“Nay, forsooth,” says Gawayne, “I have sojourned sadly, but bliss betide thee! Commend me to your comely wife, who beguiled me; but though I be now beguiled, methinks I should be excused! God reward you for your girdle! I will wear it in remembrance of my fault, and when pride shall prick me, one look upon this green band shall abate it. But tell me your right name, and I shall have done.”

The Green Knight replies, “I am called Bernlak de Hautdesert, through the might of Morgan le Fay, the pupil of Merlin; she can tame even the haughtiest. It was she who caused me to test the renown of the Round Table, hoping to grieve Queen Guenever, and cause her death through fear. Morgan le Fay is even thine aunt; therefore come to her, and make merry in my house.”

But Sir Gawayne refused to return with the Green Knight. He bade him a courteous farewell, and then he turned Gringolet’s head again toward Arthur’s hall. By wild ways and lonely places did he ride. Sometimes he harboured in a house by night, and sometimes he had to shift under the trees. The wound in his neck became whole, but he still carried about him the belt in token of his fault.

Thus Sir Gawayne comes again at last to the Court of King Arthur, and great was the joy of them all to see him. The king and his knights ask him concerning his journey, and Gawayne tells them of his adventures, and of the Green Knight’s castle and the lady, and lastly, of the girdle that he wore. He showed them the cut in his neck, and as he groaned for grief and shame, the blood rushed to his face.

“Lo!” says he, handling the green girdle, “this is the band of blame, a token of my cowardice and covetousness. I must needs wear it as long as I live.”

The king comforts the knight, and all the Court too. Each knight of the brotherhood agrees to wear a bright green belt for Gawayne’s sake, who evermore honoured it. Thus in Arthur’s day this adventure befell. May He who bore the crown of thorns, bring us to His bliss! Amen.

Retold by Ernest Rhys.