ffair as
this, it must be altogether a secret betwixt us."

So therewith they parted and Lady Belle Isoult went to her father and
besought him to proclaim a great day of jousting in honor of Sir Palamydes,
and the King said that he would do so. So the King sent forth proclamation
to all the courts of that nation that a great tournament was to be held and
that great rewards and great honors were to be given to the best knight
thereat. And that tournament was talked about in all the courts of chivalry
where there were knights who desired to win glory in such affairs at arms.

And now it shall be told concerning that tournament and how it befell with
Sir Tristram thereat, and with Sir Palamydes thereat.

[Illustration: The Queen of Ireland seeks to slay Sir Tristram]

Chapter Fourth

_How Sir Tristram encountered Sir Palamydes at the tournament and of what
befell. Also how Sir Tristram was forced to leave the Kingdom of Ireland._

So came the time for the tournament that King Angus of Ireland had
ordained; and that was a very famous affair at arms indeed. For it hath
very rarely happened that so noble a gathering of knights hath ever come
together as that company which there presented itself for that occasion at
the court of the King of Ireland.

[Sidenote: Of the court of chivalry at Ireland] For you may know how
excellent was the court of chivalry that fore gathered thereat when you
shall hear that there came to that tournament, the King of an Hundred
Knights and the King of the Scots, and that there came several knights of
the Round Table, to wit: Sir Gawaine, Sir Gaheris and Sir Agravaine; and
Sir Bagdemagus and Sir Kay and Sir Dodinas, and Sir Sagramore le Desirous,
and Sir Gumret the Less, and Sir Griflet; and that there came besides these
many other knights of great renown.

These and many others gathered at the court of King Angus of Ireland, so
that all those meadows and fields coadjacent to the place of battle were
gay as beds of flowers with the multitude of tents and pavilions of divers
colors that were there emplanted.

And on the day of the tournament there came great crowds of people into the
lists, so that all that place was alive with movement. For it was as though
a sea of people had arisen to overflow the seats and stalls thereof.

Now that tournament was to last for three days, and upon the third day
there was to be a grand melee in which all these knights contestant were to
take stand