ventures, delivered Arthur from the power of the Lady of the Lake,
and carried off Iseult, whom the cowardly Mark was ill treating, to
Lancelot's castle of Joyeuse Garde. There she became acquainted with
Guinevere, and remained with her until Arthur brought about a general
reconciliation.

Then Tristan once more returned to Brittany, resumed his wonted knightly
existence, and fought until he was wounded so sorely that Iseult of
Brittany could not cure him. His faithful steward Kurvenal, hoping yet to
save him, sailed for Cornwall to bring the other Iseult to the rescue; and
as he left he promised his master to change the black sails of the vessel
for white in case his quest were successful.

Tristan now watched impatiently for the returning sail, but just as it came
into view he breathed his last. Some ill-advised writers have ventured to
state that Iseult of Brittany, whose jealousy had been aroused, was guilty
of Tristan's death by falsely averring, in answer to his feverish inquiry,
that the long-expected vessel was wafted along by black sails; but,
according to other authorities, she remained gentle and lovable to the end.

[Sidenote: Miracle of the plants.] Iseult of Cornwall, speeding to the
rescue of her lover, whom nothing could make her forget, and finding him
dead, breathed her last upon his corpse. Both bodies were then carried to
Cornwall, where they were interred in separate graves by order of King
Mark. But from the tomb of the dead minstrel there soon sprang a creeper,
which, finding its way along the walls, descended into Iseult's grave.
Thrice cut down by Mark's orders, the plant persisted in growing, thus
emphasizing by a miracle the passionate love which made this couple
proverbial in the middle ages. There are in subsequent literature many
parallels of the miracle of the plant which sprang from Tristan's tomb, as
is seen by the Ballad of Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, and of Lord Lovel,
where, as in later versions of the Tristan legend, a rose and a vine grew
out of the respective graves and twined tenderly around each other.

"And out of her breast there grew a red rose,
And out of his breast a brier."
_Ballad of Lord Lovel_.

CHAPTER XV.

THE STORY OF FRITHIOF.

[Sidenote: Northern sagas.] Norse, Danish, and Swedish writers have
frequently called public attention to the vast literary treasures which are
contained in the old sagas or tales of their