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<h2> THE MADNESS OF TRISTAN </h2>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Within her room at Tintagel Iseult the Fair sat singing a song she had
made. She sang of Guron taken and killed for his love, and how by guile
the Count gave Guron’s heart to her to eat, and of her woe. The
Queen sang softly, catching the harp’s tone; her hands were cunning
and her song good; she sang low down and softly.</p>
<p>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:</p>
<p>“Lady, how sad a song! as sad as the Osprey’s; do they not say
he sings for death? and your song means that to me; I die for you.”</p>
<p>And Iseult said: “So let it be and may it mean so; for never come
you here but to stir in me anger or mourning. Ever were you the screech
owl or the Osprey that boded ill when you spoke of Tristan; what news bear
you now?”</p>
<p>And Kariado answered:</p>
<p>“You are angered, I know not why, but who heeds your words? 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. He has wed in great pomp
Iseult of the White Hands, the King of Brittany’s daughter.’’</p>
<p>And Kariado went off in anger, but Iseult bowed her head and broke into
tears.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>He found in a haven a great ship ready, the sail was up and the
anchor-chain short at the bow.</p>
<p>“God save you, my lords,” he said, “and send you a good
journey. To what land sail you now?”</p>
<p>“To Tintagel,” they said.</p>
<p>Then he cried out:</p>
<p>“Oh, my lords! take me with you thither!”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“But where,” said he, “is Iseult, the Queen, and her
fair maid, Brangien?”</p>
<p>“In Tintagel too,” said the other, “and I saw them
lately; the Queen sad, as she always is.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>And he thought, “Let him kill me and let me die for her, since every
day I die. But you, Iseult, even if you knew me here, would you not drive
me out?” And he thought, “I will try guile. 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.”</p>
<p>Just then a fisherman passed in a rough cloak and cape, and Tristan seeing
him, took him aside, and said:</p>
<p>“Friend, will you not change clothes?”</p>
<p>And as the fisherman found it a very good bargain, he said in answer:</p>
<p>“Yes, friend, gladly.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The porter made sure that he had to do with a fool and said:</p>
<p>“Good morrow, fool, where have you been this long while?”</p>
<p>And he answered:</p>
<p>“At the Abbot of St. Michael’s wedding, and he wed an abbess,
large and veiled. And from the Alps to Mount St. Michael how they came,
the priests and abbots, monks and regulars, all dancing on the green with
croziers and with staves under the high trees’ shade. But I left
them all to come hither, for I serve at the King’s board to-day.”</p>
<p>Then the porter said:</p>
<p>“Come in, lord fool; the Hairy Urgan’s son, I know, and like
your father.”</p>
<p>And when he was within the courts the serving men ran after him and cried:</p>
<p>“The fool! the fool!”</p>
<p>But he made play with them though they cast stones and struck him as they
laughed, and in the midst of laughter and their cries, as the rout
followed him, he came to that hall where, at the Queen’s side, King
Mark sat under his canopy.</p>
<p>And as he neared the door with his club at his neck, the King said:</p>
<p>“Here is a merry fellow, let him in.”</p>
<p>And they brought him in, his club at his neck. And the King said:</p>
<p>“Friend, well come; what seek you here?”</p>
<p>“Iseult,” said he, “whom I love so well; I bring my
sister with me, Brunehild, the beautiful. 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.”</p>
<p>The King said laughing:</p>
<p>“Fool, if I gave you the Queen, where would you take her, pray?”</p>
<p>“Oh! very high,” he said, “between the clouds and
heaven, into a fair chamber glazed. 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.”</p>
<p>The King and his barons laughed and said:</p>
<p>“Here is a good fool at no loss for words.”</p>
<p>But the fool as he sat at their feet gazed at Iseult most fixedly.</p>
<p>“Friend,” said King Mark, “what warrant have you that
the Queen would heed so foul a fool as you?”</p>
<p>“O! Sire,” he answered gravely, “many deeds have I done
for her, and my madness is from her alone.”</p>
<p>“What is your name?” they said, and laughed.</p>
<p>“Tristan,” said he, “that loved the Queen so well, and
still till death will love her.”</p>
<p>But at the name the Queen angered and weakened together, and said: “Get
hence for an evil fool!”</p>
<p>But the fool, marking her anger, went on:</p>
<p>“Queen Iseult, do you mind the day, when, poisoned by the Morholt’s
spear, I took my harp to sea and fell upon your shore? Your mother healed
me with strange drugs. Have you no memory, Queen?”</p>
<p>But Iseult answered:</p>
<p>“Out, fool, out! Your folly and you have passed the bounds!”</p>
<p>But the fool, still playing, pushed the barons out, crying:</p>
<p>“Out! madmen, out! Leave me to counsel with Iseult, since I come
here for the love of her!”</p>
<p>And as the King laughed, Iseult blushed and said:</p>
<p>“King, drive me forth this fool!”</p>
<p>But the fool still laughed and cried:</p>
<p>“Queen, do you mind you of the dragon I slew in your land? I hid its
tongue in my hose, and, burnt of its venom, I fell by the roadside. Ah!
what a knight was I then, and it was you that succoured me.”</p>
<p>Iseult replied:</p>
<p>“Silence! 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!”</p>
<p>“Queen Iseult,” he still said on, “do you mind you of
your haste when you would have slain me with my own sword? And of the Hair
of Gold? And of how I stood up to the seneschal?”</p>
<p>“Silence!” she said, “you drunkard. You were drunk last
night, and so you dreamt these dreams.”</p>
<p>“Drunk, and still so am I,” said he, “but of such a
draught that never can the influence fade. 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.”</p>
<p>When the Queen heard these words which she alone could understand, she
rose and would have gone.</p>
<p>But the King held her by her ermine cloak, and she sat down again.</p>
<p>And as the King had his fill of the fool he called for his falcons and
went to hunt; and Iseult said to him:</p>
<p>“Sire, I am weak and sad; let me be go rest in my room; I am tired
of these follies.”</p>
<p>And she went to her room in thought and sat upon her bed and mourned,
calling herself a slave and saying:</p>
<p>“Why was I born? 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.”</p>
<p>Then Brangien said: “It may be Tristan.”</p>
<p>But—“No,” said the Queen, “for he was the first of
knights, but this fool is foul and made awry. Curse me his hour and the
ship that brought him hither.”</p>
<p>“My lady!” said Brangien, “soothe you. You curse over
much these days. May be he comes from Tristan?”</p>
<p>“I cannot tell. I know him not. But go find him, friend, and see if
you know him.”</p>
<p>So Brangien went to the hall where the fool still sat alone. Tristan knew
her and let fall his club and said:</p>
<p>“Brangien, dear Brangien, before God! have pity on me!”</p>
<p>“Foul fool,” she answered, “what devil taught you my
name?”</p>
<p>“Lady,” he said, “I have known it long. 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?”</p>
<p>“No,” she said, and as she trembled and left he called out:
“Pity me!”</p>
<p>He followed and saw Iseult. He stretched out his arms, but in her shame,
sweating agony she drew back, and Tristan angered and said:</p>
<p>“I have lived too long, for I have seen the day that Iseult will
nothing of me. 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.”</p>
<p>But she said</p>
<p>“Brother, I look at you and doubt and tremble, and I know you not
for Tristan.”</p>
<p>“Queen Iseult, I am Tristan indeed that do love you; mind you for
the last time of the dwarf, and of the flower, and of the blood I shed in
my leap. Oh! and of that ring I took in kisses and in tears on the day we
parted. I have kept that jasper ring and asked it counsel.”</p>
<p>Then Iseult knew Tristan for what he was, and she said:</p>
<p>“Heart, you should have broken of sorrow not to have known the man
who has suffered so much for you. Pardon, my master and my friend.”</p>
<p>And her eyes darkened and she fell; but when the light returned she was
held by him who kissed her eyes and her face.</p>
<p>So passed they three full days. But, on the third, two maids that watched
them told the traitor Andret, and he put spies well-armed before the women’s
rooms. And when Tristan would enter they cried:</p>
<p>“Back, fool!”</p>
<p>But he brandished his club laughing, and said:</p>
<p>“What! May I not kiss the Queen who loves me and awaits me now?”</p>
<p>And they feared him for a mad fool, and he passed in through the door.</p>
<p>Then, being with the Queen for the last time, he held her in his arms and
said:</p>
<p>“Friend, I must fly, for they are wondering. I must fly, and perhaps
shall never see you more. My death is near, and far from you my death will
come of desire.”</p>
<p>“Oh friend,” she said, “fold your arms round me close
and strain me so that our hearts may break and our souls go free at last.
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.”</p>
<p>“I will take you to the Happy Palace of the living, Queen! The time
is near. We have drunk all joy and sorrow. The time is near. When it is
finished, if I call you, will you come, my friend?”</p>
<p>“Friend,” said she, “call me and you know that I shall
come.”</p>
<p>“Friend,” said he, “God send you His reward.”</p>
<p>As he went out the spies would have held him; but he laughed aloud, and
flourished his club, and cried:</p>
<p>“Peace, gentlemen, I go and will not stay. My lady sends me to
prepare that shining house I vowed her, of crystal, and of rose shot
through with morning.”</p>
<p>And as they cursed and drave him, the fool went leaping on his way.</p>
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