And the next was a menace for the morrow morning,
When thou kissedst my consort, and the kisses didst yield.175
Twice faithful I found thee, and feints did I make
instead.
True man must pay his due,
Then need he nothing dread;
Third time thou were not true,
And the harm is on thy head.
XCV
“For ’tis my weed that thou wearest, that woven girdle,
And from my wife didst thou win it, that wot I full well,
I know of thy kisses, and your courtly disport,
And the wooing of my wife: I wrought it myself;
I sent her to essay thee, and I think thee in sooth
The most faultless knight, that on foot ever fared;
As a pearl by the pea all price is above,
So by gay knights all, in good faith, is Gawain.
But with the lace in lealty a little ye fail’d,
Yet it wás not for wooing, nor wantonness either,
But for love of your life: the less do I blame you.”
A great while that stalwart stood in a study,
So grievèd for grame176 that he groan’d in his heart;
All the blood from his breast blent in his visage,
He shrank so for shame at the speech he had heard.
The first word in the world that the wight uttered
Was “Cursèd be cowardice and covetise both!
In yóu is víllany and více, that virtue destroy.”
Then caught he the lace, and the knot he loosen’d,
And fiercely it flung to the green man on field:
“Look ye! the false weed! and foul it befall!
I cared for thy knock, and cowardice taught me
To accord me with covetise, and be false to my kind—177
The largess and leaky that ’longs to a knight.
But though faulty and false, afear’d was I still
Of treachery and untrúth; betide them may sorrow
and care!
Here, I confess my sin,
All faulty is my fare:
Let me your will but win,
And eft I shall be ware.”
XCVI
Then laugh’d the gay lord and lightly he said:
“I shall hold it all heal’d, the harm that I had;
Thou art confessèd so clean, and clear’d of misdeed,
And the penance hast paid at the point of mine axe,
That I hold thee as surely assoil’d of thy sin
As if thou never hadst faulted since first thou wert born.
And I give thee, for guerdon, the gold-hemm’d girdle;
It is green as my gown, and by it, Sir Gawain,
Thou may’st mind on this mellay each morn that thou ridest
With princes of price: ’tis thy precious token
Of this chance at the chapel, ’mongst chivalrous knights.
Now ye shall come this New-Year to my castle again
And we’ll revel the remnant of this feast so rich,
with joy.”
Then press’d him that gay lord:
“With my fair wife, think I,
We shall you well accord,
That was your enemy.”
XCVII
“Nay, for sooth,” the Knight said (and seizing his helmet,
He doff’d it for courtesy, and kindly him thank’d)
“O’erlong have I wonèd: may weal you betide
From the Athel on High that all honour ordains!
Greet me with courtesy your comely consort,
Both the one and the other my honour’d ladies,
That bewiled with their wit the unwary Gawain.
’Tis in faith no marvel if a fool go mad,
And by wiles of women to sorrow be won;
For of old was Adam by óne beguiled,
And Solomon by sundry; and Samson eftsoons—
Dalilah dealt him his weird, and David thereafter
Was blinded by Báthsheba, and had bale very much.
All wasted by women! ’Twere a win unmeasured
To love and believe not, if leal man but could:
For thése were of náme the nóblest, and knew prosperity
Above all others, that were ever on earth
bemused,
Yet they were all bewiled
By women that they used:
If I be now beguiled
Shall I not be excused?”
XCVIII
“But your girdle!” said Gawain, “may God you reward!
I shall wear it with a will, not for winsome gold,
Or the ceinture of silk, or the swinging pendants,
Nor for wealth or for worship, or the wondrous embroid’ries,
But a symbol of my sinning I shall see in it oft
When I ride in renown, and rue to myself
Of the fault and the frailty of sinful flesh,
How tender to take any touch of defilement!
And if pride e’er prick me for prowess of arms,
To heed to this lace will humble my heart.
But one thing I pray you, an’t please you, Sir Knight,
Since ye’re lord of this land, where I lodged at mine ease
In your wone, with worship—and reward you may He
That upholds the heavens and on hígh sìts!—
By what name are ye known? and I shall nó more ask.”
“I will say you the sooth,” then said the Green Knight,
“Bercilac of Hígh-Desert I hight in my home.
It was Morgan la Fay, in my meiny that lives,
And the might of her magic that moved me to seek you.
The mysteries of Merlin full many has she learnt;
For once on a day she had dealing in druery
With that wizardly clerk, and she knows all your knights:
Dread dame!
Morgan, the goddess high—178
Therefore it is her name;
No knight so proud goes by
But she his pride can tame.
XCIX
“She sent me by craft to the court of your King,
To make trial of its pride, whether truth it might be,
All the renown that runs of the Round Table;
And that witchcraft she wrought, your wits to dumbfound,
And to daunt Queen Guenore, and do her to death
With that ghoulish game, and the ghostly speaker
With his head in his hand at the high table.
’Tis she that is here, the ancient at home;
She is even thine aunt, Arthur’s half-sister,
The Duchess’s daughter that dwelt at Tintagel,179
Who to Uther bore King Arthur the athel.
So I beg thee, Sir Knight, come back to thine aunt,
And make merry in my moat; my meiny much loves thee,
And I wish thee as well, good wight, by my faith,
As any gallant under God, for thy great lealty.”
But he nick’d him with nay, and could nót be persuaded.
Then accoll’d they and kiss’d and bekenn’d each other
To the Prince of paradise, and parted right there
on snow.
Gawain on steed,
