"
[Sidenote: King Mark betrays Sir Tristram to a promise] King Mark said: "I
have listened to your singing for this long while concerning the Lady Belle
Isoult. So the quest I would have you undertake is this: that you go to
Ireland, and bring thence the Lady Belle Isoult to be my Queen. For because
of your songs and ballads I have come to love her so greatly that I believe
that I shall have no happiness in life until I have her for my Queen. So
now, since you have pledged me your word upon your knighthood to do my
bidding in this case, such is the quest that I would send you upon." And
therewith he smiled upon Sir Tristram very strangely.
[Sidenote: How Sir Tristram fell into despair] Then Sir Tristram perceived
how he had been betrayed and he put aside his harp and rose from where he
sat. And he gazed for a long while at King Mark, and his countenance was
wonderfully white like that of a dead man. Then by and by he said: "Sir, I
know not why you have put this upon me, nor do I know why you have betrayed
me. For I have ever served you truly as a worthy knight and a kinsman
should.
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