she is innocent, she may swear on the relics of\nthe saints and hot iron will not hurt her. For so custom runs, and in\nthis easy way are doubts dissolved.\u201d\n\nBut Mark answered:\n\n\u201cGod strike you, my Cornish lords, how you hunt my shame! For you have\nI exiled my nephew, and now what would you now? Would you have me\ndrive the Queen to Ireland too? What novel plaints have you to plead?\nDid not Tristan offer you battle in this matter? He offered battle to\nclear the Queen forever: he offered and you heard him all. Where then\nwere your lances and your shields?\u201d\n\n\u201cSire,\u201d they said, \u201cwe have counselled you loyal counsel as lieges and\nto your honour; henceforward we hold our peace. Put aside your anger\nand give us your safe-guard.\u201d\n\nBut Mark stood up in the stirrup and cried:\n\n\u201cOut of my land, and out of my peace, all of you! Tristan I exiled for\nyou, and now go you in turn, out of my land!\u201d\n\nBut they answered:\n\n\u201cSire, it is well. Our keeps are strong and fenced, and stand on rocks\nnot easy for men to climb.\u201d\n\nAnd they rode off without a salutation.\n\nBut the King (not tarrying for huntsman or for hound but straight\naway) spurred his horse to Tintagel; and as he sprang up the stairs\nthe Queen heard the jangle of his spurs upon the stones.\n\nShe rose to meet him and took his sword as she was wont, and bowed\nbefore him, as it was also her wont to do; but Mark raised her,\nholding her hands; and when Iseult looked up she saw his noble face in\njust that wrath she had seen before the faggot fire.\n\nShe thought that Tristan was found, and her heart grew cold, and\nwithout a word she fell at the King\u2019s feet.\n\nHe took her in his arms and kissed her gently till she could speak\nagain, and then he said:\n\n\u201cFriend, friend, what evil tries you?\u201d\n\n\u201cSire, I am afraid, for I have seen your anger.\n\n\u201cYes, I was angered at the hunt.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lord, should one take so deeply the mischances of a game?\u201d\n\nMark smiled and said:\n\n\u201cNo, friend; no chance of hunting vexed me, but those three felons\nwhom you know; and I have driven them forth from my land.\u201d\n\n\u201cSire, what did they say, or dare to say of me?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat matter? I have driven them forth.\u201d\n\n\u201cSire, all living have this right: to say the word they have\nconceived. And I would ask a question, but from whom shall I learn\nsave from you? I am alone in a foreign land, and have no one else to\ndefend me.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey would have it that you should quit yourself by solemn oath and\nby the ordeal of iron, saying \u2018that God was a true judge, and that as\nthe Queen was innocent, she herself should seek such judgment as would\nclear her for ever.\u2019 This was their clamour and their demand\nincessantly. But let us leave it. I tell you, I have driven them\nforth.\u201d\n\nIseult trembled, but looking straight at the King, she said:\n\n\u201cSire, call them back; I will clear myself by oath. But I bargain\nthis: that on the appointed day you call King Arthur and Lord Gawain,\nGirflet, Kay the Seneschal, and a hundred of his knights to ride to\nthe Sandy Heath where your land marches with his, and a river flows\nbetween; for I will not swear before your barons alone, lest they\nshould demand some new thing, and lest there should be no end to my\ntrials. But if my warrantors, King Arthur and his knights, be there,\nthe barons will not dare dispute the judgment.\u201d\n\nBut as the heralds rode to Carduel, Iseult sent to Tristan secretly\nher squire Perinis: and he ran through the underwood, avoiding paths,\ntill he found the hut of Orri, the woodman, where Tristan for many\ndays had awaited news. Perinis told him all: the ordeal, the place,\nand the time, and added:\n\n\u201cMy lord, the Queen would have you on that day and place come dressed\nas a pilgrim, so that none may know you\u2014unarmed, so that none may\nchallenge \u2014to the Sandy Heath. She must cross the river to the place\nappointed. Beyond it, where Arthur and his hundred knights will stand,\nbe you also; for my lady fears the judgment, but she trusts in God.\u201d\n\nThen Tristan answered:\n\n\u201cGo back, friend Perinis, return you to the Queen, and say that I will\ndo her bidding.\u201d\n\nAnd you must know that as Perinis went back to Tintagel he caught\nsight of that same woodman who had betrayed the lovers before, and the\nwoodman, as he found him, had just dug a pitfall for wolves and for\nwild boars, and covered it with leafy branches to hide it, and as\nPerinis came near the woodman fled, but Perinis drove him, and caught\nhim, and broke his staff and his head together, and pushed his body\ninto the pitfall with his feet.\n\nOn the appointed day King Mark and Iseult, and the barons of Cornwall,\nstood by the river; and the knights of Arthur and all their host were\narrayed beyond.\n\nAnd just before them, sitting on the shore, was a poor pilgrim,\nwrapped in cloak and hood, who held his wooden platter and begged\nalms.\n\nNow as the Cornish boats came to the shoal of the further bank, Iseult\nsaid to the knights:\n\n\u201cMy lords, how shall I land without befouling my clothes in the\nriver-mud? Fetch me a ferryman.\u201d\n\nAnd one of the knights hailed the pilgrim, and said:\n\n\u201cFriend, truss your coat, and try the water; carry you the Queen to\nshore, unless you fear the burden.\u201d\n\nBut as he took the Queen in his arms she whispered to him:\n\n\u201cFriend.\u201d\n\nAnd then she whispered to him, lower still\n\n\u201cStumble you upon the sand.\u201d\n\nAnd as he touched shore, he stumbled, holding the Queen in his arms;\nand the squires and boatmen with their oars and boat-hooks drove the\npoor pilgrim away.\n\nBut the Queen said:\n\n\u201cLet him be; some great travail and journey has weakened him.\u201d\n\nAnd she threw to the pilgrim a little clasp of gold.\n\nBefore the tent of King Arthur was spread a rich Nicean cloth upon the\ngrass, and the holy relics were set on it, taken out of their covers\nand their shrines.\n\nAnd round the holy relics on the sward stood a guard more than a\nking\u2019s guard, for Lord Gawain, Girflet, and Kay the Seneschal kept\nward over them.\n\nThe Queen having prayed God, took off the jewels from her neck and\nhands, and gave them to the beggars around; she took off her purple\nmantle, and her overdress, and her shoes with their precious stones,\nand gave them also to the poor that loved her.\n\nShe kept upon her only the sleeveless tunic, and then with arms and\nfeet quite bare she came between the two kings, and all around the\nbarons watched her in silence, and some wept, for near the holy relics\nwas a brazier burning.\n\nAnd trembling a little she stretched her right hand towards the bones\nand said: \u201cKings of Logres and of Cornwall; my lords Gawain, and Kay,\nand Girflet, and all of you that are my warrantors, by these holy\nthings and all the holy things of earth, I swear that no man has held\nme in his arms saving King Mark, my lord, and that poor pilgrim. King\nMark, will that oath stand?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, Queen,\u201d he said, \u201cand God see to it.\n\n\u201cAmen,\u201d said Iseult, and then she went near the brazier, pale and\nstumbling, and all were silent. The iron was red, but she thrust her\nbare arms among the coals and seized it, and bearing it took nine\nsteps.\n\nThen, as she cast it from her, she stretched her arms out in a cross,\nwith the palms of her hands wide open, and all men saw them fresh and\nclean and cold. Seeing that great sight the kings and the barons and\nthe people stood for a moment silent, then they stirred together and\nthey praised God loudly all around.\n\nPART THE THIRD\n\nTHE LITTLE FAIRY BELL\n\nWhen Tristan had come back to Orri\u2019s hut, and had loosened his heavy\npilgrim\u2019s cape, he saw clearly in his heart that it was time to keep\nhis oath to King Mark and to fly the land.\n\nThree days yet he tarried, because he could not drag himself away from\nthat earth, but on the fourth day he thanked the woodman, and said to\nGorvenal:\n\n\u201cMaster, the hour is come.\u201d\n\nAnd he went into Wales, into the land of the great Duke Gilain, who\nwas young, powerful, and frank in spirit, and welcomed him nobly as a\nGod-sent guest.\n\nAnd he did everything to give him honour and joy; but he found that\nneither adventure, nor feast could soothe what Tristan suffered.\n\nOne day, as he sat by the young Duke\u2019s side, his spirit weighed upon\nhim, so that not knowing it he groaned, and the Duke, to soothe him,\nordered into his private room a fairy thing, which pleased his eyes\nwhen he was sad and relieved his own heart; it was a dog, and the\nvarlets brought it in to him, and they put it upon a table there. Now\nthis dog was a fairy dog, and came from the Duke of Avalon; for a\nfairy had given it him as a love-gift, and no one can well describe\nits kind or beauty. And it bore at its neck, hung to a little chain of\ngold, a little bell; and that tinkled so gaily, and so clear and so\nsoft, that as Tristan heard it, he was soothed, and his anguish melted\naway, and he forgot all that he had suffered for the Queen; for such\nwas the virtue of the bell and such its property: that whosoever heard\nit, he lost all pain. And as Tristan stroked the little fairy thing,\nthe dog that took away his sorrow, he saw how delicate it was and\nfine, and how it had soft hair like samite, and he thought how good a\ngift it would make for the Queen. But he dared not ask for it right\nout since he knew that the Duke loved this dog beyond everything in\nthe world, and would yield it to no prayers, nor to wealth, nor to\nwile; so one day Tristan having made a plan in his mind said this:\n\n\u201cLord, what would you give to the man who could rid your land of the\nhairy giant Urgan, that levies such a toll?\u201d\n\n\u201cTruly, the victor might choose what he would, but none will dare.\u201d\n\nThen said Tristan:\n\n\u201cThose are strange words, for good comes to no land save by risk and\ndaring, and not for all the gold of Milan would I renounce my desire\nto find him in his wood and bring him down.\u201d\n\nThen Tristan went out to find Urgan in his lair, and they fought hard\nand long, till courage conquered strength, and Tristan, having cut off\nthe giant\u2019s hand, bore it back to the Duke.\n\nAnd \u201cSire,\u201d said he, \u201csince I may choose a reward according to your\nword, give me the little fairy dog. It was for that I conquered Urgan,\nand your promise stands.\u201d\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d said the Duke, \u201ctake it, then, but in taking it you take\naway also all my joy.\u201d\n\nThen Tristan took the little fairy dog and gave it in ward to a Welsh\nharper, who was cunning and who bore it to Cornwall till he came to\nTintagel, and having come there put it secretly into Brangien\u2019s hands,\nand the Queen was so pleased that she gave ten marks of gold to the\nharper, but she put it about that the Queen of Ireland, her mother,\nhad sent the beast. And she had a goldsmith work a little kennel for\nhim, all jewelled, and incrusted with gold and enamel inlaid; and\nwherever she went she carried the dog with her in memory of her\nfriend, and as she watched it sadness and anguish and regrets melted\nout of her heart.\n\nAt first she did not guess the marvel, but thought her consolation was\nbecause the gift was Tristan\u2019s, till one day she found that it was\nfairy, and that it was the little bell that charmed her soul; then she\nthought: \u201cWhat have I to do with comfort since he is sorrowing? He\ncould have kept it too and have forgotten his sorrow; but with high\ncourtesy he sent it to me to give me his joy and to take up his pain\nagain. Friend, while you suffer, so long will I suffer also.\u201d\n\nAnd she took the magic bell and shook it just a little, and then by\nthe open window she threw it into the sea.\n\nISEULT OF THE WHITE HANDS\n\nApart the lovers could neither live nor die, for it was life and death\ntogether; and Tristan fled his sorrow through seas and islands and\nmany lands.\n\nHe fled his sorrow still by seas and islands, till at last he came\nback to his land of Lyonesse, and there Rohalt, the keeper of faith,\nwelcomed him with happy tears and called him son. But he could not\nlive in the peace of his own land, and he turned again and rode\nthrough kingdoms and through baronies, seeking adventure. From the\nLyonesse to the Lowlands, from the Lowlands on to the Germanies;\nthrough the Germanies and into Spain. And many lords he served, and\nmany deeds did, but for two years no news came to him out of Cornwall,\nnor friend, nor messenger. Then he thought that Iseult had forgotten.\n\nNow it happened one day that, riding with Gorvenal alone, he came into\nthe land of Brittany. They rode through a wasted plain of ruined walls\nand empty hamlets and burnt fields everywhere, and the earth deserted\nof men; and Tristan thought:\n\n\u201cI am weary, and my deeds profit me nothing; my lady is far off and I\nshall never see her again. Or why for two years has she made no sign,\nor why has she sent no messenger to find me as I wandered? But in\nTintagel Mark honours her and she gives him joy, and that little fairy\nbell has done a thorough work; for little she remembers or cares for\nthe joys and the mourning of old, little for me, as I wander in this\ndesert place. I, too, will forget.\u201d\n\nOn the third day, at the hour of noon, Tristan and Gorvenal came near\na hill where an old chantry stood and close by a hermitage also; and\nTristan asked what wasted land that was, and the hermit answered:\n\n\u201cLord, it is Breton land which Duke Hod holds, and once it was rich in\npasture and ploughland, but Count Riol of Nantes has wasted it. For\nyou must know that this Count Riol was the Duke\u2019s vassal. And the Duke\nhas a daughter, fair among all King\u2019s daughters, and Count Riol would\nhave taken her to wife; but her father refused her to a vassal, and\nCount Riol would have carried her away by force. Many men have died in\nthat quarrel.\u201d\n\nAnd Tristan asked:\n\n\u201cCan the Duke wage his war?\u201d\n\nAnd the hermit answered:\n\n\u201cHardly, my lord; yet his last keep of Carhaix holds out still, for\nthe walls are strong, and strong is the heart of the Duke\u2019s son\nKaherdin, a very good knight and bold; but the enemy surrounds them on\nevery side and starves them. Very hardly do they hold their castle.\u201d\n\nThen Tristan asked:\n\n\u201cHow far is this keep of Carhaix?\u201d\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d said the hermit, \u201cit is but two miles further on this way.\u201d\n\nThen Tristan and Gorvenal lay down, for it was evening.\n\nIn the morning, when they had slept, and when the hermit had chanted,\nand had shared his black bread with them, Tristan thanked him and rode\nhard to Carhaix. And as he halted beneath the fast high walls, he saw\na little company of men behind the battlements, and he asked if the\nDuke were there with his son Kaherdin. Now Hod was among them; and\nwhen he cried \u201cyes,\u201d Tristan called up to him and said:\n\n\u201cI am that Tristan, King of Lyonesse, and Mark of Cornwall is my\nuncle. I have heard that your vassals do you a wrong, and I have come\nto offer you my arms.\n\n\u201cAlas, lord Tristan, go you your way alone and God reward you, for\nhere within we have no more food; no wheat, or meat, or any stores but\nonly lentils and a little oats remaining.\u201d\n\nBut Tristan said\n\n\u201cFor two years I dwelt in a forest, eating nothing save roots and\nherbs; yet I found it a good life, so open you the door.\u201d\n\nThey welcomed him with honour, and Kaherdin showed him the wall and\nthe dungeon keep with all their devices, and from the battlements he\nshowed the plain where far away gleamed the tents of Duke Riol. And\nwhen they were down in the castle again he said to Tristan:\n\n\u201cFriend, let us go to the hall where my mother and sister sit.\u201d\n\nSo, holding each other\u2019s hands, they came into the women\u2019s room, where\nthe mother and the daughter sat together weaving gold upon English\ncloth and singing a weaving song. They sang of Doette the fair who\nsits alone beneath the white-thorn, and round about her blows the\nwind. She waits for Doon, her friend, but he tarries long and does not\ncome. This was the song they sang. And Tristan bowed to them, and they\nto him. Then Kaherdin, showing the work his mother did, said:\n\n\u201cSee, friend Tristan, what a work-woman is here, and how marvellously\nshe adorns stoles and chasubles for the poor minsters, and how my\nsister\u2019s hands run thread of gold upon this cloth. Of right, good\nsister, are you called, \u2018Iseult of the White Hands.\u2019\u201d\n\nBut Tristan, hearing her name, smiled and looked at her more gently.\n\nAnd on the morrow, Tristan, Kaherdin, and twelve young knights left\nthe castle and rode to a pinewood near the enemy\u2019s tents. And sprang\nfrom ambush and captured a waggon of Count Riol\u2019s food; and from that\nday, by escapade and ruse they would carry tents and convoys and kill\noff men, nor ever come back without some booty; so that Tristan and\nKaherdin began to be brothers in arms, and kept faith and tenderness,\nas history tells. And as they came back from these rides, talking\nchivalry together, often did Kaherdin praise to his comrade his\nsister, Iseult of the White Hands, for her simplicity and beauty.\n\nOne day, as the dawn broke, a sentinel ran from the tower through the\nhalls crying:\n\n\u201cLords, you have slept too long; rise, for an assault is on.\u201d\n\nAnd knights and burgesses armed, and ran to the walls, and saw helmets\nshining on the plain, and pennons streaming crimson, like flames, and\nall the host of Riol in its array. Then the Duke and Kaherdin deployed\ntheir horsemen before the gates, and from a bow-length off they\nstooped, and spurred and charged, and they put their lances down\ntogether and the arrows fell on them like April rain.\n\nNow Tristan had armed himself among the last of those the sentinel had\nroused, and he laced his shoes of steel, and put on his mail, and his\nspurs of gold, his hauberk, and his helm over the gorget, and he\nmounted and spurred, with shield on breast, crying:\n\n\u201cCarhaix!\u201d\n\nAnd as he came, he saw Duke Riol charging, rein free, at Kaherdin, but\nTristan came in between. So they met, Tristan and Duke Riol. And at\nthe shock, Tristan\u2019s lance shivered, but Riol\u2019s lance struck Tristan\u2019s\nhorse just where the breast-piece runs, and laid it on the field.\n\nBut Tristan, standing, drew his sword, his burnished sword, and said:\n\n\u201cCoward! Here is death ready for the man that strikes the horse before\nthe rider.\u201d\n\nBut Riol answered:\n\n\u201cI think you have lied, my lord!\u201d\n\nAnd he charged him.\n\nAnd as he passed, Tristan let fall his sword so heavily upon his helm\nthat he carried away the crest and the nasal, but the sword slipped on\nthe mailed shoulder, and glanced on the horse, and killed it, so that\nof force Duke Riol must slip the stirrup and leap and feel the ground.\nThen Riol too was on his feet, and they both fought hard in their\nbroken mail, their \u2019scutcheons torn and their helmets loosened and\nlashing with their dented swords, till Tristan struck Riol just where\nthe helmet buckles, and it yielded and the blow was struck so hard\nthat the baron fell on hands and knees; but when he had risen again,\nTristan struck him down once more with a blow that split the helm, and\nit split the headpiece too, and touched the skull; then Riol cried\nmercy and begged his life, and Tristan took his sword.\n\nSo he promised to enter Duke Ho\u00ebl\u2019s keep and to swear homage again,\nand to restore what he had wasted; and by his order the battle ceased,\nand his host went off discomfited.\n\nNow when the victors were returned Kaherdin said to his father:\n\n\u201cSire, keep you Tristan. There is no better knight, and your land has\nneed of such courage.\u201d\n\nSo when the Duke had taken counsel with his barons, he said to Tristan\n\n\u201cFriend, I owe you my land, but I shall be quit with you if you will\ntake my daughter, Iseult of the White Hands, who comes of kings and of\nqueens, and of dukes before them in blood.\u201d\n\nAnd Tristan answered:\n\n\u201cI will take her, Sire.\u201d\n\nSo the day was fixed, and the Duke came with his friends and Tristan\nwith his, and before all, at the gate of the minster, Tristan wed\nIseult of the White Hands, according to the Church\u2019s law.\n\nBut that same night, as Tristan\u2019s valets undressed him, it happened\nthat in drawing his arm from the sleeve they drew off and let fall\nfrom his finger the ring of green jasper, the ring of Iseult the Fair.\nIt sounded on the stones, and Tristan looked and saw it. Then his\nheart awoke and he knew that he had done wrong. For he remembered the\nday when Iseult the Fair had given him the ring. It was in that forest\nwhere, for his sake, she had led the hard life with him, and that\nnight he saw again the hut in the wood of Morois, and he was bitter\nwith himself that ever he had accused her of treason; for now it was\nhe that had betrayed, and he was bitter with himself also in pity for\nthis new wife and her simplicity and beauty. See how these two Iseults\nhad met him in an evil hour, and to both had he broken faith!\n\nNow Iseult of the White Hands said to him, hearing him sigh:\n\n\u201cDear lord, have I hurt you in anything? Will you not speak me a\nsingle word?\u201d\n\nBut Tristan answered: \u201cFriend, do not be angry with me; for once in\nanother land I fought a foul dragon and was near to death, and I\nthought of the Mother of God, and I made a vow to Her that, should I\never wed, I would spend the first holy nights of my wedding in prayer\nand in silence.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said Iseult, \u201cthat was a good vow.\u201d\n\nAnd Tristan watched through the night.\n\nTHE MADNESS OF TRISTAN\n\nWithin her room at Tintagel, Iseult the Fair sighed for the sake of\nTristan, and named him, her desire, of whom for two years she had had\nno word, whether he lived or no.\n\nWithin her room at Tintagel Iseult the Fair sat singing a song she had\nmade. She sang of Guron taken and killed for his love, and how by\nguile the Count gave Guron\u2019s heart to her to eat, and of her woe. The\nQueen sang softly, catching the harp\u2019s tone; her hands were cunning\nand her song good; she sang low down and softly.\n\nThen came in Kariado, a rich count from a far-off island, that had\nfared to Tintagel to offer the Queen his service, and had spoken of\nlove to her, though she disdained his folly. He found Iseult as she\nsang, and laughed to her:\n\n\u201cLady, how sad a song! as sad as the Osprey\u2019s; do they not say he\nsings for death? and your song means that to me; I die for you.\u201d\n\nAnd Iseult said: \u201cSo let it be and may it mean so; for never come you\nhere but to stir in me anger or mourning. Ever were you the screech\nowl or the Osprey that boded ill when you spoke of Tristan; what news\nbear you now?\u201d\n\nAnd Kariado answered:\n\n\u201cYou are angered, I know not why, but who heeds your words? Let the\nOsprey bode me death; here is the evil news the screech owl brings.\nLady Iseult, Tristan, your friend is lost to you. He has wed in a far\nland. So seek you other where, for he mocks your love. He has wed in\ngreat pomp Iseult of the White Hands, the King of Brittany\u2019s\ndaughter.\u2019\u2019\n\nAnd Kariado went off in anger, but Iseult bowed her head and broke\ninto tears.\n\nNow far from Iseult, Tristan languished, till on a day he must needs\nsee her again. Far from her, death came surely; and he had rather die\nat once than day by day. And he desired some death, but that the Queen\nmight know it was in finding her; then would death come easily.\n\nSo he left Carhaix secretly, telling no man, neither his kindred nor\neven Kaherdin, his brother in arms. He went in rags afoot (for no one\nmarks the beggar on the high road) till he came to the shore of the\nsea.\n\nHe found in a haven a great ship ready, the sail was up and the\nanchor-chain short at the bow.\n\n\u201cGod save you, my lords,\u201d he said, \u201cand send you a good journey. To\nwhat land sail you now?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo Tintagel,\u201d they said.\n\nThen he cried out:\n\n\u201cOh, my lords! take me with you thither!\u201d\n\nAnd he went aboard, and a fair wind filled the sail, and she ran five\ndays and nights for Cornwall, till, on the sixth day, they dropped\nanchor in Tintagel Haven. The castle stood above, fenced all around.\nThere was but the one armed gate, and two knights watched it night and\nday. So Tristan went ashore and sat upon the beach, and a man told him\nthat Mark was there and had just held his court.\n\n\u201cBut where,\u201d said he, \u201cis Iseult, the Queen, and her fair maid,\nBrangien?\u201d\n\n\u201cIn Tintagel too,\u201d said the other, \u201cand I saw them lately; the Queen\nsad, as she always is.\u201d\n\nAt the hearing of the name, Tristan suffered, and he thought that\nneither by guile nor courage could he see that friend, for Mark would\nkill him.\n\nAnd he thought, \u201cLet him kill me and let me die for her, since every\nday I die. But you, Iseult, even if you knew me here, would you not\ndrive me out?\u201d And he thought, \u201cI will try guile. I will seem mad, but\nwith a madness that shall be great wisdom. And many shall think me a\nfool that have less wit than I.\u201d\n\nJust then a fisherman passed in a rough cloak and cape, and Tristan\nseeing him, took him aside, and said:\n\n\u201cFriend, will you not change clothes?\u201d\n\nAnd as the fisherman found it a very good bargain, he said in answer:\n\n\u201cYes, friend, gladly.\u201d\n\nAnd he changed and ran off at once for fear of losing his gain. Then\nTristan shaved his wonderful hair; he shaved it close to his head and\nleft a cross all bald, and he rubbed his face with magic herbs\ndistilled in his own country, and it changed in colour and skin so\nthat none could know him, and he made him a club from a young tree\ntorn from a hedge-row and hung it to his neck, and went bare-foot\ntowards the castle.\n\nThe porter made sure that he had to do with a fool and said:\n\n\u201cGood morrow, fool, where have you been this long while?\u201d\n\nAnd he answered:\n\n\u201cAt the Abbot of St. Michael\u2019s wedding, and he wed an abbess, large\nand veiled. And from the Alps to Mount St. Michael how they came, the\npriests and abbots, monks and regulars, all dancing on the green with\ncroziers and with staves under the high trees\u2019 shade. But I left them\nall to come hither, for I serve at the King\u2019s board to-day.\u201d\n\nThen the porter said:\n\n\u201cCome in, lord fool; the Hairy Urgan\u2019s son, I know, and like your\nfather.\u201d\n\nAnd when he was within the courts the serving men ran after him and\ncried:\n\n\u201cThe fool! the fool!\u201d\n\nBut he made play with them though they cast stones and struck him as\nthey laughed, and in the midst of laughter and their cries, as the\nrout followed him, he came to that hall where, at the Queen\u2019s side,\nKing Mark sat under his canopy.\n\nAnd as he neared the door with his club at his neck, the King said:\n\n\u201cHere is a merry fellow, let him in.\u201d\n\nAnd they brought him in, his club at his neck. And the King said:\n\n\u201cFriend, well come; what seek you here?\u201d\n\n\u201cIseult,\u201d said he, \u201cwhom I love so well; I bring my sister with me,\nBrunehild, the beautiful. Come, take her, you are weary of the Queen.\nTake you my sister and give me here Iseult, and I will hold her and\nserve you for her love.\u201d\n\nThe King said laughing:\n\n\u201cFool, if I gave you the Queen, where would you take her, pray?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! very high,\u201d he said, \u201cbetween the clouds and heaven, into a fair\nchamber glazed. The beams of the sun shine through it, yet the winds\ndo not trouble it at all. There would I bear the Queen into that\ncrystal chamber of mine all compact of roses and the morning.\u201d\n\nThe King and his barons laughed and said:\n\n\u201cHere is a good fool at no loss for words.\u201d\n\nBut the fool as he sat at their feet gazed at Iseult most fixedly.\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d said King Mark, \u201cwhat warrant have you that the Queen would\nheed so foul a fool as you?\u201d\n\n\u201cO! Sire,\u201d he answered gravely, \u201cmany deeds have I done for her, and\nmy madness is from her alone.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is your name?\u201d they said, and laughed.\n\n\u201cTristan,\u201d said he, \u201cthat loved the Queen so well, and still till\ndeath will love her.\u201d\n\nBut at the name the Queen angered and weakened together, and said:\n\u201cGet hence for an evil fool!\u201d\n\nBut the fool, marking her anger, went on:\n\n\u201cQueen Iseult, do you mind the day, when, poisoned by the Morholt\u2019s\nspear, I took my harp to sea and fell upon your shore? Your mother\nhealed me with strange drugs. Have you no memory, Queen?\u201d\n\nBut Iseult answered:\n\n\u201cOut, fool, out! Your folly and you have passed the bounds!\u201d\n\nBut the fool, still playing, pushed the barons out, crying:\n\n\u201cOut! madmen, out! Leave me to counsel with Iseult, since I come here\nfor the love of her!\u201d\n\nAnd as the King laughed, Iseult blushed and said:\n\n\u201cKing, drive me forth this fool!\u201d\n\nBut the fool still laughed and cried:\n\n\u201cQueen, do you mind you of the dragon I slew in your land? I hid its\ntongue in my hose, and, burnt of its venom, I fell by the roadside.\nAh! what a knight was I then, and it was you that succoured me.\u201d\n\nIseult replied:\n\n\u201cSilence! You wrong all knighthood by your words, for you are a fool\nfrom birth. Cursed be the seamen that brought you hither; rather\nshould they have cast you into the sea!\u201d\n\n\u201cQueen Iseult,\u201d he still said on, \u201cdo you mind you of your haste when\nyou would have slain me with my own sword? And of the Hair of Gold?\nAnd of how I stood up to the seneschal?\u201d\n\n\u201cSilence!\u201d she said, \u201cyou drunkard. You were drunk last night, and so\nyou dreamt these dreams.\u201d\n\n\u201cDrunk, and still so am I,\u201d said he, \u201cbut of such a draught that never\ncan the influence fade. Queen Iseult, do you mind you of that hot and\nopen day on the high seas? We thirsted and we drank together from the\nsame cup, and since that day have I been drunk with an awful wine.\u201d\n\nWhen the Queen heard these words which she alone could understand, she\nrose and would have gone.\n\nBut the King held her by her ermine cloak, and she sat down again.\n\nAnd as the King had his fill of the fool he called for his falcons and\nwent to hunt; and Iseult said to him:\n\n\u201cSire, I am weak and sad; let me be go rest in my room; I am tired of\nthese follies.\u201d\n\nAnd she went to her room in thought and sat upon her bed and mourned,\ncalling herself a slave and saying:\n\n\u201cWhy was I born? Brangien, dear sister, life is so hard to me that\ndeath were better! There is a fool without, shaven criss-cross, and\ncome in an evil hour, and he is warlock, for he knows in every part\nmyself and my whole life; he knows what you and I and Tristan only\nknow.\u201d\n\nThen Brangien said: \u201cIt may be Tristan.\u201d\n\nBut\u2014\u201cNo,\u201d said the Queen, \u201cfor he was the first of knights, but this\nfool is foul and made awry. Curse me his hour and the ship that\nbrought him hither.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lady!\u201d said Brangien, \u201csoothe you. You curse over much these days.\nMay be he comes from Tristan?\u201d\n\n\u201cI cannot tell. I know him not. But go find him, friend, and see if\nyou know him.\u201d\n\nSo Brangien went to the hall where the fool still sat alone. Tristan\nknew her and let fall his club and said:\n\n\u201cBrangien, dear Brangien, before God! have pity on me!\u201d\n\n\u201cFoul fool,\u201d she answered, \u201cwhat devil taught you my name?\u201d\n\n\u201cLady,\u201d he said, \u201cI have known it long. By my head, that once was\nfair, if I am mad the blame is yours, for it was yours to watch over\nthe wine we drank on the high seas. The cup was of silver and I held\nit to Iseult and she drank. Do you remember, lady?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d she said, and as she trembled and left he called out: \u201cPity me!\u201d\n\nHe followed and saw Iseult. He stretched out his arms, but in her\nshame, sweating agony she drew back, and Tristan angered and said:\n\n\u201cI have lived too long, for I have seen the day that Iseult will\nnothing of me. Iseult, how hard love dies! Iseult, a welling water\nthat floods and runs large is a mighty thing; on the day that it fails\nit is nothing; so love that turns.\u201d\n\nBut she said\n\n\u201cBrother, I look at you and doubt and tremble, and I know you not for\nTristan.\u201d\n\n\u201cQueen Iseult, I am Tristan indeed that do love you; mind you for the\nlast time of the dwarf, and of the flower, and of the blood I shed in\nmy leap. Oh! and of that ring I took in kisses and in tears on the day\nwe parted. I have kept that jasper ring and asked it counsel.\u201d\n\nThen Iseult knew Tristan for what he was, and she said:\n\n\u201cHeart, you should have broken of sorrow not to have known the man who\nhas suffered so much for you. Pardon, my master and my friend.\u201d\n\nAnd her eyes darkened and she fell; but when the light returned she\nwas held by him who kissed her eyes and her face.\n\nSo passed they three full days. But, on the third, two maids that\nwatched them told the traitor Andret, and he put spies well-armed\nbefore the women\u2019s rooms. And when Tristan would enter they cried:\n\n\u201cBack, fool!\u201d\n\nBut he brandished his club laughing, and said:\n\n\u201cWhat! May I not kiss the Queen who loves me and awaits me now?\u201d\n\nAnd they feared him for a mad fool, and he passed in through the door.\n\nThen, being with the Queen for the last time, he held her in his arms\nand said:\n\n\u201cFriend, I must fly, for they are wondering. I must fly, and perhaps\nshall never see you more. My death is near, and far from you my death\nwill come of desire.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh friend,\u201d she said, \u201cfold your arms round me close and strain me so\nthat our hearts may break and our souls go free at last. Take me to\nthat happy place of which you told me long ago. The fields whence none\nreturn, but where great singers sing their songs for ever. Take me\nnow.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will take you to the Happy Palace of the living, Queen! The time is\nnear. We have drunk all joy and sorrow. The time is near. When it is\nfinished, if I call you, will you come, my friend?\u201d\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d said she, \u201ccall me and you know that I shall come.\u201d\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d said he, \u201cGod send you His reward.\u201d\n\nAs he went out the spies would have held him; but he laughed aloud,\nand flourished his club, and cried:\n\n\u201cPeace, gentlemen, I go and will not stay. My lady sends me to prepare\nthat shining house I vowed her, of crystal, and of rose shot through\nwith morning.\u201d\n\nAnd as they cursed and drave him, the fool went leaping on his way.\n\nTHE DEATH OF TRISTAN\n\nWhen he was come back to Brittany, to Carhaix, it happened that\nTristan, riding to the aid of Kaherdin his brother in arms, fell into\nambush and was wounded by a poisoned spear; and many doctors came, but\nnone could cure him of the ill. And Tristan weakened and paled, and\nhis bones showed.\n\nThen he knew that his life was going, and that he must die, and he had\na desire to see once more Iseult the Fair, but he could not seek her,\nfor the sea would have killed him in his weakness, and how could\nIseult come to him? And sad, and suffering the poison, he awaited\ndeath.\n\nHe called Kaherdin secretly to tell him his pain, for they loved each\nother with a loyal love; and as he would have no one in the room save\nKaherdin, nor even in the neighbouring rooms, Iseult of the White\nHands began to wonder. She was afraid and wished to hear, and she came\nback and listened at the wall by Tristan\u2019s bed; and as she listened\none of her maids kept watch for her.\n\nNow, within, Tristan had gathered up his strength, and had half risen,\nleaning against the wall, and Kaherdin wept beside him. They wept\ntheir good comradeship, broken so soon, and their friendship: then\nTristan told Kaherdin of his love for that other Iseult, and of the\nsorrow of his life.\n\n\u201cFair friend and gentle,\u201d said Tristan, \u201cI am in a foreign land where\nI have neither friend nor cousin, save you; and you alone in this\nplace have given me comfort. My life is going, and I wish to see once\nmore Iseult the Fair. Ah, did I but know of a messenger who would go\nto her! For now I know that she will come to me. Kaherdin, my brother\nin arms, I beg it of your friendship; try this thing for me, and if\nyou carry my word, I will become your liege, and I will cherish you\nbeyond all other men.\u201d\n\nAnd as Kaherdin saw Tristan broken down, his heart reproached him and\nhe said:\n\n\u201cFair comrade, do not weep; I will do what you desire, even if it were\nrisk of death I would do it for you. Nor no distress nor anguish will\nlet me from doing it according to my power. Give me the word you send,\nand I will make ready.\u201d\n\nAnd Tristan answered:\n\n\u201cThank you, friend; this is my prayer: take this ring, it is a sign\nbetween her and me; and when you come to her land pass yourself at\ncourt for a merchant, and show her silk and stuffs, but make so that\nshe sees the ring, for then she will find some ruse by which to speak\nto you in secret. Then tell her that my heart salutes her; tell her\nthat she alone can bring me comfort; tell her that if she does not\ncome I shall die. Tell her to remember our past time, and our great\nsorrows, and all the joy there was in our loyal and tender love. And\ntell her to remember that draught we drank together on the high seas.\nFor we drank our death together. Tell her to remember the oath I swore\nto serve a single love, for I have kept that oath.\u201d\n\nBut behind the wall, Iseult of the White Hands heard all these things;\nand Tristan continued:\n\n\u201cHasten, my friend, and come back quickly, or you will not see me\nagain. Take forty days for your term, but come back with Iseult the\nFair. And tell your sister nothing, or tell her that you seek some\ndoctor. Take my fine ship, and two sails with you, one white, one\nblack. And as you return, if you bring Iseult, hoist the white sail;\nbut if you bring her not, the black. Now I have nothing more to say,\nbut God guide you and bring you back safe.\u201d\n\nWith the first fair wind Kaherdin took the open, weighed anchor and\nhoisted sail, and ran with a light air and broke the seas. They bore\nrich merchandise with them, dyed silks of rare colours, enamel of\nTouraine and wines of Poitou, for by this ruse Kaherdin thought to\nreach Iseult. Eight days and nights they ran full sail to Cornwall.\n\nNow a woman\u2019s wrath is a fearful thing, and all men fear it, for\naccording to her love, so will her vengeance be; and their love and\ntheir hate come quickly, but their hate lives longer than their love;\nand they will make play with love, but not with hate. So Iseult of the\nWhite Hands, who had heard every word, and who had so loved Tristan,\nwaited her vengeance upon what she loved most in the world. But she\nhid it all; and when the doors were open again she came to Tristan\u2019s\nbed and served him with food as a lover should, and spoke him gently\nand kissed him on the lips, and asked him if Kaherdin would soon\nreturn with one to cure him \u2026 but all day long she thought upon her\nvengeance.\n\nAnd Kaherdin sailed and sailed till he dropped anchor in the haven of\nTintagel. He landed and took with him a cloth of rare dye and a cup\nwell chiselled and worked, and made a present of them to King Mark,\nand courteously begged of him his peace and safeguard that he might\ntraffick in his land; and the King gave him his peace before all the\nmen of his palace.\n\nThen Kaherdin offered the Queen a buckle of fine gold; and \u201cQueen,\u201d\nsaid he, \u201cthe gold is good.\u201d\n\nThen taking from his finger Tristan\u2019s ring, he put it side by side\nwith the jewel and said:\n\n\u201cSee, O Queen, the gold of the buckle is the finer gold; yet that ring\nalso has its worth.\u201d\n\nWhen Iseult saw what ring that was, her heart trembled and her colour\nchanged, and fearing what might next be said she drew Kaherdin apart\nnear a window, as if to see and bargain the better; and Kaherdin said\nto her, low down:\n\n\u201cLady, Tristan is wounded of a poisoned spear and is about to die. He\nsends you word that you alone can bring him comfort, and recalls to\nyou the great sorrows that you bore together. Keep you the ring\u2014it is\nyours.\u201d\n\nBut Iseult answered, weakening:\n\n\u201cFriend, I will follow you; get ready your ship to-morrow at dawn.\u201d\n\nAnd on the morrow at dawn they raised anchor, stepped mast, and\nhoisted sail, and happily the barque left land.\n\nBut at Carhaix Tristan lay and longed for Iseult\u2019s coming. Nothing now\nfilled him any more, and if he lived it was only as awaiting her; and\nday by day he sent watchers to the shore to see if some ship came, and\nto learn the colour of her sail. There was no other thing left in his\nheart.\n\nHe had himself carried to the cliff of the Penmarks, where it\noverlooks the sea, and all the daylight long he gazed far off over the\nwater.\n\nHear now a tale most sad and pitiful to all who love. Already was\nIseult near; already the cliff of the Penmarks showed far away, and\nthe ship ran heartily, when a storm wind rose on a sudden and grew,\nand struck the sail, and turned the ship all round about, and the\nsailors bore away and sore against their will they ran before the\nwind. The wind raged and big seas ran, and the air grew thick with\ndarkness, and the ocean itself turned dark, and the rain drove in\ngusts. The yard snapped, and the sheet; they struck their sail, and\nran with wind and water. In an evil hour they had forgotten to haul\ntheir pinnace aboard; it leapt in their wake, and a great sea broke it\naway.\n\nThen Iseult cried out: \u201cGod does not will that I should live to see\nhim, my love, once\u2014even one time more. God wills my drowning in this\nsea. O, Tristan, had I spoken to you but once again, it is little I\nshould have cared for a death come afterwards. But now, my love, I\ncannot come to you; for God so wills it, and that is the core of my\ngrief.\u201d\n\nAnd thus the Queen complained so long as the storm endured; but after\nfive days it died down. Kaherdin hoisted the sail, the white sail,\nright up to the very masthead with great joy; the white sail, that\nTristan might know its colour from afar: and already Kaherdin saw\nBritanny far off like a cloud. Hardly were these things seen and done\nwhen a calm came, and the sea lay even and untroubled. The sail\nbellied no longer, and the sailors held the ship now up, now down, the\ntide, beating backwards and forwards in vain. They saw the shore afar\noff, but the storm had carried their boat away and they could not\nland. On the third night Iseult dreamt this dream: that she held in\nher lap a boar\u2019s head which befouled her skirts with blood; then she\nknew that she would never see her lover again alive.\n\nTristan was now too weak to keep his watch from the cliff of the\nPenmarks, and for many long days, within walls, far from the shore, he\nhad mourned for Iseult because she did not come. Dolorous and alone,\nhe mourned and sighed in restlessness: he was near death from desire.\n\nAt last the wind freshened and the white sail showed. Then it was that\nIseult of the White Hands took her vengeance.\n\nShe came to where Tristan lay, and she said:\n\n\u201cFriend, Kaherdin is here. I have seen his ship upon the sea. She\ncomes up hardly\u2014yet I know her; may he bring that which shall heal\nthee, friend.\u201d\n\nAnd Tristan trembled and said:\n\n\u201cBeautiful friend, you are sure that the ship is his indeed? Then tell\nme what is the manner of the sail?\u201d\n\n\u201cI saw it plain and well. They have shaken it out and hoisted it very\nhigh, for they have little wind. For its colour, why, it is black.\u201d\n\nAnd Tristan turned him to the wall, and said:\n\n\u201cI cannot keep this life of mine any longer.\u201d He said three times:\n\u201cIseult, my friend.\u201d And in saying it the fourth time, he died.\n\nThen throughout the house, the knights and the comrades of Tristan\nwept out loud, and they took him from his bed and laid him on a rich\ncloth, and they covered his body with a shroud. But at sea the wind\nhad risen; it struck the sail fair and full and drove the ship to\nshore, and Iseult the Fair set foot upon the land. She heard loud\nmourning in the streets, and the tolling of bells in the minsters and\nthe chapel towers; she asked the people the meaning of the knell and\nof their tears. An old man said to her:\n\n\u201cLady, we suffer a great grief. Tristan, that was so loyal and so\nright, is dead. He was open to the poor; he ministered to the\nsuffering. It is the chief evil that has ever fallen on this land.\u201d\n\nBut Iseult, hearing them, could not answer them a word. She went up to\nthe palace, following the way, and her cloak was random and wild. The\nBretons marvelled as she went; nor had they ever seen woman of such a\nbeauty, and they said:\n\n\u201cWho is she, or whence does she come?\u201d\n\nNear Tristan, Iseult of the White Hands crouched, maddened at the evil\nshe had done, and calling and lamenting over the dead man. The other\nIseult came in and said to her:\n\n\u201cLady, rise and let me come by him; I have more right to mourn him\nthan have you\u2014believe me. I loved him more.\u201d\n\nAnd when she had turned to the east and prayed God, she moved the body\na little and lay down by the dead man, beside her friend. She kissed\nhis mouth and his face, and clasped him closely; and so gave up her\nsoul, and died beside him of grief for her lover.\n\nWhen King Mark heard of the death of these lovers, he crossed the sea\nand came into Brittany; and he had two coffins hewn, for Tristan and\nIseult, one of chalcedony for Iseult, and one of beryl for Tristan.\nAnd he took their beloved bodies away with him upon his ship to\nTintagel, and by a chantry to the left and right of the apse he had\ntheir tombs built round. But in one night there sprang from the tomb\nof Tristan a green and leafy briar, strong in its branches and in the\nscent of its flowers. It climbed the chantry and fell to root again by\nIseult\u2019s tomb. Thrice did the peasants cut it down, but thrice it grew\nagain as flowered and as strong. They told the marvel to King Mark,\nand he forbade them to cut the briar any more.\n\nThe good singers of old time, Beroul and Thomas of Built, Gilbert and\nGottfried told this tale for lovers and none other, and, by my pen,\nthey beg you for your prayers. They greet those who are cast down, and\nthose in heart, those troubled and those filled with desire. May all\nherein find strength against inconstancy and despite and loss and pain\nand all the bitterness of loving.\n\nTHE END\n\nPrinted by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co. at Paul\u2019s Work, Edinburgh","title":"The Romance of Tristan and Iseult","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":25806}