Tristan 4: Lovers in the forest

Queen Isolde sat by the fireside at Tintagel each evening, singing as Tristan played the harp. King Mark became steadily more jealous of his wife’s close friendship with Tristan and surlier in his manner to them both. Mark was away increasingly often, fighting in battles for King Arthur. Although now a Knight of The Round Table, Tristan was often tasked with looking after Cornwall in Mark’s stead. In Tristan’s eyes, this also meant looking after Queen Isolde but not in the manner Mark had in mind.
As time passed, Isolde grew lonely locked up in Tintagel, Tristan could only now go to her when Mark sent him home from battle. One such evening, as they sat together by the huge fire in the great hall, Isolde confided in Tristan her unhappiness. Tristan resolved to throw away all he had and planned to take Isolde with him to be together in the forest. Being a young romantic, he had not foreseen the hardship this would ensue but Tristan and Isolde needed only each other.
That night, King Mark returned. Envy consumed the King for he suspected his wife’s infidelity with his nephew; he knew her heart was held by another. King Mark had Tristan and Isolde arrested and sentenced to death. 
As he was taken from the castle, Tristan freed himself from his captors by leaping from a cliff. Surviving, he crept back to the castle and rescued Isolde.
‘Isolde will you come with me to live a simple life in the woods?’
‘My life is with you, Tristan,’ said Isolde softly.

Together they journeyed south to the forest of Morrois where they lived happily. Sitting by a log fire accompanied by the solemn moon and the swish of the oak’s summer canopy, Tristan held Isolde in his arms and felt truly happy. He played his harp into the silence of the forest and she sang a song to charm the night.
However, King Mark sorely missed his wife and sent spies to retrieve her. Isolde saw them approaching in a dream, and awakened Tristan. They hastened to their horses and rode them fast through the trees, having the advantage of knowing the terrain. But Mark’s knights were close, the lovers could smell the sweat of their pursuers' horses, hear the snorts and shouts of the men. Tristan thought he had lost his life here in the forest but he had one last hope, the Tresillian River where it meets the River Truro. He looked at Isolde and held her gaze for one last moment before their horses plunged into the gushing winter waters. The horses were lost but Tristan was a strong swimmer, he held onto Isolde and pulled with all his might until they reached the opposite bank.
 
News of Mark’s grief at her loss in the river reached Isolde and she felt great sorrow and resolved to return to him. At Castle Dore by south the coast, Isolde stood before her husband her head bowed. The king’s ruddy face broke into a huge smile on seeing Isolde returned, for he loved her deeply. Envy was the mistress of no marriage and he must ask his wife for her faithfulness and the truth. Mark set down his terms.
‘Isolde, you must swear on holy relics you have been a faithful wife.’ Mark took her hand, waiting.
‘I will swear, Mark, I promise,’ sobbed Isolde.
With her heart full of remorse and trepidation, Isolde travelled from Fowey, through the White Lands to the reliquary. To reach it she would need to cross a deep and gushing ford, she feared she would never make it. To Isolde’s astonishment, a beggar appeared and lifted her onto his shoulders, the ragged man waded across the ford carrying the belle Isolde. She caught Tristan’s eye as he slunk away in a beggar’s disguise.
To Mark she said with conviction, ‘I swear I have been in the arms of only you, my King and the beggar.’
The ford was known hereafter as Mal Pas ‘the false step.’