King Arthur and his entourage were just sitting down to Christmas dinner when the door was flung open and a giant knight rode in. He was attired entirely in green, as was his horse. In his hand was a giant green axe. He offered to let anyone there take a single swipe at his neck. In exchange, that person would have to come to his Green Chapel on the following New Years and allow the Green Knight to return the blow. Nobody responded. Finally King Arthur volunteered, but at that point, Sir Gawain stepped forward and asked to be the on. The Green Knight offered his neck, Gawain swung his axe and chopped off the knight’s head. The Green Knight picked up his head and left, reminding Gawain of his part of the bargain.

When the next year was drawing to a close, Gawain headed forth to seek the Green Chapel. He found nobody who could give him directions. On Christmas Eve he happened upon a castle and asked for refuge to celebrate the holidays. He was warmly received by the Lord and his beautiful Lady and had a wonderful time. When the festivities were over, Gawain wanted to set forth on his quest: he only had three days. The Lord told him the Green Chapel was only half a day’s ride away and asked Gawain to stay and relax. Gawain agreed. The Lord made a deal with him: He would go hunting and give Gawain everything he earned. In exchange, Gawain would relax in the castle and give the Lord what he’d earned. On the first morning, the Lady tried to seduce Gawain, but he resisted. The lady gave him a kiss and left. When the Lord returned he gave Gawain a mess of deer. In return, Gawain gave him a kiss. The next day the Lord killed a boor. Gawain, who had again resisted the Lady’s advances but had received two kisses, gave them to the Lord. On the third day, the Lady offered Gawain a gift of a valuable ring. When Gawain declined, she offered him a scarf that would protect his life. This he took. He then got three kisses which he gave to the Lord in exchange for a fox.

The next day he went to the Green Chapel. The Green Knight had him bow for the blow, but Gawain flinched at the first one and the knight held up. The knight swung again and this time Gawain held firm, but the night held up again. On the third swing, the axe hit Gawain’s neck and caused a slight nick that bled a bit. The Green Knight then revealed that he was the Lord from the castle. He had gone to Arthur to discover if his knights were as worthy as he’d heard. He didn’t hit Gawain with the first two blows because Gawain had kept his bargain, resisted his wife’s seduction (to which the Lord had her attempt) and returned the kisses. He hit him with the third blow because, although he had resisted temptation, he hadn’t given the Lord the scarf. But since he had succumbed to temptation out of love for his own life and not for greed or lust, he got off with just a nick. Gawain was ashamed and wore the scarf always to remind him of his failure.

I liked this book a lot more than I expect to. It was easy to understand (in a modern English translation) with a lot of details, likeable characters, suspense, intrigue and fun. A rousing good tail that took just over an hour to read.

I liked it a lot more than I expected to. It was easy to understand (translated into modern English), with a lot of details, likeable characters, suspense, intrigue and fun. A rousing good tale that took just over an hour to read.