aright,
and highly her magic
arts I hold:--
Vengeance they wreak for wrongs,
rest give to wounded spirits.--
Yon casket hither bear.

BRANGAENA.
It holds a balm for thee.--

(_She brings forward a small golden coffer, opens it, and points to
its contents_.)

Thy mother placed inside it
her subtle magic potions.
There's salve for sickness
or for wounds,
and antidotes
for deadly drugs.--

(_She takes a bottle_.)

The helpfullest draught
I hold in here.

ISOLDA.
Not so, I know a better.
I make a mark
to know it again--
This draught 'tis I would drain.

(_Seizes flask and shows it_.)

BRANGAENA (_recoiling in horror_).
The draught of death!

(ISOLDA _has risen from the sofa and now hears with increasing dread
the cries of the sailors_.)

VOICES OF THE CREW (_without_).
"Ho! heave ho! hey!
Reduce the sail!
The mainsail in!
Ho! heave ho! hey!"

ISOLDA.
Our journey has been swift.
Woe is me! Near to the land!

SCENE IV.

(KURVENAL _boisterously enters through the curtains_.)

KURVENAL.
Up, up, ye ladies!
Look alert!
Straight bestir you!
Loiter not,--here is the land!--
To dame Isolda
says the servant
of Tristan,
our hero true:--
Behold our flag is flying!
it waveth landwards aloft:
in Mark's ancestral castle
may our approach be seen.
So, dame Isolda,
he prays to hasten,
for land straight to prepare her,
that thither he may bear her.

ISOLDA (_who has at first cowered and shuddered on hearing the
message, now speaks calmly and with dignity_). My greeting take
unto your lord
and tell him what I say now:
Should he assist to land me
and to King Mark would he hand me,
unmeet and unseemly
were his act,
the while my pardon
was not won
for trespass black and base:
So bid him seek my grace.

(KURVENAL _makes a gesture of defiance_.)

Now mark me well,
This message take:--
Nought will I yet prepare me,
that he to land may bear me;
I will not by him be landed,
nor unto King Mark be handed
ere granting forgiveness
and forgetfulness,
which 'tis seemly
he should seek:--
for all his trespass base
I tender him my grace.

KURVENAL.
Be assured,
I'll bear your words:
we'll see what he will say!

(_He retires quickly_.)

SCENE V.

ISOLDA (_hurries to_ BRANGAENA _and embraces her vehemently_).
Now farewell, Brangaena!
Greet ev'ry one,
Greet my father and mother!

BRANGAENA.
What now? what mean'st thou?
Wouldst thou flee?
And where must I then follow?

ISOLDA (_ch