No More Learning

It was the loveliest castle he
had ever beheld. It was pitched on a prairie, with a park all about it,
enclosing many a tree for more than two miles. It shone as the sun
through the bright oaks (ll. 763-772).

Gawayne urges on his steed Gringolet, and finds himself at the "chief
gate. " He called aloud, and soon there appeared a "porter" on the wall,
who demanded his errand.

"Good sir," quoth Gawayne, "wouldst thou go to the high lord of this
house, and crave a lodging for me? "

"Yea, by Peter! " replied the porter, "well I know that thou art welcome
to dwell here as long as thou likest. "

The drawbridge is soon let down, and the gates opened wide to receive
the knight. Many noble ones hasten to bid him welcome (ll. 773-825).
They take away his helmet, sword, and shield, and many a proud one
presses forward to do him honour. They bring him into the hall, where a
fire was brightly burning upon the hearth. Then the lord of the land[1]
comes from his chamber and welcomes Sir Gawayne, telling him that he is
to consider the place as his own.
Our knight is next conducted to a
bright bower, where was noble bedding--curtains of pure silk, with
golden hems, and Tarsic tapestries upon the walls and the floors (ll.
826-859). Here the knight doffed his armour and put on rich robes,
which so well became him, that all declared that a more comely knight
Christ had never made (ll. 860-883).

[Footnote 1: Gawayne is now in the castle of the Green Knight, who,
divested of his elvish or supernatural character, appears to our
knight merely as a bold one with a beaver-hued beard. ]

A table is soon raised, and Gawayne, having washed, proceeds to meat.
Many dishes are set before him--"sews" of various kinds, fish of all
kinds, some baked in bread, others broiled on the embers, some boiled,
and others seasoned with spices. The knight expresses himself well
pleased, and calls it a most noble and princely feast.

After dinner, in reply to numerous questions, he tells his host that he
is Gawayne, one of the Knights of the Round Table. When this was made
known great was the joy in the hall. Each one said softly to his
companion, "Now we shall see courteous behaviour and learn the terms of
noble discourse, since we have amongst us 'that fine father of
nurture. ' Truly God has highly favoured us in sending us such a noble
guest as Sir Gawayne" (ll. 884-927). At the end of the Christmas
festival Gawayne desires to take his departure from the castle, but his
host persuades him to stay, promising to direct him to the Green Chapel
(about two miles from the castle), that he may be there by the
appointed time (ll. 1029-1082).

A covenant is made between them, the terms of which were that the lord
of the castle should go out early to the chase, that Gawayne meanwhile
should lie in his loft at his ease, then rise at his usual hour, and
afterwards sit at table with his hostess, and that at the end of the
day they should make an exchange of whatever they might obtain in the
interim.