Here is the translation of the Roman de Tristan et Iseult of 1900 by Joseph Bedier. Here is the seventeenth part: Dinas of Lidan.
Lidan dinas
Dinas therefore returned to Tintagel, went up the steps and entered the hall. Under the canopy, King Mark and Iseut the Blonde were seated at the chessboard. Dinas took his place on a stool near the queen, as if to observe her game, and twice, pretending to point out the pieces to her, he placed his hand on the chessboard: the second time, Iseut recognized by his finger the jasper ring. So she had played enough. She struck Dinas' arm lightly, so that several peacocks fell in disorder.
« Voyez, sénéchal, dit-elle, vous avez troublé mon jeu, et de telle sorte que je ne saurais le reprendre. »
Marc leaves the room, Iseut retires to his room, and calls the seneschal to her:
"Friend, are you Tristan's messenger?"
- Yes, queen, he is in Lidan, hidden in my castle.
— Is it true that he took a wife in Brittany ?
- Reine, we told you the truth. But he assures us that he did not betray you; that not for a single day has he ceased to cherish you above all women; that he will die if he does not see you again, only once: they sow you to consent to it, by the promise you made to him on the last day he spoke to you. "
The queen was silent for some time, thinking of the other Iseut. Finally, she replied:
« Oui, au dernier jour où il me parla, j’ai dit, il m’en souvient : « Si jamais je revois l’anneau de jaspe vert, ni tour, ni fort château, ni défense royale ne m’empêcheront de faire la volonté de mon ami, que ce soit sagesse ou folie… »
- Reine, two days from here the court must leave Tintagel to reach Blanche-Lande. Tristan tells you that he will be hidden on the road, in a thicket of thorns. He begs you to take pity on him.
- I said it: neither tower, nor fort castle, nor royal defense will prevent me from doing the will of my friend. "
Le surlendemain, tandis que toute la cour de Marc s’apprêtait au départ de Tintagel, Tristan et Gorvenal, Kaherdin et son écuyer revêtirent le haubert, prirent leurs épées et leurs écus, et par des chemins secrets se mirent à la voie vers le lieu désigné. À travers la forêt, deux routes conduisaient vers la Blanche-Lande : l’une belle et bien ferrée, par où devait passer le cortège, l’autre pierreuse et abandonnée. Tristan et Kaherdin apostèrent sur celle-ci leurs deux écuyers : ils les attendraient en ce lieu, gardant leurs chevaux et leurs écus. Eux-mêmes se glissèrent sous bois et se cachèrent dans un fourré. Devant ce fourré, sur la route, Tristan déposa une branche de coudrier où s’enlaçait un brin de chèvrefeuille.
Soon the procession appears on the road. It is first of all the troop of King Mark. The fourriers and the marshals, the queux and the cupbearers, come the chaplains, come the hound servants leading the greyhounds and the brachets, then the falconers carrying the birds on the left fist, then the hunters, then the knights and the barons; they go their little train, well arranged two by two, and it is nice to see them, richly mounted on horses harnessed in velvet strewn with goldsmith's work. Then King Mark passed and Kaherdin marveled at seeing his private people around him, two from there and two from there, all dressed in cloth of gold or scarlet.
Alors s’avance le cortège de la reine. Les lavandières et les chambrières viennent en tête, ensuite les femmes et les filles des barons et des comtes. Elles passent une à une ; un jeune chevalier escorte chacune d’elles. Enfin approche un palefroi monté par la plus belle que Kaherdin ait jamais vue de ses yeux : elle est bien faite de corps et de visage, les hanches un peu basses, les sourcils bien tracés, les yeux riants, les dents menues ; une robe de rouge samit la couvre ; un mince chapelet d’or et de pierreries pare son front poli.
"It's the queen," Kaherdin said in a low voice.
- The Queen ? said Tristan; no, it's Camille his servant. "
Then comes, on a pale palfrey, another damsel whiter than snow in February, more ruddy than pink; her clear eyes quiver like the star in the fountain.
"Now, I see her, she's the queen!" Kaherdin said.
- Hey! no, said Tristan, it is Brangien the Faithful. "
But the road suddenly lit up, as if the sun were suddenly streaming through the foliage of the tall trees, and Iseut la Blonde appeared. Duke Andret, God hate! was riding on his right.
At that moment, the songs of warblers and larks started from the thicket of thorns, and Tristan put all his tenderness into these melodies. The queen understood her friend's message. She notices on the ground the branch of the elbow tree where the honeysuckle is tightly embracing, and thinks in her heart: “So goes with us, friend; neither you without me, nor I without you. She stops her palfrey, goes down, comes towards a haquenée which carried a niche enriched with precious stones; there, on a purple carpet, was lying the dog Petit-Crû: she takes him in her arms, flatters him with her hand, strokes his ermine coat, celebrates him many times. Then, having replaced it in its shrine, she turns to the thicket of thorns and says aloud:
« Oiseaux de ce bois, qui m’avez réjouie de vos chansons, je vous prends à louage. Tandis que mon seigneur Marc chevauchera jusqu’à la Blanche-Lande, je veux séjourner dans mon château de Saint-Lubin. Oiseaux, faites-moi cortège jusque-là ; ce soir, je vous récompenserai richement, comme de bons ménestrels. »
Tristan held back his words and rejoiced. But Andret le Félon was already worried. He put the queen back in the saddle, and the procession moved away.
Now, listen to a bad adventure. In the time when the royal procession passed, over there, on the other road where Gorvenal and the squire of Kaherdin guarded the horses of their lords, came an armed knight, named Bleheri. He recognized Gorvenal and Tristan's shield from afar: "What did I see?" he thought; it is Gorvenal and this other is Tristan himself. He spurred his horse towards them and shouted, "Tristan!" But already the two squires had turned bridle and were fleeing. Bleheri, launched in pursuit of them, repeated:
" Tristan ! stop, I beg you by your prowess! "
But the squires did not turn around. Then Bleheri shouted:
" Tristan ! stop, I beg you by the name of Iseut the Blonde! "
Three times he conjured the fugitives by the name of Iseut the Blonde. In vain: they disappeared, and Bleheri could only hit one of their horses, which he took away as his capture. He arrived at the castle of Saint-Lubin when the queen had just taken up residence there. And, having found her alone, he said to her:
“Queen, Tristan is in this country. I saw him on the abandoned road that comes from Tintagel. He fled. Three times I called out to him to stop, conjuring him in the name of Iseut the Blonde; but he was afraid, he did not dare to wait for me.
- Handsome sire, you say lies and madness: how would Tristan be in this country? How would he have fled in front of you? How could he not stop, conjured by my name?
- Yet, lady, I saw him, so badly that I took one of his horses. See him all harnessed up over there on the threshing floor. "
But Bleheri saw Iseut angry. He mourned it, for he loved Tristan and the queen. He left her, regretting having spoken.
So Iseut wept and said: “Unhappy woman! I have lived too much, since I saw the day when Tristan laughs at me and hates me! Once, conjured by my name, what enemy would he not have faced? He is bold in his body: if he fled before Bleheri, if he did not deign to stop in the name of his friend, ah! it is because the other Iseut possesses it! Why did he come back? He had betrayed me, he wanted to hate me on top of that! Didn't he have enough of my old torments? So let him return, hated in his turn, to Iseut aux Blanches Mains! "
She called Perinis the Faithful, and repeated the news that Bleheri had brought her. She added:
« Ami, cherche Tristan sur la route abandonnée qui va de Tintagel à Saint-Lubin. Tu lui diras que je ne le salue pas, et qu’il ne soit pas si hardi que d’oser approcher de moi, car je le ferais chasser par les sergents et les valets. »
Perinis set out in search, as long as he found Tristan and Kaherdin. He gave them the queen's message.
“Brother,” cried Tristan, “what did you say? How could I have fled from Bleheri, since, you see, we don't even have our horses? Gorvenal was guarding them, we did not find them at the designated place, and we are still looking for them. "
À cet instant revinrent Gorvenal et l’écuyer de Kaherdin : ils confessèrent leur aventure.
"Perinis, beautiful sweet friend," said Tristan, "hurry back to your lady." Tell her that I send her greetings and love, that I have not failed in the loyalty that I owe her, that she is dear to me above all women; tell her to send you back to me to bring me her thank you: I'll wait here for you to come back. "
Perinis therefore returned to the queen and told her what he had seen and heard. But she did not believe it:
“Ah! Perinis, you were my private and my faithful, and my father had intended you, as a child, to serve me. But Tristan the Enchanter has won you over with his lies and gifts. You too have betrayed me; go away ! "
Perinis knelt before her:
“Lady, I hear harsh words. I had never had such pain in my life. But I do not care about myself: I mourn for you, lady, who insult my lord Tristan, and who too late will regret it.
- Go away, I don't believe you! You too, Perinis, Perinis the Faithful, you betrayed me! "
Tristan waited a long time for Perinis to forgive him the queen. Perinis did not come.
Au matin, Tristan s’atourne d’une grande chape en lambeaux. Il peint par places son visage de vermillon et de brou de noix, en sorte qu’il ressemble à un malade rongé par la lèpre. Il prend en ses mains un hanap de bois veiné à recueillir les aumônes et une crécelle de ladre.
He enters the streets of Saint-Lubin, and, changing his voice, begs all comers. Will he even be able to see the queen?
She finally leaves the castle; Brangien and his wives, his servants and his sergeants accompany him. She takes the road to church. The leper follows the servants, makes his rattle sound, pleads in a sad voice:
“Queen, do me some good; you don't know how needy I am! "
By his beautiful body, by his stature, Iseut recognized him. She shudders all, but does not deign to lower her gaze towards him. The leper implored her, and it was a pity to hear; he crawls after her:
“Reine, if I dare approach you, do not be angry; have mercy on me, I have deserved it! "
But the queen calls the servants and sergeants:
"Get rid of that miser!" She told them.
The servants push him back, hit him. He resists them and cries out:
“Queen, have mercy! "
Then Iseut burst out laughing. Her laugh was still ringing when she entered the church. When he heard her laugh, the leper left. The queen took a few steps in the nave of the monastery; then his limbs gave way; she fell on her knees, her head against the ground, her arms crossed.
The same day, Tristan took leave of Dinas, to such discomfort that he seemed to have lost all meaning, and his nave set sail for Brittany.
Hélas ! bientôt la reine se repentit. Quand elle sut par Dinas de Lidan que Tristan était parti à tel deuil, elle se prit à croire que Perinis lui avait dit la vérité ; que Tristan n’avait pas fui, conjuré par son nom ; qu’elle l’avait chassé à grand tort. « Quoi ! pensait-elle, je vous ai chassé, vous, Tristan, ami ! Vous me haïssez désormais, et jamais je ne vous reverrai. Jamais vous n’apprendrez seulement mon repentir, ni quel châtiment je veux m’imposer et vous offrir comme un gage menu de mon remords ! »
From that day on, to punish himself for his error and his madness, Iseut the Blonde put on a hairshirt and carried it against his flesh.
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