Sir Gawain the Green Knight-retold by Mrs. Laura Caldwell
We will begin with Camelot and King Arthur’s court. It is Christmas time and they are
having a great feast. The head table is called the dais. The King, Queen, Sir Lancelot, Gawain
and other knights were sitting around the table. They are all waiting for the food to come out, and
it is a huge meal. The cooks bring out all the courses of food. After about ½ an hour, they hear a
loud knock at the door. A man comes bursting in; he is green! His hair, his skin, his eyes, his
clothes, his horse… everything is green. The knight comes to the table on his horse carrying a
weapon with a large broad axe.
He says, “I have come to challenge you sirs to a game.”
The tradition was no one would eat until someone would tell a story or a knight would
issue a challenge. The Green Knight is prodigious. He boasts and tries to get someone to accept
his challenge. At first all of the knights are stunned into silence.
The Green Knight then says, “I’ve heard that you Knights of the Round Table are brave,
but all I see here are cowardly beardless boys.”
Hearing this, King Arthur accepts the challenge, but before it can go any further,
Sir Gawain stands up and says, “I am the least of all the knights. I will accept the
challenge.”
Then he says to the Green Knight, “I’m Gawain. What is the game you wish to play?”
The Green Knight says, “I will kneel before you. I will push back my hair and bare my
neck. You must use my weapon well. If I die, you win. If I survive, you will come in one year
and do the same at my house on Christmas.”
Gawain takes the axe. Meanwhile, everyone is giving him advice. Gawain swings the
broad axe over his shoulder. With all his strength, he swings. The Green Knight’s head rolls.
Everyone cheers. Some men kick the head around.
Suddenly, the body of the Green Knight stands, walks over to the head, picks it and his
weapon up. The head speaks saying, “One year from today, sir, at my green chapel.” The body
gets back on the horse holding the head and gallops away. The one most upset is Gawain, but
the ladies are also unhappy because he is loved by many of them.
As it gets closer and closer to Christmas, about October, Gawain gets ready to leave.
He’s a man of honor. The night before he leaves, he is given a final feast. He has his armor,
chain mail, and he prays---a lot. Everyone comes to say goodbye. Some of the ladies are
weeping, fearing that they will never see him again.
Gawain travels many miles. Each time he comes across a person, he asks for directions
to the green chapel. No one seems to know anything about it. He keeps traveling. He doesn’t
know where it is, but he is desperate to find it since it is now about the third week of December.
He also thinks of home and wants to celebrate Christmas mass one more time. He prays
to Mother Mary, “Please forgive me of my sins and help me find the green chapel. He stands
and through the mist he sees a castle. As he approaches the castle, he sees a guard there on the
watchtower.
He says, “Is this a Christian home?”
The guard answers, “Yes, it is. Welcome, welcome knight.”
The owner of the castle, Gawain’s host, is a big man with a bushy red beard. The host
says, “You are welcome here. Now come and meet my wife and knights.”
They remove his armor, give him a place to bathe and warm food to eat.
The host says, “We will be celebrating mass tonight. Please join us.”
Gawain meets the wife and a woman in black who is quiet and mysterious.
After the mass, Gawain says, “Thank you for your kindness and hospitality. Now I must
go so that I can find the green knight.”
The host says, “Stay with us, and I will send a man to guide you there. It is near here. I
know it well.”
Relieved to hear this, Gawain agrees to stay the night. The host then says, “To make this
interesting, let us make an exchange. My men and I will be out hunting for the next 3 days. You
stay here with my beautiful wife. Anything we get we will share with you, and anything you get
you will share with us. Gawain agrees and they retire for the night.
The next morning, he hears the horses and the hunting dogs leaving the area. He plans to
sleep in, but there is a knock at the door. The wife enters the room. Gawain wants to get up and
get dressed first, but she won’t let him. She sits on the bed. She starts to talk to him about the
Knights of the Round Table and how they know about love. Gawain says, “I would not dishonor
you.” She tries to get him to offer her a kiss, but he does not. At last, she kisses him on the
forehead and leaves.
At night the host returns from the hunt with an eight point buck and shares it with
Gawain. The host then says, “What did you get?” Gawain goes to the host, puts his hands on his
shoulders and gives him a quick kiss on the forehead. “And where, pray tell, did you get so
comely a kiss?” asks the husband. “Our agreement was to share what we got; nothing was said
about telling where we got it,” says Gawain. The husband admits that this is true.
The next morning, Gawain is awoken by the sound of the bugles and the barking of the
dogs as the hunting party leaves for the day. Before he can fall back asleep, the door opens and
the lady enters. Once again she sits on the side of the bed. She takes both of his hands in hers
and leans close to him and says, “I thought of you a great deal last night. I realized that you
made no advances to me because you probably have a girlfriend back at Camelot.”
“No, dear lady,” says Gawain, “I do not have a girlfriend.”
The lady then pulls away saying, “Never was woman hurt more. I am devastated!”
Gawain says, “I am a man of honor, and I wouldn’t dishonor you for anything.”
The lady replies, “Before I leave, I would like to beg another kiss of you.” This time, she
kisses both of his cheeks.
The host returns that evening and brings a wild boar. The host asks Gawain what he got
while he was alone at home with the lady. Again, Gawain goes to the host and puts his hands on
his shoulders and gives him a kiss on both cheeks.
The third morning comes. Gawain is ready this time. He hears the bugles and the dogs
barking. He is ready; he thinks. This time the lady is dressed very beautifully. He’s been away
from the ladies for a long time. She comes in and asks, “Won’t you teach me the ways of love?
I’m sure you can teach me some things.”
Gawain refuses saying, “I can’t do that. I’m not going to dishonor myself or you.”
The lady replies, “Maybe you can give me a gift to remember you by.”
Sadly Gawain says, “Lady, I don’t have a gift that is worthy of you. I’ve been traveling
for 2 months.”
“Well, says the lady, if you have nothing to give me, then I will give you something.”
She then takes off her ring and gives it to him.
“No lady, I can’t take anything. I’m not worthy.” "
She removes a green sash from her garments and hands it over to him. She says,
“Anyone who wears this can’t be killed or grievously wounded.”
Gawain thinks, “If she is right, this will save my life.”
She adds, “There is a catch… you can’t tell my husband.” Before she leaves him, the
lady kisses him three times…once on his forehead and once on each cheek.
That night, the host says, “We got a fox today.”
He offers Gawain part of the meat and then he asks, “Gawain, what did you get today?”
Without hesitation, Gawain approaches the host and quick kisses him on the forehead and
both cheeks.
“Is that really all you got today?”
“Yes,” lies Gawain, “that is all.”
“I believe you,” says the host. “Now let us get some rest. In the morning, my servant
will guide you to the green chapel.”
The guide takes him to a desolate area, more like a valley covered with rocks. The guide
promises not to tell anyone if Gawain decides to head home rather than face the Green Knight,
but Gawain knows he must go through with the challenge he accepted.
“Okay,” says the guide, “but I’m not going to hang around to find out what happens.”
Alone now, Gawain sees no sign of the Green knight. He shouts out, “Hello, helloo.
hello(echo),” but no one answers.
Satisfied that he has done all he can, Gawain gets back on his horse and prepares to leave
for home. Just about that time, he hears the sickening sound of a blade being sharpened. He
turns around and there stands the Green Knight with his sharp axe. Without delay, the Green
Knight motions for Gawain to kneel. Gawain leans down and moves his hair from his neck. The
Green Knight strikes toward Gawain’s neck, stopping just before the blade makes contact.
Gawain doesn’t understand.
The Green Knight says, “You flinched!”
“I didn’t.”
“I get another turn,” said the green Knight
“Oh, alright,” says Gawain, and he kneels a second time.
On the second try, the Green Knight again stops before the blade hits Gawain’s neck.
Gawain says, “What now?”
“You jumped this time,” says the Green Knight. “I get another turn.”
“Alright,” says Gawain, angry now. “You get one more turn. Then whether you are
done or not, if you have injured me, the fight is on. This time, the ax goes through, but only an
inch. Before Gawain can draw his sword, the figure of the Green Knight begins to change,
morphing slowly into the form of the lady’s husband. The green skin turns pale and the green
hair turns a bright red.
The husband explains, “The first night you gave me everything you got from my wife.
The second night you gave me everything again, but the third night you told me nothing of the
sash and you lied. For that you received a small wound.”
Gawain looks down. He knows he was not an honorable man. The Green Knight offers
the sash to him, saying, “Remember what you have done here. No one is perfect, not even a
Knight of the Round Table.”
Then the host says, “Let’s go back to my house. We’ll have a party.” Gawain is not in
any mood for a party, and he declines heading home instead.
As he travels toward Camelot, he realizes he has a choice when he sees his friends again.
He can tell the real story or make something up. He decides to tell the truth. He has learned his
lesson.
When his friends question him, he tells the whole story and admits, “Wearing this sash
and not telling the truth about it has caused me to dishonor you. I am ashamed.”
The other knights sympathize with Gawain. They, too, have made mistakes.
King Arthur proclaims, “To show solidarity, we will form a new order of knights called
the Order of the Green Sash. It will remind us all to be humble.” And that is the
story….almost…
The mysterious silent woman dressed in black who was never far away from the lady was
none other than the wicked half-sister of Arthur. Morgan Le Fay had attempted to bring down
the round table knights once again, and once again she had failed.