Page:Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Tolkien and Gordon - 1925.djvu/22

x shrank a little as he saw the blade descend; the knight withheld his axe and reproached him. Again the knight made a feint with the axe; but at the third time he let it wound Gawain’s neck slightly. Gawain sprang up more than a spear length, and made ready to defend himself, but the Green Knight leaned upon his axe and spoke merrily to him. He knew all about the temptations of the lady; he was no other than the lord of the castle. He had made two feints at Gawain for the two days he had resisted temptations and faithfully paid up the kisses. He had nicked Gawain's neck at the third stroke because he had not been perfect in troth, but had concealed the girdle. The name of the Green Knight was Bercilak de Hautdesert, the ancient dame at his castle was Morgan la Fay, who had wrought the whole enchantment to frighten Guinevere and shame Arthur’s court. Gawain’s virtue had defeated her purpose.

Though praised by the Green Knight, Gawain felt himself greatly shamed. The green girdle he kept and wore as a baldric in token of his fault. Now he took his way back to Arthur’s court, where he was comforted; the lords and ladies of the Round Table ever after wore a green baldric in honour of Gawain’s great loyalty.

This is a story shaped with a sense of narrative unity not often found in Arthurian romance. Most of the Arthurian romances, even the greatest of them, such as the French Perlesvaus, or Malory’s Morte Darthure (which is much better than knit than its French originals), are rambling and incoherent. It is a weakness inherited from the older Celtic forms, as we may see in the Welsh Maginogion, stories told with even greater magic of style and even less coherence than the French and English compilations. Instead of the usual multitude of adventures Sir Gawain has only two, and they are neatly linked by making the outcome of the beheading game dependent on the result of the temptation. The motive for the peculiar challenge and enchantment has been thought insufficient: but Morgan’s hatred for the Round Table