Saw him bide at the bay, with the bowmen about him;
He leapt him down lightly and, leaving his courser,
Drew a bright brand; then bigly he strode
And hied fast through the ford where the fell beast waited;
Who, ware of the wight with the weapon in hand,
His hair bristled high, and so angerly snorted,
Many fear’d for that free lest the worse him befall.
Then set forth the swine and made swift at his foe,
That the man and the boar were both upon heaps
In the wildest of the water; but woe’s master boar!
For e’en as they meet, the man well marks him
And right in his slot the sharp blade he sets
And drives úp to the hilt; his heart is acloven,
With a snarl and a moan he moves o’er the water
anon.
A hundred hounds him caught,
They bit him every one,
Hunters to bent him brought
And dogs to kill set on.
LXIV
There was blowing of prize on many a proud horn,
And hollo’ing from hunters that no hórns hàd;
The bratches all bay’d, as bade them their masters
That were huntsmen in chief of that toilsome chase.
Then a wight who was wise in the woodcraft-lore,
This beast to unlace142 right lustily gan.
First he hews off his head and on high it sets,
Then the backbone he breaks him in two;
Draws out the bowels, bakes them on glede,
And with bread therein blent his bratches rewards.
Then he cuts out the brawn in broad bright shields,143
And has out the haslets,144 as e’en him beseems;
But the sides all whole he seizes together,
And on stang full strong stoutly he hangs them.
So they have their swine, and swing away homeward;
The boar’s head was borne the bold man before
That had finish’d him i’ the ford, by force of his hand
beset.
Until he saw Gawain
Long time it seemèd yet;
He call’d, and then came fain
That knight his fees to get.
LXV
When Sir Gawain he saw, full gay was the goodman,
Loud was his speech, and his laughter merry;
He sent for the ladies, assembled his meiny,
Show’d them the shields, and shaped them the tale,
How large and how long that boar was of limb,
And how fiercely he fought when he fled to the wood.
The knight full comely commended the deed,
And the prowess prais’d that the lord had proved,
For such a brawn of a beast, the blithe man said,
Or such sides of a swine had he seen ne’er before.
When they handled the huge head, full high was his praise,
Yet the horror that he had, he utter’d no less.
“Now, Gawain,” said the goodman, “this game is your own,
By the covenant clear we accorded together.”
“That is sooth,” the knight said, “and as surely, i’ faith,
Shall I give you again all my gets in return.”
Then clasp’d he his neck and courteously kiss’d him,
And served him eftsoons with a second kiss after.
“We are even,” quoth the athel, “this ev’ning once more
Of all covenants we knit, since I cáme hìther,
by law.
“By Saint Giles,” the lord cries,
“Ye are the best I know,
Ye’ll be rich in a trice,
Such profits if ye draw.”
LXVI
Then rais’d they on trestles the tables full tight,
Cast on them cloths, and a clear light too
On the walls they awak’d with the waxen torches
By servitours set, that served in the hall.
Múch noise of merriment made they anon
On floor by the fire, and as free was the revel
At supper and after, with songs full glorious,
As Christmas-conduit,145 and carols of dance,
All the mannerly mirth that man may tell of;
And our lovesome liege at the lady’s side.
So sweetly she behav’d, with so seemly a semblance
And stol’n looks of love, that stalwart to please,
That the wight was forwonder’d, and wroth with himself,
Yet for his nurture so fine he would not refuse her,
But courtesy show’d, how the case soe’er turn’d
awry.
They have their play in hall,
In pleasure still they vie;
Then to chamber is the call,
And to chimney-side they hie.
LXVII
There drank they and toasted, and talk’d yet again
Of renewing that note on New-Year’s eve;
But Gawain craved leave to go on the morrow,
For ’twas nigh to the term, when time was to travel;
But the lord dissuaded, and besought him to stay,
And said “As I’m true man (my troth will I plight)
Thou shalt be at thy bourn thy business to settle
With the New-Year’s light, long before prime.
So thou mayst lie in thy loft and lodge at thine ease,
While I hunt in this holt, and we’ll hold to our terms
And our chaffer exchange, when from chase I return;
For I have tried thee twice, and true have I found thee.
Now ‘third time throw best’146 bethink thee tomorrow,
Máke we mérry while we máy, with a mind upon joy,
For woe may we win whénso we like.”
Thus graithly ’twas granted, and Gawain is stay’d;
Drink blithely was brought, and to bed they hied them
with light.
Sir Gawain lies and sleeps
Full still and soft all night;
The lord his hunting keeps,
Full early is he dight.
LXVIII
After mass a morsel he took with his men;
Merry was the morning, his mount he bade bring;
And the athels all, that the hunt should follow,
For the riding were ready, array’d at the gates.
Fair gleams it afield, for the frost clings,
Fiery red on the wrack rises the sun
And edges with crimson the clouds of the welkin.
The hunters cast off by a hólt sìde,
Rocks in the forest rung with their horns,
Hounds fell on the scent where the fox them bode,
Cross’d and recross’d, by craft of their wiles.
A kennet147 gave cry and the huntsman call’d,
And hounds came panting, all in a pack,
Ran forth in a rabble, right on the trail—
And he frisk’d off before them; they found him anon,
And, when they had sighted, pursued him full speed
And bewrayèd poor Reynard with a wroth clamour.
Then dodg’d he and doubled through dingle and spinney,
Héld back, and hearken’d by hedges full oft;
At last by a little ditch he leapt o’er a quickset,
And stole out full
