great evil in God's sight, for certes the hand of God lieth grievously
heavy upon me." Gouvernail said: "Lord, take heart, and tell me whither
shall we go now?" And Sir Tristram said, "I know not."

Then Gouvernail said: "Lord, let us go hence, I care not where, for I
reckon nothing of storm or rain or snow or hail if it so be that I am with
you."

[Sidenote: Sir Tristram bids Gouvernail return to Tintagel] Then Sir
Tristram looked upon Gouvernail and smiled, and he said: "Gouvernail, it is
great joy to me that you should love me so greatly as you do. But this time
you may not go with me whither I go, for the Lady Belle Isoult hath few
friends at the court of Cornwall, and many enemies, wherefore I would have
you return unto her for my sake, so that you may befriend her and cherish
her when that I am no longer by her for to stand her friend in her hour of
need. And take this dog Houdaine with you and bid the Lady Belle Isoult for
to keep him by her to remind her of my faithfulness unto her. For even as
this creature is faithful unto me under all circumstances, so am I faithful
unto her whether she be glad or sorry, or in good or evil case. So return
to Tintagel as I bid thee, and see that thou pay thy duty unto that lady
even as thou payst it unto me. For she is so singularly dear unto me that,
even as a man's heart is the life of his body, so is her happiness the life
of my life."

Then Gouvernail wept again in very great measure, and he said, "Lord, I
obey." Therewith he mounted his horse, still weeping with a great passion
of sorrow, and rode away from that place, and Houdaine followed after him
and Sir Tristram was left sitting alone in the deep forest.

[Sidenote: Sir Tristram wanders in the forest mad] After that Sir Tristram
wandered for several days in the forest, he knew not whither for he was
bewildered with that which had happened; so that he ate no food and took no
rest of any sort for all that time. Wherefore, because of the hardship he
then endured, he by and by became distraught in his mind. So, after a
while, he forgot who he himself was, and what was his condition, or whence
he came or whither he wended. And because his armor weighed heavily upon
him, he took it off and cast it away from him, and thereafter roamed half
naked through the woodlands.

Now upon the sixth day of this wandering he came to the outskirts of the
forest and nigh to the coast of the sea at a spot that was not very far
away was