Don't Lose Your Head

My name is Sir Gawain and I have yet again become the victim of Arthurian shenanigans. The evening started out pretty regularly. It was New Year’s Eve. Everyone was getting too drunk and too noisy for my liking, but it was fine. Agravain was muttering snide comments about other knights to Guinevere. I was on her other side, getting a good earful of the gossip. She would giggle politely and toss her golden hair back over her shoulder. I couldn’t tell if she was actually enjoying herself or not. I didn’t know who they were talking about and it was against my code of honor to listen, so I sipped quietly on my cider, watching how the evening played out. There were trumpets blasting and lutes a-playing—there definitely wasn’t a shortage of entertainment. Hearty laughter rang all around and decadent scents wafted around the grand hall. It was nice.

Arthur was the greatest hero to ever have lived. I will not budge on that statement. I’m right. I'm not just saying that because he's my uncle. I say that because of his heroic deeds and his kind heart. Maybe I'm a little bit biased, but who could blame me? We had been seated by rank, but he refused to eat until everyone had been served. He had always been humble like that. Another endearing and kind of eccentric thing he did was that he wouldn’t eat on a festival day until someone told him a heroic tale or fought him or something. Sometimes sitting for a meal took a long time. I didn’t mind that much. Anyway, I’m saying today was no exception with it being New Year’s Eve and all that.

Everything was going just fine up until the point that it wasn’t. The large doors swung open with a bang. A large and absolutely terrifying man strode in like it was just another day for him. He was the tallest person I had ever seen in my life. He was so large, I could barely fathom how his horse would even carry such a mighty man. It’s also extremely worth noting that he was decked out entirely in green. His coat, his spurs, his everything green. No shield though, which I found odd. I thought his attire was tacky, but it was not my business to say anything. Like, we get it, you like green. His long dark green hair fell around his shoulders and his beard (also green) came to his elbows. He looked kind of wild to say the very least. No one was really sure what to do or say.

“Where’s the king?” the green-clad knight spoke first, voice booming. “He has to be here somewhere,” he said seeming to be talking to himself. No one was chatting anymore and the music had come to a halt.

Arthur was no coward and bravely came forward. Duh. “If you’re here to fight, I’ll accept your challenge. We are having a meal right now though. Would you care to join us? Battle afterwards?”

“You’re as polite as they say, sir, but no.” I couldn’t help but get a tone of mockery from him. Could we not party and then fight? Was that so much to ask? “I’d like to play a little Christmas game.”

Arthur quirked a brow and stepped closer. “A game?”

The knight nodded. “That’s right. You see, I don’t think anyone here is a match for me in battle, so a little challenge might be… more suitable.” I certainly didn’t want to fight him if I was being honest. I liked to pride myself on my dexterity, but he was scary! “If anyone wants to partake, be my guest! Here are the rules: you are to hit me with my own axe,” he held up his axe for emphasis. It too was large and threatening. “Now here’s the fun part. A year from now, I will return to give you the same blow you have given to me, so be careful now! I’m a little trickster!” No one really doubted that. Arthur was hesitating. He scratched the back of his neck as everyone in the room had their eyes on him, waiting for a response. “So, this is the mighty King Arthur and his court! All cowards! Nothing but silence!”

“I-“ Arthur started to move towards the axe. His eyes fixated on it. Damn it.

“I’ll do it,” I said, sprinting towards the green knight. I grabbed the axe before Arthur had the chance to even think about it. Had I even had the chance to think about it? The knight knelt down and lowered his head for me. The last thing I remember was raising it above my head and swinging with my eyes shut. I thought that I had swung fairly lightly, but no. I don’t know my own strength apparently. There was a ‘thunk’ followed by the sounds of gasps and screams. When I opened my eyes, I wished I hadn’t. The knight’s head was on the ground. Don’t worry about it too much. He bent down and picked it up.

“What’s your name, sir?”

“Sir Gawain,” I said looking him in the eyes. I didn't want to make eye contact with him. He was currently holding his head at chest level. It was unnerving to say the very least. He was a handsome man, you know, despite everything. He was, uh, he was bleeding. It was kind of gross. I sort of just assumed he was a magical creature or something, so this was very appalling in every way.

“A fitting name for a gallant man. Now, don’t forget the terms of our game. I’ll be sure to see you next year at the Green Chapel,” he said, patting me on the arm. It unsettled me greatly, but he left humming a tune that I couldn’t place. So, clearly that wasn’t a shining moment for me, but… I‘ve got nothing. It was bad.

Source: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight- translated by Jessie Weston

Header Source: Warkworth Castle (Wikimedia Commons)

Author’s Note: A bit of background on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: it is a lovely poem with an unknown author and it is 2,530 lines in total. It's a medieval romance originally written in Middle English. "On botounz of þe bryȝt grene brayden ful ryche." This is a little sample from the original source material, line 220, from Wikipedia! Middle English is very different from anything that we have today. I love how language has evolved. It's so cool. Anyway, it is not short by any stretch of the imagination. It is a bit challenging, but fun! My source is not split, so I do it myself. The wonderful Jessie Weston has done a beautiful job translating and this is by far my favorite version of the poem. Due to it not being split and wanting to not tell you the entire story (which is literally not possible in an author’s note, I promise) I’m going to tell you about part that managed to fit into a chapter.

My concept is staying as faithful to the original as I can with a few things that I had to cut for it being too long or something. It’s a New Year’s Eve party and everyone is having fun when the Green Knight shows up. The changes occur when I decided to cut out his horse because I wanted to and I cut a bit of dialogue between Gawain and Arthur. It was long and really not that interesting, so I opted to have the beheading to happen more quickly than it did in the original. In the source, Gawain was more aware of the circumstances and had counseled with Arthur. I’d like to get more of Gawain’s personality back in future sections, but the exposition was SUPER important here so that’s what happened! Sorry, this is so long! Thank you for reading this far!