with several soups all seasoned to taste,

double helpings as was fitting, and a feast of fish, 890

some baked in bread, some browned over flames,

some boiled or steamed, some stewed in spices

and subtle sauces to tantalize his tongue.

Four or five times he called it a feast,

and the courteous company happily cheered him

along:

‘On penance plates you dine –

there’s better board to come.’

The warming, heady wine

then freed his mind for fun. 900

Now through tactful talk and tentative enquiry

polite questions are put to this prince;

he responds respectfully, and speaks of his journey

from the court of Arthur, King of Camelot,

royalty, and ruler of the Round Table,

and he says they now sit with Gawain himself,

who has come here at Christmastime quite by chance.

Once the master has gathered that his guest is Gawain

he thinks it so thrilling he laughs out loud.

All the men of that manor were of the same mind, 910

being keen and quick to appear in his presence,

this person famed for prowess and purity,

whose noble skills were sung to the skies,

whose life was the stuff of legend and lore.

Then knight spoke softly to knight, saying,

‘Watch now, we’ll witness his graceful ways,

hear the faultless phrasing of flawless speech;

if we listen we will learn the merits of language

since we have in our hall a man of high honour.

Ours is a generous and giving God 920

to grant that we welcome Gawain as our guest

as we sing of His birth who was born to save us.

We few

shall learn a lesson here

in tact and manners true,

and hopefully we’ll hear

love’s tender language too.’

Once dinner was done Gawain drew to his feet

and darkness neared as day became dusk.

Chaplains went off to the castle’s chapels 930

to sound the bells hard, to signal the hour

of evensong, summoning each and every soul.

The lord goes alone, then his lady arrives,

concealing herself in a private pew.

Gawain attends too; tugged by his sleeve

he is steered to a seat, led by the lord

who greets Gawain by name as his guest.

No man in the world is more welcome, are his words.

For that he is thanked. And they hug there and then

and sit as a pair through the service in prayer. 940

Then she who desired to see this stranger

came from her closet with her sisterly crew.

She was fairest amongst them – her face, her flesh,

her complexion, her quality, her bearing, her body,

more glorious than Guinevere, or so Gawain thought,

and in the chancel of the church they exchanged courtesies.

She was hand in hand with a lady to her left,

someone altered by age, an ancient dame,

well respected, it seemed, by the servants at her side.

Those ladies were not the least bit alike: 950

one woman was young, one withered by years.

The body of the beauty seemed to bloom with blood,