So this young Sir Tristram rode unto his eme, King Mark of Cornwall.
And when he came there he heard say that there would no knight fight
with Sir Marhaus. Then yede Sir Tristram unto his eme and said: Sir, if
ye will give me the order of knighthood, I will do battle with Sir
Marhaus. What are ye, said the king, and from whence be ye come? Sir,
said Tristram, I come from King Meliodas that wedded your sister, and a
gentleman wit ye well I am. King Mark beheld Sir Tristram and saw that
he was but a young man of age, but he was passingly well made and big.
Fair sir, said the king, what is your name, and where were ye born?
Sir, said he again, my name is Tristram, and in the country of Liones
was I born. Ye say well, said the king; and if ye will do this battle I
shall make you knight. Therefore I come to you, said Sir Tristram, and
for none other cause. But then King Mark made him knight. And
therewithal, anon as he had made him knight, he sent a messenger unto
Sir Marhaus with letters that said that he had found a young knight
ready for to take the battle to the uttermost. It may well be, said Sir
Marhaus; but tell King Mark I will not fight with no knight but he be
of blood royal, that is to say, other king’s son, other queen’s son,
born of a prince or princess.
When King Mark understood that, he sent for Sir Tristram de Liones and
told him what was the answer of Sir Marhaus. Then said Sir Tristram:
Sithen that he saith so, let him wit that I am come of father side and
mother side of as noble blood as he is: for, sir, now shall ye know
that I am King Meliodas’ son, born of your own sister, Dame Elizabeth,
that died in the forest in the birth of me. O Jesu, said King Mark, ye
are welcome fair nephew to me. Then in all the haste the king let horse
Sir Tristram, and armed him in the best manner that might be had or
gotten for gold or silver. And then King Mark sent unto Sir Marhaus,
and did him to wit that a better born man than he was himself should
fight with him, and his name is Sir Tristram de Liones, gotten of King
Meliodas, and born of King Mark’s sister. Then was Sir Marhaus glad and
blithe that he should fight with such a gentleman. And so by the assent
of King Mark and of Sir Marhaus they let ordain that they should fight
within an island nigh Sir Marhaus’ ships; and so was Sir Tristram put
into a vessel both his horse and he, and all that to him longed both
for his body and for his horse. Sir Tristram lacked nothing. And when
King Mark and his barons of Cornwall beheld how young Sir Tristram
departed with such a carriage to fight for the right of Cornwall, there
was neither man nor woman of worship but they wept to see and
understand so young a knight to jeopardy himself for their right.
CHAPTER VI. How Sir Tristram arrived into the Island for to furnish the
battle with Sir Marhaus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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