They nevertheless do their best to mitigate the harm their adultery does to King Mark. He, in turn, behaves nobly and mercifully towards them when he discovers them after they have absconded together. One of the key elements of the story of Tristan and Isolde is the love potion, which — in the full version of the story — makes Isolde fall in love with the very man she had sworn hatred for, because Tristan had previously killed her uncle.
The love potion is more than just a handy plot device: as A. Love overpowers us all, and often overrides rational thought we fall in love with the most inappropriate people. Poison plays an important role in the story, too, with Tristan twice being wounded by a poisoned spear: once by the giant Morholt, and then later in battle, this time mortally.
It is worth noting that the first of these poisoned wounds brings him to Isolde, by chance; the second brings her back to him, but too late.
Indeed, although many fairy tales and myths use the patterning of three, in the story of Tristan and Isolde, the magic number is two: two wounds inflicted on Tristan, two meetings with Isolde, two women named Isolde.
When was the Tristan and Isolde story first written down? At some point, writers elevated Tristan to one of the Knights of the Round Table, and his story became part of the Arthurian cycle. Image: by Raekoda via Wikimedia Commons. My question is—where is this love potion?
Can we still obtain it nowadays? It will cure a lot of heartaches. Things would be much simpler if we could switch love on and off by drinking down the right potion…. Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Email Address. Interesting Literature is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon. The earliest complete source of the Tristan material in English was Sir Tristrem , a romance of some lines written circa It is preserved in the famous Auchinleck manuscript at the National Library of Scotland.
The narrative largely follows the courtly branch tradition. As is true with many medieval English adaptations of French Arthuriana, the poem's artistic achievement can only be described as average, though some critics have tried to rehabilitate it, claiming it is a parody. Its first editor, Walter Scott , provided a sixty line ending to the story, which has been printed with the romance in every subsequent edition. Since the Winchester Manuscript surfaced in , there has been much scholarly debate whether the Tristan narrative, like all the episodes in Le Morte d'Arthur , was originally intended to be an independent piece or part of a larger work.
In Italy, there were many cantari , or oral poems performed in the public square, either about Tristan or frequently referencing him. There are also four differing versions of the Prose Tristan in medieval Italy, most named after their place of composition or library in which they are currently to be found: Tristano Panciaticchiano , Tristano Riccardiano , and Tristano Veneto.
In the collection of Old Norse prose-translations of Marie de France's lais — called Strengleikar Stringed Instruments — two lais with Arthurian content have been preserved, one of them being the "Chevrefoil", translated as "Geitarlauf". By the 19th century, scholars had found Tristan legends spread across the Nordic world, from Denmark to the Faroe Islands.
These stories, however, diverged greatly from their medieval precursors. In one Danish ballad, for instance, Tristan and Iseult are made brother and sister. A line fragment of a Dutch version c. It is the only known verse representative of the Tristan story in Slavic languages. The Old Belarusian prose Povest o Tryshchane represents the furthest eastern advance of the legend, and, composed in the s, is considered by some critics to be the last "medieval" Tristan or Arthurian text period.
Its lineage goes back to the Tristano Veneto. The Republic of Venice , at that time, controlled large parts of the Serbo-Croatian language area, engendering a more active literary and cultural life there than in most of the Balkans during this period. The manuscript of the Povest states that it was translated from a lost Serbian intermediary. Scholars assume that the legend must have journeyed from Venice, through its Balkan colonies, finally reaching a last outpost in this Slavic language. The Tristan story was represented in several art media, from ivory mirror-cases to the 13th-century Sicilian Tristan Quilt.
Many of the manuscripts with literary versions are illuminated with miniatures. Later, the legend became a popular subject for Romanticist painters of the late 19th and early 20th century.
In English, the Tristan story suffered the same fate as the Matter of Britain generally. After being mostly ignored for about three centuries, a renaissance of original Arthurian literature, mostly narrative verse, took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Thomas Hardy 's The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall at Tintagel in Lyonnesse is a one-act play which was published in the book includes an imaginary drawing of the castle at the period.
In , Gaetano Donizetti references this story in his opera L'elisir d'amore as the character of Adina sings the story to the ensemble, inspiring Nemorino to ask the charlatan Dulcamara for the magic elixir.
Twentieth-century composers also used the legend often with Wagnerian overtones in their compositions. Hans Werner Henze 's Tristan borrowed freely from the Wagnerian version as well as retellings of the legend. The story has also been adapted into film many times. Create your Account. Are you sure you want to cancel your membership with us? Tristan and Iseult. Medieval romance. For other uses, see Tristan and Iseult disambiguation. See also: Tristan and Iseult. Cornwall portal United Kingdom portal Ireland portal.
Lacy et al. New York : Garland Publishing, Journal of Archaeological Science. Washington, DC: Mage publishers. Tristan and Isolde: a casebook. New York: Garland Pub. Brewer, Translated by Alan S. Fedrick, Penguin Classics, Lacy editor. The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing, Curtis, ed. Le Roman de Tristan en prose , vols. Le Roman de Tristan en Prose , vols. Curtis' edition of a simple manuscript Carpentras covers Tristan's ancestry and the traditional legend up to Tristan's madness.
His edition follows from Curtis' and ends with Tristan's death and the first signs of Arthur's fall. Richard Trachsler is currently preparing an edition of the "continuation" of the Prose Tristan. Lancelot of the Laik and Sir Tristrem. Yet hardly had you wed her when felons made you accept their lies, and in your anger, fair uncle, my lord, you would have had us burnt without trial.
But God took compassion on us; we prayed him and he saved the Queen, as justice was: and me also—though I leapt from a high rock, I was saved by the power of God. And since then what have I done blameworthy? The Queen was thrown to the lepers; I came to her succour and bore her away.
Could I have done less for a woman, who all but died innocent through me? I fled through the woods. Nor could I have come down into the vale and yielded her, for there was a ban to take us dead or alive. But now, as then, I am ready, my lord, to sustain in arms against all comers that never had the Queen for me, nor I for her a love dishonourable to you. Publish the lists, and if I cannot prove my 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:. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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.
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.
By the God of Power I conjure you, if ever I send you a word, do you my bidding. 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.
I will stay hidden with Orri, and if any misuse you let him fear me as the Enemy himself. 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. 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:. 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:. 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.
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.
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:. 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. For so custom runs, and in this easy way are doubts dissolved. 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? Put aside your anger and give us your safe-guard. Tristan I exiled for you, and now go you in turn, out of my land!
Our keeps are strong and fenced, and stand on rocks not easy for men to climb. 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.
He took her in his arms and kissed her gently till she could speak again, and then he said:. 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.
But let us leave it. I tell you, I have driven them forth. 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:. 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. 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 him, and broke his staff and his head together, and pushed his body into the pitfall with his feet.
On the appointed day King Mark and Iseult, and the barons of Cornwall, stood by the river; and the knights of Arthur and all their host were arrayed beyond. And just before them, sitting on the shore, was a poor pilgrim, wrapped in cloak and hood, who held his wooden platter and begged alms.
Now as the Cornish boats came to the shoal of the further bank, Iseult said to the knights:. Fetch me a ferryman. And as he touched shore, he stumbled, holding the Queen in his arms; and the squires and boatmen with their oars and boat-hooks drove the poor pilgrim away.
Before the tent of King Arthur was spread a rich Nicean cloth upon the grass, and the holy relics were set on it, taken out of their covers and their shrines. The Queen having prayed God, took off the jewels from her neck and hands, and gave them to the beggars around; she took off her purple mantle, and her overdress, and her shoes with their precious stones, and gave them also to the poor that loved her. She kept upon her only the sleeveless tunic, and then with arms and feet quite bare she came between the two kings, and all around the barons watched her in silence, and some wept, for near the holy relics was a brazier burning.
King Mark, will that oath stand? The iron was red, but she thrust her bare arms among the coals and seized it, and bearing it took nine steps. Then, as she cast it from her, she stretched her arms out in a cross, with the palms of her hands wide open, and all men saw them fresh and clean and cold.
Seeing that great sight the kings and the barons and the people stood for a moment silent, then they stirred together and they praised God loudly all around. Three days yet he tarried, because he could not drag himself away from that earth, but on the fourth day he thanked the woodman, and said to Gorvenal:. And he went into Wales, into the land of the great Duke Gilain, who was young, powerful, and frank in spirit, and welcomed him nobly as a God-sent guest.
And he did everything to give him honour and joy; but he found that neither adventure, nor feast could soothe what Tristan suffered. Now this dog was a fairy dog, and came from the Duke of Avalon; for a fairy had given it him as a love-gift, and no one can well describe its kind or beauty. And it bore at its neck, hung to a little chain of gold, a little bell; and that tinkled so gaily, and so clear and so soft, that as Tristan heard it, he was soothed, and his anguish melted away, and he forgot all that he had suffered for the Queen; for such was the virtue of the bell and such its property: that whosoever heard it, he lost all pain.
And as Tristan stroked the little fairy thing, the dog that took away his sorrow, he saw how delicate it was and fine, and how it had soft hair like samite, and he thought how good a gift it would make for the Queen. But he dared not ask for it right out since he knew that the Duke loved this dog beyond everything in the world, and would yield it to no prayers, nor to wealth, nor to wile; so one day Tristan having made a plan in his mind said this:.
It was for that I conquered Urgan, and your promise stands. And she had a goldsmith work a little kennel for him, all jewelled, and incrusted with gold and enamel inlaid; and wherever she went she carried the dog with her in memory of her friend, and as she watched it sadness and anguish and regrets melted out of her heart.
He could have kept it too and have forgotten his sorrow; but with high courtesy he sent it to me to give me his joy and to take up his pain again. Friend, while you suffer, so long will I suffer also.
And she took the magic bell and shook it just a little, and then by the open window she threw it into the sea. Apart the lovers could neither live nor die, for it was life and death together; and Tristan fled his sorrow through seas and islands and many lands.
He fled his sorrow still by seas and islands, till at last he came back to his land of Lyonesse, and there Rohalt, the keeper of faith, welcomed him with happy tears and called him son. But he could not live in the peace of his own land, and he turned again and rode through kingdoms and through baronies, seeking adventure.
And many lords he served, and many deeds did, but for two years no news came to him out of Cornwall, nor friend, nor messenger. Then he thought that Iseult had forgotten. Now it happened one day that, riding with Gorvenal alone, he came into the land of Brittany. They rode through a wasted plain of ruined walls and empty hamlets and burnt fields everywhere, and the earth deserted of men; and Tristan thought:.
Or why for two years has she made no sign, or why has she sent no messenger to find me as I wandered? But in Tintagel Mark honours her and she gives him joy, and that little fairy bell has done a thorough work; for little she remembers or cares for the joys and the mourning of old, little for me, as I wander in this desert place.
I, too, will forget. On the third day, at the hour of noon, Tristan and Gorvenal came near a hill where an old chantry stood and close by a hermitage also; and Tristan asked what wasted land that was, and the hermit answered:.
Many men have died in that quarrel. Very hardly do they hold their castle. In the morning, when they had slept, and when the hermit had chanted, and had shared his black bread with them, Tristan thanked him and rode hard to Carhaix. And as he halted beneath the fast high walls, he saw a little company of men behind the battlements, and he asked if the Duke were there with his son Kaherdin. I have heard that your vassals do you a wrong, and I have come to offer you my arms.
They welcomed him with honour, and Kaherdin showed him the wall and the dungeon keep with all their devices, and from the battlements he showed the plain where far away gleamed the tents of Duke Riol. And when they were down in the castle again he said to Tristan:.
They sang of Doette the fair who sits alone beneath the white-thorn, and round about her blows the wind. She waits for Doon, her friend, but he tarries long and does not come. This was the song they sang. And Tristan bowed to them, and they to him. Then Kaherdin, showing the work his mother did, said:. And as they came back from these rides, talking chivalry together, often did Kaherdin praise to his comrade his sister, Iseult of the White Hands, for her simplicity and beauty.
One day, as the dawn broke, a sentinel ran from the tower through the halls crying:. And knights and burgesses armed, and ran to the walls, and saw helmets shining on the plain, and pennons streaming crimson, like flames, and all the host of Riol in its array. Then the Duke and Kaherdin deployed their horsemen before the gates, and from a bow-length off they stooped, and spurred and charged, and they put their lances down together and the arrows fell on them like April rain.
Now Tristan had armed himself among the last of those the sentinel had roused, and he laced his shoes of steel, and put on his mail, and his spurs of gold, his hauberk, and his helm over the gorget, and he mounted and spurred, with shield on breast, crying:.
And as he came, he saw Duke Riol charging, rein free, at Kaherdin, but Tristan came in between. So they met, Tristan and Duke Riol. Here is death ready for the man that strikes the horse before the rider.
And as he passed, Tristan let fall his sword so heavily upon his helm that he carried away the crest and the nasal, but the sword slipped on the mailed shoulder, and glanced on the horse, and killed it, so that of force Duke Riol must slip the stirrup and leap and feel the ground. There is no better knight, and your land has need of such courage. So when the Duke had taken counsel with his barons, he said to Tristan. It sounded on the stones, and Tristan looked and saw it.
Then his heart awoke and he knew that he had done wrong. For he remembered the day when Iseult the Fair had given him the ring. It was in that forest where, for his sake, she had led the hard life with him, and that night he saw again the hut in the wood of Morois, and he was bitter with himself that ever he had accused her of treason; for now it was he that had betrayed, and he was bitter with himself also in pity for this new wife and her simplicity and beauty. See how these two Iseults had met him in an evil hour, and to both had he broken faith!
Will you not speak me a single word? Within her room at Tintagel, Iseult the Fair sighed for the sake of Tristan, and named him, her desire, of whom for two years she had had no word, whether he lived or no. Within her room at Tintagel Iseult the Fair sat singing a song she had made. Then came in Kariado, a rich count from a far-off island, that had fared to Tintagel to offer the Queen his service, and had spoken of love to her, though she disdained his folly.
He found Iseult as she sang, and laughed to her:. Ever were you the screech owl or the Osprey that boded ill when you spoke of Tristan; what news bear you now? Let the Osprey bode me death; here is the evil news the screech owl brings. Lady Iseult, Tristan, your friend is lost to you.
He has wed in a far land. So seek you other where, for he mocks your love. And Kariado went off in anger, but Iseult bowed her head and broke into tears.
Now far from Iseult, Tristan languished, till on a day he must needs see her again. Far from her, death came surely; and he had rather die at once than day by day. And he desired some death, but that the Queen might know it was in finding her; then would death come easily. So he left Carhaix secretly, telling no man, neither his kindred nor even Kaherdin, his brother in arms. He went in rags afoot for no one marks the beggar on the high road till he came to the shore of the sea.
He found in a haven a great ship ready, the sail was up and the anchor-chain short at the bow. To what land sail you now? And he went aboard, and a fair wind filled the sail, and she ran five days and nights for Cornwall, till, on the sixth day, they dropped anchor in Tintagel Haven. The castle stood above, fenced all around. There was but the one armed gate, and two knights watched it night and day. So Tristan went ashore and sat upon the beach, and a man told him that Mark was there and had just held his court.
At the hearing of the name, Tristan suffered, and he thought that neither by guile nor courage could he see that friend, for Mark would kill him. But you, Iseult, even if you knew me here, would you not drive me out? I will seem mad, but with a madness that shall be great wisdom.
And many shall think me a fool that have less wit than I. Just then a fisherman passed in a rough cloak and cape, and Tristan seeing him, took him aside, and said:. And he changed and ran off at once for fear of losing his gain. Then Tristan shaved his wonderful hair; he shaved it close to his head and left a cross all bald, and he rubbed his face with magic herbs distilled in his own country, and it changed in colour and skin so that none could know him, and he made him a club from a young tree torn from a hedge-row and hung it to his neck, and went bare-foot towards the castle.
And from the Alps to Mount St. And when he was within the courts the serving men ran after him and cried:. Come, take her, you are weary of the Queen. Take you my sister and give me here Iseult, and I will hold her and serve you for her love.
The beams of the sun shine through it, yet the winds do not trouble it at all. There would I bear the Queen into that crystal chamber of mine all compact of roses and the morning. Your mother healed me with strange drugs. Have you no memory, Queen? Leave me to counsel with Iseult, since I come here for the love of her! I hid its tongue in my hose, and, burnt of its venom, I fell by the roadside. You wrong all knighthood by your words, for you are a fool from birth. Cursed be the seamen that brought you hither; rather should they have cast you into the sea!
And of the Hair of Gold? And of how I stood up to the seneschal? You were drunk last night, and so you dreamt these dreams.
Queen Iseult, do you mind you of that hot and open day on the high seas? We thirsted and we drank together from the same cup, and since that day have I been drunk with an awful wine. When the Queen heard these words which she alone could understand, she rose and would have gone. And as the King had his fill of the fool he called for his falcons and went to hunt; and Iseult said to him:.
And she went to her room in thought and sat upon her bed and mourned, calling herself a slave and saying:. Brangien, dear sister, life is so hard to me that death were better! There is a fool without, shaven criss-cross, and come in an evil hour, and he is warlock, for he knows in every part myself and my whole life; he knows what you and I and Tristan only know.
Curse me his hour and the ship that brought him hither. You curse over much these days. May be he comes from Tristan? I know him not. But go find him, friend, and see if you know him. So Brangien went to the hall where the fool still sat alone. Tristan knew her and let fall his club and said:. By my head, that once was fair, if I am mad the blame is yours, for it was yours to watch over the wine we drank on the high seas.
The cup was of silver and I held it to Iseult and she drank. Do you remember, lady? He followed and saw Iseult. He stretched out his arms, but in her shame, sweating agony she drew back, and Tristan angered and said:. Iseult, how hard love dies! Iseult, a welling water that floods and runs large is a mighty thing; on the day that it fails it is nothing; so love that turns.
I have kept that jasper ring and asked it counsel. Pardon, my master and my friend. And her eyes darkened and she fell; but when the light returned she was held by him who kissed her eyes and her face. So passed they three full days. And when Tristan would enter they cried:. And they feared him for a mad fool, and he passed in through the door.
Then, being with the Queen for the last time, he held her in his arms and said:. I must fly, and perhaps shall never see you more. My death is near, and far from you my death will come of desire. Take me to that happy place of which you told me long ago. The fields whence none return, but where great singers sing their songs for ever.
Take me now. The time is near. We have drunk all joy and sorrow. When it is finished, if I call you, will you come, my friend? As he went out the spies would have held him; but he laughed aloud, and flourished his club, and cried:.
My lady sends me to prepare that shining house I vowed her, of crystal, and of rose shot through with morning. When he was come back to Brittany, to Carhaix, it happened that Tristan, riding to the aid of Kaherdin his brother in arms, fell into ambush and was wounded by a poisoned spear; and many doctors came, but none could cure him of the ill. And Tristan weakened and paled, and his bones showed.
Then he knew that his life was going, and that he must die, and he had a desire to see once more Iseult the Fair, but he could not seek her, for the sea would have killed him in his weakness, and how could Iseult come to him?
And sad, and suffering the poison, he awaited death. He called Kaherdin secretly to tell him his pain, for they loved each other with a loyal love; and as he would have no one in the room save Kaherdin, nor even in the neighbouring rooms, Iseult of the White Hands began to wonder.
Now, within, Tristan had gathered up his strength, and had half risen, leaning against the wall, and Kaherdin wept beside him. They wept their good comradeship, broken so soon, and their friendship: then Tristan told Kaherdin of his love for that other Iseult, and of the sorrow of his life.
My life is going, and I wish to see once more Iseult the Fair. Ah, did I but know of a messenger who would go to her! For now I know that she will come to me. Kaherdin, my brother in arms, I beg it of your friendship; try this thing for me, and if you carry my word, I will become your liege, and I will cherish you beyond all other men.
And as Kaherdin saw Tristan broken down, his heart reproached him and he said:. Nor no distress nor anguish will let me from doing it according to my power. Give me the word you send, and I will make ready. Then tell her that my heart salutes her; tell her that she alone can bring me comfort; tell her that if she does not come I shall die.
Tell her to remember our past time, and our great sorrows, and all the joy there was in our loyal and tender love. And tell her to remember that draught we drank together on the high seas. For we drank our death together.
Tell her to remember the oath I swore to serve a single love, for I have kept that oath. But behind the wall, Iseult of the White Hands heard all these things; and Tristan continued:. Take forty days for your term, but come back with Iseult the Fair. And tell your sister nothing, or tell her that you seek some doctor.
Take my fine ship, and two sails with you, one white, one black. And as you return, if you bring Iseult, hoist the white sail; but if you bring her not, the black. Now I have nothing more to say, but God guide you and bring you back safe. With the first fair wind Kaherdin took the open, weighed anchor and hoisted sail, and ran with a light air and broke the seas.
They bore rich merchandise with them, dyed silks of rare colours, enamel of Touraine and wines of Poitou, for by this ruse Kaherdin thought to reach Iseult. Eight days and nights they ran full sail to Cornwall. So Iseult of the White Hands, who had heard every word, and who had so loved Tristan, waited her vengeance upon what she loved most in the world. And Kaherdin sailed and sailed till he dropped anchor in the haven of Tintagel.
He landed and took with him a cloth of rare dye and a cup well chiselled and worked, and made a present of them to King Mark, and courteously begged of him his peace and safeguard that he might traffick in his land; and the King gave him his peace before all the men of his palace.
When Iseult saw what ring that was, her heart trembled and her colour changed, and fearing what might next be said she drew Kaherdin apart near a window, as if to see and bargain the better; and Kaherdin said to her, low down:. He sends you word that you alone can bring him comfort, and recalls to you the great sorrows that you bore together. Keep you the ring—it is yours. And on the morrow at dawn they raised anchor, stepped mast, and hoisted sail, and happily the barque left land.
Nothing now filled him any more, and if he lived it was only as awaiting her; and day by day he sent watchers to the shore to see if some ship came, and to learn the colour of her sail. There was no other thing left in his heart. He had himself carried to the cliff of the Penmarks, where it overlooks the sea, and all the daylight long he gazed far off over the water.
Hear now a tale most sad and pitiful to all who love. Already was Iseult near; already the cliff of the Penmarks showed far away, and the ship ran heartily, when a storm wind rose on a sudden and grew, and struck the sail, and turned the ship all round about, and the sailors bore away and sore against their will they ran before the wind. The wind raged and big seas ran, and the air grew thick with darkness, and the ocean itself turned dark, and the rain drove in gusts.
The yard snapped, and the sheet; they struck their sail, and ran with wind and water. In an evil hour they had forgotten to haul their pinnace aboard; it leapt in their wake, and a great sea broke it away.
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