The Romance of Tristan and Iseult
right in arms, burn me before your men. But if I conquer and you take
back Iseult, no baron of yours will serve you as will I; and if you
will not have me, I will offer myself to the King of Galloway, or to
him of the Lowlands, and you will hear of me never again. Take
counsel, King, for if you will make no terms I will take back Iseult
to Ireland, and she shall be Queen in her own land.’”
When the barons of Cornwall heard how Tristan offered battle, they
said to the King:
“Sire, take back the Queen. They were madmen that belied her to you.
But as for Tristan, let him go and war it in Galloway, or in the
Lowlands. Bid him bring back Iseult on such a day and that soon.
Then the King called thrice clearly:
“Will any man rise in accusation against Tristan?”
And as none replied, he said to his chaplain:
“Write me a writ in haste. You have heard what you shall write. Iseult
has suffered enough in her youth. And let the writ be hung upon the
arm of the red cross before evening. Write speedily.”
Towards midnight Tristan crossed the Heath of Sand, and found the
writ, and bore it sealed to Ogrin; and the hermit read the letter;
“How Mark consented by the counsel of his barons to take back Iseult,
but not to keep Tristan for his liege. Rather let him cross the sea,
when, on the third day hence, at the Ford of Chances, he had given
back the Queen into King Mark’s hands.” Then Tristan said to the
Queen:
“O, my God! I must lose you, friend! But it must be, since I can thus
spare you what you suffer for my sake. But when we part for ever I
will give you a pledge of mine to keep, and from whatever unknown land
I reach I will send some messenger, and he will bring back word of
you, and at your call I will come from far away.”
Iseult said, sighing:
“Tristan, leave me your dog, Toothold, and every time I see him I will
remember you, and will be less sad. And, friend, I have here a ring of
green jasper. Take it for the love of me, and put it on your finger;
then if anyone come saying he is from you, I will not trust him at all
till he show me this ring, but once I have seen it, there is no power
or royal ban that can prevent me from doing what you bid—wisdom or
folly.”
“Friend,” he said, “here give I you Toothold.”
“Friend,” she replied, “take you this ring in reward.”
And they kissed each other on the lips.
Now Ogrin, having left the lovers in the Hermitage, hobbled upon his
crutch to the place called The Mount, and he bought ermine there and
fur and cloth of silk and purple and scarlet, and a palfrey harnessed
in gold that went softly, and the folk laughed to see him spending
upon these the small moneys he had amassed so long; but the old man
put the rich stuffs upon the palfrey and came back to Iseult.
And “Queen,” said he, “take these gifts of mine that you may seem the
finer on the day when you come to the Ford.”
Meanwhile the King had had cried through Cornwall the news that on the
third day he would make his peace with the Queen at the Ford, and
knights and ladies came in a crowd to the gathering, for all loved the
Queen and would see her, save the three felons that yet survived.
On the day chosen for the meeting, the field shone far with the rich
tents of the barons, and suddenly Tristan and Iseult came out at the
forest’s edge, and caught sight of King Mark far off among his Barony:
“Friend,” said Tristan, “there is the King, your lord—his knights and
his men; they are coming towards us, and very soon we may not speak to
each other again. By the God of Power I conjure you, if ever I send
you a word, do you my bidding.”
“Friend,” said Iseult, “on the day that I see the ring, nor tower, nor
wall, nor stronghold will let me from doing the will of my friend.”
“Why then,” he said, “Iseult, may God reward you.”
Their horses went abreast and he drew her towards him with his arm.
“Friend,” said Iseult, “hear my last prayer: you will leave this land,
but wait some days; hide till you know how the King may treat me,
whether in wrath or kindness, for I am afraid. Friend, Orri the
woodman will entertain you hidden. Go you by night to the abandoned
cellar that you know and I will send Perinis there to say if anyone
misuse me.”
“Friend, none would dare. I will stay hidden with Orri, and if any
misuse you let him fear me as the Enemy himself.”
Now the two troops were near and they saluted, and the King rode a
bow-shot before his men and with him Dinas of Lidan; and when the
barons had come up, Tristan, holding Iseult’s palfrey by the bridle,
bowed to the King and said:
“O King, I yield you here Iseult the Fair, and I summon you, before
the men of your land, that I may defend myself in your court, for I
have had no judgment. Let me have trial at arms, and if I am
conquered, burn me, but if I conquer, keep me by you, or, if you will
not, I will be off to some far country.”
But no one took up Tristan’s wager, and the King, taking Iseult’s
palfrey by the bridle, gave it to Dinas, and went apart to take
counsel.
Dinas, in his joy, gave all honour and courtesy to the Queen, but when
the felons saw her so fair and honoured as of old, they were stirred
and rode to the King, and said:
“King, hear our counsel. That the Queen was slandered we admit, but if
she and Tristan re-enter your court together, rumour will revive
again. Rather let Tristan go apart awhile. Doubtless some day you may
recall him.”
And so Mark did, and ordered Tristan by his barons to go off without
delay.
Then Tristan came near the Queen for his farewell, and as they looked
at one another the Queen in shame of that assembly blushed, but the
King pitied her, and spoke his nephew thus for the first time:
“You cannot leave in these rags; take then from my treasury gold and
silver and white fur and grey, as much as you will.”
“King,” said Tristan, “neither a penny nor a link of mail. I will go
as I can, and serve with high heart the mighty King in the Lowlands.”
And he turned rein and went down towards the sea, but Iseult followed
him with her eyes, and so long as he could yet be seen a long way off
she did not turn.
Now at the news of the peace, men, women, and children, great and
small, ran out of the town in a crowd to meet Iseult, and while they
mourned Tristan’s exile they rejoiced at the Queen’s return.
And to the noise of bells, and over pavings strewn with branches, the
King and his counts and princes made her escort, and the gates of the
palace were thrown open that rich and poor might enter and eat and
drink at will.
And Mark freed a hundred of his slaves, and armed a score of squires
that day with hauberk and with sword.
But Tristan that night hid with Orri, as the Queen had counselled him.
THE ORDEAL BY IRON
Denoalen, Andret, and Gondoin held themselves safe; Tristan was far
over sea, far away in service of a distant king, and they beyond his
power. Therefore, during a hunt one day, as the King rode apart in a
glade where the pack would pass, and hearkening to the hounds, they
all three rode towards him, and said:
“O King, we have somewhat to say. Once you condemned the Queen without
judgment, and that was wrong; now you acquit her without judgment, and
that is wrong. She is not quit by trial, and the barons of your land
blame you both. Counsel her, then, to claim the ordeal in God’s
judgment, for since she is innocent, she may swear on the relics of
the saints and hot iron will not hurt her. For so custom runs, and in
this easy way are doubts dissolved.”
But Mark answered:
“God strike you, my Cornish lords, how you hunt my shame! For you have
I exiled my nephew, and now what would you now? Would you have me
drive the Queen to Ireland too? What novel plaints have you to plead?
Did not Tristan offer you battle in this matter? He offered battle to
clear the Queen forever: he offered and you heard him all. Where then
were your lances and your shields?”
“Sire,” they said, “we have counselled you loyal counsel as lieges and
to your honour; henceforward we hold our peace. Put aside your anger
and give us your safe-guard.”
But Mark stood up in the stirrup and cried:
“Out of my land, and out of my peace, all of you! Tristan I exiled for
you, and now go you in turn, out of my land!”
But they answered:
“Sire, it is well. Our keeps are strong and fenced, and stand on rocks
not easy for men to climb.”
And they rode off without a salutation.
But the King (not tarrying for huntsman or for hound but straight
away) spurred his horse to Tintagel; and as he sprang up the stairs
the Queen heard the jangle of his spurs upon the stones.
She rose to meet him and took his sword as she was wont, and bowed
before him, as it was also her wont to do; but Mark raised her,
holding her hands; and when Iseult looked up she saw his noble face in
just that wrath she had seen before the faggot fire.
She thought that Tristan was found, and her heart grew cold, and
without a word she fell at the King’s feet.
He took her in his arms and kissed her gently till she could speak
again, and then he said:
“Friend, friend, what evil tries you?”
“Sire, I am afraid, for I have seen your anger.
“Yes, I was angered at the hunt.”
“My lord, should one take so deeply the mischances of a game?”
Mark smiled and said:
“No, friend; no chance of hunting vexed me, but those three felons
whom you know; and I have driven them forth from my land.”
“Sire, what did they say, or dare to say of me?”
“What matter? I have driven them forth.”
“Sire, all living have this right: to say the word they have
conceived. And I would ask a question, but from whom shall I learn
save from you? I am alone in a foreign land, and have no one else to
defend me.”
“They would have it that you should quit yourself by solemn oath and
by the ordeal of iron, saying ‘that God was a true judge, and that as
the Queen was innocent, she herself should seek such judgment as would
clear her for ever.’ This was their clamour and their demand
incessantly. But let us leave it. I tell you, I have driven them
forth.”
Iseult trembled, but looking straight at the King, she said:
“Sire, call them back; I will clear myself by oath. But I bargain
this: that on the appointed day you call King Arthur and Lord Gawain,
Girflet, Kay the Seneschal, and a hundred of his knights to ride to
the Sandy Heath where your land marches with his, and a river flows
between; for I will not swear before your barons alone, lest they
should demand some new thing, and lest there should be no end to my
trials. But if my warrantors, King Arthur and his knights, be there,
the barons will not dare dispute the judgment.”
But as the heralds rode to Carduel, Iseult sent to Tristan secretly
her squire Perinis: and he ran through the underwood, avoiding paths,
till he found the hut of Orri, the woodman, where Tristan for many
days had awaited news. Perinis told him all: the ordeal, the place,
and the time, and added:
“My lord, the Queen would have you on that day and place come dressed
as a pilgrim, so that none may know you—unarmed, so that none may
challenge —to the Sandy Heath. She must cross the river to the place
appointed. Beyond it, where Arthur and his hundred knights will stand,
be you also; for my lady fears the judgment, but she trusts in God.”
Then Tristan answered:
“Go back, friend Perinis, return you to the Queen, and say that I will
do her bidding.”
And you must know that as Perinis went back to Tintagel he caught
sight of that same woodman who had betrayed the lovers before, and the
woodman, as he found him, had just dug a pitfall for wolves and for
wild boars, and covered it with leafy branches to hide it, and as
Perinis came near the woodman fled, but Perinis drove him, and caught