Tristan

When Tristan is out hunting one day, a knight by the name of Gandin visits from Ireland. He carries with him an instrument, a rote, that he refuses to put down during the entire feast held in his honor. After the feast, Mark asks Gandin to play the instrument, and he agrees on the condition that he then be given anything he wants. After playing, Gandin demands that Mark give him Isolde. At first Mark refuses, but when Gandin insists and challenges anyone to a duel, Mark relents. When Tristan returns from the hunt, he learns that Gandin has carried away Isolde and that he is waiting for a boat to take them away.

Disguised as a harp player, Tristan goes to where Gandin is keeping Isolde. Tristan claims to be Irish, and Gandin agrees to let him travel on board the ship. Tristan suggests that his horse be used to help Isolde onto the boat, and when Gandin hands her to Tristan on the horse, Tristan rides off with her. Gandin returns to Ireland humiliated, and Tristan brings Isolde back to Mark.

Marjodoc is Mark’s steward and a close friend of Tristan’s, but he is secretly attracted to Isolde. One night after Marjodoc falls asleep, Tristan goes to Isolde’s room. Waking up from a strange dream and not finding Tristan next to him, Marjodoc goes out and follows Tristan’s steps in the snow. He comes to Isolde’s room and hears her and Tristan in the dark. Marjodoc returns and later tells Mark that there is a rumor of a relationship between Tristan and Isolde. Mark begins to grow suspicious, but Tristan and Isolde are especially careful, knowing that Marjodoc must have detected something.

When Mark tells Isolde he means to leave on a pilgrimage and asks Isolde to whose care he should entrust her, she names Tristan. Mark and Marjodoc believe they have caught Isolde in a trap, and Brangane later warns Isolde to respond differently in the future.

Mark, troubled with jealousy, again questions Isolde, but she responds more shrewdly, saying she hates Tristan. Mark is comforted and tells Marjodoc about their conversation. Marjodoc tells Mark to press Isolde again. Isolde falters at first, but after seeking advice from Brangane, she again evades suspicion, and Mark grows mistrustful of Marjodoc.

Marjodoc recruits a little person, Melot, to trap Tristan and Isolde. Melot tells Mark of the proofs he has found, and once more consumed with jealousy, Mark forbids Tristan from going to the ladies’ quarters in the palace. Tristan suffers from not having seen Isolde, and Mark goes off on a hunt.

Brangane advises the lovers to secretly meet outside near a brook, and after a few such encounters, Melot follows Tristan and sees him in the shade with a woman. He later comes to Tristan to try to deceive him into revealing the affair, but Tristan sends him away.

Melot rides to Mark and urges him to come back so that they can catch Tristan meeting with Isolde by the brook. They hide in a tree, but when Tristan passes he sees their shadows in the tree. He is worried Isolde will not recognize the trap, but when she arrives she also sees the shadows. Isolde tells Tristan that she loves Mark and that she regrets the rumors and the suspicions surrounding them. Tristan laments the distrust that Mark has shown for him. Mark feels guilty for his suspicions.

The next day Mark promises Isolde he will no longer be jealous, and he restores Tristan to his former position as Isolde’s attendant, allowing the two of them to continue their affair.

One day, some members of the court undergo bleeding. They all sleep in a room together. Mark and Melot rise in the middle of the night to go to prayers, and Melot lays a trap, sprinkling flour on the floor so that any movements will leave footprints. Brangane sees this and warns Tristan. Tristan decides to run in order to avoid the flour, but his effort makes him bleed from his wound.

When Mark returns, he notices the blood in his and Isolde’s bed; Tristan’s bed is also stained with blood. After consulting with his kinsmen and vassals, Mark seeks the counsel of the clergy in London. Since there is no proof that Tristan and Isolde have done anything and because Isolde denies the allegations, they advise Mark to submit Isolde to a trial with a red-hot iron in a few weeks’ time.

Before the trial, Isolde tells Tristan to dress as a pilgrim. She has him carry her from the gangway of a ship to land and tells him to stumble and fall so that he lays in her arms. During her trial, she then swears that nobody has lain in her arms besides Mark and the pilgrim everybody witnessed fall in her arms. Isolde is made to carry the red-hot iron, and after she does this without sustaining burns, she is viewed as innocent. Mark’s doubts are once more put to rest.

After playing the pilgrim in Isolde’s plan but before Isolde’s trial, Tristan sails to Swales to visit Duke Gilan. Gilan has a magical multicolored dog named Petitcreiu with a bell around its neck. The presence of the dog and the tinkling of its bell relieve any anxiety. Tristan wants the dog for Isolde to relieve her distress whenever they are not together. Tristan hears that there is a giant to whom Gilan is forced to pay tribute, and Gilan tells Tristan that he will give him anything if he can get rid of the giant.

Tristan goes to confront the giant, Urgan, and eventually kills him in battle. He brings back Urgan’s hand to Gilan as proof of his victory, and Gilan rewards him with Petitcreiu. Tristan sends the dog to Isolde via a Welsh minstrel, and Isolde replies that Tristan is free to return to Cornwall since Mark no longer believes they are having an affair. Tristan returns to Cornwall but does not spend time with Isolde. Out of frustration at Tristan’s sufferings, Isolde breaks Petitcreiu’s bell and no longer receives happiness from the dog.

Tristan and Isolde continue their affair, and Mark again notices the looks they exchange with one another. He confronts them and exiles them from court, telling them they are free to live alone together. Tristan and Isolde leave the court, bringing Curvenal, Tristan’s old tutor, along with them.

Tristan and Isolde retire to the “Cave of Lovers,” a furnished site remaining from pre-Christian times. They send Curvenal back to court to tell everyone they have gone to Ireland proclaiming their innocence. He is to return periodically to keep them informed about Mark’s plans. Tristan and Isolde do not eat, but they are able to survive on love alone. They pass the time telling love stories and playing music.

Mark is out on a hunt, and Tristan and Isolde overhear the hunting party near their cave. In case they are discovered, they place a sword between them on their bed and sleep far apart. A huntsman sees them through a window to the cave and alerts Mark of their presence. Mark sees them sleeping far apart with a sword in between them and again thinks that they are innocent.

Upon his return to court, Mark sends Curvenal to Tristan and Isolde to invite them back. They return but are forbidden from seeing one another. One day, Isolde has a bed made for her in the garden and then dismisses her attending ladies while sending Brangane to fetch Tristan. Mark happens to be passing by and asks Isolde’s attendants where Isolde is. The ladies tell him she is sleeping in the garden, and when he goes there he finds Tristan and Isolde together in bed. Mark goes to gather other noblemen as witnesses, but in the meantime Tristan sees Mark and departs. Before he leaves, Isolde gives Tristan a ring in honor of their undying love for one another. When Mark returns, he and the nobles find Isolde alone, and the noblemen reprimand Mark for again casting aspersions on Isolde.