Green Knight

“ Therewith the Green Knight was ashamed, and gave a great stroke of might, and clave Fair-hands' shield through. When the young knight saw his shield cloven asunder he was a little ashamed of that stroke and of her language, and then he gave the other such a buffet upon the helm that he fell on his knees, and Fair-hands quickly pulled him upon the ground grovelling. Then the Green Knight cried for mercy, and yielded himself unto Sir Fair-hands, and prayed him to slay him not.
"All is in vain," said Fair-hands, "for thou shalt die unless this damsel that came with me pray me to save thy life." ”

“ The baron, shuddering, pointed seaward. "There,"
He said, "year in, year out, these voices haunt
That fearful water; heaven knows what they want!
Men tell me—and I have no doubt it's true—
They are knights-errant whom the Green Knight slew!
Woe unto him, the over-bold, who dares
Adventure near that uncouth monster's snares!"
Quoth Gawayne: "How have you escaped the net?"
The baron answered: "I? We never met! ”

“ So the king went out to war, and whithersoever he went he won, and however things turned out he brought the things he had promised his stepdaughters; but he had clean forgotten what his own daughter had begged him to do, till at last he made a feast because he had won the day.
Then it was that he set eyes on a Green Knight, and all at once his daughter's words came into his head, and he greeted him in her name. The Green Knight thanked him for the greeting, and gave him a book which looked like a hymn-book with parchment clasps. That the king was to take home and give her ”

“ As she stood there, a young man and an old man came by, who also wished to take shelter; but the princess drew away farther into a corner, so that they did not see her.
"Why is it," said the young man, "that the king's castle is hung with black?"
"Don't you know," said the greybeard, "the prince here is sick to death, he whom they call the Green Knight?" And so he went on telling him how it had all happened. So when the young man had listened to the story, he asked if there was any one who could make him well again. ”

“ Of the Green Knight’s reproaches
“Thou art not Gawain,” he said, “who is held so valiant, that never feared he man by hill or vale, but thou shrinkest for fear ere thou feelest hurt. Such cowardice did I never hear of Gawain! Neither did I flinch from thy blow, or make strife in King Arthur’s hall. My head fell to my feet, and yet I fled not, but thou didst wax faint of heart ere any harm befell. Wherefore must I be deemed the braver knight.” ”

“ To this strange challenge none of the knights present was eager to make reply, for all of them felt that after a single blow from so strong an arm and so formidable a weapon as those of the Green Knight, no man would be in condition either to receive or give another. ”

“ But teach me truly all that pertaineth thereto, and tell me thy name, and I shall use all my wit to win my way thither, and that I swear thee for sooth, and by my sure troth.”
15
“That is enough in the New Year, it needs no more,” quoth the Green Knight to the gallant Gawain, “if I tell thee truly when I have taken the blow, and thou hast smitten me; then will I teach thee of my house and home, and mine own name, then mayest thou ask thy road and keep covenant. And if I waste no words then farest thou the better, for thou canst dwell in thy land, and seek no further. ”

“ Then the green knight sees that if he is ever to do anything in this fight he must do it now, and he uses all his strength and all his skill too, and he brings down such a blow with his sword on the head of the black knight that it cuts through the helmet, and the edge of the sword is broken, and with another clash and clatter of arms the black knight falls to the ground. ”

“ The mighty feats of arms that Gawayne did,—
The ever ripening love that Gawayne hid
Five long years in his breast, biding his time,—
Go seek it in some abler poet's rime.
My tale begins with the young knight's brave soul
All Elfinhart's. She thinks herself heart-whole. ”

“ Well, the first wished for a golden spinning-wheel, so small that it could stand on a sixpenny-piece; and the second, she begged for a golden winder, so small that it could stand on a sixpenny-piece; that was what they wanted to have, and till they had them there was no spinning or winding to be got out of them. But his own daughter, she would ask for no other thing than that he would greet the Green Knight in her name. ”

“ There is no reason to suppose that the beautiful descriptions of wild nature were in the French poem; and very likely the arming of the hero and the hunting were less elaborated there. It seems probable, too, that our author has changed the motivation and ending of the story; for in his original it would be natural to suppose from the analogues that the Green Knight enticed Gawain to his castle in order that this greatest of heroes might rid him of his strange hue and giant form, and that, after Gawain had succeeded, the disenchanted knight accompanied him to Arthur's Court. ”

“ Then cried the damsel, “Slay him not; for if thou do thou shalt repent it.” “Damsel,” said Sir Beaumains, “at thy command, he shall obtain his life. Arise, Sir knight of the green armour, I release thee!” Then the Green Knight knelt at his feet, and did him homage with his words. “Lodge with me this night,” said he, “and to-morrow will I guide ye through the forest.” So, taking their horses, they rode to his castle, which was hard by. ”

“ But they have scarcely sat down on the grassy bank to tell each other how much they love each other, and to forget all about the poor King, when the maid cries out from the tower that the huntsmen are coming back, the knight's old servant comes running with his sword drawn to his master and begs him to save himself, and in a minute they all come, the treacherous friend of the green knight leading the way, and the King next after him. ”

“ When he had belted his brand upon his broad haunches,
he dressed his love-token double about him,
the knight swathed sweetly about his waist
the girdle of green silk, which became him well,
upon the royal red cloth that was fair to see.
But this hero wore not the girdle for its wealth,
for pride of the pendants, though they were polished,
and though the glittering gold gleamed on the ends;
but to save himself when it behoved him to suffer,
to await his doom without resistance, with no brand or knife to
defend him.
⁠By this the good man is ready
⁠and goes out quickly. ”

“ So far as the mediæval versions are concerned, the original hero is undoubtedly Gawain; and our poem gives the fullest and most complete form of the story we possess. In the Irish version the magician is a giant, and the abnormal size and stature of the Green Knight is, in all probability, the survival of a primitive feature. His curious colour is a trait found nowhere else. ”

“ It was a noble sight to see them flocking clad in shining armour, each man with his device upon his shield. And the heralds marked who bare them best, and who were overthrown. All marvelled as to who the Knight could be whose armour sometimes seemed green, and sometimes white, but no man knew it was Sir Gareth. And whosoever Sir Gareth tilted with was straightway overthrown. 'Of a truth,' cried King Arthur, 'that Knight with the many colours is a good Knight,' and he called Sir Lancelot and bade him to challenge that Knight to combat. ”

“ Then she bought her a doctor's hat and a doctor's gown, and went to the king's castle, and offered to make the prince well again.
"No, no; it is no good," said the king. So many had been there and tried, but he always got worse instead of better. But she would not yield, and gave her word he should be well, and that soon and happily. Well, then, she might have leave to try, and so she went into the Green Knight's bedroom and washed him the first time. ”

“ The knight halted in the entrance of the hall, looking to the high daïs, and greeted no man, but looked ever upwards; and the first words he spake were, “Where is the ruler of this folk? I would gladly look upon that hero, and have speech with him.” He cast his eyes on the knights, and mustered them up and down, striving ever to see who of them was of most renown.
Then was there great gazing to behold that chief, for each man marvelled what it might mean that a knight and his steed should have even such a hue as the green grass; and that seemed even greener than green enamel on bright gold. ”

“ Lo! little it is, and less it is worth;
but whoso knew the virtues that are knit therein,
he would esteem it at a greater price peradventure;
for whatsoever man is girt with this green lace,
while he has it fittingly wrapped about him,
there is no warrior under heaven that can wound him;
for he could not be slain by any device in the world."
Then the knight paused, and it came to his heart
that it would be a jewel for the peril that awaited him
when he arrived at the chapel to undergo his ordeal. ”

“ While the story of Sir Libeaus is found in different languages—French, Italian, German—there is no other extant older version of Gawain and the Green Knight. But the separate incidents are found elsewhere, and the scene to begin with is the usual one: Arthur at his court, Arthur keeping high festival and waiting for ‘some main marvel’. The adventure comes when it is wanted; the Green Knight on his green horse rides into the king’s hall—half-ogre, by the look of him, to challenge the Round Table. What he offers is a ‘jeopardy’, a hazard, a wager. ”

“ Hesperus, the knight called by Tennyson “Evening Star;” but called in the History of Prince Arthur, “the Green Knight” or Sir Pertolope (3 syl.) . One of the four brothers who kept the passages of Castle Perilous.—Tennyson, Idylls (“Gareth and Lynette”) ; Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 127 (1470) .
⁂ It is a manifest blunder to call the Green Knight “Hesperus the Evening Star,” and the Blue Knight the “Morning Star.” The old romance makes the combat with the “Green Knight” at dawn, and with the “Blue Knight” at sunset. ”

“ In the quiet quaintly-named streets, in town-mead and market-place, in the lord's mill beside the stream, in the bell that swung out its summons to the crowded borough-mote, in merchant-gild, and church-gild and craft-gild, lay the life of Englishmen who were doing more than knight and baron to make England what she is, the life of their home and their trade, of their sturdy battle with oppression, their steady, ceaseless struggle for right and freedom. ”

“ The clear light then
appeared along the walls, as men set and distributed
waxen torches all about the hall.
Much mirth and glee rose up therein,
about the fire on the hearth, and in various wise
at supper and after. Many noble songs they sang,
as Christmas carols and new dance tunes,
with all the mannerly mirth that a man can tell of.
And ever our lovely knight sat beside the lady.
Such seemly cheer she made to the hero,
sought with such sly stolen [79] glances to please the stalwart one,
that the wight was all amazed, and wroth with himself. ”

“ With that was Gringalet ready, girt with a saddle that gleamed gaily with many golden fringes, enriched and decked anew for the venture. The bridle was all barred about with bright gold buttons, and all the covertures and trappings of the steed, the crupper and the rich skirts, accorded with the saddle; spread fair with the rich red gold that glittered and gleamed in the rays of the sun.
Then the knight called for his helmet, which was well lined throughout, and set it high on his head, and hasped it behind. ”

“ And the knight wended his way by many a strange road and many a rugged path, and the fashion of his countenance changed full often ere he saw the Green Chapel.
Many a cliff did he climb in that unknown land, where afar from his friends he rode as a stranger. Never did he come to a stream or a ford but he found a foe before him, and that one so marvellous, so foul and fell, that it behoved him to fight. So many wonders did that knight behold that it were too long to tell the tenth part of them. Sometimes he fought with dragons and wolves; sometimes with wild men that dwelt in the rocks ”

“ This is the evil and the loss that I have got
from the cowardice and covetousness that I showed there.
This is the token of untruth that I am taken in,
and I must needs wear it while I may last;
for none may hide his shame without mishap,
for where it once is incurred, depart it will never."
The king and all the court comfort the knight.
They laugh loud at his tale, and lovingly agree
that the lords and the ladies that belong to the Table,
each knight of the brotherhood, should have a baldric,
an oblique band about him of a bright green,
and wear that for the sake of the hero. ”

“ I, p. 1; R.T. Hill, Baltimore, 1911; Orlowski, Paris, 1911.↑ London, 1903 and 1907.↑ The only easily accessible edition of Gawain and the Green Knight is that of R. Morris for the Early English Text Society in 1864 — revised edition by Gollancz in 1897. Translations have been published by Miss Jessie L. Weston, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in Arthurian Romances Unrepresented in Malory's Morte d'Arthur, London, 1898, in prose; and in Romance, Vision, and Satire, Boston, 1912, in verse ”