# XX: Walter Is Bidden to Another Tryst explained — The Wood Beyond the World

> Chapter companion for The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris.

## What happens

Walter attends a banquet with the Lady, who kisses him and arranges a midnight tryst. The Maid signals him to keep their earlier tryst in the hazel-copse. The King's Son mocks Walter, boasting of his power over the Maid. Later, Walter returns to the Lady, who questions him about the missing lion's hide and vows revenge on her enemy. She commands Walter to dress richly and meet her at midnight, while the Maid serves them humbly.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Betrayal

Walter is torn between his loyalty to the Lady and his tryst with the Maid, while the King's Son boasts of his control over the Maid.

### Power of Wisdom and Sorcery

The Lady's anger and threats of revenge suggest magical or manipulative power over her enemies.

## Character check-ins

### Golden Walter

Distraught between two trysts, he obeys the Lady's commands and prepares for the midnight meeting.

### The Lady

Kisses Walter, arranges a midnight tryst, and vows revenge on her enemy for the missing lion's hide.

### The Maid

Signals Walter to keep the tryst in the hazel-copse, serves at the banquet, and appears fearful.

### The King's Son

Mocks Walter in the porch, boasting of his power over the Maid and dismissing Walter's warnings.

## Key lines

> and unkind to his friend; for after the banquet they still sat a while, and the Lady talked much to Walter about many things of the ways of the world, and he answered what he might, distraught as he was with the thought of those two trysts which he had to deal with.

Walter was forced to be kind to his enemy and unkind to his friend; after the feast, the Lady spoke at length about worldly matters, and Walter replied as best he could, distracted by the two secret meetings he had to manage.

_Walter's inner conflict between his obligations to the Lady and the Maid._

> Then she arose stately and grand; but she kissed Walter on the mouth ere she turned to go out of the hall. The Maid followed her; but or ever she was quite gone, she stooped and made that sign, and looked over her shoulder at Walter, as if in entreaty to him, and there was fear and anguish in her face; but he nodded his head to her in yea-say of the tryst in the hazel-copse, and in a trice she was gone.

The Lady rose majestically and kissed Walter before leaving. The Maid followed, but before disappearing, she made a secret sign and looked back with fear and pleading; Walter nodded to confirm the tryst in the hazel-copse, and she quickly left.

_The Maid's secret signal and Walter's silent agreement to meet._

> But the King's Son did but laugh, and answered nought but to Walter's last words, and said: 'Yea, yea! this word of thine showeth how little thou wottest of that which lieth betwixt my darling and thine. Doth the lamb appeal from the shepherd to the wolf? Even so shall the Maid appeal from me to thy Lady.'

The King's Son only laughed and replied that Walter understood nothing of the power dynamics between them; he compared the Maid to a lamb who would not appeal from the shepherd to the wolf, meaning she would never turn to the Lady for help.

_The King's Son's arrogance and confidence in his control over the Maid._

## Links

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