Tristan has been carefully trained, and is so expert in the
use of his arms that he soon excites the envy of the courtiers,
who are watching for an opportunity to do him harm. The King of
Cornwall, having been defeated in battle by the King of Ireland,
is obliged to pay him a yearly tribute, which is collected
by Morold, a huge giant and a relative of the Irish king.
Morold, coming as usual to collect the tribute money, behaves
so insolently that Tristan resolves to free the country from
thraldom by slaying him. A challenge is given and accepted,
and after a terrible combat, such as the mediæval poets love
to describe with minute care, the giant falls, after wounding
Tristan with his poisoned spear.

The King of Cornwall, instead of sending the wonted tribute to
Ireland, now forwards Morold's head, which is piously preserved
by Ysolde, the Irish princess, who finds in the wound a fragment
of sword by which she hopes to identify the murderer, and avenge
her kinsman's death.

Tristan, finding that the skill of all the Cornwall leeches can
give him no relief, decides to go to Ireland and claim the help
of Ysolde the princess, who, like her mother, is skilled in the
art of healing, and knows the antidote for every poison. Fearing,
however, lest she may seek to avenge Morold's death, he goes
alone, disguised as a harper, and presents himself before her
as Tantris, a wandering minstrel.

His precarious condition touches Ysolde's compassionate heart,
and she soon uses all her medical science to accomplish his
cure, tenderly nursing him back to health. While sitting beside