Le Morte Darthur / by Syr Thomas Malory ; the original edition of William Caxton now reprinted and edited with an introduction and glossary by H. Oskar Sommer ; with an essay on Malory's prose style by Andrew Lang

¶ Capitulum xxiiij

THenne vpon a daye kynge Anguysshe asked syr Tristram why he asked not his bone / For what someuer he had promysed hym / he shold haue hit withoute fayle

[leaf 155r] Syre sayd sire Trystram now is hit tyme this is alle that I wylle desyre that ye wylle gyue me la beale Isoud youre doughter not for my self but for myn vnkel kynge Marke that shalle haue her to wyf / for soo haue I promysed hym / Allas said the kynge I had leuer than alle the land that I haue / ye wold wedde her youre self / Syre and I dyd than I were shamed for euer in this world / and fals of my promyse / Therfore said sire Trystram I praye you hold your promyse that ye promysed me / for this is my desyre that ye wylle gyue me la Beale Isoud to goo with me in to Cornewaile for to be wedded to kynge Marke myn vnkel /

¶ As for that sayd kynge Anguysshe ye shalle haue her with you to doo with her what it please you / that is for to saye yf that ye lyst to wedde her your self that is me leuest / And yf ye wille gyue her vnto kynge Marke youre vnkel that is in youre choyse /

¶ Soo to make short conclusion la beale Isoud was made redy to goo with syre Trystram and dame Bragwayne wente with her for her chyef gentylwoman with many other / thenne the quene Isouds moder gaf to her and dame Bragwayne her doughters gentilwoman and vnto Gouernaile a drynke and charged them that what day kynge Marke shold wedde that same daye they shold gyue hym that drynke / soo that kynge Marke shold drynke to la beale Isoud / and thenne said the Quene I vndertake eyther shalle loue other the dayes of their lyf / Soo this drynke was yeuen vnto dame Bragwayne and vnto Gouernaile / And thenne anone syre Trystram tooke the see / and la Beale Isoud / and whan they were in theire caban hit happed soo that they were thursty / and they sawe a lytyl flacked of gold stande by them / and hit semed by the coloure and the taste that it was noble wyn / Thenne sire Trystram toke the flacket in his hand / and sayd Madame Isoud here is the best drynke that euer ye drank that dame Bragwayne youre mayden and Gouernayle my seruaunt haue kepte for them self / Thenne they lough and made good chere and eyther dranke to other frely / and they thoughte neuer drynke that euer they dranke to other was soo swete nor soo good / But by that theyr drynke was in their

[leaf 155v] bodyes / they loued eyther other so wel that neuer theyr loue departed for wele neyther for wo / And thus it happed the loue fyrste betwixe sire Tristram and la beale Isoud / the whiche loue neuer departed the dayes of their lyf / soo thenne they sayled tyl by fortune they came nyghe a castel that hyght Pluere And there by arryued for to repose them wenyng to them to haue hadde good herborouȝ / but anon as sir Trystram was within the castel / they were taken prysoners / for the customme of the castel was suche who that rode by that castel and brought ony lady he must nedes fyghte with the lord that hyghte Breunor And yf it were soo that Breunor wanne the feld / thenne shold the knyght straunger and his lady be putte to dethe what that euer they were / and yf hit were so that the straunge knyghte wanne the feld of sir Breunor / thenne shold he dye and his lady bothe / this custome was vsed many wynters / for hit was called the castel pluere that is to saye the wepynge castel