Wagner was well versed in all the Tristan literature, and composed his
own version for the stage out of the materials which he found. In
order to understand his way of dealing with his subject-matter it will
be worth our while to follow the outlines of the old story, which is
essentially the same in all the three versions, though the incidents,
and especially the names, are somewhat varied. I shall follow in the
main the most important of the three, that of Gottfried von
Strassburg, so far as it goes, with occasional supplementary additions
from the Norse and English.

There was a certain King of Parmenia named Riwalin Kanelengres (in the
Norse saga he is King of Bretland; in the English he is called Rouland
rise, King of Ermonric), who, leaving his own country in the charge of
his marshal, Rual li foitenant, joined the court of the powerful King
Marke of Cornwall "and of England" in Tintajol. There he falls in love
with Blanscheflur (Norse: Blensinbil), the king's sister, but, on his
being recalled to his own land to meet an invasion from his enemy
Morgan, she begs him to take her with him. "I have loved thee to mine
own hurt," she says. "But for my being pregnant I would prefer to
remain here and bear my grief, but now I choose to die rather than
that thou, my beloved, shouldst be put to a shameful death. Our child
would be fatherless. I have deceived myself and am lost." She is
married to Riwalin and placed for safety in his stronghold Kanoel
while he marches to battle. He is killed, and she, on hearing the
news, dies after giving birth to a son who, in allusion to the
melancholy circumstances of his birth, is named Tristan.

Tristan is instructed by his tutor Kurwenal in the seven arts and the
seven kinds of music, and in all languages. One day he is carried off
by some pirates, and, on a furious storm arising, he is put on shore