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"Very well," he said. "Now lend me a horn that I can manage, and bear in mind that, when I begin, you must listen to me, and whatever I blow, you blow the same."
...They handed him a little horn, high-pitched and clear...
So they rode in, troop-wise, two and two, as was right and proper. And when the troop were right inside, Tristan took his little horn and blew so splendidly and entrancingly that all who rode with him could scarcely wait to join him for sheer joy and all took their horns and blew with him rarely, to his measure. He led them excellently, and they followed well and skillfully in his tune. That castle was filled with music!
When the king and his household heard this strange hunting-measure they were shocked to the very marrow, since it had never before been heard there at court. But now the troop was at the Palace door, to which a crowd of retainers had run up, attracted by the fanfares. They were all most curious to know what the din was about...Illustrious Mark himself had also come to find out, attended by many courtiers. Now when Tristan first saw the King, he took a liking to him more than to all the rest. His heart singled him out, for Mark was of his own blood - instinct drew him towards him. Looking him in the eyes he made ready to salute him and embarked on a new fanfare in a foreign measure, winding his horn so lustily that none could follow now. But this was soon over, and the noble waif had done with his horn-blowing and was silent.
Gottfried von Strassburg,Tristan, trans. by A.T. Hatto, Penguin Classics, Edinburgh, 1960, p. 83-84.
PLACE: Cornwall, England
TIME: Middle Ages
CIRCUMSTANCE: Tristan has demonstrated a new way of dismembering the hart to Mark's huntsmen, and they return, horns a-blowing, to Mark's castle.
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