ISOLDE.

CHAPTER I.

HOW TRISTRAM WAS KNIGHTED.

Sad was the day when the renowned knight, Tristram of Lyonesse, was
born, for on that day his mother died, and his father lay in prison
through the arts of an enchantress. Therefore he was called Tristram,
which signifies one of a sorrowful birth.

It happened that when he was seven years of age his father, King
Meliodas, of the country of Lyonesse, married again. His first wife had
been Elizabeth, sister of King Mark of Cornwall. He now married the
daughter of King Howell of Brittany, a woman who proved of evil soul.

For after the new queen had children of her own she grew to hate the boy
who stood between her son and the throne of Lyonesse, and so bitter grew
her hatred that in the end she laid a foul plot for his murder. She put
poison in a silver cup in the chamber where the young princes were used
to play together, with the hope that Tristram when thirsty would drink
from that cup. But fate so willed that the queen's own son drank of the
poisoned cup, when thirsty from play, and died of it.

This fatal error filled the queen with deep anguish, but it added doubly
to her hate, and with murderous intent she again put the poisoned cup
into the chamber. But God protected the boy, for this time King
Meliodas, being thirsty, saw the envenomed cup of wine, and took it up
with purpose to drink. Before he could do so the queen, who was near by,
ran hastily forward, snatched the deadly cup from his hand, and threw
its contents on the floor.

This hasty act filled the king with suspicion, for the sudden death of
his young son had seemed to him like the work of poison. In a burst of
passion he caught the guilty woman fiercely by the hand, drew his sword,
and swore a mighty oath that he would kill her on the spot, unless she
told him what had been in the cup and why it was put there.

At this threat the queen, trembling and weeping with fright,
acknowledged that it had been her design to kill Tristram, in order that
her son should inherit the kingdom of Lyonesse.

"Thou false traitress and murderess!" cried the king in redoubled
passion. "By my royal soul, you shall have the fate you designed for my
son. A worse one you shall have, for you shall be burned at the stake as
a poisoner."

Then he called a council of his barons, who confirmed this sentence on
learning the dark crime of the queen, and by the order of the court a
fire of execution was prepared, and