{"id":1753,"date":"2019-07-15T18:32:57","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T18:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/epcc-britlit1\/?post_type=chapter&p=1753"},"modified":"2019-07-15T19:48:48","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T19:48:48","slug":"fytte-the-third","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/epcc-britlit1\/chapter\/fytte-the-third\/","title":{"raw":"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Fytte the Third","rendered":"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Fytte the Third"},"content":{"raw":"

Fytte the Third<\/span><\/h2>\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. Full early before the day the folk arose;\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nthe guests that would go called their grooms,\r\nand these hastened to saddle the horses,\r\narrange their gear, and truss their mails.\r\nThe great ones arrayed themselves to ride,\r\nleaped up lightly and caught their bridles,\r\neach wight on his way where it well pleased him.\r\n
    <\/div>\r\nThe dear lord of the land was not the last;\r\narrayed for the riding, with retainers full many,\r\nhe ate a sop[42]<\/a><\/sup> hastily after he had heard mass,\r\nand took his way quickly with his bugle to the field.\r\nBy the time that any daylight gleamed upon the earth,\r\nhe with his heroes were mounted on their high horses.\r\nThen these hunters that understood it, coupled their hounds,\r\nunclosed the kennel doors and called them thereout,\r\nblew blithely on bugles three simple calls.\r\nAt this the brachets[43]<\/a><\/sup> bayed and made a wild noise,\r\nand the hunters chastised and turned back those that wandered off, \u2014\r\na hundred hunters of the best there were, as I have\r\nheard tell.\r\n\u2060To their stations the trackers went;\r\n\u2060hunters cast off the couples;\r\n\u2060and then arose for the good blasts\r\n\u2060great uproar in that forest.\r\n
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  2. At the first noise of the quest the game quaked;\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nthe deer moved down into the dale, dazed for dread;\r\nhurried to the height; but quickly they were\r\nhindered by the beaters, who cried stoutly.\r\nThey let the harts with the high head go their way,\r\nthe wild bucks also with their broad palms,[44]<\/a><\/sup>\r\nfor the generous lord had forbidden that there should any man\r\nmeddle with the male deer in the close season.\r\nBut the hinds were held back with \"Hay!\" and \"Ho!\"\r\nand the does driven with great din to the deep glades.\r\nThere might one see as they ran the flight of arrows;\r\nat each turn under the boughs out flew a shaft,\r\nthat savagely bit on the brown hide with full broad heads.\r\nHow they leaped and bled and died by the banks!\r\nAnd ever the hounds with a rush eagerly followed them;\r\nhunters with shrill horn hastened after\r\nwith such a resounding cry as if cliffs had cracked.\r\nWhat game escaped the men who shot\r\nwas all run down and torn at the stands.\r\nThe deer[45]<\/a><\/sup> were pestered at the heights, and worried at the waters;\r\nthe people were so alert at the low stations,\r\nand the greyhounds so great, that got them quickly\r\nand pulled them down as fast as a man\r\ncould see.\r\n\u2060The lord, shouting for joy,\r\n\u2060shot and alighted full oft,\r\n\u2060and passed the day thus with joy\r\n\u2060till the dark night.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  3. So this lord sports by the eaves of the linden wood,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nand Gawain the good man lies in his gay bed;\r\nreposes till the day light gleams on the walls,\r\nunder the beautiful coverlets, curtained about.\r\nAnd as he fell into a doze, faintly he heard\r\na little din at the door, then distinctly;\r\nand he heaved up his head out of the clothes,\r\ncaught up a corner of his curtain a little,\r\nand watched warily in that direction to see what it might be.\r\nIt was the lady, loveliest to behold,\r\nwho drew the door to after her right slyly and quietly,\r\nand turned toward the bed. The hero grew bashful\r\nand laid himself down cunningly and pretended that he slept.\r\nAnd she stepped quietly, and stole to his bed,\r\ncast up the curtain, and crept within,\r\nand seated herself full softly on the bedside,\r\nand stayed there surprisingly long, to see when he should awake.\r\nThe man lay pretending a full great while,\r\nbothered in his conscience what this affair might\r\nmean or amount to. Marvellous it seemed to him.\r\nBut yet he said to himself, \"More seemly would it be\r\nto find out by asking what she would.\"\r\nThen he waked, and stretched, and turned to her;\r\nunlocked his eyelids, and made believe he was amazed,\r\nand crossed himself with his hand, to be the safer for\r\nhis prayer.\r\n\u2060With chin and cheek full sweet,\r\n\u2060of mingled white and red,\r\n\u2060right lovely she looked,\r\n\u2060with her small laughing lips.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  4. \"Good morrow, Sir Gawain!\" said that fair lady.\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\n\"Ye are a careless sleeper when one can enter thus.\r\nNow ye are certainly taken; unless we can make a truce\r\nI shall bind you in your bed, ye may be sure of that!\"\r\nAll laughing the lady shot those jests.\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"Good morrow, fair one,\" quoth Gawain the blithe.\r\n\"I shall be at your disposal, and that pleases me well,\r\nfor I yield me outright and pray for grace, \u2014\r\nand that is the best course, I judge, for I am in straits.\"\r\nAnd thus he returned the jests with many a blithe laugh.\r\n\"But would ye, lovely lady, grant me leave,\r\nfree your prisoner and bid him rise,\r\nI would leave this bed and dress myself better.\r\nThen I could talk with you in more comfort.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"Nay, forsooth, fair sir,\" said that sweet one,\r\n\"ye shall not rise from your bed; I shall manage you better.\r\nI shall tie you up securely,[46]<\/a><\/sup>\r\nand afterwards talk with my knight that I have caught;\r\nfor I ween well, ye are indeed Sir Gawain,\r\nwhom all the world worships whereso ye ride.\r\nYour honour, your courtesy, is heartily praised,\r\nby lords, by ladies, by all alive;\r\nand now ye are here, forsooth, and we all alone.\r\nMy lord and his people are gone far away;\r\nthe other men in their beds, and my maidens also;\r\nthe door shut and closed with a strong hasp;\r\nand since I have in this house him whom all like,\r\nI shall make good use of my time while\r\nit lasts.\r\n\u2060Ye are welcome to my person,\r\n\u2060to do whatever you wish;\r\n\u2060I am perforce,\r\n\u2060and must remain, your servant.\"\r\n
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  5. \"In good faith,\" quoth Gawain, \"a great privilege it seems to me \u2014\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nthough I be not now he that ye speak of.\r\nTo reach such reverence as ye rehearse here,\r\nI am a man unworthy, I know well.\r\nBy God, I should be glad \u2014 if it seemed good to you \u2014\r\nto do what I might in speech or in service\r\nto enhance your worship;[47]<\/a><\/sup> \u2014 it were a pure joy.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"In good faith, Sir Gawain,\" quoth the gay lady,\r\n\"if I should speak ill of the fame and the prowess that pleases all others,\r\nor esteem it light, it would show but small discernment.[48]<\/a><\/sup>\r\nBut there are ladies enough who were liefer have\r\nthis courteous one in their power \u2014 as I have thee here, \u2014\r\nto dally dearly with your dainty words,\r\nto comfort themselves and dispel their cares, \u2014\r\nthan much of the treasure and gold that they have.\r\nBut I praise the Lord who rules the skies\r\nthat through his grace I have wholly in my hand that which\r\nall desire.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\u2060Great cheer she that was\r\n\u2060so fair of face made him;\r\n\u2060the knight with discreet speeches\r\n\u2060answered her every proposal.\r\n
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  6. \"Madame,\" quoth the merry man, \"Mary reward you,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nfor in good faith I have found your generosity noble.\r\nPeople judge a person's deeds largely from the accounts of others;[49]<\/a><\/sup>\r\nbut the praise that they accord my deserts is but idle.\r\nIt is simply your own nobility, who know nothing but good.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"By Mary,\" quoth the gracious one, \"methinks it is otherwise;\r\nfor were I worth all the store of women alive,\r\nand all the wealth of the world were in my hands,\r\nand I should bargain and choose to get me a lord,\r\nthen for the good traits that I have found in the knight here,\r\nof beauty and graciousness and gay seeming,\r\nand from what I have heard before and hold in this case to be true,\r\nthere should no hero in the world be chosen before you.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"Indeed, worthy one,\" quoth the hero, \"ye might[50]<\/a><\/sup> have chosen much better;\r\nbut I am proud of the estimation that ye put upon me;\r\nand as your devoted servant I hold you my sovereign,\r\nand your knight I become; and Christ pay you for it.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\nThus they spoke of various things till past the midmorn;\r\nand ever the lady behaved as if she loved him much.\r\nBut the hero fared with caution and made courteous pretences.\r\n\"Though I were the fairest of women,\" mused the lady,\r\n\"little love would he show, because of the danger that he seeks without\r\nreproach \u2014\r\n\u2060the blow that may slay him,\r\n\u2060but must needs be undergone.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\u2060The lady then asked leave,\r\n\u2060and he granted her full soon.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  7. Then she gave him good day, and of a sudden laughed;\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nand as she stood there she astonished him with right sharp words;\r\n\"Now may he that speeds each speech, pay you for this entertainment;\r\nbut that ye are Gawain, it goes not in my mind.\"[51]<\/a><\/sup>\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"Wherefore?\" quoth the hero; and eagerly he asks,\r\nafraid lest he had failed in the performance of his design.[52]<\/a><\/sup>\r\nBut the lady blessed him and spake in this wise:\r\n\"A man as good as Gawain is properly held \u2014\r\nand courtesy is closed so entirely in him \u2014\r\ncould not easily have lingered so long with a lady\r\nbut he had on some trifling excuse or other[53]<\/a><\/sup> courteously craved a kiss.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\nThen said Gawain, \"Indeed, be it as you like;\r\nI shall kiss at your commandment as becomes a knight,\r\nand fear[54]<\/a><\/sup> lest he displease you; so urge that plea no more.\"\r\nShe comes nearer at that and takes him in her arms;\r\nstoops graciously down and kisses the man.\r\nThey courteously entrust each other to Christ.\r\nShe goes forth at the door without more ado,\r\nand he prepares to rise, and hurries amain;\r\ncalls to his chamberlain, chooses his weeds,\r\nsteps forth blithely to mass when he is ready;\r\nand then he goes to his meat, behaving always courteously,\r\nand makes merry all day till the bright moon\r\nrises.\r\n\u2060Never was a hero fairer entertained\r\n\u2060by two such worthy dames,\r\n\u2060the other and the younger.\r\n\u2060Much disport they make together.\r\n
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  8. And ever the lord of the land is bound in his sport,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nto hunt in holts and heath at barren hinds.\r\nSuch a sum of does and of other deer he slew there\r\nby the time the sun was low, that it were a marvel to estimate.\r\nThen eagerly they all flocked together at the last;\r\nand quickly of the slain deer they made a quarry.\r\nThe leaders hastened thereto with men enough;\r\ngathered the greatest of grease,[55]<\/a><\/sup> and proceeded\r\nproperly to undo[56]<\/a><\/sup> them as the occasion demands.\r\nSome that were there tried them at the assay[57]<\/a><\/sup>\r\nand found two fingers of fat on the leanest of all.\r\nAfterwards they slit the slot,[58]<\/a><\/sup> seized the arber,[59]<\/a><\/sup>\r\ncut it free with a sharp knife, and tied it[60]<\/a><\/sup> up.\r\nNext they cut down along the four limbs and rent off the hide;\r\nthen they opened the belly, took out the paunch,\r\ncutting eagerly, and laid aside the knot.[61]<\/a><\/sup>\r\nThey began at the throat again and skilfully divided\r\nthe weasand from the windpipe and threw out the guts.\r\nThen they cut out the shoulders with their sharp knives,\r\nand pulled them through by a little hole, so as to have whole sides.\r\nNext they divided the breast, and cut it in two;\r\nand once more they began at the throat,\r\nsplit the beast quickly right up to the crotch,\r\ntook out the advancers,[62]<\/a><\/sup> and immediately\r\nsevered all the fillets by the ribs,\r\nand took them off properly along the backbone\r\neven to the haunch, \u2014 all of which hung together.\r\nThen they heaved it up whole and cut it off there;\r\nand that they took for the numbles,[63]<\/a><\/sup> as it is\r\nrightly called.\r\n\u2060At the fork of the thighs\r\n\u2060they cut the flaps behind;\r\n\u2060hastily they hewed the carcass in two,\r\n\u2060and severed it along the backbone.\r\n
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  9. Both the head and the neck they hewed off then,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nand afterwards they sundered the sides swiftly from the chine,\r\nand corbie's fee[64]<\/a><\/sup> they cast in a green tree.\r\nThen they pierced either thick side through by the rib,\r\nand hung them each by the hocks of the haunches \u2014\r\neach man for his fee, as it befell him to have it.\r\nUpon a skin of a fair beast they fed their hounds\r\nwith the liver and the lights, the leather of the paunches,\r\nand bread bathed in blood mingled thereamong.\r\nLoudly they blew the prize, and bayed their hounds;\r\nthen they started to carry home their meat,\r\nblowing full stoutly many loud notes.\r\nBy the time daylight was done the band had all arrived\r\nat the comely castle, where the knight is quietly waiting in\r\ncomfort\r\n\u2060beside a bright fire.\r\n\u2060When the lord arrived\r\n\u2060and Gawain met him,\r\n\u2060there was joy enough.\r\n
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  10. Then the lord commanded to gather in the hall all the household,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nand both the ladies to come down with their maids.\r\nBefore all the folk on the floor he bade men\r\nfetch his venison before him;\r\nand all in merry sport he called Gawain,\r\ntold him the number of the choice beasts,\r\nand showed him the fat meat cut from[65]<\/a><\/sup> the ribs;\r\n\"How like you this play? Have I won the prize?\r\nHave I properly earned thanks by my woodcraft?\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"Yes, indeed,\" quoth the other hero; \"here is the fairest store\r\nthat I saw this seven year in the season of winter.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"And all I give you, Gawain,\" quoth the host, then;\r\n\"for by our plighted covenant you can claim it as your own.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"That is true,\" replied the hero, \"and I say to you the same;\r\nI too have won this worthy thing within doors;\r\nand I am sure that with quite as good will it belongs to you.\"\r\nHe throws his arms about his fair neck\r\nand kisses him as courteously as he know how.\r\n\"Take you there my merchandise; I have won no more;\r\nthough I should give it up willingly even if it were greater.\"\r\n
  11. And afterwards as they sat by a fireplace in a chamber,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nservants poured to them oft the choice wine;\r\nand again in their jesting they agreed to make\r\nthe same bargain on the morning that they made before, \u2014\r\nwhatsoever chance betide to exchange their winnings\r\nat night when they met, whatsoever new they win.\r\nThey made this agreement before all the court,\r\nand the beverage was brought forth merrily at that time.[67]<\/a><\/sup>\r\nThen at length they politely took leave;\r\nand everybody hurried to bed.\r\nWhen the cock had crowed and cackled but thrice,\r\nthe lord had leaped from his bed; likewise his followers each one,\r\nso that the meat and the mass were promptly despatched,\r\nand the troop ready for the chase in the wood ere any\r\nday sprang.\r\n\u2060With hunters and horns\r\n\u2060they passed through the plains,\r\n\u2060and uncoupled the racing hounds\r\n\u2060among the thorns.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  12. Soon they heard the cry of the dogs by a marsh side.\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nThe huntsman encouraged the hounds that first caught the scent,\r\nhurled sharp words at them with a great noise.\r\nThe hounds that heard it hastened thither quickly,\r\nand fell immediately to the scent, forty at once.\r\nThen there rose such a resounding cry of gathered hounds\r\nthat the rocks about rang.\r\nThe hunters cheered them with horn and with mouth;\r\nthen all together they swung in a troop\r\nbetween a pool in that wood and a wild crag.\r\nOn a hill, beside a cliff at the side of the bog,\r\nwhere the rough rock was rudely fallen,\r\nthey fared to the finding, and the hunters after them.\r\nThe men surrounded both the rock and the hill,\r\nbecause they knew well that he was within them, \u2014\r\nthe beast that the bloodhounds were proclaiming there.\r\nThen they beat on the bushes and bade him rise up,\r\nand he savagely rushed out athwart the men,\r\nthe most formidable of swine.\r\nLong since had he left the herd on account of his age,\r\nfor he was a huge beast, the greatest of boars.\r\nHis grinders when he grunted grieved many,\r\nfor at his first burst he thrust three to the earth,\r\nand sped hastily forth at great speed without respite.\r\nAnd they hallooed \"High!\" full loudly, and cried \"Hay, hay!\"\r\nWith horns to mouth lustily they blew the recheat.[68]<\/a><\/sup>\r\nMany were the merry cries of men and of hounds\r\nthat hastened after this boar with hue and cry to\r\nkill him.\r\n\u2060Full oft he bides at bay,\r\n\u2060and maims the pack in the m\u00eal\u00e9e.\r\n\u2060He hurts many of the hounds\r\n\u2060and grievously they howl and yell.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  13. The hunters pushed forward then to shoot at him,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\naimed at him with their arrows and hit him often.\r\nBut the shafts that struck on his shields,[69]<\/a><\/sup> give way at the pith,\r\nand the barbs would not bite on his brawn\r\nthough the shaven shafts shivered in pieces;\r\nthe head hopped out again wheresoever it hit.\r\nBut when the dints of their keen strokes scared him,\r\nthen mad for destruction he rushed on the men,\r\ndid them sore hurt where he hurled forth,\r\nand many a one grew wary thereat and gave back a little.\r\nBut the lord on a light horse hurries after him,\r\nblowing his bugle like a bold hero.\r\nHe winds the recheat as he rides through thick groves,\r\nfollowing this wild swine till the sun declined.\r\nThus they drive on the day with such doings\r\nwhile our lovely hero lies comfortably\r\nin his bed at home in clothes full rich\r\nof hue.\r\n\u2060The lady did not forget;\r\n\u2060she came to greet him;\r\n\u2060full early she was by him\r\n\u2060to change his mind.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  14. She comes to the curtain and peeps at the knight.\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nSir Gawain at once welcomes her worthily,\r\nand she returns his greeting right promptly,\r\nseats herself softly by his side, laughs opens,\r\nand with a lovely look addresses these words to him:\r\n\"Sir, if ye be Gawain, it seems to me\r\na very strange thing that a man of such quality\r\nshould not follow the conventions of good society; and should\r\nafter making acquaintance with a person cast him utterly from his mind.\r\nThou hast already forgotten what I taught you yesterday\r\nin the best language that I knew.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"What is that?\" quoth the hero. \"Forsooth I know not.\r\nIf what ye say be true, I am to blame.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"Yet I taught you about kissing,\" replied the fair lady;\r\n\"wherever a countenance is known, quickly to claim a kiss;\r\nthat becomes every knight who practices courtesy.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"Cease such speech, my dear lady,\" said the ready man.\r\n\"I durst not claim it lest I should be denied.\r\nIf I proposed and were refused, I should certainly be wrong in proffering.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"By my faith,\" quoth the lovely dame, \"ye cannot be refused.\r\nYe are strong enough to compel it by strength if ye pleased,\r\nsupposing any were so ill-bred as to deny you.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"Yea, by God,\" said Gawain, \"your speech is good;\r\nbut violence is considered discourteous among my people,\r\nas is any gift that is not given with a good will.\r\nI am at your command to kiss when ye like.\r\nYe may begin when ye please, and leave off whenever it\r\nlikes you.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\u2060The lady stoops down\r\n\u2060and gracefully kisses his face.\r\n\u2060They converse long\r\n\u2060of the fears and joys of love.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  15. \"I should like to know from you, sir,\" said the peerless lady,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\n\"if it vexes you not, \u2014 what might be the reason\r\nthat so young and so gallant person as ye now are,\r\none so courteous and so knightly as ye are known everywhere to be,\r\nhave never spoken of love.[70]<\/a><\/sup>\r\nFor in relating the pains of true knights,\r\nthe chief thing praised in all of chivalry\r\nis the royal sport of love, \u2014 and the science of arms:\r\nit is the title, token, and text of their works;\r\nhow heroes for their true love adventured their lives,\r\nendured for their sweethearts doleful hours,\r\nand afterwards avenged themselves by their valour; dispersed their care,\r\nand brought bliss to bower, with plenteous rewards for themselves.\r\nAnd ye are the most renowned knight of your time;\r\nyour fame and your worship walks everywhere, \u2014\r\nand now I have sat by you here two separate times,\r\nyet have I never heard from your head a single word\r\nthat pertained at all to love, less or more.\r\nAnd ye, that are so courteous and so distinguished in your vows,\r\nought willingly to show and teach to a young thing\r\nsome tokens of the art of true love.\r\nWhy are ye so rude who are so praised?\r\nIs it that ye deem me too dull to hearken to your dalliance?\r\nFor shame!\r\n\u2060I came hither all alone to sit\r\n\u2060and learn from you some accomplishment;\r\n\u2060do teach me part of your skill\r\n\u2060while my lord is from home.\"\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  16. \"In good faith,\" quoth Gawain, \"God reward you!\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nGreat is the entertainment, and huge the pleasure to me,\r\nthat so worthy a one as ye should come hither,\r\nand take pains with so poor a man, and play with your knight\r\nin any wise; it delights me.\r\nBut to take upon myself the task of expounding true love,\r\nof touching upon the themes of that text, and tales of arms\r\nbefore you, who I wot well have more knowledge\r\nof that sort by the half than I or a hundred such have,\r\nor ever shall have so long as I live, \u2014\r\nthat were a manifold folly by my troth, dear one.\r\nBut I would work your will with all my might,\r\nhighly beholden to you as I am; and I wish evermore\r\nto be your servant, so God save me.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\nThus the fair lady besought him, and tried him oft,\r\nfor to have won him to wrong, \u2014 whatever it was she purposed;\r\nbut he defended himself fairly that no fault appeared,\r\nnor any evil on either side; they knew nought\r\nbut joy.\r\n\u2060They laughed and played a long time,\r\n\u2060till at last she kissed him,\r\n\u2060took her leave fairly,\r\n\u2060and went her way.\r\n
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  17. Then the hero bestirred himself and rose to the mass;\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nand afterwards their dinner was dight and splendidly served.\r\nThe hero sported with the ladies all day,\r\nbut the lord raced over the land full oft,\r\nfollowing his uncouth swine, that rushed along the banks\r\nand bit in sunder the backs of his best brachets.[71]<\/a><\/sup>\r\nThere he abode at his bay till bowmen broke it,\r\nand maugre his head made him move forth.\r\nMany fell arrows there flew when the folk gathered about,\r\nbut yet at times he made the stoutest to start;\r\ntill at the last he was so weary he could no more run;\r\nbut with the haste that he might he won to a hole\r\nin a cleft by a rock, where the burn runs.\r\nHe got the bank at his back and began to scrape;\r\nthe ugly froth foamed from the corners of his mouth,\r\nand he whet his white tusks. It was not pleasant\r\nfor all the bold hunters that stood about him\r\nto approach him even remotely; and to go nigh him durst none for fear\r\nof harm.\r\n\u2060He had hurt so many before,\r\n\u2060that all seemed then full loath\r\n\u2060to be more torn with the tusks\r\n\u2060of that savage and crazed beast.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  18. When the knight came himself, reining his steed,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nand saw him bide at the bay near his men,\r\nhe lighted nimbly down, left his courser,\r\npulled out a bright brand and boldly strode forth,\r\nand hurried fast through the stream where the fell one abode.\r\nThe wild creature was ware of the wight with weapon in hand,\r\nand heaved on high his hairs; so fiercely he snorted\r\nthat many feared for their lord lest to him befell the worse.\r\nThe swine rushed directly upon the hero, so\r\nthat man and boar were both in a heap\r\nin the wildest of the water; but the boar had the worse,\r\nfor the man marked him well as they first met\r\nand skilfully set his point exactly in the slot,[72]<\/a><\/sup>\r\npierced him up to the hilt so that his heart split,\r\nand he gave way squealing and went quickly down the\r\nwater.\r\n\u2060A hundred hounds seized him\r\n\u2060and fiercely bit on him.\r\n\u2060Men brought him to land\r\n\u2060and the dogs finished him.[73]<\/a><\/sup>\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  19. There was blowing of the prize[74]<\/a><\/sup> on many a loud horn,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nhigh halloing aloft by mighty hunters;\r\nbrachets bayed the beast as the masters bade\r\nwho were the chief huntsmen of that swift chase.\r\nThen a wight that was wise in woodcraft\r\nbegins skilfully to unlace[75]<\/a><\/sup> this boar.\r\nFirst he hews off its head and sets it on high;\r\nand afterwards splits him all down his rough back,\r\nand takes out the bowels and singes them on the coals;\r\nthen with bread mingled with these, he rewards his hounds.\r\nAfterwards he cuts the brawn in fine broad shields,\r\nand has out the hastlets[76]<\/a><\/sup> in the proper manner.\r\nAnd now they bind the halves all whole together,\r\nand afterwards stoutly hang them on a stiff staff.\r\nNow with this same swine they take their way home.\r\nThe boar's head was borne before the warrior who slew him\r\nat the stream through the force of his own\r\nstrong hand.\r\n\u2060It seemed long to him until\r\n\u2060he saw Sir Gawain in the hall;\r\n\u2060then he called, and Gawain came promptly\r\n\u2060to take his fees there.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  20. The lord jested[77]<\/a><\/sup> full loudly, and merrily he laughed\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nwhen he saw Sir Gawain; with pleasure he spoke.\r\nThe good ladies were called and the household gathered.\r\nHe showed them the shields and told them the tale\r\nof the girth[78]<\/a><\/sup> and the length of the wild swine;\r\nand also of his viciousness in the wood where he fled.\r\nThat other knight full comely commended his deeds,\r\nand praised it as a great bag that he had made:\r\nfor such a brawn of a beast, the bold man said,\r\nnor such sides of a swine, saw he never before.\r\nThen they handled the huge head; the courteous man praised it\r\nand made much of it to honour the lord.\r\n\"Now Gawain,\" quoth the good man, \"this game is your own,\r\nby fine and fast forward, truly ye know.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"It is sooth,\" quoth the hero; \"and as truly\r\nall my getting I shall give you in turn, by my troth.\"\r\nHe took the warrior about the neck and courteously kissed him,\r\nand another time he served him the same.\r\n\"Now we are even,\" quoth the warrior, \"tonight of all\r\nthe covenants that we knit by law since I came\r\nhither.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\u2060Said the lord, \"By St. Giles,\r\n\u2060ye are the best that I know!\r\n\u2060Ye will be rich in a short time,\r\n\u2060if ye drive such chaffer!\"\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  21. Then they raised tables aloft on trestles,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nand cast cloths upon them. The clear light then\r\nappeared along the walls, as men set and distributed\r\nwaxen torches all about the hall.\r\nMuch mirth and glee rose up therein,\r\nabout the fire on the hearth, and in various wise\r\nat supper and after. Many noble songs they sang,\r\nas Christmas carols and new dance tunes,\r\nwith all the mannerly mirth that a man can tell of.\r\nAnd ever our lovely knight sat beside the lady.\r\nSuch seemly cheer she made to the hero,\r\nsought with such sly stolen[79]<\/a><\/sup> glances to please the stalwart one,\r\nthat the wight was all amazed, and wroth with himself.\r\nBut he would not on account of his breeding reprove her,\r\nbut responded in all courtesy, howsoever outrageous she\r\nmight be.\r\n\u2060When they had played in the hall\r\n\u2060as long as their will lasted,\r\n\u2060the lord called to bedwards,\r\n\u2060and to the room with a fireplace they passed.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  22. And there they drank and talked, and the lord proposed again\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nto make the same arrangement for New Year's Eve.\r\nBut the knight craved leave to depart,\r\nfor it was nigh at the term that he must keep.\r\nThe lord hindered him from that, persuaded him to linger,\r\nand said, \"As I am a true man, I pledge my troth\r\nthou shalt reach the green chapel to do thy tasks,\r\nsir, by New Year's light, long before prime.\r\nTherefore lie in thy loft and take thine ease;\r\nand I shall hunt in this holt and keep the covenant \u2014\r\nchange merchandise with thee when I return hither;\r\nfor I have tried thee twice, and faithful I find thee;\r\nnow 'third time, best time.'[80]<\/a><\/sup> Think on the morrow.\r\nMake we merry while we may, and be joyful:\r\nfor a man can catch trouble whensoever he likes.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\nThis was readily granted and Gawain stayed.\r\nDrink was quickly brought to them, and to bed they went\r\nwith lights.\r\n\u2060Sir Gawain lay and slept\r\n\u2060full still and soft all night;\r\n\u2060the lord, mindful of his hunting,\r\n\u2060was dight full early.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  23. After mass he and his men took a morsel.\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nMerry was the morning. He asks for his mount,\r\nand all the sportsmen who should accompany him on horse\r\nwere ready mounted on their steeds before the hall gates.\r\nWondrous fair was the field, for the frost still lingered.\r\nThe sun rose in a rack of ruddy red,\r\nand drove all the clouds from the welkin.\r\nThe hunters uncoupled by a holt side,\r\nand the rocks in the forest rang for the noise of their horns.\r\nSome dogs fell on a scent where the fox had loitered;\r\nfollowed it obliquely[81]<\/a><\/sup> through the cunning of their wiles.\r\nA kennet[82]<\/a><\/sup> cried upon it; the huntsman encouraged him,\r\nand his fellows hastened after, panting thickly.\r\nThey ran forth in a rabble on Reynard<\/a>'s very track,\r\nand he hurried before them. Soon they found him;\r\nand when they actually saw him they chased him fast,\r\nbaying him full fiercely with a huge noise.\r\nAnd he trants[83]<\/a><\/sup> and runs through many a rough grove;\r\ndoubles and hearkens by hedges full often.\r\nAt the last by a little ditch he leaps over a spinny,\r\nand steals out full stilly by a rough rand.[84]<\/a><\/sup>\r\nHalf escaped from the wood he turns with wiles from the hounds;\r\nbut then he arrived, ere he knew it, at a chosen stand,\r\nwhere in an instant three stout hunters in gray threatened him\r\nat once.\r\n\u2060He blenched again quickly,\r\n\u2060and bravely started off;\r\n\u2060with all the woe in the word,\r\n\u2060he turned away to the wood.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  24. Then was it a pure joy to listen to the hounds,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nwhen all the gathered mute[85]<\/a><\/sup> got view of him.\r\nThe cry they set on his head at the sight\r\nwas as if all the resounding cliffs had clattered down in a heap.\r\nHere he was halloed loudly when the hunters met him,\r\nloudly cried upon with noisy calls;\r\nthere he was threatened and often called thief;\r\nand ever the ticklers were at his tail so that he could not tarry.\r\nOft was he run at when he raked out,\r\nand oft he reeled in again, so wily was Reynard.\r\nAnd ever he led the bespattered lord and his troop\r\nin this manner among the hills, now in them, now over, now under,\r\nwhile the courteous knight at home slept wholesomely\r\nwithin the comely curtains on the cold morn.\r\n
    <\/div>\r\nBut the lady for love cared not to sleep\r\nnor to give up the purpose that bode in her heart;\r\nbut up she rose quickly and took her way thither\r\nin a gay mantle meetly reaching to the earth,\r\nand furred full fine with skins of the best.\r\nNo ornaments of gold on her head; but only the bright stones\r\nset above her tressour[86]<\/a><\/sup> in clusters of twenty.\r\nWith her fair face and her lovely throat all naked,\r\nher breast bare before and behind too,\r\nshe comes within the chamber door and closes it after her,\r\nthrows up a window and calls out the wight,\r\nand smartly thus stirred him with her fair\r\ncheery words.\r\n\u2060\"Ah man, how can you sleep,\r\n\u2060this morning is so clear!\"\r\n\u2060Though he was drowsing deep,\r\n\u2060yet could he hear her.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  25. In the dreary depths of a dream the noble was sunk,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nlike a man suffering from many sad thoughts,\r\nhow destiny should dight him[87]<\/a><\/sup> his weird at the green chapel\r\nthat day when he met the man,\r\nand had to abide his buffet without more debate.\r\nBut when he had fairly recovered his wits,\r\nhe emerged from his dreams and answered with haste.\r\nThe lovely lady came laughing sweetly,\r\nstooped over his fair face and courteously kissed him.\r\nHe welcomed her worthily with choice cheer.\r\nTo see her so glorious, and so gaily attired,\r\nso faultless of feature, and so lovely of colour,\r\nwarmed his heart with welling joy.\r\nWith smooth and gracious smiling they straightway waxed mirthful.\r\nAll was bliss and good cheer that passed\r\nbetween them.\r\n\u2060They exchanged goodly words;\r\n\u2060much happiness they felt,\r\n\u2060and great was the peril between them,\r\n\u2060unless Mary thought of her knight.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  26. For that beauteous princess constrained him so sorely,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nand the danger pressed him so nigh, that of necessity it behooved him\r\neither to accept her love or rudely refuse it.\r\nHe thought much of his courtesy, lest he should prove a clown;\r\nand more on his villainy if he should do sin,\r\nand be traitor to the hero who owned the castle.\r\n\"God shield!\" quoth the warrior, \"that shall not befall!\"\r\nWith a little love-dalliance he laid aside\r\nall the pointed speeches that sprang from her mouth.\r\nQuoth the lady to the hero: \"Ye deserve blame\r\nif ye love not her who is so near you, \u2014\r\nof all creatures in the world most wounded in heart; \u2014\r\nunless indeed ye have a sweetheart, a dearer being, that pleases you better,\r\nand ye have plighted faith so firmly to that gentle one\r\nthat ye care not to loosen it. \u2014 Verily now that is what I believe,\r\nand I pray you that you tell me truly;\r\nfor all the loves in the world deny not the truth\r\nwith guile.\"\r\n\u2060\"By St. John!\" said the knight,\r\n\u2060and courteously he smiled,\r\n\u2060\"I have none,\r\n\u2060and none will I have.\"\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  27. \"That is the worst of all!\" quoth the lady.\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\n\"I am answered indeed, to my sorrow.\r\nKiss me now comely and I shall go hence.\r\nI can only mourn in the world as a maid that loved much.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\nSighing she stooped down and kissed him seemly;\r\nand then she severed from him, and said as she stood,\r\n\"Now, dear, at this departing do me this comfort;\r\ngive me somewhat of thy gift, thy glove if it might be,\r\nthat I may think on thee, sir, to lessen my mourning.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"Now in truth,\" quoth that man, \"I would I had here\r\nfor thy love, the dearest thing that I wield;\r\nfor truly ye have right oft in reason\r\ndeserved a greater reward than I could reckon.\r\nBut to exchange with you love-tokens, that would profit but little.\r\nIt is not for your honor to have at this time\r\na glove of Gawain's gift for a keepsake;\r\nand I am here on an errand in lands uncouth,\r\nand have no men with mails full of precious things\r\nfor remembrance at this moment; and that mislikes me, lady.\r\nBut every man must act according to his circumstances, and none should take it ill or\r\nrepine.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\u2060\"Now, courteous and honourable one,\"\r\n\u2060quoth that lovesome lady,\r\n\u2060\"though I shall have nothing of yours,\r\n\u2060yet shall ye have of mine.\"\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  28. She reached him a rich ring of red gold work\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nwith a gleaming stone standing aloft,\r\nthat shed blushing beams like the bright sun;\r\nknow ye well it was worth wealth full huge.\r\nBut the man refused it, and readily he said:\r\n\"I desire no great gifts, my gay one, at this time.\r\nI have naught to give you, and naught will I take.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\nShe offered it him full pressingly, and he refused her offer,\r\nand swore swiftly on his sooth that he would not take it.\r\nAnd she sorrowed that he refused, and said thereafter,\r\n\"If ye refuse my ring, since it seems too rich,\r\nand ye would not be so highly beholden to me,\r\nI shall give you my girdle, that will enrich you less.\"\r\n
  29. \"Now refuse ye this silk,\" said the lady then,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\n\"because it is simple in itself, as it certainly seems to be?\r\nLo! little it is, and less it is worth;\r\nbut whoso knew the virtues that are knit therein,\r\nhe would esteem it at a greater price peradventure;\r\nfor whatsoever man is girt with this green lace,\r\nwhile he has it fittingly wrapped about him,\r\nthere is no warrior under heaven that can wound him;\r\nfor he could not be slain by any device in the world.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\nThen the knight paused, and it came to his heart\r\nthat it would be a jewel for the peril that awaited him\r\nwhen he arrived at the chapel to undergo his ordeal.\r\nCould he manage to be unslain, that were a noble device.\r\nThen he indulged her entreaties and suffered her to speak;\r\nand she pressed the belt on him and offered it to him eagerly.\r\nAnd he accepted it, and she gave it him with a good will,\r\nand besought him for her sake never to discover it,\r\nbut to conceal it loyally from her lord. The man agreed\r\nthat never person should know it indeed but\r\nthey twain.\r\n\u2060Full oft he thanked her,\r\n\u2060right glad in heart and thought.\r\n\u2060By that she had kissed\r\n\u2060the stout knight three times.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  30. Then she takes her leave and leaves him there,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nfor more entertainment she could not get from that man.\r\nWhen she was gone, Sir Gawain bestirs himself,\r\nrises and dresses in noble array.\r\nHe lays up the love-lace the lady had given him,\r\nhides it full cleverly where he can find it again.\r\nThen promptly he takes his way to the chapel;\r\nquietly approaches to the priest and prays him there\r\nthat he would elevate his life, and teach him better\r\nhow his soul should be saved when he should go hence.\r\nThen he shrives him cleanly and shows his misdeeds,\r\nboth the more and the less, beseeches mercy,\r\nand begs for absolution. And the priest\r\nassoils him thoroughly and set him as clean\r\nas if doomsday had been due on the morrow.\r\nAnd afterwards Gawain makes more mirth among the fair ladies\r\nthat day with comely carols and all kinds of joy\r\nthan ever he did before, till the\r\ndark night.\r\n\u2060Everyone had pleasure of him there,\r\n\u2060and said indeed that he\r\n\u2060had never been so merry\r\n\u2060since he came hither.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  31. Now let him linger in that place, where may love betide him.\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nThe lord is still in the field leading his men.\r\nHe has overtaken the fox that he followed so long,\r\nas he sprinted over a spinny to spy the rascal,\r\nwhere he heard the hounds that hastened fast after him.\r\nReynard came running through a rough grove,\r\nand all the rabble in a rout right at his heels.\r\nThe man was ware of the game, and warily abode;\r\npulled out his bright brand and struck at the beast;\r\nand he dodged from the sharp weapon and would have turned;\r\nbut a dog seized him ere he could,\r\nand right before the horses' feet they all fell on him\r\nand worried the wily one with a great noise.\r\nThe lord lighted quickly, and caught him forthwith;\r\npulled him full hastily out of the dogs' mouths,\r\nand holding him high over his head, hallooed fast;\r\nand there many fierce hounds bayed him.\r\nHunters hied them thither with horns full many,\r\never blowing the recheat[89]<\/a><\/sup> till they saw the hero.\r\nAs soon as his noble company was come,\r\nall that bare bugle blew at once,\r\nand all the others that had no horns halloed.\r\nIt was the merriest mute90 that ever men heard \u2014\r\nthe rich riot that there was raised for Reynard's\r\nsoul.\r\n\u2060They rewarded the hounds there,\r\n\u2060stroked them and rubbed their heads;\r\n\u2060and afterwards they took Reynard\r\n\u2060and turned off his coat.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  32. And then they hastened home, for it was nigh night,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nblowing full stoutly in their great horns.\r\nThe lord alighted at last at his dear home,\r\nfound fire on the floor, and the hero beside it,\r\nSir Gawain the good, that glad was withal\r\namong the ladies; in their love he had much joy.\r\nHe wore a mantle of blue that reached to the earth;\r\nhis surcoat, that was softly furred, became him well;\r\nand his hood of the same hung on his shoulder.\r\nTrimmed all about with fine fur were both.\r\nHe met this good man in the middle of the floor,\r\nand all joyfully he greeted him, and goodly he said:\r\n\"Now I shall fulfill our covenant,\r\nthat we have just made, where no drink was spared.\"\r\nThen he embraces the knight and kisses him thrice\r\nwith as much gusto and as soberly as he could give them.\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"By Christ!\" quoth the other knight, \"ye get much bliss\r\nin the profits of this business \u2014 if ye drive good bargains!\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"Of the bargain no matter,\" quoth curtly that other,\r\n\"so long as the debts that I owed are properly paid.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"Mary!\" quoth the other man, \"my offering is the worse,\r\nfor I have hunted all this day, and naught have I got\r\nbut this foul fox-fell; the fiend have the good ones!\r\nAnd that is full poor to pay for such fine things\r\nas ye have given me here, three such rare\r\nkisses.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\u2060\"It is enough,\" quoth Sir Gawain;\r\n\u2060\"I thank you, by the rood.\"\r\n\u2060And as they stood there the lord\r\n\u2060told him how the fox was slain.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  33. With mirth and minstrelsy, with meats at there will,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nthey made as merry as any men could.\r\nWith laughing of ladies, with merry jests,\r\nGawain and the good man were both as glad\r\nas if the court were mad, or else drunk.\r\nBoth the man and his retinue made many jokes\r\ntill the season arrived when they must sever;\r\nthe men had to go to their beds at last.\r\nThen humbly this gentle man takes his leave\r\nof the lord first; and fairly he thanks him.\r\n\"For such a joyous sojourn as I have had here,\r\nfor the honor you have shown me at this high feast, the high king reward you!\r\nI can only give you myself to be one of your men, if that pleases you.\r\nFor I must needs, as ye know, proceed, tomorrow,\r\nif ye will grant me some man to show, as you promised,\r\nthe way to the green chapel, as God will suffer me\r\nto take on New Year's day the doom of my fate.\"\r\n
    <\/div>\r\n\"In good faith,\" quoth the good man, \"with a good will!\r\nAll that ever I promised you, I will perform.\"\r\nTherewith he assigns a servant to set him in the way,\r\nand conduct him by the downs, that he should without hesitation\r\ntravel through the forest and fare at the best in\r\nthe woods.\r\n\u2060The lord thanked Gawain\r\n\u2060for the worship he had been willing to show him.\r\n\u2060Then the knight took his leave\r\n\u2060of the beautiful ladies.\r\n
    <\/div><\/li>\r\n \t
  34. With care and with kissing he speaks to them,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]\r\nand many earnest thanks he presses upon them.\r\nAnd they returned the same again promptly;\r\nthey entrusted him to Christ with sighings full sad.\r\nAfterwards he graciously departs from the household;\r\neach man that he met he thanked him\r\nfor his service and his solace, and the various pains\r\nwith which they had been busy to serve him.\r\nAnd each man was as sad to sever from him there\r\nas they had ever dwelt worthily with that hero.\r\nThen with people and with light he was led to his chamber\r\nand blithely brought to bed to be at his rest.\r\nWhether he slept soundly I dare not say,\r\nfor he had much to think of on the morrow if\r\nhe would.\r\n\u2060Let him lie there;\r\n\u2060he was near what he sought.\r\n\u2060If ye will be still a while\r\n\u2060I shall tell you how they fared.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","rendered":"

    Fytte the Third<\/span><\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. Full early before the day the folk arose;\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nthe guests that would go called their grooms,
      \nand these hastened to saddle the horses,
      \narrange their gear, and truss their mails.
      \nThe great ones arrayed themselves to ride,
      \nleaped up lightly and caught their bridles,
      \neach wight on his way where it well pleased him.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      The dear lord of the land was not the last;
      \narrayed for the riding, with retainers full many,
      \nhe ate a sop      [42]<\/a><\/sup> hastily after he had heard mass,
      \nand took his way quickly with his bugle to the field.
      \nBy the time that any daylight gleamed upon the earth,
      \nhe with his heroes were mounted on their high horses.
      \nThen these hunters that understood it, coupled their hounds,
      \nunclosed the kennel doors and called them thereout,
      \nblew blithely on bugles three simple calls.
      \nAt this the brachets      [43]<\/a><\/sup> bayed and made a wild noise,
      \nand the hunters chastised and turned back those that wandered off, \u2014
      \na hundred hunters of the best there were, as I have
      \nheard tell.
      \n\u2060To their stations the trackers went;
      \n\u2060hunters cast off the couples;
      \n\u2060and then arose for the good blasts
      \n\u2060great uproar in that forest.<\/p>\n

    2. At the first noise of the quest the game quaked;\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nthe deer moved down into the dale, dazed for dread;
      \nhurried to the height; but quickly they were
      \nhindered by the beaters, who cried stoutly.
      \nThey let the harts with the high head go their way,
      \nthe wild bucks also with their broad palms,      [44]<\/a><\/sup>
      \nfor the generous lord had forbidden that there should any man
      \nmeddle with the male deer in the close season.
      \nBut the hinds were held back with “Hay!” and “Ho!”
      \nand the does driven with great din to the deep glades.
      \nThere might one see as they ran the flight of arrows;
      \nat each turn under the boughs out flew a shaft,
      \nthat savagely bit on the brown hide with full broad heads.
      \nHow they leaped and bled and died by the banks!
      \nAnd ever the hounds with a rush eagerly followed them;
      \nhunters with shrill horn hastened after
      \nwith such a resounding cry as if cliffs had cracked.
      \nWhat game escaped the men who shot
      \nwas all run down and torn at the stands.
      \nThe deer      [45]<\/a><\/sup> were pestered at the heights, and worried at the waters;
      \nthe people were so alert at the low stations,
      \nand the greyhounds so great, that got them quickly
      \nand pulled them down as fast as a man
      \ncould see.
      \n\u2060The lord, shouting for joy,
      \n\u2060shot and alighted full oft,
      \n\u2060and passed the day thus with joy
      \n\u2060till the dark night.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    3. So this lord sports by the eaves of the linden wood,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nand Gawain the good man lies in his gay bed;
      \nreposes till the day light gleams on the walls,
      \nunder the beautiful coverlets, curtained about.
      \nAnd as he fell into a doze, faintly he heard
      \na little din at the door, then distinctly;
      \nand he heaved up his head out of the clothes,
      \ncaught up a corner of his curtain a little,
      \nand watched warily in that direction to see what it might be.
      \nIt was the lady, loveliest to behold,
      \nwho drew the door to after her right slyly and quietly,
      \nand turned toward the bed. The hero grew bashful
      \nand laid himself down cunningly and pretended that he slept.
      \nAnd she stepped quietly, and stole to his bed,
      \ncast up the curtain, and crept within,
      \nand seated herself full softly on the bedside,
      \nand stayed there surprisingly long, to see when he should awake.
      \nThe man lay pretending a full great while,
      \nbothered in his conscience what this affair might
      \nmean or amount to. Marvellous it seemed to him.
      \nBut yet he said to himself, “More seemly would it be
      \nto find out by asking what she would.”
      \nThen he waked, and stretched, and turned to her;
      \nunlocked his eyelids, and made believe he was amazed,
      \nand crossed himself with his hand, to be the safer for
      \nhis prayer.
      \n\u2060With chin and cheek full sweet,
      \n\u2060of mingled white and red,
      \n\u2060right lovely she looked,
      \n\u2060with her small laughing lips.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    4. “Good morrow, Sir Gawain!” said that fair lady.\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \n“Ye are a careless sleeper when one can enter thus.
      \nNow ye are certainly taken; unless we can make a truce
      \nI shall bind you in your bed, ye may be sure of that!”
      \nAll laughing the lady shot those jests.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      “Good morrow, fair one,” quoth Gawain the blithe.
      \n“I shall be at your disposal, and that pleases me well,
      \nfor I yield me outright and pray for grace, \u2014
      \nand that is the best course, I judge, for I am in straits.”
      \nAnd thus he returned the jests with many a blithe laugh.
      \n“But would ye, lovely lady, grant me leave,
      \nfree your prisoner and bid him rise,
      \nI would leave this bed and dress myself better.
      \nThen I could talk with you in more comfort.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      “Nay, forsooth, fair sir,” said that sweet one,
      \n“ye shall not rise from your bed; I shall manage you better.
      \nI shall tie you up securely,      [46]<\/a><\/sup>
      \nand afterwards talk with my knight that I have caught;
      \nfor I ween well, ye are indeed Sir Gawain,
      \nwhom all the world worships whereso ye ride.
      \nYour honour, your courtesy, is heartily praised,
      \nby lords, by ladies, by all alive;
      \nand now ye are here, forsooth, and we all alone.
      \nMy lord and his people are gone far away;
      \nthe other men in their beds, and my maidens also;
      \nthe door shut and closed with a strong hasp;
      \nand since I have in this house him whom all like,
      \nI shall make good use of my time while
      \nit lasts.
      \n\u2060Ye are welcome to my person,
      \n\u2060to do whatever you wish;
      \n\u2060I am perforce,
      \n\u2060and must remain, your servant.”<\/p>\n

    5. “In good faith,” quoth Gawain, “a great privilege it seems to me \u2014\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nthough I be not now he that ye speak of.
      \nTo reach such reverence as ye rehearse here,
      \nI am a man unworthy, I know well.
      \nBy God, I should be glad \u2014 if it seemed good to you \u2014
      \nto do what I might in speech or in service
      \nto enhance your worship;      [47]<\/a><\/sup> \u2014 it were a pure joy.”<\/p>\n
    6. “Madame,” quoth the merry man, “Mary reward you,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nfor in good faith I have found your generosity noble.
      \nPeople judge a person’s deeds largely from the accounts of others;      [49]<\/a><\/sup>
      \nbut the praise that they accord my deserts is but idle.
      \nIt is simply your own nobility, who know nothing but good.”<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      “By Mary,” quoth the gracious one, “methinks it is otherwise;
      \nfor were I worth all the store of women alive,
      \nand all the wealth of the world were in my hands,
      \nand I should bargain and choose to get me a lord,
      \nthen for the good traits that I have found in the knight here,
      \nof beauty and graciousness and gay seeming,
      \nand from what I have heard before and hold in this case to be true,
      \nthere should no hero in the world be chosen before you.”<\/p>\n

    7. Then she gave him good day, and of a sudden laughed;\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nand as she stood there she astonished him with right sharp words;
      \n“Now may he that speeds each speech, pay you for this entertainment;
      \nbut that ye are Gawain, it goes not in my mind.”      [51]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      “Wherefore?” quoth the hero; and eagerly he asks,
      \nafraid lest he had failed in the performance of his design.      [52]<\/a><\/sup>
      \nBut the lady blessed him and spake in this wise:
      \n“A man as good as Gawain is properly held \u2014
      \nand courtesy is closed so entirely in him \u2014
      \ncould not easily have lingered so long with a lady
      \nbut he had on some trifling excuse or other      [53]<\/a><\/sup> courteously craved a kiss.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      Then said Gawain, “Indeed, be it as you like;
      \nI shall kiss at your commandment as becomes a knight,
      \nand fear      [54]<\/a><\/sup> lest he displease you; so urge that plea no more.”
      \nShe comes nearer at that and takes him in her arms;
      \nstoops graciously down and kisses the man.
      \nThey courteously entrust each other to Christ.
      \nShe goes forth at the door without more ado,
      \nand he prepares to rise, and hurries amain;
      \ncalls to his chamberlain, chooses his weeds,
      \nsteps forth blithely to mass when he is ready;
      \nand then he goes to his meat, behaving always courteously,
      \nand makes merry all day till the bright moon
      \nrises.
      \n\u2060Never was a hero fairer entertained
      \n\u2060by two such worthy dames,
      \n\u2060the other and the younger.
      \n\u2060Much disport they make together.<\/p>\n

    8. And ever the lord of the land is bound in his sport,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nto hunt in holts and heath at barren hinds.
      \nSuch a sum of does and of other deer he slew there
      \nby the time the sun was low, that it were a marvel to estimate.
      \nThen eagerly they all flocked together at the last;
      \nand quickly of the slain deer they made a quarry.
      \nThe leaders hastened thereto with men enough;
      \ngathered the greatest of grease,      [55]<\/a><\/sup> and proceeded
      \nproperly to undo      [56]<\/a><\/sup> them as the occasion demands.
      \nSome that were there tried them at the assay      [57]<\/a><\/sup>
      \nand found two fingers of fat on the leanest of all.
      \nAfterwards they slit the slot,      [58]<\/a><\/sup> seized the arber,[59]<\/a><\/sup>
      \ncut it free with a sharp knife, and tied it      [60]<\/a><\/sup> up.
      \nNext they cut down along the four limbs and rent off the hide;
      \nthen they opened the belly, took out the paunch,
      \ncutting eagerly, and laid aside the knot.      [61]<\/a><\/sup>
      \nThey began at the throat again and skilfully divided
      \nthe weasand from the windpipe and threw out the guts.
      \nThen they cut out the shoulders with their sharp knives,
      \nand pulled them through by a little hole, so as to have whole sides.
      \nNext they divided the breast, and cut it in two;
      \nand once more they began at the throat,
      \nsplit the beast quickly right up to the crotch,
      \ntook out the advancers,      [62]<\/a><\/sup> and immediately
      \nsevered all the fillets by the ribs,
      \nand took them off properly along the backbone
      \neven to the haunch, \u2014 all of which hung together.
      \nThen they heaved it up whole and cut it off there;
      \nand that they took for the numbles,      [63]<\/a><\/sup> as it is
      \nrightly called.
      \n\u2060At the fork of the thighs
      \n\u2060they cut the flaps behind;
      \n\u2060hastily they hewed the carcass in two,
      \n\u2060and severed it along the backbone.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    9. Both the head and the neck they hewed off then,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nand afterwards they sundered the sides swiftly from the chine,
      \nand corbie’s fee      [64]<\/a><\/sup> they cast in a green tree.
      \nThen they pierced either thick side through by the rib,
      \nand hung them each by the hocks of the haunches \u2014
      \neach man for his fee, as it befell him to have it.
      \nUpon a skin of a fair beast they fed their hounds
      \nwith the liver and the lights, the leather of the paunches,
      \nand bread bathed in blood mingled thereamong.
      \nLoudly they blew the prize, and bayed their hounds;
      \nthen they started to carry home their meat,
      \nblowing full stoutly many loud notes.
      \nBy the time daylight was done the band had all arrived
      \nat the comely castle, where the knight is quietly waiting in
      \ncomfort
      \n\u2060beside a bright fire.
      \n\u2060When the lord arrived
      \n\u2060and Gawain met him,
      \n\u2060there was joy enough.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    10. Then the lord commanded to gather in the hall all the household,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nand both the ladies to come down with their maids.
      \nBefore all the folk on the floor he bade men
      \nfetch his venison before him;
      \nand all in merry sport he called Gawain,
      \ntold him the number of the choice beasts,
      \nand showed him the fat meat cut from      [65]<\/a><\/sup> the ribs;
      \n“How like you this play? Have I won the prize?
      \nHave I properly earned thanks by my woodcraft?”<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      “Yes, indeed,” quoth the other hero; “here is the fairest store
      \nthat I saw this seven year in the season of winter.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      “And all I give you, Gawain,” quoth the host, then;
      \n“for by our plighted covenant you can claim it as your own.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      “That is true,” replied the hero, “and I say to you the same;
      \nI too have won this worthy thing within doors;
      \nand I am sure that with quite as good will it belongs to you.”
      \nHe throws his arms about his fair neck
      \nand kisses him as courteously as he know how.
      \n“Take you there my merchandise; I have won no more;
      \nthough I should give it up willingly even if it were greater.”<\/p>\n

    11. And afterwards as they sat by a fireplace in a chamber,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nservants poured to them oft the choice wine;
      \nand again in their jesting they agreed to make
      \nthe same bargain on the morning that they made before, \u2014
      \nwhatsoever chance betide to exchange their winnings
      \nat night when they met, whatsoever new they win.
      \nThey made this agreement before all the court,
      \nand the beverage was brought forth merrily at that time.      [67]<\/a><\/sup>
      \nThen at length they politely took leave;
      \nand everybody hurried to bed.
      \nWhen the cock had crowed and cackled but thrice,
      \nthe lord had leaped from his bed; likewise his followers each one,
      \nso that the meat and the mass were promptly despatched,
      \nand the troop ready for the chase in the wood ere any
      \nday sprang.
      \n\u2060With hunters and horns
      \n\u2060they passed through the plains,
      \n\u2060and uncoupled the racing hounds
      \n\u2060among the thorns.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    12. Soon they heard the cry of the dogs by a marsh side.\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nThe huntsman encouraged the hounds that first caught the scent,
      \nhurled sharp words at them with a great noise.
      \nThe hounds that heard it hastened thither quickly,
      \nand fell immediately to the scent, forty at once.
      \nThen there rose such a resounding cry of gathered hounds
      \nthat the rocks about rang.
      \nThe hunters cheered them with horn and with mouth;
      \nthen all together they swung in a troop
      \nbetween a pool in that wood and a wild crag.
      \nOn a hill, beside a cliff at the side of the bog,
      \nwhere the rough rock was rudely fallen,
      \nthey fared to the finding, and the hunters after them.
      \nThe men surrounded both the rock and the hill,
      \nbecause they knew well that he was within them, \u2014
      \nthe beast that the bloodhounds were proclaiming there.
      \nThen they beat on the bushes and bade him rise up,
      \nand he savagely rushed out athwart the men,
      \nthe most formidable of swine.
      \nLong since had he left the herd on account of his age,
      \nfor he was a huge beast, the greatest of boars.
      \nHis grinders when he grunted grieved many,
      \nfor at his first burst he thrust three to the earth,
      \nand sped hastily forth at great speed without respite.
      \nAnd they hallooed “High!” full loudly, and cried “Hay, hay!”
      \nWith horns to mouth lustily they blew the recheat.      [68]<\/a><\/sup>
      \nMany were the merry cries of men and of hounds
      \nthat hastened after this boar with hue and cry to
      \nkill him.
      \n\u2060Full oft he bides at bay,
      \n\u2060and maims the pack in the m\u00eal\u00e9e.
      \n\u2060He hurts many of the hounds
      \n\u2060and grievously they howl and yell.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    13. The hunters pushed forward then to shoot at him,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \naimed at him with their arrows and hit him often.
      \nBut the shafts that struck on his shields,      [69]<\/a><\/sup> give way at the pith,
      \nand the barbs would not bite on his brawn
      \nthough the shaven shafts shivered in pieces;
      \nthe head hopped out again wheresoever it hit.
      \nBut when the dints of their keen strokes scared him,
      \nthen mad for destruction he rushed on the men,
      \ndid them sore hurt where he hurled forth,
      \nand many a one grew wary thereat and gave back a little.
      \nBut the lord on a light horse hurries after him,
      \nblowing his bugle like a bold hero.
      \nHe winds the recheat as he rides through thick groves,
      \nfollowing this wild swine till the sun declined.
      \nThus they drive on the day with such doings
      \nwhile our lovely hero lies comfortably
      \nin his bed at home in clothes full rich
      \nof hue.
      \n\u2060The lady did not forget;
      \n\u2060she came to greet him;
      \n\u2060full early she was by him
      \n\u2060to change his mind.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    14. She comes to the curtain and peeps at the knight.\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nSir Gawain at once welcomes her worthily,
      \nand she returns his greeting right promptly,
      \nseats herself softly by his side, laughs opens,
      \nand with a lovely look addresses these words to him:
      \n“Sir, if ye be Gawain, it seems to me
      \na very strange thing that a man of such quality
      \nshould not follow the conventions of good society; and should
      \nafter making acquaintance with a person cast him utterly from his mind.
      \nThou hast already forgotten what I taught you yesterday
      \nin the best language that I knew.”<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      “What is that?” quoth the hero. “Forsooth I know not.
      \nIf what ye say be true, I am to blame.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      “Yet I taught you about kissing,” replied the fair lady;
      \n“wherever a countenance is known, quickly to claim a kiss;
      \nthat becomes every knight who practices courtesy.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      “Cease such speech, my dear lady,” said the ready man.
      \n“I durst not claim it lest I should be denied.
      \nIf I proposed and were refused, I should certainly be wrong in proffering.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      “By my faith,” quoth the lovely dame, “ye cannot be refused.
      \nYe are strong enough to compel it by strength if ye pleased,
      \nsupposing any were so ill-bred as to deny you.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      “Yea, by God,” said Gawain, “your speech is good;
      \nbut violence is considered discourteous among my people,
      \nas is any gift that is not given with a good will.
      \nI am at your command to kiss when ye like.
      \nYe may begin when ye please, and leave off whenever it
      \nlikes you.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      \u2060The lady stoops down
      \n\u2060and gracefully kisses his face.
      \n\u2060They converse long
      \n\u2060of the fears and joys of love.<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    15. “I should like to know from you, sir,” said the peerless lady,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \n“if it vexes you not, \u2014 what might be the reason
      \nthat so young and so gallant person as ye now are,
      \none so courteous and so knightly as ye are known everywhere to be,
      \nhave never spoken of love.      [70]<\/a><\/sup>
      \nFor in relating the pains of true knights,
      \nthe chief thing praised in all of chivalry
      \nis the royal sport of love, \u2014 and the science of arms:
      \nit is the title, token, and text of their works;
      \nhow heroes for their true love adventured their lives,
      \nendured for their sweethearts doleful hours,
      \nand afterwards avenged themselves by their valour; dispersed their care,
      \nand brought bliss to bower, with plenteous rewards for themselves.
      \nAnd ye are the most renowned knight of your time;
      \nyour fame and your worship walks everywhere, \u2014
      \nand now I have sat by you here two separate times,
      \nyet have I never heard from your head a single word
      \nthat pertained at all to love, less or more.
      \nAnd ye, that are so courteous and so distinguished in your vows,
      \nought willingly to show and teach to a young thing
      \nsome tokens of the art of true love.
      \nWhy are ye so rude who are so praised?
      \nIs it that ye deem me too dull to hearken to your dalliance?
      \nFor shame!
      \n\u2060I came hither all alone to sit
      \n\u2060and learn from you some accomplishment;
      \n\u2060do teach me part of your skill
      \n\u2060while my lord is from home.”<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    16. “In good faith,” quoth Gawain, “God reward you!\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nGreat is the entertainment, and huge the pleasure to me,
      \nthat so worthy a one as ye should come hither,
      \nand take pains with so poor a man, and play with your knight
      \nin any wise; it delights me.
      \nBut to take upon myself the task of expounding true love,
      \nof touching upon the themes of that text, and tales of arms
      \nbefore you, who I wot well have more knowledge
      \nof that sort by the half than I or a hundred such have,
      \nor ever shall have so long as I live, \u2014
      \nthat were a manifold folly by my troth, dear one.
      \nBut I would work your will with all my might,
      \nhighly beholden to you as I am; and I wish evermore
      \nto be your servant, so God save me.”<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      Thus the fair lady besought him, and tried him oft,
      \nfor to have won him to wrong, \u2014 whatever it was she purposed;
      \nbut he defended himself fairly that no fault appeared,
      \nnor any evil on either side; they knew nought
      \nbut joy.
      \n\u2060They laughed and played a long time,
      \n\u2060till at last she kissed him,
      \n\u2060took her leave fairly,
      \n\u2060and went her way.<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    17. Then the hero bestirred himself and rose to the mass;\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nand afterwards their dinner was dight and splendidly served.
      \nThe hero sported with the ladies all day,
      \nbut the lord raced over the land full oft,
      \nfollowing his uncouth swine, that rushed along the banks
      \nand bit in sunder the backs of his best brachets.      [71]<\/a><\/sup>
      \nThere he abode at his bay till bowmen broke it,
      \nand maugre his head made him move forth.
      \nMany fell arrows there flew when the folk gathered about,
      \nbut yet at times he made the stoutest to start;
      \ntill at the last he was so weary he could no more run;
      \nbut with the haste that he might he won to a hole
      \nin a cleft by a rock, where the burn runs.
      \nHe got the bank at his back and began to scrape;
      \nthe ugly froth foamed from the corners of his mouth,
      \nand he whet his white tusks. It was not pleasant
      \nfor all the bold hunters that stood about him
      \nto approach him even remotely; and to go nigh him durst none for fear
      \nof harm.
      \n\u2060He had hurt so many before,
      \n\u2060that all seemed then full loath
      \n\u2060to be more torn with the tusks
      \n\u2060of that savage and crazed beast.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    18. When the knight came himself, reining his steed,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nand saw him bide at the bay near his men,
      \nhe lighted nimbly down, left his courser,
      \npulled out a bright brand and boldly strode forth,
      \nand hurried fast through the stream where the fell one abode.
      \nThe wild creature was ware of the wight with weapon in hand,
      \nand heaved on high his hairs; so fiercely he snorted
      \nthat many feared for their lord lest to him befell the worse.
      \nThe swine rushed directly upon the hero, so
      \nthat man and boar were both in a heap
      \nin the wildest of the water; but the boar had the worse,
      \nfor the man marked him well as they first met
      \nand skilfully set his point exactly in the slot,      [72]<\/a><\/sup>
      \npierced him up to the hilt so that his heart split,
      \nand he gave way squealing and went quickly down the
      \nwater.
      \n\u2060A hundred hounds seized him
      \n\u2060and fiercely bit on him.
      \n\u2060Men brought him to land
      \n\u2060and the dogs finished him.      [73]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    19. There was blowing of the prize[74]<\/a><\/sup> on many a loud horn,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nhigh halloing aloft by mighty hunters;
      \nbrachets bayed the beast as the masters bade
      \nwho were the chief huntsmen of that swift chase.
      \nThen a wight that was wise in woodcraft
      \nbegins skilfully to unlace      [75]<\/a><\/sup> this boar.
      \nFirst he hews off its head and sets it on high;
      \nand afterwards splits him all down his rough back,
      \nand takes out the bowels and singes them on the coals;
      \nthen with bread mingled with these, he rewards his hounds.
      \nAfterwards he cuts the brawn in fine broad shields,
      \nand has out the hastlets      [76]<\/a><\/sup> in the proper manner.
      \nAnd now they bind the halves all whole together,
      \nand afterwards stoutly hang them on a stiff staff.
      \nNow with this same swine they take their way home.
      \nThe boar’s head was borne before the warrior who slew him
      \nat the stream through the force of his own
      \nstrong hand.
      \n\u2060It seemed long to him until
      \n\u2060he saw Sir Gawain in the hall;
      \n\u2060then he called, and Gawain came promptly
      \n\u2060to take his fees there.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    20. The lord jested[77]<\/a><\/sup> full loudly, and merrily he laughed\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nwhen he saw Sir Gawain; with pleasure he spoke.
      \nThe good ladies were called and the household gathered.
      \nHe showed them the shields and told them the tale
      \nof the girth      [78]<\/a><\/sup> and the length of the wild swine;
      \nand also of his viciousness in the wood where he fled.
      \nThat other knight full comely commended his deeds,
      \nand praised it as a great bag that he had made:
      \nfor such a brawn of a beast, the bold man said,
      \nnor such sides of a swine, saw he never before.
      \nThen they handled the huge head; the courteous man praised it
      \nand made much of it to honour the lord.
      \n“Now Gawain,” quoth the good man, “this game is your own,
      \nby fine and fast forward, truly ye know.”<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      “It is sooth,” quoth the hero; “and as truly
      \nall my getting I shall give you in turn, by my troth.”
      \nHe took the warrior about the neck and courteously kissed him,
      \nand another time he served him the same.
      \n“Now we are even,” quoth the warrior, “tonight of all
      \nthe covenants that we knit by law since I came
      \nhither.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      \u2060Said the lord, “By St. Giles,
      \n\u2060ye are the best that I know!
      \n\u2060Ye will be rich in a short time,
      \n\u2060if ye drive such chaffer!”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    21. Then they raised tables aloft on trestles,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nand cast cloths upon them. The clear light then
      \nappeared along the walls, as men set and distributed
      \nwaxen torches all about the hall.
      \nMuch mirth and glee rose up therein,
      \nabout the fire on the hearth, and in various wise
      \nat supper and after. Many noble songs they sang,
      \nas Christmas carols and new dance tunes,
      \nwith all the mannerly mirth that a man can tell of.
      \nAnd ever our lovely knight sat beside the lady.
      \nSuch seemly cheer she made to the hero,
      \nsought with such sly stolen      [79]<\/a><\/sup> glances to please the stalwart one,
      \nthat the wight was all amazed, and wroth with himself.
      \nBut he would not on account of his breeding reprove her,
      \nbut responded in all courtesy, howsoever outrageous she
      \nmight be.
      \n\u2060When they had played in the hall
      \n\u2060as long as their will lasted,
      \n\u2060the lord called to bedwards,
      \n\u2060and to the room with a fireplace they passed.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    22. And there they drank and talked, and the lord proposed again\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nto make the same arrangement for New Year’s Eve.
      \nBut the knight craved leave to depart,
      \nfor it was nigh at the term that he must keep.
      \nThe lord hindered him from that, persuaded him to linger,
      \nand said, “As I am a true man, I pledge my troth
      \nthou shalt reach the green chapel to do thy tasks,
      \nsir, by New Year’s light, long before prime.
      \nTherefore lie in thy loft and take thine ease;
      \nand I shall hunt in this holt and keep the covenant \u2014
      \nchange merchandise with thee when I return hither;
      \nfor I have tried thee twice, and faithful I find thee;
      \nnow ‘third time, best time.’      [80]<\/a><\/sup> Think on the morrow.
      \nMake we merry while we may, and be joyful:
      \nfor a man can catch trouble whensoever he likes.”<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      This was readily granted and Gawain stayed.
      \nDrink was quickly brought to them, and to bed they went
      \nwith lights.
      \n\u2060Sir Gawain lay and slept
      \n\u2060full still and soft all night;
      \n\u2060the lord, mindful of his hunting,
      \n\u2060was dight full early.<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    23. After mass he and his men took a morsel.\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nMerry was the morning. He asks for his mount,
      \nand all the sportsmen who should accompany him on horse
      \nwere ready mounted on their steeds before the hall gates.
      \nWondrous fair was the field, for the frost still lingered.
      \nThe sun rose in a rack of ruddy red,
      \nand drove all the clouds from the welkin.
      \nThe hunters uncoupled by a holt side,
      \nand the rocks in the forest rang for the noise of their horns.
      \nSome dogs fell on a scent where the fox had loitered;
      \nfollowed it obliquely      [81]<\/a><\/sup> through the cunning of their wiles.
      \nA kennet      [82]<\/a><\/sup> cried upon it; the huntsman encouraged him,
      \nand his fellows hastened after, panting thickly.
      \nThey ran forth in a rabble on       Reynard<\/a>‘s very track,
      \nand he hurried before them. Soon they found him;
      \nand when they actually saw him they chased him fast,
      \nbaying him full fiercely with a huge noise.
      \nAnd he trants      [83]<\/a><\/sup> and runs through many a rough grove;
      \ndoubles and hearkens by hedges full often.
      \nAt the last by a little ditch he leaps over a spinny,
      \nand steals out full stilly by a rough rand.      [84]<\/a><\/sup>
      \nHalf escaped from the wood he turns with wiles from the hounds;
      \nbut then he arrived, ere he knew it, at a chosen stand,
      \nwhere in an instant three stout hunters in gray threatened him
      \nat once.
      \n\u2060He blenched again quickly,
      \n\u2060and bravely started off;
      \n\u2060with all the woe in the word,
      \n\u2060he turned away to the wood.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    24. Then was it a pure joy to listen to the hounds,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nwhen all the gathered mute      [85]<\/a><\/sup> got view of him.
      \nThe cry they set on his head at the sight
      \nwas as if all the resounding cliffs had clattered down in a heap.
      \nHere he was halloed loudly when the hunters met him,
      \nloudly cried upon with noisy calls;
      \nthere he was threatened and often called thief;
      \nand ever the ticklers were at his tail so that he could not tarry.
      \nOft was he run at when he raked out,
      \nand oft he reeled in again, so wily was Reynard.
      \nAnd ever he led the bespattered lord and his troop
      \nin this manner among the hills, now in them, now over, now under,
      \nwhile the courteous knight at home slept wholesomely
      \nwithin the comely curtains on the cold morn.<\/p>\n
    25. In the dreary depths of a dream the noble was sunk,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nlike a man suffering from many sad thoughts,
      \nhow destiny should dight him      [87]<\/a><\/sup> his weird at the green chapel
      \nthat day when he met the man,
      \nand had to abide his buffet without more debate.
      \nBut when he had fairly recovered his wits,
      \nhe emerged from his dreams and answered with haste.
      \nThe lovely lady came laughing sweetly,
      \nstooped over his fair face and courteously kissed him.
      \nHe welcomed her worthily with choice cheer.
      \nTo see her so glorious, and so gaily attired,
      \nso faultless of feature, and so lovely of colour,
      \nwarmed his heart with welling joy.
      \nWith smooth and gracious smiling they straightway waxed mirthful.
      \nAll was bliss and good cheer that passed
      \nbetween them.
      \n\u2060They exchanged goodly words;
      \n\u2060much happiness they felt,
      \n\u2060and great was the peril between them,
      \n\u2060unless Mary thought of her knight.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    26. For that beauteous princess constrained him so sorely,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nand the danger pressed him so nigh, that of necessity it behooved him
      \neither to accept her love or rudely refuse it.
      \nHe thought much of his courtesy, lest he should prove a clown;
      \nand more on his villainy if he should do sin,
      \nand be traitor to the hero who owned the castle.
      \n“God shield!” quoth the warrior, “that shall not befall!”
      \nWith a little love-dalliance he laid aside
      \nall the pointed speeches that sprang from her mouth.
      \nQuoth the lady to the hero: “Ye deserve blame
      \nif ye love not her who is so near you, \u2014
      \nof all creatures in the world most wounded in heart; \u2014
      \nunless indeed ye have a sweetheart, a dearer being, that pleases you better,
      \nand ye have plighted faith so firmly to that gentle one
      \nthat ye care not to loosen it. \u2014 Verily now that is what I believe,
      \nand I pray you that you tell me truly;
      \nfor all the loves in the world deny not the truth
      \nwith guile.”
      \n\u2060”By St. John!” said the knight,
      \n\u2060and courteously he smiled,
      \n\u2060”I have none,
      \n\u2060and none will I have.”<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    27. “That is the worst of all!” quoth the lady.\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \n“I am answered indeed, to my sorrow.
      \nKiss me now comely and I shall go hence.
      \nI can only mourn in the world as a maid that loved much.”<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      Sighing she stooped down and kissed him seemly;
      \nand then she severed from him, and said as she stood,
      \n“Now, dear, at this departing do me this comfort;
      \ngive me somewhat of thy gift, thy glove if it might be,
      \nthat I may think on thee, sir, to lessen my mourning.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      “Now in truth,” quoth that man, “I would I had here
      \nfor thy love, the dearest thing that I wield;
      \nfor truly ye have right oft in reason
      \ndeserved a greater reward than I could reckon.
      \nBut to exchange with you love-tokens, that would profit but little.
      \nIt is not for your honor to have at this time
      \na glove of Gawain’s gift for a keepsake;
      \nand I am here on an errand in lands uncouth,
      \nand have no men with mails full of precious things
      \nfor remembrance at this moment; and that mislikes me, lady.
      \nBut every man must act according to his circumstances, and none should take it ill or
      \nrepine.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      \u2060”Now, courteous and honourable one,”
      \n\u2060quoth that lovesome lady,
      \n\u2060”though I shall have nothing of yours,
      \n\u2060yet shall ye have of mine.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    28. She reached him a rich ring of red gold work\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nwith a gleaming stone standing aloft,
      \nthat shed blushing beams like the bright sun;
      \nknow ye well it was worth wealth full huge.
      \nBut the man refused it, and readily he said:
      \n“I desire no great gifts, my gay one, at this time.
      \nI have naught to give you, and naught will I take.”<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      She offered it him full pressingly, and he refused her offer,
      \nand swore swiftly on his sooth that he would not take it.
      \nAnd she sorrowed that he refused, and said thereafter,
      \n“If ye refuse my ring, since it seems too rich,
      \nand ye would not be so highly beholden to me,
      \nI shall give you my girdle, that will enrich you less.”<\/p>\n

    29. “Now refuse ye this silk,” said the lady then,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \n“because it is simple in itself, as it certainly seems to be?
      \nLo! little it is, and less it is worth;
      \nbut whoso knew the virtues that are knit therein,
      \nhe would esteem it at a greater price peradventure;
      \nfor whatsoever man is girt with this green lace,
      \nwhile he has it fittingly wrapped about him,
      \nthere is no warrior under heaven that can wound him;
      \nfor he could not be slain by any device in the world.”<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      Then the knight paused, and it came to his heart
      \nthat it would be a jewel for the peril that awaited him
      \nwhen he arrived at the chapel to undergo his ordeal.
      \nCould he manage to be unslain, that were a noble device.
      \nThen he indulged her entreaties and suffered her to speak;
      \nand she pressed the belt on him and offered it to him eagerly.
      \nAnd he accepted it, and she gave it him with a good will,
      \nand besought him for her sake never to discover it,
      \nbut to conceal it loyally from her lord. The man agreed
      \nthat never person should know it indeed but
      \nthey twain.
      \n\u2060Full oft he thanked her,
      \n\u2060right glad in heart and thought.
      \n\u2060By that she had kissed
      \n\u2060the stout knight three times.<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    30. Then she takes her leave and leaves him there,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nfor more entertainment she could not get from that man.
      \nWhen she was gone, Sir Gawain bestirs himself,
      \nrises and dresses in noble array.
      \nHe lays up the love-lace the lady had given him,
      \nhides it full cleverly where he can find it again.
      \nThen promptly he takes his way to the chapel;
      \nquietly approaches to the priest and prays him there
      \nthat he would elevate his life, and teach him better
      \nhow his soul should be saved when he should go hence.
      \nThen he shrives him cleanly and shows his misdeeds,
      \nboth the more and the less, beseeches mercy,
      \nand begs for absolution. And the priest
      \nassoils him thoroughly and set him as clean
      \nas if doomsday had been due on the morrow.
      \nAnd afterwards Gawain makes more mirth among the fair ladies
      \nthat day with comely carols and all kinds of joy
      \nthan ever he did before, till the
      \ndark night.
      \n\u2060Everyone had pleasure of him there,
      \n\u2060and said indeed that he
      \n\u2060had never been so merry
      \n\u2060since he came hither.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    31. Now let him linger in that place, where may love betide him.\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nThe lord is still in the field leading his men.
      \nHe has overtaken the fox that he followed so long,
      \nas he sprinted over a spinny to spy the rascal,
      \nwhere he heard the hounds that hastened fast after him.
      \nReynard came running through a rough grove,
      \nand all the rabble in a rout right at his heels.
      \nThe man was ware of the game, and warily abode;
      \npulled out his bright brand and struck at the beast;
      \nand he dodged from the sharp weapon and would have turned;
      \nbut a dog seized him ere he could,
      \nand right before the horses’ feet they all fell on him
      \nand worried the wily one with a great noise.
      \nThe lord lighted quickly, and caught him forthwith;
      \npulled him full hastily out of the dogs’ mouths,
      \nand holding him high over his head, hallooed fast;
      \nand there many fierce hounds bayed him.
      \nHunters hied them thither with horns full many,
      \never blowing the recheat      [89]<\/a><\/sup> till they saw the hero.
      \nAs soon as his noble company was come,
      \nall that bare bugle blew at once,
      \nand all the others that had no horns halloed.
      \nIt was the merriest mute90 that ever men heard \u2014
      \nthe rich riot that there was raised for Reynard’s
      \nsoul.
      \n\u2060They rewarded the hounds there,
      \n\u2060stroked them and rubbed their heads;
      \n\u2060and afterwards they took Reynard
      \n\u2060and turned off his coat.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    32. And then they hastened home, for it was nigh night,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nblowing full stoutly in their great horns.
      \nThe lord alighted at last at his dear home,
      \nfound fire on the floor, and the hero beside it,
      \nSir Gawain the good, that glad was withal
      \namong the ladies; in their love he had much joy.
      \nHe wore a mantle of blue that reached to the earth;
      \nhis surcoat, that was softly furred, became him well;
      \nand his hood of the same hung on his shoulder.
      \nTrimmed all about with fine fur were both.
      \nHe met this good man in the middle of the floor,
      \nand all joyfully he greeted him, and goodly he said:
      \n“Now I shall fulfill our covenant,
      \nthat we have just made, where no drink was spared.”
      \nThen he embraces the knight and kisses him thrice
      \nwith as much gusto and as soberly as he could give them.<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      “By Christ!” quoth the other knight, “ye get much bliss
      \nin the profits of this business \u2014 if ye drive good bargains!”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      “Of the bargain no matter,” quoth curtly that other,
      \n“so long as the debts that I owed are properly paid.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      “Mary!” quoth the other man, “my offering is the worse,
      \nfor I have hunted all this day, and naught have I got
      \nbut this foul fox-fell; the fiend have the good ones!
      \nAnd that is full poor to pay for such fine things
      \nas ye have given me here, three such rare
      \nkisses.”<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n

      \u2060”It is enough,” quoth Sir Gawain;
      \n\u2060”I thank you, by the rood.”
      \n\u2060And as they stood there the lord
      \n\u2060told him how the fox was slain.<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    33. With mirth and minstrelsy, with meats at there will,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nthey made as merry as any men could.
      \nWith laughing of ladies, with merry jests,
      \nGawain and the good man were both as glad
      \nas if the court were mad, or else drunk.
      \nBoth the man and his retinue made many jokes
      \ntill the season arrived when they must sever;
      \nthe men had to go to their beds at last.
      \nThen humbly this gentle man takes his leave
      \nof the lord first; and fairly he thanks him.
      \n“For such a joyous sojourn as I have had here,
      \nfor the honor you have shown me at this high feast, the high king reward you!
      \nI can only give you myself to be one of your men, if that pleases you.
      \nFor I must needs, as ye know, proceed, tomorrow,
      \nif ye will grant me some man to show, as you promised,
      \nthe way to the green chapel, as God will suffer me
      \nto take on New Year’s day the doom of my fate.”<\/p>\n
      <\/div>\n

      “In good faith,” quoth the good man, “with a good will!
      \nAll that ever I promised you, I will perform.”
      \nTherewith he assigns a servant to set him in the way,
      \nand conduct him by the downs, that he should without hesitation
      \ntravel through the forest and fare at the best in
      \nthe woods.
      \n\u2060The lord thanked Gawain
      \n\u2060for the worship he had been willing to show him.
      \n\u2060Then the knight took his leave
      \n\u2060of the beautiful ladies.<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    34. With care and with kissing he speaks to them,\u2060[ original<\/a> ]
      \nand many earnest thanks he presses upon them.
      \nAnd they returned the same again promptly;
      \nthey entrusted him to Christ with sighings full sad.
      \nAfterwards he graciously departs from the household;
      \neach man that he met he thanked him
      \nfor his service and his solace, and the various pains
      \nwith which they had been busy to serve him.
      \nAnd each man was as sad to sever from him there
      \nas they had ever dwelt worthily with that hero.
      \nThen with people and with light he was led to his chamber
      \nand blithely brought to bed to be at his rest.
      \nWhether he slept soundly I dare not say,
      \nfor he had much to think of on the morrow if
      \nhe would.
      \n\u2060Let him lie there;
      \n\u2060he was near what he sought.
      \n\u2060If ye will be still a while
      \n\u2060I shall tell you how they fared.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\t\t\t
      \n\t\t\t

      Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
      \n\t\t\t\t\t\t
      \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
      Public domain content<\/div>