Then Tristan answered:
“Go back, friend Perinis, return you to the Queen, and say that I will do her bidding.”
And you must know that as Perinis went back to Tintagel he caught sight of that same woodman who had betrayed the lovers before, and the woodman, as he found him, had just dug a pitfall for wolves and for wild boars, and covered it with leafy branches to hide it, and as Perinis came near the woodman fled, but Perinis drove him, and caught him, and broke his staff and his head together, and pushed his body into the pitfall with his feet.
On the appointed day King Mark and Iseult, and the barons of Cornwall, stood by the river; and the knights of Arthur and all their host were arrayed beyond.
And just before them, sitting on the shore, was a poor pilgrim, wrapped in cloak and hood, who held his wooden platter and begged alms.
Now as the Cornish boats came to the shoal of the further bank, Iseult said to the knights:
“My lords, how shall I land without befouling my clothes in the river-mud? Fetch me a ferryman.”
And one of the knights hailed the pilgrim, and said:
“Friend, truss your coat, and try the water; carry you the Queen to shore, unless you fear the burden.”
But as he took the Queen in his arms she whispered to him: