[King Arthur concludes]

Gawain opened and shut his mouth a couple of times without managing to say anything, and Sir Bertilak went on: 'I'd asked my wife to flirt with you, to test your virtue. The first evening, and the second evening, you paid me the kisses she'd given you, so I spared you twice. The third evening, you paid me the kisses but not the scarf, and now you've been punished for it.'

Gawain stared at the ground, where his shield was lying with the gold star facing him. 'I've been a bit of an idiot, haven't I?' he mumbled. 'It's my fault, for being vain enough to think your wife was in love with me – as if any woman would want me, when I'm a knave and a fool and a coward and a cheat, and an idler who loafs around in bed while you're out fighting wild boars, and a...'

He'd have gone on calling himself every bad name he could think of, but Sir Bertilak said, 'Cheer up, it's not the end of the world! I forgive you, and you're welcome to keep the scarf. It isn't really a magic one, as you've probably worked out, but it's pretty, after all. Now, come back to my castle and sit by the fire and have some lunch, and you're welcome to stay with us through the winter and go home when the weather clears up, and we'll be your friends now and never test you or play tricks on you again.'

Gawain found his voice and asked, 'Was everyone in on this? The groom who showed me the way here – was he really afraid of the Green Knight, or just acting?'

Sir Bertilak shook his head. 'No, I've let the Green Knight be seen a couple of times around here, and word gets around. But if you come home with me, I'll tell everyone how you I saw you withstand the Green Knight even when he wounded you, and how he'll never trouble us again. Your aunt's going to be disappointed – she wanted to keep the game going a bit longer – but I think it's time we called it a day.'

'My aunt?' repeated Gawain.

'Yes, the old lady in black – didn't I tell you that was your aunt, Morgan Le Fay? She's a fine woman in many ways, but she's never quite accepted your Uncle Arthur being king – her little brother getting ideas above his station and all that. So, when we'd been arguing about whether King Arthur and his knights were really as brave as everyone said, I agreed to let her turn me into the most terrifying shape she could, and send me to Camelot to see how people reacted. Well, you passed the first test. And when I came home and told your Aunt Morgan how you and King Arthur and Sir Kay had all been willing to fight me, and how you'd chopped my head off, she still said you wouldn't dare come to meet me here. Well, when you arrived at my castle asking for directions to the Green Chapel, it was obvious that you were going to pass the second test. So then, my wife suggested a third test...'

'All right, all right, I know I failed it!' said Gawain. 'But what chance did I have, with women conspiring against me? If Adam was led astray by Eve, and Sampson by Delilah, and David by Bathsheba, and the wise Solomon by seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, how could poor Gawain of Orkney do any better? Well, you can give my regards to your wife and my aunt, and say Happy New Year to them, but I'm not going back to face them again!' And with that, he picked up his helmet and his shield, jumped onto Gringolet's back, and rode off alone through the snow. The cut on his neck was starting to sting in the cold air, so he pulled out the silk scarf and used it as a bandage. The embroidered parts itched a bit, but he thought he probably deserved it.

It was Shrove Tuesday when Gawain arrived back at Camelot. The servants were bringing in mounds of pancakes, but, again, I couldn't bear to eat – not because I was too excited, but because I was too miserable at having lost my nephew. So when Gawain came in, Guinevere and I ran to hug him, but he knelt on the floor and wouldn't even meet our eyes, and announced, 'I've come back here to be banished, because if I didn't come back you'd think I'd died bravely, and I didn't.'

Of course, we asked what he meant, and Gawain muttered the whole story to the floor, and took off his helmet to show us the scar on his neck. It was a very faint line that was barely even visible, and he had plenty of much more noticeable scars from various fights, but of course this was different, because this was the mark of punishment, and, as far as Gawain was concerned, he might as well have had the words 'PROMISE-BREAKER' in flashing red lights on his forehead. And he showed us the green scarf which, he said, he was bound to wear for the rest of his life as a sign of disgrace.

By the time he'd finished the story, everyone was laughing; we couldn't help it, when Gawain was behaving as if such a trivial failure was the crime of the century. I asked Guinevere for the scarf she was wearing – a fluffy pink one – and tied it round my neck, so that Gawain wouldn't be the only one looking ridiculous, and Agravain and Gaheris promised to write to their mother to ask for two of her laciest scarves, and to wear them forever in loyalty to their brother.

But Gawain was still huddled on the floor and sobbing. 'It's not funny!' he burst out. 'If you won't banish me, then take away my armour and dress me in motley and keep me as your fool, because I'm not worthy to be a knight!'

At that point, Sir Kay went and knelt next to Gawain on the floor. 'Gawain,' he said, 'you do know how Arthur became king, don't you?'

Gawain said, 'Wasn't it because he pulled a sword out of a stone, when you wanted one for a tournament?'

Kay said, 'That's right. But when he brought it to me and told me where he'd found it, I pretended that I'd pulled it out, and that I was the one destined to be king. I suppose I was jealous because I wished I could have done anything that good, and I knew I'd never have been stubborn enough to keep pulling until it came out, and I didn't see why Arthur was always Merlyn's favourite. And there wasn't really any point, because when I told my father I'd pulled the sword from the stone, he just said, "Are you sure that's true?" And after all, that's a much bigger lie than just keeping quiet about being given a silk scarf – but Arthur didn't banish me, did he?'

So Gawain cheered up, and all of us swore to wear ladies' scarves in loyalty to him, and that was the beginning of the Order Of The Scarf. And since then, there have been times when Gawain got things seriously wrong, not just tiny mistakes like that. But he told me that, when he looks at the green and gold scarf, he remembers that I still love him and that he's always welcome back, whatever happens.

'Well, things like that happen to me all the time, and I don't behave as though it's the end of the world,' said Jack when I'd finished. 'But I suppose it's harder for someone like Gawain who believes in stuff like honour and chivalry, because he's got more to lose. Personally, I've never understood what people mean by honour.'

'It depends who's saying it,' I said. 'You're right that a lot of the time they don't mean anything, because they're just talking about reputation: a soldier's reputation for courage, a woman's reputation for chastity, or anything like that. But to Gawain, it means things like really keeping promises, really facing up to danger and trying to do what's right, whether anyone's going to know whether he did or not – and keeping on trying, even after realising that he's not perfect.'

'If you think about it, what any word means depends on its context,' said Cheiron. 'If you read in a poem that a certain knight "loved freedom and honour, truth and courtesy," that doesn't tell you whether he defended other people's freedom or just wanted to be able to do whatever he liked himself, or whether he strove to behave honourably or just wanted to be honoured. You'd have to read the rest of the poem to find out how he behaved.'

Jack rolled his eyes. 'Teachers! I can't say anything without getting an explanation in stereo!'

'Well, I have been a teacher for a good few thousand years now,' pointed out Cheiron. 'Ever since I was sitting with Jason in a cave in Greece. And talking of caves, if I leave you two tomorrow morning, can you meet me at the Lair of the White Rabbit in about a month's time?'

I mentally calculated the distance to the Lair of the White Rabbit, and how many miles per day we could manage with backpacks on, without Cheiron to act as a packhorse. 'I think so, but why there? It's a grim, desolate sort of place, even after the Rabbit's been dead for so long.'

'Is that the fluffy white bunny that leapt six feet in the air and ripped people's throats out?' asked Jack. 'The one that killed so many on the Grail quest? There was a ballad about that legend that came down to my time, a thousand years later: "Sir Gawain and Sir Bors it slew, and many a worthy knight." Did that really happen?'

'Well, not those two; Bors lived to find the Holy Grail and drink Communion from it, and Gawain was alive and well when I last saw him a couple of months ago. All the same, that fluffy bunny with pink eyes and razor teeth did kill a lot of my knights who went to search for the Holy Grail, but it's been dead for years now. But, Cheiron, why exactly are we going there?'

'Because there's another man I'd like to bring to join us, and he's a bit solitary, so I thought he might feel safer living in a cave until he's settled in,' said Cheiron. 'But in the meantime, are you two all right to carry what you need?'

We looked at each other. 'I think so,' said Jack. 'I'm a lot stronger than when I arrived here. I mean, I don't plan to sleep in armour on the bare ground like Gawain, but we don't really need thick sleeping-bags now it's this hot – I can't believe I was shivering so much, that first night! And without your vegetarian conscience, Cheiron, instead of carting around cooking-pots and bags of barley and dried peas, we can just shoot the odd deer when we're hungry, and roast it.'

'Maybe not a deer, for just two of us,' I said. 'But there are rabbits and hares, and lots of ripe berries in the woods now, so we needn't live on dried food.'

Cheiron normally carried two supply-bags on a harness around his horse-body, and a third as a rucksack on his human back, but the two horseback ones had detachable straps and belts to turn them back into rucksacks. We took the tent down and practised fitting it and the supplies we thought we'd need into the spare rucksacks, and then putting them on and trying to stand up with them on.

'Arthur,' said Jack at last, 'you must be a witch like your sisters, because you've transfigured me. I know, because I can buckle the belt of this thing round my waist, and last time I checked, I didn't have a waist – I had an equator!'

'The pack isn't too heavy, is it?' I'd put most of the heavy equipment in my own bag, but after all, Jack was still far from well, and the side-pockets of his bag contained assorted bottles of medicine with a note from Cheiron reminding him which ones to take when. I didn't want to drive him too hard.

'Oh, I'm stronger than I look. Once I carried the body of a slain foe rights across a battlefield, to show him to the king and prove that I'd killed him.'

'And had you?' I asked.

'Well, not exactly – but I would have done if he hadn't been dead already. Anyway, I can manage this, no problem. Gallop off now, Cheiron, and we'll see you at the Lair of the White Rabbit.'