ill e'en send some other knight that is bolder.'

At that Sir Tristram flushed hotly and said:

'I fear not to go there or anywhere, and I will bear thy message, sir.'

'It is well,' said the king. 'I will send thee with a fine ship, and a
rich company of knights, and I will get my scrivener to write my
message.'

Now King Mark said all this by reason of his craft and treachery. He
had heard how Sir Tristram had been full of the praises of La Belle
Isoude, while yet, as he had learned, Sir Tristram had not promised
himself in love to her. By his crafty speech King Mark had hoped to
make Sir Tristram promise to go to Ireland to obtain her, not for
himself, but for King Mark. So, therefore, if the king married La Belle
Isoude, this would cause some grief and hurt to Sir Tristram.

But King Mark cared not overmuch whether he wedded La Belle Isoude or
not. He believed that Sir Tristram would of a surety be slain by the
kin of Sir Marhaus in Ireland, and, if so, King Mark's plot would
succeed to the full.

Sir Tristram, sad and troubled, went apart, and rode into a forest, for
now he knew that he had done himself an ill turn. The lady he loved and
whom he wanted to wife for himself he had now promised to woo for
another.

As he rode moodily through the forest drive, a knight came swiftly
riding on a great horse, its flanks flecked with the foam of its speed.

'Fair knight,' said the stranger, 'will ye of your courtesy tell me
where I may quickly come at a knight called Sir Tristram of Lyones?'

'I am he,' said Tristram. 'What would ye?'

'I thank Heaven that hath led me to you, sir knight,' said the other.
'Here is a message from my master, King Anguish of Ireland, who is in
dire peril of honour and life, and craves aid of you for the love that
hath been atween you.'

Sir Tristram, much marvelling, took the parchment and read: 'These to
you, Sir Tristram of Lyones, most noble knight, from his lover and
friend King Anguish of Ireland, in sore trouble and straits at Camelot.
Know ye, Sir Tristram, that I have been summoned to King Arthur's court
on pain of forfeiture of his lordship's royal grace, to answer a charge
whereof I knew naught till I came here. Which is that by treason and
felony I caused to be slain at my court in Ireland a cousin of Sir
Bleobaris de Ganis and Sir Blamor de Ganis, and of this evil deed these
knights do most falsely accuse me. And there is none other remedy than
for me to answer them in