The Romance of Tristan: The Tale of Tristan's Madness (Classics) Page 13

  Then he heaved a great sigh. Brangain had been watching him closely. She could see that he had extremely well-made arms, hands and feet, and a shapely waist. In her heart she thought that he was sensible and that what was ailing him was something nobler than lunacy.

  ‘Sir knight, may God give you honour and joy. But let nothing happen which could turn to the queen’s dishonour nor to mine, for I am among her friends. Forgive me for what I said – I am more than a little sorry for it.’

  ‘I forgive you, it doesn’t trouble me.’

  Then Brangain said kindly: ‘Please go on, whatever you are trying to do, but take some other name than Tristan.’

  ‘Indeed, I gladly would! But the potion which you found in the chest has so robbed me of my reason and my will-power that I have no thoughts beyond obeying the dictates of love. God grant it will come to a happy end! Woe that this was all begun, for my good sense has indeed changed to madness. Brangain, you surely did us a bad turn when you brought us the potion. Many different herbs were mixed in the brew and it is affecting us unequally, for I am dying for her while she does not feel it. Our fate is unjustly shared, and I am the ill-starred Tristan.’

  At those words Brangain knew who he was. She fell at his feet asking for forgiveness and begging him to pardon her for her cruelty. He took her hand, made her rise and kissed her many times. Then he asked her to help him in his task without more delay, for she could easily tell Yseut; he asked her to do all she could. Brangain took his hand and held him close to her side as she led the way into Yseut’s room. Yseut saw the fool and her heart beat faster because she hated him for the rash words he had spoken that morning. He greeted her politely and without flattery, not knowing how things would turn out.

  ‘God save the queen,’ he said, ‘and Brangain her maid. She could soon cure my sickness just by calling me her love. I am a lover, so is she. Our love is not equally divided: I suffer doubly, but she has no pity for me. I have suffered many hardships, hunger and thirst, rough places to sleep, and the deep grief that I bear in my heart. No one could reproach me with being idle. But I pray to God – who at the wedding of Cana was such a pleasant steward that he changed the water into wine! – may God inspire her to rid me of this madness.’

  Yseut kept her peace and said not a word. Brangain saw this and said to her:

  ‘My lady, what sort of welcome is this to give to the truest lover that ever was or ever will be? He is tormented by his love for you. Put your arms around his neck quickly! It is because of you that his hair has been shorn off like a madman. My lady, listen to what I am saying: this is Tristan, I assure you!’

  ‘Maid, you are wrong. I wish you and he were both far away in the port where he arrived this morning. This young man is too sly. If he were Tristan, he would not have said such awful things about me today in front of everyone in the hall – he would have done better to stay in the hold of his ship!’

  ‘My lady, I did that to keep our secret and to make fools of them all. Formerly I knew nothing of this sort of deception, but love for you drives me to it. You do not remember Gamarien, who demanded nothing less than your person and abducted you: who was it who delivered you from him?’

  ‘That was certainly the king’s nephew, Tristan. He was a handsome knight.’

  Tristan heard this and it pleased him, for he knew that she would give him her love, and he asked no more. He had been in great distress because of his love.

  ‘Do I not look like the man who came to you alone and without assistance when you needed help, and cut off Gamarien’s hand?’7

  ‘Yes, insofar as you are a man. I do not know you, and there is an end to it.’

  ‘That is very sad, my lady. I was once your harpist8 and played to you in your room at a time when I was very sorrowful, and you were yourself a little sad. The wound I had which he gave me through the shoulder – that was how I left the battle – you cured and brought me back to health. Yours was the only hand that touched me. You cured me, too, of the poison from the horrible dragon – may I be hanged if I lie! And when I was in the bath you took out my sword and found the notch as you cleaned the blade. Then you called Perinis to bring the piece of dark silk the splinter was wrapped in. You joined the splinter to the sword and when you saw that it fitted you did not love me at all! In your wrath you grasped the sword in both hands to strike me and came towards me angrily. But I soon calmed you by telling you the story of the golden hair, which has since caused me such sorrow. Your mother knew this secret, I assure you in good faith. Then you were entrusted to my care. On the third day after we left port the wind dropped. We all had to take the oars and I myself lent a hand.9 It was very hot and we were thirsty. Brangain, who is before you now, hurried to the cupboard but she made a mistake in what she was looking for: she filled a cup with the love potion. It looked like clear wine and you could not see that there was anything mixed with it. She brought it to me and I took it. It did you little harm then or afterwards, but you know well enough what happened. It was unlucky for me that I ever saw you, damsel!’

  ‘You have certainly had a good teacher. Now you want us to think you are Tristan, God save him! But we can easily get rid of you. Have you more to tell us?’

  ‘Yes: the leap from the chapel. When you were condemned to be burnt and then handed over to the lepers, they went along quarrelling and disputing which of them should have you in the wood until the choice fell on one. I was waiting in ambush, alone except for Governal. You certainly ought to know me, for I broke many heads that day – or rather none of them was harmed by me, but Governal – God save him! – gave them great blows with the sticks they used as crutches. Then we were in the forest for a while, and we shed many a tear there. Is the hermit Ogrin still alive? God rest his soul!’

  ‘Leave that alone! It is not your place to speak of him. You are not at all like Tristan: he is a fine man and you are a wretch. You have taken on a strange task – beggary makes you deceitful. I could very soon have you taken prisoner and let the king hear all about what you have done.’

  ‘If he knew that, my lady, I am sure you would be very sad. They say “whoever serves love will one day be rewarded for everything.” From what I have seen here, this is not true in my case. Once I had a lover, indeed, but it seems to me now that I have lost her.’

  ‘Who has caused you that sorrow, sir?’

  ‘She who has loved me for so long and who will yet love me, please God! She must not abandon me now. I will tell you something else: a dog has a strange nature. Now, what has become of Husdant? They kept him tied up for three days, and he refused to eat or drink. He went mad because of me. Then they broke the dog’s chains and opened the door of his kennel. He ran without stopping straight to me, I assure you by the faith I owe you.’

  ‘Certainly, the dog is in my safe-keeping for the sake of his master, for I hope that one day we shall be happy together again.’

  ‘For me that dog would leave the fair Yseut. Show him to me straight away to see if he will recognize me.’

  ‘Recognize! A rash thing to say! Since Tristan left no man has ever approached him that he did not try to bite, and he will make no allowances for all your wretchedness. He is whining in the room over there. Bring him here, damsel.’

  Brangain ran to untie him. When the dog heard Tristan’s voice he pulled the leash out of the maid’s hands, straining to get to Tristan. He leaped on him and pushed his head back – never was an animal so happy! He nuzzled Tristan and pawed the ground for joy: anyone who saw it would have been greatly moved. He licked his hands and barked gleefully. Yseut was utterly amazed when she saw this and feared the fool might be some enchanter or magician. Tristan had poor clothing. He spoke to the dog:

  ‘I bless the food I gave you! You have not lost your affection for me. You have given me a much better reception than the woman I loved so much. She still thinks I am pretending. But she shall see now the proof that I am telling the truth: when we parted sorrowfully from each other she kissed me and gave me
this little gold ring. I have always carried it with me. Many a time I have spoken to it, hoping to be consoled; and when there was no reply I felt I should die of grief. For love I would kiss the emerald, and my eyes would be wet with hot tears.’

  Yseut recognized the ring and saw how the dog was nearly mad with joy. Then she knew in her heart that she was speaking to Tristan.

  ‘Alas,’ she said, ‘I must be insane! Oh my wicked heart, why do you not break when you do not know the man who has suffered most for me in all the world? Forgive me, my lord. I repent.’

  She fell in a swoon and he caught her. Now Brangain could see what she had wanted. When Yseut came to herself she put her arms around him and kissed his eyes and nose and face countless times.

  ‘Tristan, my lord, it is terrible that you are suffering such hardships for me! I am no daughter of a king if I do not give you your reward now. Now, Brangain, what shall it be?’

  ‘My lady, do not make a joke of it. Go and find clothes for him. He is Tristan and you are Yseut. Now we can see that the person who complains the most has the least occasion to!’

  Yseut said: ‘What comfort can we give him?’

  ‘As long as you have the time, do all you can to please him until Mark comes back from the river.’

  ‘May he find so many fish that he does not come back for a week!’

  When Yseut had said this, as you have heard it related here, Tristan slipped under the sheets without another word and held the queen in his arms.

  But Tristan could not remain long in Cornwall without discovery and once again he returned to Brittany and Yseut of the White Hands. But he still longed for Yseut the Fair.

  19

  THE DEATH OF THE LOVERS

  Tristan helped his friend Kaherdin in carrying on a love affair with the wife of a neighbouring knight. One day as they were leaving the knight’s castle they were attacked by the retainers of the angry knight, who had discovered their activities. Kaherdin was killed and Tristan badly wounded. Yseut of the White Hands had Tristan brought back to the palace where she summoned physicians to attend to his wounds. But his greatest pain was beyond the skill of those physicians; it came from a poisoned wound, and he knew that only Yseut the Fair could cure it. He decided accordingly to send a messenger to her: he was to show her the ring she had given Tristan and beg her to come to Brittany to see him. If the messenger was successful in his mission, his ship was to bear white sails on his return; if not, black sails. The messenger went to Cornwall as quickly as he could and found his way to Yseut the Fair. He identified himself by means of the ring and gave her his message. Without a moment’s delay, Yseut set out with the messenger to come to Tristan.

  Tristan’s health was daily becoming worse, and he was no longer able to leave his bed. When news came that the ship with his messenger was in sight, he asked his wife anxiously what colour the sails were. But Yseut of the White Hands had overheard Tristan’s instructions to his messenger, and out of jealousy she told him falsely that the sails were black. Believing that at the last his beloved Yseut had failed him, Tristan fell back on his bed and died. When Yseut landed, the lamentation and grief of the people of Brittany told her of the death of Tristan. She hurried, grief stricken, to the palace where he lay, kissed him and died as she held him in her arms.

  The bodies were taken to Cornwall, for King Mark had decided to give them an honourable burial in the church of Tintagel, one on each side of the nave. The story is told of two trees that grew miraculously, one from Tristan’s tomb and one from Yseut’s; their branches intertwined over the apse. Three times King Mark had the trees cut down, and three times they grew again. Some say it was the power of the love potion that did this.

  NOTES

  1. Mark is here confusing two separate episodes: Tristan’s suffering at sea was caused by the poisoned wound from Morholt’s sword, whereas the wound Tristan received from the dragon was cured by Yseut in Ireland.

  2. The text of the manuscript is obscure at this unfortunately crucial point. I have accepted the emendation proposed by E. Muret in his edition of the text, Roman de Tristan par Beroul (Paris, 4th edition, 1962).

  3. This allusion is far from clear: it does not apparently refer to anything in Beroul’s poem. A possible analogue which has been suggested is an episode in the Tristan poem by Eilhart von Oberg, which takes place when King Arthur and his knights and Tristan are all at King Mark’s court. The jealous Mark places sharp blades round Yseut’s bed so that Tristan would be wounded if he should go to her. The trap works and Tristan is wounded, but to help Tristan out of his difficulty all Arthur’s knights wound themselves likewise.

  4. The reference to the normal accomplishments of a fool recalls at the same time two of Tristan’s exploits: his leap from the chapel; and the twigs thrown into the stream to signify to Yseut his presence in the orchard.

  5. An allusion which does not accord with what actually happened when King Mark found the lovers, for the king felt no fear (p. 92). But the allusion accurately recalls Tristan’s mistaken analysis of the king’s actions (p. 95).

  6. Yder is a little-known Celtic hero who makes a brief appearance in the Arthurian cycle as the lover of Guinevere, a role traditionally assigned to Lancelot.

  7. Presumably an allusion to the episode of ‘The Harp and the Rote’ (p. 46, summary), although the name Gamarien appears in no other romance. The details of the original version of Yseut’s abduction are not known with certainty and it is possible that it ended with a combat, as implied here. On the other hand, this may be a confusion with Tristan’s combat with Morholt, for in Eilhart’s poem Tristan cut off his adversary’s hand.

  8. An allusion to Tristan’s first stay in Ireland, when Yseut healed the wound he had received from Morholt and he taught her to play the harp.

  9. A detail also given only by the fourteenth-century English poem Sir Tristrem.

  INDEX OF NAMES

  The lists of page references following each entry are not exhaustive.

  Adam, 72.

  Andret, born in Lincoln, 111; unhorsed by Tristan, 138.

  Arthur, King, 61; receives Yseut’s messenger, 123 present at Yseut’s vindication, 130ff.

  Baghdad, 135.

  Bel Joeor, Tristan’s horse, 137.

  Beroul, 75, 88.

  Black Knight of the Mountain, Tristan in disguise, 137.

  Blanchefleur, 39.

  Blanche Lande, a heath in Cornwall, 106.

  Brangain, Yseut’s companion and maidservant, guardian of the love potion, 44, 97, 155; her attempted murder, 45, et passim.

  Brittany, 98, 156.

  Bruneheut, said by the disguised Tristan to be his sister, 154.

  Caerleon, residence of King Arthur, 123, 132.

  Carlisle, residence of King Arthur, 61.

  Castilian horses, 137.

  Cato, Roman censor, 91.

  Cinglor, one of King Arthur’s knights, 138.

  Constantine, emperor, 53.

  Coris, one of King Arthur’s knights, 138.

  Cornwall, passim.

  Costentin, village in Normandy, 101.

  Croiz, Croiz Rouge, landmark in Cornwall, 90, 101.

  Denoalan, vassal of King Mark, one of the three barons hostile to Tristan, 125; killed by Tristan, 146.

  Dinan, see Dinas.

  Dinas of Dinan, seneschal of King Mark, friend of Tristan, 71, 134, 144, 151.

  Duke Hoel, 149.

  Dumfries, 56, 105.

  Durham, 97, 143.

  Evain, one of King Arthur’s knights, 125.

  Fail-not, bow invented by Tristan, 87.

  Frenchman, 124.

  Frocin, dwarf hostile to Tristan, 54; plans to trap the lovers, 61; killed by King Mark, 78.

  Galway, 106.

  Gamarien, 159 (see notes).

  Ganelon, vassal of King Mark, one of the three barons hostile to Tristan, 125.

  Gawain, 138.

  Gerflet, one of King Arthur’s knights, 138.

  Godwin, vassal
of King Mark, one of the three barons hostile to Tristan, 125; killed by Tristan, 148.

  Governal, Tristan’s tutor and squire, helps Tristan to escape, 69; kills one of the three hostile barons, 86, et passim.

  Gué Aventurous, a ford at the place where Yseut is returned to Mark, 108; and makes her vindication, 124.

  Husdant, Tristan’s dog, 80; parting gift to Yseut, 109; recognizes Tristan, 162.

  Ireland, 42, 93, 104.

  Ivain, leader of the lepers, 73.

  Jesus, 98.

  Kaherdin, 149.

  Kay, seneschal of King Arthur, 120.

  Lantyan, a residence of King Mark in Cornwall, 73, 101.

  Lidan, unidentified place name, 97, 127.

  Lincoln, 111.

  Lyoness, Tristan’s native land, 111.

  Malpas, marshy ground in Cornwall where Yseut makes her vindication, 121.

  Malpertis, name of the fox’s den in the Romance of Reynard the Fox, 143.

  Mark, King of Cornwall, uncle of Tristan, husband of Yseut, passim.

  Morholt, uncle of Yseut, killed by Tristan in combat, 40, 50, 66, 93, 152.

  Morrois, forest in Cornwall, scene of the lovers’ exil, 76ff.

  Nicaea, 140.

  Ogrin, friar and hermit, urges the lovers to repent, 78; writes a letter to King Mark, 101; referred to by Tristan, 161.

  Orion, constellation, 54.

  Orry, friendly forester who shelters Tristan, 114.

  Otran, Saracen King of Nimes, 79.

  Passelande, King Arthur’s horse, 126.

  Pentecost, 87.

  Perinis, squire in the service of Yseut, 64, 121, 145 et passim.

  Picolet, diminutive of Picous.

  Picous, name given to himself by the disguised Tristan, 154.

  Regensburg, cloth of, 131.

  Rheims linen, 131.

  Rivalen, 39.

  Rome, 53, 101.

  St Andrew, 117.

  St Christine, 156.