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

medicinal skill of the king’s daughter Yseut. Tristan was very much afraid of being recognized in Ireland as the slayer of Morholt and, as soon as he was well enough to travel, he returned to Cornwall
.
THE QUEST FOR YSEUT
    The barons at Mark’s court were making efforts to persuade the king to take a wife, for they were jealous of Tristan and feared that he would gain the inheritance if Mark died without children. Tristan offered to do all he could to find a wife for the king. Mark was unwilling to accede to his barons’ requests, and he attempted to evade a decision by means of the following stratagem: one day a swallow let a long fair hair fall from its beak in front of Mark, and the king promptly declared that he would only marry the woman to whom that hair belonged. The barons were angry at this trick, but Tristan at once undertook to set out with a few chosen companions on the strange quest for this woman
.
    They set sail and it was not long before a storm blew them to the coast of Ireland, where they passed themselves off asmerchants. Soon after their arrival they learned that the country was being laid waste by a dragon
,
which was doing so much harm that the Irish king had offered his daughter as a prize to the man who killed it
.
Unknown to his companions
,
Tristan set out to find the dragon and
,
after a fierce struggle
,
succeeded in killing it
.
He cut out its tongue and put it in his stocking
;
but the warmth made the poison in the tongue infuse Tristan’s body and he fell to the ground
,
senseless
.
As he lay there
,
the Irish king’s seneschal passed by and saw only the dead dragon
.
He hastily cut off its head and bore it triumphantly back to the palace
,
where he announced that he had slain the dragon
.
He thought that the dragon
’
s real slayer must have been killed
,
and he claimed Yseut as his prize
.
The Irish king was surprised at the unexpected prowess of his cowardly seneschal and imposed a delay of a few days
.
Yseut was distressed at the thought of marrying the seneschal and certain that he could not have killed the dragon
.
With her mother and two maidservants she went to where the dragon
’
s body lay
,
in the hope of finding its real slayer
.
They found Tristan
,
still unconscious
,
and without recognizing him took him back to the palace and tended his wounds
.
When he recovered his senses
,
Tristan told them he was the same Tantris they had looked after previously
.
    One day when Tristan was in the bath Yseut began to clean his sword
.
She noticed the notch in the blade
,
and compared it with the splinter taken from Morholt
’
s skull
.
To her horror the piece fitted perfectly
.
She advanced angrily on Tristan
,
brandishing the sword and accusing him of being the slayer of her uncle
.
Tristan admitted this
,
but spoke quickly to calm Yseut
.
He said that he had killed
Morholt in fair combat
,
and pointed out that if she killed him she would have to marry the seneschal since only he could prove the seneschal
’
s claim to be false
.
He finally calmed Yseut by telling her about the fair hair brought to King Mark by a swallow and of the quest he was engaged on
.
Yseut let Tristan live
,
and told her father that she had found the man who had really slain the dragon and that he would expose the seneschal
’
s lie
.
At an assembly held next day the seneschal attempted to uphold his claim
,
but was confuted when Tristan produced the dragon
’
s tongue
.
The Irish king learned Tristan
’
s identity and pardoned him
.
Yseut was given to Tristan as a reward
,
and he announced that he would take her to Cornwall to become the wife of King Mark
.
THE LOVE POTION
    Before they left Ireland, Yseut’s mother prepared a love potion which she entrusted to Brangain, Yseut’s maid, and instructed her to give it to Yseut and her husband to drink on their wedding night
.
    Tristan and Yseut took leave of the Irish court and set out on the voyage to Cornwall. The third day was very hot and the ship was