Long ago, when Mark was King over Cornwall, Rivalen, King of Lyonesse, heard that Mark’s enemies waged war on him; so he crossed the sea to bring him aid; and so faithfully did he serve him with counsel and sword that Mark gave him his sister Blanchefleur, whom King Rivalen loved most marvellously.
He wedded3 her in Tintagel Minster, but hardly was she wed2 when the news came to him that his old enemy Duke Morgan had fallen on Lyonesse and was wasting town and field. Then Rivalen manned his ships in haste, and took Blanchefleur with him to his far land; but she was with child. He landed below his castle of Kano?l and gave the Queen in ward4 to his Marshal Rohalt, and after that set off to wage his war.
Blanchefleur waited for him continually, but he did not come home, till she learnt upon a day that Duke Morgan had killed him in foul5 ambush6. She did not weep: she made no cry or lamentation7, but her limbs failed her and grew weak, and her soul was filled with a strong desire to be rid of the flesh, and though Rohalt tried to soothe8 her she would not hear. Three days she awaited re-union with her lord, and on the fourth she brought forth9 a son; and taking him in her arms she said:
“Little son, I have longed a while to see you, and now I see you the fairest thing ever a woman bore. In sadness came I hither, in sadness did I bring forth, and in sadness has your first feast day gone. And as by sadness you came into the world, your name shall be called Tristan; that is the child of sadness.”
After she had said these words she kissed him, and immediately when she had kissed him she died.
Rohalt, the keeper of faith, took the child, but already Duke Morgan’s men besieged10 the Castle of Kano?l all round about. There is a wise saying: “Fool-hardy was never hardy,” and he was compelled to yield to Duke Morgan at his mercy: but for fear that Morgan might slay11 Rivalen’s heir the Marshal hid him among his own sons.
When seven years were passed and the time had come to take the child from the women, Rohalt put Tristan under a good master, the Squire12 Gorvenal, and Gorvenal taught him in a few years the arts that go with barony. He taught him the use of lance and sword and ’scutcheon and bow, and how to cast stone quoits and to leap wide dykes14 also: and he taught him to hate every lie and felony and to keep his given word; and he taught him the various kinds of song and harp16-playing, and the hunter’s craft; and when the child rode among the young squires17 you would have said that he and his horse and his armour18 were all one thing. To see him so noble and so proud, broad in the shoulders, loyal, strong and right, all men glorified19 Rohalt in such a son. But Rohalt remembering Rivalen and Blanchefleur (of whose youth and grace all this was a resurrection) loved him indeed as a son, but in his heart revered20 him as his lord.
Now all his joy was snatched from him on a day when certain merchants of Norway, having lured21 Tristan to their ship, bore him off as a rich prize, though Tristan fought hard, as a young wolf struggles, caught in a gin. But it is a truth well proved, and every sailor knows it, that the sea will hardly bear a felon15 ship, and gives no aid to rapine. The sea rose and cast a dark storm round the ship and drove it eight days and eight nights at random22, till the mariners23 caught through the mist a coast of awful cliffs and sea-ward rocks whereon the sea would have ground their hull24 to pieces: then they did penance25, knowing that the anger of the sea came of the lad, whom they had stolen in an evil hour, and they vowed26 his deliverance and got ready a boat to put him, if it might be, ashore27: then the wind, and sea fell and the sky shone, and as the Norway ship grew small in the offing, a quiet tide cast Tristan and the boat upon a beach of sand.
Painfully he climbed the cliff and saw, beyond, a lonely rolling heath and a forest stretching out and endless. And he wept, remembering Gorvenal, his father, and the land of Lyonesse. Then the distant cry of a hunt, with horse and hound, came suddenly and lifted his heart, and a tall stag broke cover at the forest edge. The pack and the hunt streamed after it with a tumult28 of cries and winding29 horns, but just as the hounds were racing30 clustered at the haunch, the quarry31 turned to bay at a stones throw from Tristan; a huntsman gave him the thrust, while all around the hunt had gathered and was winding the kill. But Tristan, seeing by the gesture of the huntsman that he made to cut the neck of the stag, cried out:
“My lord, what would you do? Is it fitting to cut up so noble a beast like any farm-yard hog32? Is that the custom of this country?”
And the huntsman answered:
“Fair friend, what startles you? Why yes, first I take off the head of a stag, and then I cut it into four quarters and we carry it on our saddle bows to King Mark, our lord: So do we, and so since the days of the first huntsmen have done the Cornish men. If, however, you know of some nobler custom, teach it us: take this knife and we will learn it willingly.”
Then Tristan kneeled and skinned the stag before he cut it up, and quartered it all in order leaving the crow-bone all whole, as is meet, and putting aside at the end the head, the haunch, the tongue and the great heart’s vein33; and the huntsmen and the kennel34 hinds35 stood over him with delight, and the Master Huntsman said:
“Friend, these are good ways. In what land learnt you them? Tell us your country and your name.”
“Good lord, my name is Tristan, and I learnt these ways in my country of Lyonesse.”
“Tristan,” said the Master Huntsman, “God reward the father that brought you up so nobly; doubtless he is a baron13, rich and strong.”
Now Tristan knew both speech and silence, and he answered:
“No, lord; my father is a burgess. I left his home unbeknownst upon a ship that trafficked to a far place, for I wished to learn how men lived in foreign lands. But if you will accept me of the hunt I will follow you gladly and teach you other crafts of venery.”
“Fair Tristan, I marvel1 there should be a land where a burgess’s son can know what a knight36’s son knows not elsewhere, but come with us since you will it; and welcome: we will bring you to King Mark, our lord.”
Tristan completed his task; to the dogs he gave the heart, the head, offal and ears; and he taught the hunt how the skinning and the ordering should be done. Then he thrust the pieces upon pikes and gave them to this huntsman and to that to carry, to one the snout to another the haunch to another the flank to another the chine; and he taught them how to ride by twos in rank, according to the dignity of the pieces each might bear.
So they took the road and spoke37 together, till they came on a great castle and round it fields and orchards38, and living waters and fish ponds and plough lands, and many ships were in its haven39, for that castle stood above the sea. It was well fenced against all assault or engines of war, and its keep, which the giants had built long ago, was compact of great stones, like a chess board of vert and azure40.
And when Tristan asked its name:
“Good liege,” they said, “we call it Tintagel.”
And Tristan cried:
“Tintagel! Blessed be thou of God, and blessed be they that dwell within thee.”
(Therein, my lords, therein had Rivalen taken Blanchefleur to wife, though their son knew it not.)
When they came before the keep the horns brought the barons41 to the gates and King Mark himself. And when the Master Huntsman had told him all the story, and King Mark had marvelled42 at the good order of the cavalcade43, and the cutting of the stag, and the high art of venery in all, yet most he wondered at the stranger boy, and still gazed at him, troubled and wondering whence came his tenderness, and his heart would answer him nothing; but, my lords, it was blood that spoke, and the love he had long since borne his sister Blanchefleur.
That evening, when the boards were cleared, a singer out of Wales, a master, came forward among the barons in Hall and sang a harper’s song, and as this harper touched the strings44 of his harp, Tristan who sat at the King’s feet, spoke thus to him:
“Oh master, that is the first of songs! The Bretons of old wove it once to chant the loves of Gra?lent. And the melody is rare and rare are the words: master, your voice is subtle: harp us that well.”
But when the Welshman had sung, he answered:
“Boy, what do you know of the craft of music? If the burgesses of Lyonesse teach their sons harp—play also, and rotes and viols too, rise, and take this harp and show your skill.”
Then Tristan took the harp and sang so well that the barons softened45 as they heard, and King Mark marvelled at the harper from Lyonesse whither so long ago Rivalen had taken Blanchefleur away.
When the song ended, the King was silent a long space, but he said at last:
“Son, blessed be the master that taught thee, and blessed be thou of God: for God loves good singers. Their voices and the voice of the harp enter the souls of men and wake dear memories and cause them to forget many a mourning and many a sin. For our joy did you come to this roof, stay near us a long time, friend.”
And Tristan answered:
“Very willingly will I serve you, sire, as your harper, your huntsman and your liege.”
So did he, and for three years a mutual46 love grew up in their hearts. By day Tristan followed King Mark at pleas and in saddle; by night he slept in the royal room with the councillors and the peers, and if the King was sad he would harp to him to soothe his care. The barons also cherished him, and (as you shall learn) Dinas of Lidan, the seneschal, beyond all others. And more tenderly than the barons and than Dinas the King loved him. But Tristan could not forget, or Rohalt his father, or his master Gorvenal, or the land of Lyonesse.
My lords, a teller47 that would please, should not stretch his tale too long, and truly this tale is so various and so high that it needs no straining. Then let me shortly tell how Rohalt himself, after long wandering by sea and land, came into Cornwall, and found Tristan, and showing the King the carbuncle that once was Blanchefleur’s, said:
“King Mark, here is your nephew Tristan, son of your sister Blanchefleur and of King Rivalen. Duke Morgan holds his land most wrongfully; it is time such land came back to its lord.”
And Tristan (in a word) when his uncle had armed him knight, crossed the sea, and was hailed of his father’s vassals48, and killed Rivalen’s slayer49 and was re-seized of his land.
Then remembering how King Mark could no longer live in joy without him, he summoned his council and his barons and said this:
“Lords of the Lyonesse, I have retaken this place and I have avenged50 King Rivalen by the help of God and of you. But two men Rohalt and King Mark of Cornwall nourished me, an orphan51, and a wandering boy. So should I call them also fathers. Now a free man has two things thoroughly52 his own, his body and his land. To Rohalt then, here, I will release my land. Do you hold it, father, and your son shall hold it after you. But my body I give up to King Mark. I will leave this country, dear though it be, and in Cornwall I will serve King Mark as my lord. Such is my judgment53, but you, my lords of Lyonesse, are my lieges, and owe me counsel; if then, some one of you will counsel me another thing let him rise and speak.”
But all the barons praised him, though they wept; and taking with him Gorvenal only, Tristan set sail for King Mark’s land.
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1
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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wed
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| v.娶，嫁，与…结婚 | |
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wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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5
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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lamentation
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| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
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soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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13
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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14
dykes
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| abbr.diagonal wire cutters 斜线切割机n.堤( dyke的名词复数 )；坝；堰；沟 | |
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15
felon
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| n.重罪犯；adj.残忍的 | |
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harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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squires
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| n.地主，乡绅( squire的名词复数 ) | |
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armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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19
glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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revered
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| v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
lured
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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23
mariners
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| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
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24
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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penance
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| n.（赎罪的）惩罪 | |
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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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28
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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29
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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30
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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31
quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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32
hog
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| n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占 | |
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33
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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kennel
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| n.狗舍，狗窝 | |
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35
hinds
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| n.（常指动物腿）后面的( hind的名词复数 )；在后的；（通常与can或could连用）唠叨不停；滔滔不绝 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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38
orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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haven
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| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
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40
azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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41
barons
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| 男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨 | |
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42
marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
cavalcade
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| n.车队等的行列 | |
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44
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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45
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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46
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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47
teller
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| n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员 | |
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48
vassals
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| n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 )；（封建时代）诸侯；从属者；下属 | |
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49
slayer
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| n. 杀人者，凶手 | |
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50
avenged
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| v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复 | |
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51
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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52
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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53
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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