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
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:
“My lords, how shall I land without befouling my clothes in the
river-mud? Fetch me a ferryman.”
And one of the knights hailed the pilgrim, and said:
“Friend, truss your coat, and try the water; carry you the Queen to
shore, unless you fear the burden.”
But as he took the Queen in his arms she whispered to him:
“Friend.”