The Romance of Tristan: The Tale of Tristan's Madness (Classics) Read Online Free PDF Page A

and a quicker-thinking Mark would realize that this must be Tristan speaking and would take him captive forthwith. But Mark does not, and we must assume that it was the audacity of this allusion rather than the improbability of Mark’s ignoring it that struck the poet’s audience.
NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION
    Lacunas exist in the manuscripts of both poems. Where possible, the missing words have been supplied on the basis of a comparison with other Tristan poems, and these passages are enclosed in square brackets. The spelling of all names has been regularized and left in the Old French form, except where there is a familiar English form, as Arthur, Gawain. In the original the use of tenses seems to be somewhat capricious: there seemed to be no point in trying to reproduce the wide range of variations and the narrative of this translation is set uniformly in the past.
    In general I have tried to strike a balance between a version which is readable in Modern English prose and one which is still recognizably Beroul’s poem. All projectsof this kind are doomed to fall short in some way or other, perhaps in this case chiefly because stories are no longer told in the way Beroul told his. Some of Beroul’s characteristic features I have scarcely attempted to reproduce: the elliptical syntax and occasional parataxis have normally been expanded to bring them into line with modern practice, although I have in principle avoided making Beroul’s sentences more complex by introducing subordinating conjunctions where the original has none; and the abruptness of Beroul’s style has been somewhat lessened for the sake of clarity.
    Many of the best things in Beroul are inevitably lost, but I trust that enough will remain to enable the reader at least to glimpse through the distorting perspective of a translation something of the vigour and artistry of this fine twelfth-century poem.
    A. S. F.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
    It is first of all a pleasure to thank the co-editor of this series, Robert Baldick, for his constant helpfulness, not to mention a willingness to overlook delays from time to time. For my studies of the
Tristan
romances, and particularly Beroul, I am greatly indebted to the following scholars and friends: J. P. Collas, N. S. Duncan, A. T. Hatto, Elspeth Kennedy, E. Vinaver, F. Whitehead, Gweneth Whitteridge, D. F. Whitton. It goes without saying that if I had listened more carefully to their generously given counsel this book would have been much better, and that only I am to blame for the faults it contains.
    In preparing the book for publication I gratefully acknowledge a special debt to two friends at London University: Dafydd Evans, who not only offered many useful suggestions in the course of this work but has always been at hand with friendly advice; and Patricia M. Harry, who read the entire book in typescript and who gave much invaluable help during the period of its preparation.
    Finally, I wish to thank Maria Courie, but for whom this book could not have appeared.
    Gloucester
,
Massachusetts
1969
    A. S. F.

THE ROMANCE OF TRISTAN
1
TRISTAN’S BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD *
    Once upon a time, King Mark reigned over Cornwall. Rivalen, King of Lyoness, learned that Cornwall was being attacked and crossed the sea to come to Mark’s aid. Rivalen served King Mark so well that as a reward he was given the hand of Mark’s sister, Blanchefleur, with whom he had fallen in love. They were married in Tintagel, but news of an attack on his own land immediately recalled Rivalen to Lyoness. Soon after Rivalen had defeated his enemies Blanchefleur gave birth to a son, but amid great lamentation died in childbirth. The child born in sorrow was named Tristan
.
    Tristan’s father entrusted his upbringing to the care of a wise tutor, Governal, who instructed him in all the warlike and peaceful arts, as befitted a noble youth. When Tristan was in his early ’teens, he left his own country with Governal to seek adventure in other lands. He arrived