T H E R O M A N C E O F TRI STRAM AND ISEULT BOOKS I LLUST RAT ED I N COLOUR T HE RHINEGOLD A N D THE K Y ichard a er VAL RIE. By R W gn Mar aret ur Tra ns lated by g Armo r h Rac ha Illustrated by A t u r k m I One Vlu e x 3 net n o m . Cr 4to. 5 RIP VAN WINKLE By Washington Irving r hur Rac h a Illustrated by A t k m I n lu e De 8y o i s net n O e Vo m , my , s ’ ALICE S ADVENTURES IN WON a D Lewi Ca r DERLAN . By s r oll With Proe m by Austin Dobson e h r Rac ha Illustrat d by Art u k m I One Vlu e 8vo 65 net n o m , Cr , A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM By Willia m Shakespeare e r hu Rac ha Illu strat d by A t r k m I n One Vlu e i s net o m . Cr 4to . s a d e l e F u ue UNDINE. By B ron a Mott o q a e L C u e Ad pt d by W. o rtn y a e r h r R h Illustr t d by A t u ack am I One V lu e s 6d net n o m , Cr 4to , 7 T HE INGOLDSBY LEGENDS of Mirth a nd Marvels h a Es re. By T om s Ingoldsby, q u a e h Rac h a Ill str t d by Art ur k m I One Vl u e to x s net n o m , Cr 4 , s THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR By William Shakespeare Illu strated by Hugh Thomson I O ne V lu e i s net n o m , Cr 4to , s LONDON : WILLIAM HEI NEMANN 2 1 BEDFORD ST REET . W C PREFACE F the old romances of Tristram, those by Chrétien de Troyes and La Chevre have disappeared entirely ’ ’ Berou l s of version, about 300 0 verses have survived, and of Thomas of Breil e ’ d o u n e s , ab o ut the same number ; there are also some 1500 verses by an anonymous . f writer Then there are translations, three o of which give the substance , though not the form , ’ Thomas s poem , while a fourth is a poem closely ’ r l akin to Bé ou s various allusions , often of a very valuable kind ; little episodic poems ; and finally the formless prose romance, containing some ira ment s g of old lost poems , imbedded in a mass of d absurdities, to which every successive e itor contributed . What was the architect who wished to resto r e the ancient building to do in the face ' t s i 1 . of : . nense heap of ruins P Two courses were 0 p m to him : he might have adopted the text e Bér u l of Th m or that of o . The first had this ' n 7 tag , that, thanks to the tra slations, it ha . e enabled him to reconstruct a complete V 271 4 4 7 PREFACE r and homogeneous nar ative . But it also had this r disadvantage , that it would have estored the least ancient of the Tristram poems, that in which the old barbaric element was most complete ly assimilated t o the Spirit and action of Anglo , Bédier French chivalry . M . accordingly chose the one second course, a much more difficult , but, for his this very reason , more tempting to his art and t o learning, and also better adapted the end he had in view : to revive the Tristram legend for the f da man o t y in its most ancient form . He began of Bérou l by translating the extant fragment , which middle of occupies, roughly Speaking, the his narrative . Having thus steeped himself in the of old i Spirit the romancer, assimilated his na ve of manner thought and feeling, even the occasional puerilities of his commentary and the artless grace of his style, he gave a new head and limbs of to this torso, not by means a mechanical w u x ta osition of re enera e i p , but by a kind organic g on of tion, the model those animals which, when mutilated, complete themselves by their inherent energy on the lines of their perfect form . ’ i Bédier i ] M . s work then s a twelfth century ou r own French poem, composed in times, a goem sea ' d of and forest , whose hero , a demi go rather e a 0 than a man, was repr sented as the m s ter , s even the inventor, of all the barbarou arts , in vi PREFACE vincible in combat , a victor over monsters, the of to protector his followers, pitiless his enemies, living an almost supernatural life, a constant ob ect of . i admiration, devotion and envy This type was no doubt evolved at a very early period in the Celtic world ; it was inevitable that it should have been completed by love . I need not here insist upon the character of the passion which enthrals Tristram and Iseult, and makes this / i legend in its various forms a matchless love ep c . I will only point ou t that the idea of symbolising — —b love involuntary, irresistible , and eternal y a philtre the action of which persists throughout life its t o and even after death , evidently owed origin ancient Celtic magic . Q] The element which attracted the French romancers in the story and tempted them to clothe it in the consecrated form of oct os llabic verse in Spite of all its difficulties and obscurities, was the element which secured the success of their undertaking and gave an u nprece a dented popularity to the legend as soon as it became familiar to the Romano f Germanic world : the idea of the fat alit of love which raises it . I his above all laws idea, incarnated in these two is exceptional beings, the more sympathetic to the hearts of men and women here , because it is purified by suffering and sanctified by death . The a s is is idea touching and attractive it , also a vii PREFACE ( dangerous one . 11This should suffice to attract readers who love both history and poetry . But in addition they will be fascinated as they read this of ancient story by the charm the detail, the mysterious and mythic beauty of certain episodes , of the happy invention others, the freshness of the all Situations and sentiments, that makes the poem a unique combination of hoary age and eternal youth, of Celtic melancholy and French grace, of powerful realism and delicate psychology . GASTON PARIS AUTHOR ’S NOTE I have not encumbered my work by the innumerable foot a note s which would have been necessary had I indicated in the text the many sources from which I have drawn the materials for thisd ittle a book . But I owe the reader certain general indi cations . Chap . I of our romance is an abstract , f very much compressed, o the various poems deal ’ ing with Tristram s childhood, but more especially that of Thomas in its various versions . Chapters II and III follow Eilhart of Oberg (Lichtenstein ed . Strasburg, Chap . IV is based on the ’ Eilhart s general body of tradition, notably version, while certain features are peculiar to Gottfried of . Golther Strasburg (ed W . , Berlin and Stuttgart , i Eilhar . Chap . V s from t . Chap VI ’ Bérou l s in the middle of this chapter, fragment begins with Iseult ’s arrival at the tryst under the ine a t ree p , and this I have faithfully preserved a throughout Chapters VII , VIII , IX, X, XI , inter ’ p reting it here and there by Eilhart s poem and some traditional variations . Chap . XII is a very free abridgment of the fragment which follows ’ Bér ul o s poem . Chap . XIII is an interpolation f“rom a didactic poem of the thirteenth century, man . Le Domnei des A z . Chap XIV is from — : Gottfried of Strasburg . Chapters XV XVII ’ the ep isodes of Karaido and of Tristram s disguise ix AUTHOR’S NOTE are borrowed from Thomas ; the rest is t aken m ar J' the main from Eilh t . Chap . XVIII is an a dap t ation of a little episodic French poem . Chap . XIX is translated from Thomas ; certain episodes Eilhart are borrowed from , and from the French 10 3 e pros e romance, MS . in the Biblioth que P Nationale, aris . CO NT E NT S CH T R I. THE ILDHOOD OF RIST AM ’ MAR r II. SIR HAUS OF IRELAND fl l a II L THE QUEST OF THE FAI R ONE WITH GOLDEN HAIR IV T HE P . HILTRE v BRAGWAIN E V V T R ‘ . GI EN O ER O THE SE FS VI P /T . THE GREAT INE REE I I FROCI N W V . THE D ARF T P VIII. HE LEA FROM THE c I ! MOROIS . THE FOREST OF OGRIN X. THE HERMIT x 1 T P R . HE FORD E ILOUS ! I L THE ORDEAL BY RED HOT IRON N ’ XIII. THE NIGHTI GALE S SONG ! I V H C B . T E MAGI ELL ! T TH W T H V. ISEUL OF E HI E AND - ! VI . KAI IERDIN N XVII.