Help us to offer peace to the
King, and I will yield him the Queen, and will myself go far away into
Brittany or the Lowlands, and if some day the King suffer me, I will
return and serve as I should."
And at the hermit's feet Iseult said in her turn:
"Nor will I live longer so, for though I will not say one word of
penance for my love, which is there and remains forever, yet from now
on I will be separate from him."
Then the hermit wept and praised God and cried: "High King, I praise
Thy Name, for that Thou hast let me live so long as to give aid to
these!"
And he gave them wise counsel, and took ink, and wrote a little writ
offering the King what Tristan said.
That night Tristan took the road. Once more he saw the marble well and
the tall pine-tree, and he came beneath the window where the King
slept, and called him gently, and Mark awoke and whispered:
"Who are you that call me in the night at such an hour?"
"Lord, I am Tristan: I bring you a writ, and lay it here."
Then the King cried: "Nephew! nephew! for God's sake wait awhile," but
Tristan had fled and joined his squire, and mounted rapidly. Gorvenal
said to him:
"O, Tristan, you are mad to have come. Fly hard with me by the nearest
road."
So they came back to the Hermitage, and there they found Ogrin at
prayer, but Iseult weeping silently.
Pages:
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72