Heath where your land marches with his, and a river flows
between; for I will not swear before your barons alone, lest they
should demand some new thing, and lest there should be no end to my
trials. But if my warrantors, King Arthur and his knights, be there,
the barons will not dare dispute the judgment."

But as the heralds rode to Carduel, Iseult sent to Tristan secretly
her squire Perinis: and he ran through the underwood, avoiding paths,
till he found the hut of Orri, the woodman, where Tristan for many
days had awaited news. Perinis told him all: the ordeal, the place,
and the time, and added:

"My lord, the Queen would have you on that day and place come dressed
as a pilgrim, so that none may know you--unarmed, so that none may
challenge --to the Sandy Heath. She must cross the river to the place
appointed. Beyond it, where Arthur and his hundred knights will stand,
be you also; for my lady fears the judgment, but she trusts in God."

Then Tristan answered:

"Go back, friend Perinis, return you to the Queen, and say that I will
do her bidding."

And you must know that as Perinis went back to Tintagel he caught
sight of that same woodman who had betrayed the lovers before, and the
woodman, as he found him, had just dug a pitfall for wolves and for
wild boars, and covered it with leafy branches to hide it, and as
Perinis came near the woodman fled, but Perinis drove him, and caught
him, and broke his staff and his head together, and pushed his body
into the pitfall with his feet.

On the appointed day King Mark and Iseult, and the barons of Cornwall,
stood by the river; and the knights of Arthur and all their host were
arrayed beyond.

And just before them, sitting on the shore, was a poor pilgrim,
wrapped in cloak and hood, who held his wooden platter and begged
alms.

Now as the Cornish boats came to the shoal of the further bank, Iseult
said to the knights:

"My lords, how shall I land without befouling my clothes in the
river-mud? Fetch me a ferryman."

And one of the knights hailed the pilgrim, and said:

"Friend, truss your coat, and try the water; carry you the Queen to
shore, unless you fear the burden."

But as he took the Queen in his arms she whispered to him:

"Friend."

And then she whispered to him, lower still

"Stumble you upon the sand."

And as he touched shore, he stumbled, holding the Queen in his arms;
and the squires and boatmen with their oars and boat-hooks drove the