The Wizard's Prophecy

Rome, AD 595. It is one hundred and nineteen years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Much of Europe is in turmoil, overrun by barbarian tribes. Nevertheless, life continues in the Eternal City. Market day arrives, and His Holiness Pope Gregory the Great and his entourage came to admire the array of produce as eagerly as anyone, for in these days the Pope of Rome lived simply, favouring a monastic life. Among the fine crops and exotic fruits on sale that day was the slave market, always the talk of trade. Then something caught the eye of the Pope. A group of young boys, fair haired and skinned, chained together in slavery, awaiting their fate. A strange feeling gripped Gregory, wonder fused with pity...

"Not Angles, but Angels..."
Image taken from a mosaic of Westminster Cathedral,
London

"From what country or nation were they brought?", he asked a companion. Upon enquiring with the slave dealer in a strange foreign tongue, he replied. "They are from the island of Britain, whose inhabitants are of such personal appearance". Pope Gregory, entranced, asked, "are those islanders Christians, or still pagans?". When he discovered that they were pagans, he voiced his anguish, "Alas! What a pity", said he, "that the author of darkness is possessed of men of such fair countenances". "What is the name of that nation?", he asked, more keenly still. "They are called Angles", came the reply, for the land of Britain was at that time overrun with the tribe of the Angles. "Right", said he, "for they have an angelic face, and it becomes such to be co-heirs with the Angels in Heaven. They are not Angles, but Angels". Sensing Divine Providence that day, Pope Gregory turned to a nearby Prior, Augustine was his name, and commanded him to lead a mission to this far away land, and spread the word of Christ, with half a mind to undertake the task himself. The British Isles would never be the same again. But what of the people of Britain, and the destiny of that race? The story begins almost two hundred years earlier...


As the fifth century dawned, much of the known world was plunged into turmoil. For the lives of many, and of their ancestors for many hundreds of years too, the mighty Empire of the Romans was not only the world's greatest power, but civilisation itself. So much so that millions of people who had never even seen the Eternal City, would not have been able to locate the City on a map, who had not a drop of Roman blood in their bodies, called themselves Romans. Now, Rome, which had once seemed a power that would know no end, was on its knees. Plague, Famine, War, Strife and Economic crisis have each destroyed nations. It took all of them combined to bring about the final destruction of the Roman Empire. Yet from the ashes of Rome, her former provinces would arise as new nations, one of them an island far on the boundaries of the Empire - Britannia.


On New Year's Eve AD 406, at a rupture in the frontier of the Western Roman Empire on the River Rhine, a horde of barbarian tribes poured across the border. Vandals, Alans, Alemanni, and a formidable array of tribesman swept into Roman provinces, and the struggling Western Empire desperately tried to stem the inexorable advance. City after city was burned and pillaged, and areas the size of modern countries were laid waste. It was at this time that the Roman province of Britannia was in revolution. As the Romans in Italy were reeling from another invasion of the Visigothic tribes, Northern Europe seemed defenceless, and the people of Britain feared that they would be next. Longing for order, in a world now seemingly in the brink of the Apocalypse, the Britons threw their support behind the Roman general Constantine, thinking with melancholy of the days of Constantine the Great some one hundred years earlier. Constantine moved quickly. Landing on the beaches of northern France, called Gaul in ancient times, Constantine brought with him all the garrisons of Britain. Not one Roman soldier was left behind in Britannia, it was all or nothing for Constantine now. Setting himself up as the new Western Roman Emperor Constantine III, in direct opposition to the true Emperor Honorius, Western Europe rose in all out war. Roman marched on Roman, and Roman blood flowed by the hand of other Romans, and all the while, people died in their thousands, slaughtered by vengeful barbarians. Constantine pushed back the troops loyal to Honorius at first, seizing the province of Hispania (the future Spain), being recognised as joint Emperor with Honorius. But the barbarian advance was relentless. Ravaging the entirety of Gaul, they reached the Pyrenees. At this time, the Saxons landed on the East coast of Britannia. The British people, feeling betrayed by Constantine, abandoned him to his fate, as his eldest son Constans was elevated to power. Constans, who had before taken the life of the cloth, a pious man, was ill-prepared for secular rule. Naive, his brief reign was dominated by the schemings of his chief advisor, Vortigern, who one day overthrew his master and seized the throne of Britain for his own. The surviving brothers of Constans, Aurelius Ambrosius, and Uther Pendragon, fled to Brittany to escape Vortigern's wrath.

Merlin and Vortigern
Image taken from a 13th century Illuminated
Manuscript, now in the British Library

Great was Vortigern's fear of Ambrosius, and Uther in particular, but so too was his fear of the Picts, a fearsome tribe that lurked in the Highlands of Scotland. The fledgling Britain was ill able to repel the Picts alone, and Vortigern turned abroad for aid. Readily answering the usurper's call, a force of Angles, Saxons and Jutes arrived on England's eastern shores, under two brothers, Hengest and Horsa. With his new allies, Vortigern triumphed over the Picts time and again. Though elated at the throwing back of the Picts, more than a few among the Britons began to question the ambitions of these new 'allies'. The King's son, Vortimer, aghast at his father's submissiveness, urged him to restrain the Saxons before the hour grew too late. But Vortigern refused counsel on such matters. So when, one day, cunning Hengest asked the King for permission to invite over to these shores more of his countrymen, to strengthen Vortigern's position further, the naive King eagerly agreed. As Saxons landed in Britain in their thousands, the enraged Vortimer, with the support of the Britons, overthrew his father and determined to rid Britannia forever of foreign invaders. Upon the Saxons he fell, and terrible was his attack. Four times the Saxons stood, and four times they were broken, and even Horsa was slain, yet so too was Vortimer's brother, Catigern. Victory seemed near, but tragedy struck, when Vortimer was slain too. Such woe fell upon Britannia as never before, as the vengeance of the Saxons was terrible indeed. Vortigern, seizing back his throne once more, fled to Cambria, Wales of old, desperate now, for the fate of Britain, and his own, hung in the balance. It was then that his followers urged him to raise a mighty castle, so magnificent that no foe could storm it, so majestic that no eye could behold it without awe. Upon Mount Eryri the first stone was laid, as the King of the Britons summoned to him all the finest craftsman and masons in Britannia. Despair soon fell upon the Britons however, for when they awoke upon the second day, all their hard work had vanished, and the stones had sunk into the land. Once again they tried, and once again all was lost. Vortigern turned to his sages once more, and asked what may be done. The soothsayers and mages present their bade the King seek out a boy who had no father, and that his blood shouls be sprinkled upon the mortar and stones, so that the great citadel should never fall.


All through the land the messengers of the King searched for such a boy, and for an age it seemed a fruitless quest. Then one day horsemen came to the city known as Carmarthen, and saw a young lad playing at the gates. A fight broke out between the lad and another boy over some petty quarrel. "None knoweth what thou art, for never a father hadst thou!", the other boy shouted. At these words, the King's heralds were filled with hope. "What is thy name?" one asked the first boy. "Merlin", replied the lad. It transpired that indeed the boy had a father unknown by all, and his mother, a nun in St. Peter's Church, spoke of a vision she once had before she gave birth to the unfathered boy. Such a thing could only mean a supernatural prodigy of this boy, and when Vortigern heard this, he at once ordered Merlin brought before him without delay.


As he was thrown at the feet of Vortigern, young Merlin asked the King why he had been brought here. "My wizards have declared it unto me as their counsel that I should seek out one that had never a father, that when I shall have sprinkled his blood upon the foundation of the tower my work should stand firm". To which the young lad replied "Bid thy wizards come before me, and I will convict them of having devised a lie". Amazed at the boy's audacity, Vortigern summoned his mages. Merlin denounced them all, mocking their foolish ways. Turning to the King, he urged him to summon his workmen and dig below the tower, and there he would find a great pool of water, the source of such woe. So dig they did, and found the pool, they did. The mages were dumbfounded, and Vortigern impressed. But Merlin was not finished. "Command, O King, that the pool be drained by conduits, and in the bottom thereof shalt thou behold two hollow stones and therein two dragons asleep". When it was found to be thus, all around marvelled greatly at the gift of foresight this young boy had been blessed with, and even then there some who said that Merlin possessed some of the spirit of God.

The Dragon Struggle
Image taken from a 15th century Illuminated Manuscript,
now at Lambeth Palace, London

It was then, as Vortigern looked on, that the two dragons, one red and one white, clambered out of the pool, and when they met, with a terrible roar they fell upon each other. The Earth shuddered and the cavern rang, and fire spouted forth from their jaws, and it seemed the White Dragon would prevail, as the Red Dragon was cast to very shore of the lake. But then, the Scarlet Wyrm turned in defiance, and with renewed vigour threw itself upon the White, forcing him back. King Vortigern, turning to Merlin, enquired as to the meaning of this peculiar spectacle now played out before them. The power of prophecy filled the great wizard, and tears his eyes, as the awesome power of foresight was his once more:



        " Woe unto the Red Dragon, for his extermination draweth nigh; and his caverns
          shall be occupied of the White Dragon that betokeneth the Saxons
          whom thou hast invited hither. But the Red signifieth the race of Britain
          that shall be oppressed of the White. Therefore shall the mountains
          and the valleys thereof be made level plain and the streams of the valleys
          shall flow with blood. The rites of religion shall be done away and the ruin
          of the churches be made manifest. At the last, she that is oppressed shall prevail
          and resist the cruelty of them that come from without. For the Boar of Cornwall
          shall bring succour and shall trample their necks beneath his feet.
          The islands of the Ocean shall be subdued unto his power, and the forests of Gaul
          shall he possess. The house of Romulus shall dread the fierceness of his prowess
          and doubtful shall be his end. Renowned shall he be in the mouth of the peoples... "
                   - THE PROPHECY OF MERLIN


At the sound of these words, a remarkable feeling swept over all who heard it. Heads weary with despair lifted with the fire of fresh hope. The pure of heart were warmed with faith, and the impure with fear. Who was this great saviour, this Boar of Cornwall, who was coming? Word spread throughout the realms of England. Hope came in its stead. Their champion was coming. Alas that not one there knew his name, when all the world does today...



United Kingdom

The Legends of the Kings of Britain
The History of the Kings of Britain (Classics)
(A history of Britain written in the Middle Ages, including the days of King Arthur)

The Ecclesiastical History of the English
The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Oxford World's Classics)
(The story of Saxon England, written by the Venerable Bede)

United States

The Legends of the Kings of Britain
The History of the Kings of Britain (Penguin Classics)
(A history of Britain written in the Middle Ages, including the days of King Arthur)

The Ecclesiastical History of the English
Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Penguin Classics)
(The story of Saxon England, written by the Venerable Bede)

Into the Abyss

His thoughts still wracked by the gruesome sights of cleaved souls, it was with a profound sense of foreboding that Dante ventured onward, deeper and deeper into the Inferno on his dark journey (for the previous episode in this story, please click here). After a rebuke from his guide, Virgil, for his sympathy for the damned souls, the two poets arrive at the edge of a rickety bridge, with the final of the Rotten Pockets of the Eighth Circle of Hell stretching far below on the valley floor...

The Falsifiers
Painting by Giovanni di Paolo

" Wierd shrieks of lamentation
   pierced through me,
   like arrow shafts whose tips
   are barbed with pity,
   so that my hands were
   covering my ears "
          - THE CRIES OF THE FALSIFIERS

It was as all the plague hospitals in marshy, malaria ridden Tuscany had been crammed together into one fetid ditch, Dante thought. The screams of agony rang through his ears, and the grotesque stench of decay rose to his nostrils. Covering their noses with their drapes, the two poets descended to the foot of the mountains, as the din grew louder yet. Fighting back a wave of nausea, Dante looked on, as the rocky floor was strewn with the bodies of men and women struck with the most terrible afflictions. His eyes noticed two men, writhing in pain, frantically slashing at the sores on their flesh with their own nails, desperate to relief the itching that would not cease. For here in the last Rotten Pocket are punished the falsifiers, those who through their lies and perjury in life were a disease upon society. So now their bodies are corrupted by disease in death. Among the many Italians condemned to this plight, Dante spies two souls history knows well. The first, the wife of Potiphar, who through her false accusation incriminated Joseph, the second, Sinon, the Greek spy who persuaded the men of Troy to take the Horse within their walls. Many too, are afflicted with insanity, and frantically cavort around, acting more as beast than men, snapping and biting at any that approach. They see the lady Myrrha too, who through the malicious designs of the gods, seduced her own father whilst disguised (and who, incidentally, that myrrh is named after). Shuddering with disgust, our pilgrims turn their back on the rotten trench, and move on into the darkness.

Antaeus lowers Dante and Virgil
to the Ninth Circle of Hell
Painting by William Blake

Feeling his way through the impenetrable blackness, not for the first time Dante's ears nearly bled with a thunderous noise that blasted throughout Hell. The sound of a horn trumpeting not far ahead roused both men to their senses. As the darkness rolled aside, a city of many, gargantuan, towers seemed to appear. Blinking, with a start Dante realised that they were no towers. Giants! The most colossal beings the cosmos had ever seen. For here, straddling the chasm of the Ninth Circle were the Titans themselves, supreme beings whom the Olympian Gods had fought that devastating war for the mastery of the Heavens (a story which is told here). There too was the race of Giants who had followed them, and tried in vain to overthrow Jupiter himself. With a face greater in form than the mightiest cathedrals in Christendom, the giant Nimrod, who had blown the horn, looked down upon them. Dante's courage began to buckle in fear as he gazed back at the being who, in his pride, had dared to raise the Tower of Babel to God's throne, and was responsible for the fact that man no more speaks a common language. Approaching closer, Dante saw Ephialtes too, the Giant who dared to raise the mountains high to Olympus' lofty heights and seize the Heavenly Halls by force. Terrifying though they were, the Giants were tightly bound in chains, and could not move, but only leer in deathly silence. All that is, except for the Giant Antaeus, whom Heracles had once slain in ancient times. At Virgil's stern command, however, Antaeus obliged, knowing as he did the folly of violating the divine mandate which protected both pilgrims. Opening his titanic hand, Antaeus gently lowered Dante and Virgil into the Ninth and final Circle of Hell, as Virgil expressed relief to Dante that they had not been forced to venture further within the Giants, for deeper within was bound the most fearsome monster that ever lived - Typhon, a terrible abomination who struck fear into the hearts of mortals and gods alike (whose story is also told here).

Lake Cocytus
Engraving by Gustave Doré

As the Giant released them, Dante felt a strange new sensation. Their journey throughout Hell had been a long and torturous one, through Eight Circles they had descended; now just one remained, the final bastion of Sin where those who have committed the most heinous crimes of all are bound. For it is within this Circle that the greatest sinner of them all, Satan himself, is shackled in an eternity of torment. Here was the very Pit of the Universe itself, and the weight of all the cosmos, and all Hell, pressed down upon those bound within the Final Circle. Edging forwards, Dante felt a sudden, piercing cold at his feet. They were walking atop the surface of a vast lake, frozen solid by the sheer cold, an ethereal icy wind blasting over its surface from a distant source. This was the Lake Cocytus, in which were imprisoned forever those beings guilty of that gravest of crimes - Treachery. No lake or river on Earth bore ice so thick, Dante thought, no mountain which crashed upon it would so much as crack its sheets of clear crystal. To his horror, our pilgrim noticed the souls of men and women, encased in the ice below and all around him, frozen solid, yet all too aware, eyes wide in blind terror. The souls frozen in Cocytus in the Ninth Circle are ordered into five Rounds, according to the seriousness of their betrayal  Here, in the First Round, known as Caïna, are tortured those who betrayed their own kin. The souls here, Dante notices, are frozen to the face in the ice, their heads alone, blue with the deathly chill, are free. Among the many Dante knew in life, there are those legendary in history here too. For Cain himself, the Son of Adam and Eve who murdered his own brother Abel in the Book of Genesis, is held here as the Round's namesake. Near Cain's side writhes Sir Mordred, the Knight of the Round Table who betrayed and slew King Arthur himself, his own father, in battle during a climactic duel (whose story will be told in a future post).

Count Ugolino
Illustration by Giovanni Stradano

Shaken, but resolute, Dante and Virgil made their way deeper into Cocytus' icy grip, closer to the heart of the Universe. Starting to shiver uncontrollably, Dante covered his face with his robes, desperate to shield his eyes from the frigid wind. Suddenly a scream pierced through the roaring gale, and Dante realised he had accidentally kicked a poor soul in the face. After a plethora of wrathful words from the man, nearby souls identified him as Bocca degli Abati. Dante recoiled in unveiled fury, for this was the man who betrayed his native Florence, siding with Siena in the crushing Florentine defeat that was the Battle of Montaperti. For here was Round Two of the Final Circle, named Antenora, where those who betrayed their city, party or nation suffer the eternal price. Held here is the Round's namesake, Antenor, the counsellor to King Priam of Troy, who treacherously opened the Gates of the great city to the Greek hordes. Proceeding further in, Dante stops by two souls, one gnawing on the head of another. The man looks up and introduces himself as Count Ugolino, and his companion as Archbishop Ruggieri. Ugolino had conspired to overthrow the Ghibelline (pro-Imperial party in medieval Italy) and replace it with a Guelph (pro-Papacy party in medieval Italy) regime in his native Pisa. Ruggieri, his co-conspirator, later turned on Ugolino, imprisoning him and his family in a tower until they starved to death. Now in Hell both men are punished for their treachery. Time draws in, and both poets continue along Cocytus' icy sheets. The blasting winds grow unbearable, and Dante turns to his guide, "What causes such  a wind, my master? I thought no heat could reach into these depths". Virgil turned, with a dark look, and replied "Before long you will be where your own eyes can answer for themselves...", as both men walked on, and the very heart of Hell opened up before them...


United Kingdom

Penguin Classics:
Dante: Inferno (Penguin Classics)
(A good version with both English and Italian text, as well as illustrations)

Oxford World's Classics:
The Divine Comedy (Oxford World's Classics)
(A readily accessible and well annotated version which also contains Purgatorio and Paradisio)

United States

Penguin Classics:
The Divine Comedy: Volume 1: Inferno (Penguin Classics) (Pt. 1)
(A good version with both English and Italian text, as well as illustrations)

Oxford World's Classics:
The Divine Comedy (Oxford World's Classics)
(A readily accessible and well annotated version which also contains Purgatorio and Paradisio)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Tales of chivalry and knightly ventures were stories that many a boy in a medieval hall dreamed upon. To be strong and pure of heart, to have no fear, to be a servant of God and to be willing to lay down one’s life in defence of those who cannot defend themselves – that is chivalry. It is scarce wonder that chivalry is so highly prized a code today as it ever was in the time of armoured knights thundering down the lists, lances lowered in the joust. There is such a tale which I look at today. An old English poem from the fourteenth century, composed by an unknown soul somewhere in the Midlands, it tells of the perilous quest of Sir Gawain – a Knight of the Round Table in the court of King Arthur – and his trials of faith and honour along the way. The poem has a very strong message of its own, which can be seen only through the story as a whole, which I present to you here in its shortest form.

The Green Knight warns Sir Gawain
From the original manuscript

One Christmas when Arthur ruled the Britons, there was magnificent feasting and joy, and ‘the most famous knights in the annals of Christendom’ jousted and sparred and made merry. Then on New Year’s Day, suddenly a strange visitor entered Camelot. A vast knight clad entirely in Green, the size of several men, astride a mighty green stallion, wielding a great axe, demanded to speak with the noblest among the crowd. So rose Arthur, as the rest of the hall stood transfixed in fear at the sight of the strange knight. The Green Knight then issued his famous challenge: that any man there who dared to call himself brave should come forth and strike off the Knight’s head with his mighty axe. The Green Knight vowed he would kneel and not flinch and receive the blow, on the sole condition that he may give a stroke in return. The hall was struck dumb by the Knight’s challenge, as he drew himself up and taunted Arthur:

“What? Is this Arthur’s Hall?

And these the knights whose renown hath run through many realms?

Where are now your pride and your conquests,

Your wrath, and anger, and mighty words?

Now are the praise and the renown of the Round Table overthrown by one man’s speech,

Since all keep silence for dread ere they have ever seen a blow!”

                                                                - THE GREEN KNIGHT TAUNTS ARTHUR

The Knight’s taunts were intolerable to the chivalric knights, shaken awake by the insults to their majesty. Young Sir Gawain, the cousin of Arthur, begged the King to allow him to accept. Arthur relented and sent forth Gawain. After telling the Knight his name, and swearing to uphold the agreement, Gawain took the great axe and with one swift blow severed the stranger’s head. After a moment of exultation from the court, all looked in horror as the headless knight strode across the hall to claim his head. The head then spoke and warned Gawain to find the Green Chapel and remember his vow, before the Knight rode off into the night.

Almost a year passed and Gawain remembered his vow and, renowned as the most virtuous of all Arthur’s Knights, he prepared to seek the Green Chapel, despite protests from Sir Lancelot and Sir Bedivere. He took up his armour, sword, spear and shield, mounted his horse Gryngolet and rode forth from Camelot. Sir Gawain spent many days wandering the cruel wilderness of Britain, at times fighting Giants and Dragons, in search of the one who would certainly deliver his own death blow. Then one day he reached a castle, whose lord was a man with a large red beard and possessing a kindly spirit, received Sir Gawain as an honoured guest. Gawain’s humility and piety were met by the lord’s kindness as a host, and earned him the deep respect and admiration of all there, - including the lord’s wife. Gawain tells them of his vow and how he must reach the Green Chapel soon, as New Year was almost upon them. The lord laughed and told him to stay a while, for the Chapel was but two miles away.

The land of Britain around the Green Chapel
Photograph by David Green

So Gawain stayed in the comfort of the castle, and the lord made a wager with Gawain – that tomorrow he would go hunting and whatever he won on it he would present to Gawain, whilst Gawain would remain in comfort in the castle and present to the lord what he had won that day. The knight accepted, and the next morning it began. The lord hunts many deer and brings them back to the castle, but Gawain awakes to see the lord’s wife sitting on his bed and the two talk for hours with Gawain resisting with the utmost courtesy her depraved advances (I am reminded of the tale of Sir Galahad from Monty Python and the Holy Grail...). As promised, the lord gives the deer to Gawain, and Gawain kisses the lord on the cheek. Amused, the lord makes the same challenge for tomorrow. The next day, the lord, after a long day of hunting, brings back a mighty boar. The lord’s wife once again tries to tempt the gallant knight, who once again politely refuses to capitulate (The confrontation in the knight's mind is not all so different from that in the mind of Macbeth, when he is torn between his duties to King Duncan and to his wife). The lord gives Gawain the boar, and the knight gives the lord two kisses. The lord offers the challenge one more time before Gawain leaves for his quest, promising him a guide to the Green Chapel on New Year’s Day. This time, the lord’s hunt is arduous, returning only with a fox. The lord’s wife however, makes one last attempt to tarnish the knight, and offers him her ring. Sir Gawain refuses, as he has nothing suitable to offer in return. Instead she offers him her green silk girdle, which will render the wearer protection from even the mightiest foe. Seeing the potential value of such an item in light of what is to come, and feeling a sudden fear of death, the knight accepts her gift. The lord returns and offers Gawain the fox, and in return the knight kisses him three times – but does not give him the girdle.

Tintagel, the legendary site of Camelot
Photograph by Manfred Heyde

The next day, after bidding the kindest of farewells, Sir Gawain and his guide leave for the Green Chapel. As they draw nearer, the guide desperately attempts to dissuade the knight from his doom, offering to keep his retreat secret. Gawain politely refuses, as his code of chivalry and honour would curse him if he were to make this choice. He continues alone, until he reaches a place serenaded by the sound of an axe being sharpened. The Green Knight is there, ready to honour their agreement. Sir Gawain bravely kneels and requests his death blow. The Green Knight brings the axe down once, and Gawain flinches, and the axe stops above his neck. The Green Knight rebukes his cowardice, and Gawain begs that he offer another blow, promising to be brave. The Green Knight swings again and deliberately misses. Gawain angrily asks why he holds back, and asks if it is not him who has fear in his heart. A third time the axe swings down, and this time the blade makes a slight cut into Gawain’s neck. Sir Gawain jumps to his feet, pulls on his helmet and in a rage reminds his foe that the pact was for one stroke, not three. The Green Knight suddenly laughs and throws off his fearsome visage. He applauds Sir Gawain’s chivalry, the greatest in the world, and declares him the most virtuous man alive. He reveals himself to be the lord of the castle where Gawain stayed, and that it was he who tasked the lady with attempting to seduce him. Gawain was honest with him on the first two days, but on the third he did not offer the lord the silk girdle, and was therefore punished by the wound on his neck. Sir Gawain is overcome with shame and humility, and prays to God for his forgiveness. The Knights part company, and Gawain returns to Camelot, where he tells Arthur he will forever bear the green girdle as a sign of his failure to keep his promise with the lord. The Knights of the Round Table declare as one that they will from this day forth all wear a green silk girdle, to honour Sir Gawain, who was truly the perfect Knight. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a moral story, warning us of the price of straying from the good path, and the value of keeping one's word. Yet at the same time it is a surprisingly effective story, presenting moral dilemmas and temptations for the hero along the path.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a masterpiece of English medieval lore, and at only 2530 lines long, readily available at Amazon:

United Kingdom

Penguin Classics:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Penguin Classics)
(A translation which focuses more on ease of understanding than poetry)

Oxford World's Classics:
Sir Gawain and The Green Knight (Oxford World's Classics)
(A good compromise between the poetic and prosaic)

Simon Armitage CBE's Translation:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
(A translation which retains the poetic meter of the original, translated by a poet!)

United States

Penguin Classics:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Penguin Classics)
(A version which focuses more on ease of understanding than poetry)

Oxford World's Classics:
Sir Gawain and The Green Knight (Oxford World's Classics)

Simon Armitage CBE's Translation:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (A New Verse Translation)
(A translation which retains the poetic meter of the original, translated by a poet!)