Editing Idylls of the King (section)

=== The Last Tournament ===
Guinevere had once fostered an infant found in an eagle's nest, who had a ruby necklace wrapped around its neck. After the child died, Guinevere gave the jewels to Arthur to make a tournament prize. However, before the tournament, a mutilated peasant stumbles into the hall. He was tortured by the [[Red Knight]] in the North, who has set up a parody of the Round Table with lawless knights and harlots. Arthur delegates the judging of the Tournament to Lancelot and takes a company to purge the evil. "The Tournament of the Dead Innocence" becomes a farce, full of discourtesies, broken rules, and insults. Sir [[Tristran|Tristram]] wins the rubies. Breaking tradition, he rudely declares to the ladies that the "Queen of Beauty" is not present. Arthur's fool, [[Dagonet]], mocks Tristram. In the north, meanwhile, Arthur's knights, too full of rage and disgust to heed their King, trample the Red Knight, massacre his men and women, and set his tower ablaze.

Tristram gives the rubies to [[Iseult#Iseult of Ireland|Queen Isolt]], Mark's wife, who is furious that he has married [[Iseult#Iseult of Brittany|Isolt of Brittany]]. They taunt each other, but at the last he puts the necklace about her neck and bends to kiss her. At that moment Mark rises up behind him and splits his skull.