Chapter 11 - Page 2

delicious power,
Worshipped from my earliest hour,
Thou who life on all dost shower,
Love! my life thou dost devour. "In death's hour I beg of thee,
Isoude, dearest enemy,
Thou who erst couldst kinder be,
When I'm gone, forget not me. "On my gravestone passers by
Oft will read, as low I lie,
'Never wight in love could vie
With Tristram, yet she let him die.'" Tristram, having finished his lay, wrote it off and gave it to the
damsel, conjuring her to present it to the queen.
Meanwhile Queen Isoude was inconsolable at the absence of
Tristram. She discovered that it was caused by the fatal letter
which she had written to Pheredin. Innocent, but in despair at the sad
effects of her letter, she wrote another to Pheredin, charging him
never to see her again. The unhappy lover obeyed this cruel decree. He
plunged into the forest, and died of grief and love in a hermit's
cell.
Isoude passed her days in lamenting the absence and unknown fate
of Tristram. One day her jealous husband, having entered her chamber
unperceived, overheard her, singing the following lay:- "My voice to piteous wail is bent,
My harp to notes of languishment;
Ah, love! delightsome days be meant
For happier wights, with hearts content. "Ah, Tristram! far away from me,
Art thou from restless anguish free?
Ah! couldst thou so one moment be,
From her who so much loveth thee?" The king, hearing these words, burst forth in a rage; but Isoude was
too wretched to fear his violence. "You have heard me," she said; "I
confess it all. I love Tristram, and always shall love him. Without
doubt he is dead, and died for me. I no longer wish to live. The
blow that shall finish my misery will be most welcome."
The king was moved at the distress of the fair Isoude, and perhaps
the idea of Tristram's death tended to allay his wrath. He left the
queen in charge of her women, commanding them to take especial care
lest her despair should lead her to do harm to herself.
Tristram, meanwhile, distracted as he was, rendered a most important
service to the shepherds by slaying a gigantic robber named Taullas,
who was in the habit of plundering their flocks and rifling their
cottages. The shepherds, in their gratitude to Tristram, bore him in
triumph to King Mark to have him bestow on him a suitable reward. No
wonder Mark failed to recognize in the half-clad wild man before him
his nephew Tristram; but grateful for the service the unknown had
rendered, he ordered him to be well taken care of, and gave him in
charge to the queen and her women. Under such care Tristram rapidly
recovered his serenity and his health, so that the romancer tells us
he became handsomer than ever. King Mark's jealousy revived with
Tristram's health and good