Page:Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Tolkien and Gordon - 1925.djvu/16

viii Purity, two to Patience, and four to Sir Gawain. The first of the illustrations to Sir Gawain shows Gawain taking the axe from King Arthur, and also the beheading scene before the dais, with the Green Knight holding up his severed head; all this is combined in one picture. The second (Which is the clearest, and is reproduced as frontispiece) shows the lady's stealthy visit to Sir Gawain; above the picture is written (in a different hand from that of the copyist)

These lines have no relevance to the situation in the poem. The third illustration shows Sir Gawain and the Green Knight at the Green Chapel; it is very indistinct. The fourth pictures Gawain’s return to Arthur.

The four main divisions of the poem are indicated by large ornamental coloured capitals. Smaller coloured capitals without ornament occur at the beginning of lines

It is now known where the manuscript was written, but as the Lancashire character of the language is perfectly preserved, it is likely that the copying as well as the composition belongs to Lancashire.

A summary of the story of Sir Gawain at this point may be a convenience:

King Arthur held court at Camelot in Christmas season. On New Year’s Day he kept his vow not to begin the feast on such a high day before he had seen a marvel. As he waited, a horseman came riding into the hall, a Green Knight on a green horse; even the knight's hair and skin were green. Without