ABSTRACT
It is generally taken for granted that the Tristan story, whether or not clearly joined to that of Arthur, belongs to the Celtic West.1 The name itself has been convincingly related to the Drystan ap Tallych of the Welsh Triads, where his name is associated with March and Essyllt.2 And a close analogue of the story itself is to be found in the love-triangle between Finn, his wife Gráinne and the hero Dairmuid.3 The story of the two tragic lovers Tristan and Iseult, locked together by the love-potion, and constantly prised apart by the lady’s royal husband, is strongly associated throughout the later Middle Ages with the place-names of Cornwall;4 and the whole picture is well supported by nonArthurian analogues in Celtic folk-literature. But all this can only be made to prove that the story was well established in Celtic quarters in the early Middle Ages and beyond. But a considerable amount of oriental matter has been noticed in the tale as well,5 and two challenges have modified the picture further. A study by Eisner in 1969 argued strongly that a number of motifs in the tales from classical mythology had found their way into the Tristan tradition, including the motif of the black and white sail, from the Theseus cycle, and the healing of Paris by Oenone.6 The postulated source of the ‘borrowed’ material was felt to be the literate and educated monks of St Columba’s foundation at Iona.7
