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 xxx

NOt for thenne whan alle this was said / they coude fynde no Knyght that wold doo bataille with hym / Syre kynge said they alle / here is no knyght that dare fyghte wyth Elyas / Allas said kynge Marke thenne am I vtterly ashamed and vtterly destroyed / onles that my neuewe sire Tristram wylle take the bataille vpon hym / wete yow wel they sayd alle he had yesterday ouer moche on hand / and he is wery for trauaille / and sore wounded / where is he said Kyng mark Syr said they he is in his bedde to repose hym / Allas said kynge Marke / but I haue the socoure of my neuewe sir Tristram I am vtterly destroyed for euer / There with one wente to syr Tristram there he lay and told hym what kynge Marke had sayd / And there with sire Tristram aroos lyghtely / and putt on hym a longe gowne / and came afore the Kynge and al the lordes / And whan he sawe hem alle soo desmayed / he asked the Kynge and the lordes what tydynges were with hem / Neuer werse said the Kynge / And ther with he told hym alle how he had word of Elyas to fynde a knyȝt to fyghte for the truage of Cornewail / and none can I fynde / And as for yow said the kynge and alle the lordes we maye aske no more of yow for shame / For thurgh your hardynes yesterday ye saued alle your lyues / Syre said syr Tristram now I vnderstande ye wold haue my socour / reason wold that I shold doo al that lyeth in my power to doo / sauynge my worship / and my lyf / how be hit I am sore brysed and hurte / And sythen sir Elyas profereth soo largely / I shalle fyghte with hym or els I will be slayne in the felde / or els I wille delyuer Cornewaile from the old truage / And therfore lyghtely calle his messager and he shalle be ansuerd / for as yet my woundes ben grene and they wille be sorer a seuen nyght after than they ben now / And therfor he shalle haue his ansuere / that I will doo bataill to morn with hym / Thenne was the messager departed brought before kynge Marke / Herke my felawe said sir Tristram goo fast vnto thy lord and bydde hym make true assuraunce on his party / for the truage / as the kyng here shalle make on his party / and thēne telle thy lord sir Elyas that I sir Tristram kynge Arthurs knyght / and knyghte of the table round /

[leaf 232r] wylle as to morne mete with thy lord on horsbak / to doo batail as longe as my hors maye endure / And after that to doo bataille with hym on foote to the vtteraunce / the messager behelde syre Tristram from the top to the too / And there with alle he departed and came to his lord and told hym how he was ansuerd of sir Tristram / And there with alle was made hostage on bothe partyes / and made hit as sure as hit myghte be / that whether party had the vyctory / soo to ende / And thenne were bothe hostes assembled on bothe partyes of the felde withoute the castel of Tyntagyl / & ther was none but sir Tristram & sir Elyas armed / Soo whan the poyntement was made they departed in sonder / and they came to gyders with alle the myght that their horses myghte renne / And eyther knyghte smote other soo hard that bothe horses and knyghtes wente to the erthe / Not for thenne they bothe lyghtely aroos and dressid their sheldes on their sholders with naked swerdes in their handes / and they dasshed to gyders that hit semed a flammynge fyre aboute them / Thus they tracyd and trauercyd and hewe on helmes and hawberkes / and cutte awaye many cantels of their sheldes / and eyther wounded other passynge sore / so that the hote blood felle fresshly vpon the erthe /

¶ And by thenne they had foughten the mountenaunce of an houre / sir Tristram waxte faynte and forbledde / and gaf sore a bak / That sawe sire Elyas / and folowed fyersly vpon hym / and wounded hym in many places / And euer sire Tristram tracyd and trauercyd / and wente froward hym here and there / and couerd hym with his shelde as he myghte alle weykely / that alle men said he was ouercome / For sir Elyas hadde gyuen hym twenty strokes ageynst one /

¶ Thenne was there laughyng of the Sessoyns party and grete dole on Kynge Markys party / Allas said the Kynge we are ashamed and destroyed all for euer / for as the book saith syr Tristram was neuer so matched but yf it were sir launcelot / Thus as they stode and beheld bothe partyes / that one party laughynge and the other party wepynge / Syre Tristram remembryd hym of his lady la beale Isoud that loked vpon hym / And how he was lykely neuer to come in her presence / Thenne he pulled vp is shelde that erst henge ful lowe / And thenne he dressid vp his shelde vnto

[leaf 232v] Elyas / and gaf hym many sadde strokes twenty ageynst one and alle to brake his shelde and his hauberk / that the hote blod ranne doune to the erthe / Thenne beganne kynge Mark to laughe and alle Cornysshe men / and that other party to wepe / And euer sir Tristram said to sir Elyas yelde the /

¶ Thenne whanne sir Tristram sawe hym soo stakkerynge on the groūd he said syr Elyas I am ryght sory for the / for thou arte a passynge good knyghte as euer I mette with alle excepte sire Launcelot / ther with alle sir Elyas fylle to the erthe / & there dyed / what shalle I doo said sir Tristram vnto Kynge marke for this bataille is at an ende / Thenne they of Elyas party departed / and kynge Marke took of hem many prysoners to redresse the harmes and the scathes that he had of them / and the remenaunt he sente in to their countrey to borowe oute their felawes / Thenne was sire Tristram serched and wel helyd / yet for alle this Kynge Marke wold fayne haue slayne sir Tristram /

¶ But for alle that euer sire Tristram sawe or herd by kynge Marke yet wold he neuer beware of his treason / but euer he wold be there as la Beale Isoud was