The shepherds who often used to maltreat him, seeing that he was awake and hearing him cry out like a huntsman, immediately started jostling and hitting him and causing him great harm. What shall I tell you? They hurt and abused him so much that he grew angry, which only made them ill-treat him more. They manhandled him to such an extent that he lost his temper, so much so that he snatched one of the shepherds crooks and attacked them, mad as he was, and in no time crippled four of them so badly that they remained lying on the ground as though they were dead, nor did they have the power or the strength to move from there. The others, seeing their companions maimed in this way, ran off; they had no wish to be seized by Tristan, since he was clearly beset by one of his bouts of madness.

Prose Tristan