1ST KNIGHT (drawing).
I'll run him through the body with my sword!

STR. JESTER. (tears the sword from his hand, and springs
upon the bench).
Take heed unto thyself! Come not too near!
I'll tear thee like a beast.

ISEULT.
His words are not
So marvelously strange. Hast thou forgot,
King Mark, that once, before a heaped up pyre
Thou bad'st me stand, stark naked and exposed
Unto the rabble's gaze? It well may be
That this low jester cast his shaming eyes
Upon me then.

MARK.
Saw'st thou the Queen when she
Stood on the burning pile?

STR. JESTER.
I saw the Queen;
I stood beside her there!

GIMELLA.
Behold, that sight
Has made him lose his wits!

BRANGAENE.
Poor witless fool!

STR. JESTER.
Glare not at me! I'm but a fool, a poor
Mad fool--a wretched fool that wished to tell
You tales to make you laugh!

(Almost screaming.)

For God's sake laugh!

[He throws the sword down. It falls clattering
on the floor. The First Guard enters while two
others stand outside the grating with the Strange
Knight.]

MARK.
Whom bring'st thou there?

1ST GUARD.
King Mark, thy messengers
Have found the witnesses that signed the bond
Too late, for in the forest they had caught
A man whom they have sent to thee. The man
Is wounded; when they called on him to stand
He fled. His horse fell dead. They know him not.
He is a stranger in the land.

MARK.
How heavily
God's wrath descends upon my head. This blood
I've spilled was innocent!

1ST GUARD.
This man is near
His end; his dying wish is to behold
The Queen Iseult. He much desires it.

GIMELLA.
Poor soul!

MARK.
Bring in the man. How things mischance!
My castle is a gruesome place today.
An idiot first, and then a corpse have knocked
To crave admittance to my hall! My Lords,
I pray you to forgive my sins.

PARANIS.
There comes
The wounded Knight.

[The Strange Knight is led before ISEULT.
He walks firmly, standing er