The tale of Tristan and Isolde is one of the great European love stories. Based on material from Celtic sagas, it was given literary form in all European vernaculars in the Middle Ages. In Northern Europe, a French version was translated into Old Norwegian in 1226; this is of great significance, as the French source text by Thomas de Bretagne has been nearly completely lost. The Old Norwegian Tristrams saga was the starting point for a series of re-workings of the material ? an independent Icelandic version together with numerous popular ballads from Denmark, Iceland and the Faroes. All of these texts are gathered here in translation ? some of them for the first time.