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.
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