Arthur continues]

So the lady left him in peace, and Gawain got up and dressed and said his prayers and came down to join Lady Hautdesert and the old crone in black for a late breakfast. He spent the day with them, and for once he was quite relieved to have the old woman as a chaperone, as she kept him busy answering questions about his parents and his brothers, and whether his mother was still beautiful. The lady of the castle sat by, embroidering a green silk scarf in gold thread with the words 'Honi soit qui mal y pense,' and listening to their conversation.

When Sir Bertilak and his companions came home that evening, they brought dozens of splendid deer into the hall and laid them at Gawain's feet. 'You've had a good day's hunting,' said Gawain, 'and I'll surrender my catch in return,' and with that he kissed Sir Bertilak, who laughed and said, 'Well, that's a dear prize to give up, if the giver was dear to you. Do you think you ought to tell me where you won it?'

Gawain shook his head firmly. 'That wasn't part of the agreement. After all, I didn't ask you where you went hunting, did I?' So Sir Bertilak agreed not to question him, as long as they could play the same game tomorrow.

The next morning, when Lady Hautdesert came into Gawain's room, she kissed him as soon as he woke, and said, 'Oh, my dearest Gawain, thank you for protecting my honour yesterday, by not telling who it was that kissed you! I'm sorry for loving you so much, when I should have realised that you must have a lover far more beautiful and nobler than I am. After all, you could hardly be so valiant if you didn't have some lady to inspire you to mighty deeds, could you?'

Gawain said, 'Well, I don't have a girlfriend at the moment, but the lady who teaches me courage is the saint on this shield, and I pray that she'll teach both of us self-control as well.'

Lady Hautdesert trembled her lower lip and said, 'So, you don't have a partner, but you can't love me, even when I'm dying of love for you? You hold my heart in your hand; do you want to crush it utterly?'

Gawain said, 'I love you as I love your husband. The two of you have been the kindest of hosts to me since I arrived, and I won't repay your generosity by destroying your marriage. Now, if I have permission to get up and get dressed, I'll come and sit with you and your friend until your husband comes back. Is that better than nothing?'

The lady said, 'There's a price to pay,' and with that she kissed Gawain for the second time that morning, and left him in peace. He came down and spent the day with the two women as before, and Lady Hautdesert went on with her embroidery as they talked. She had finished the motto now, and was sewing pictures all around it: sprigs of holly, and the rising sun, and a hunter who looked like Sir Bertilak drawing a longbow below the writing, and a stag leaping above it.

When Sir Bertilak came in, he was soaked to the skin up to his chest, as he'd spent the day hunting a ferocious wild boar, and hadn't been able to kill it until he'd cornered the beast between the rocks in a deep river. His teeth were chattering, but he wouldn't rest until he had laid the giant boar at Gawain's feet, and so Gawain kissed him twice in exchange.

'You're getting good at this game,' said Sir Bertilak. 'Someone in the castle doesn't find you a bore! But remember: it's not over until we've played the third round.'

Gawain slept uneasily that night, but he slept long, dreaming confused dreams about green axe-men and deer-hunts and Mary being told that her beloved son would be a spear to pierce her own heart. So this time he really was still asleep, but muttering and crying out in his nightmares, when the lady came in to wake him with a kiss. 'There, dearest hart,' she said, 'the hunters won't shoot you! Gawain, you're safe here!'

'Am I?' asked Gawain. 'I'm not sure my virtue's safe.'

'Oh, I'm sorry about tempting you yesterday!' said the lady. 'Here, let me kiss you again to make it better! I've just come to say goodbye, in case I don't see you before you go off tomorrow, and to give you a present to take with you in memory of one who loved you.' And with that she held out the embroidered silk scarf.

'It's beautiful, but I can't take your embroidery!' said Gawain. 'Your husband's seen you working on it, so when I passed it on to him, he'd know that you'd given it to me.'

'No, you mustn't give it to Bertilak!' said the lady. 'I've been finishing it off ever since he rode out this morning, and now it's yours and only yours.' She showed it to Gawain, and he saw that now the leaping stag had a five-point star stitched on his breast, like the star on Gawain's shield. 'You see,' the lady said, 'the stitches are so tight that if I unpicked them now, they'd tear the picture of the hart to shreds, just as you'll tear my heart if you refuse to take my present. And besides, I made it to save your life!' Gawain must have looked puzzled at this, and so she went on: 'you see, my companion is a witch, and she loves you nearly as deeply as I do, so she's taught me to stitch a magic spell into my embroidery to protect you from the Green Knight. If you wear this scarf tied around you – it needn't be round your neck, it could be round your waist or looped under one arm or wherever you like – then nobody will be able to wound you. I'm sure you're not a coward, and I know you'd face death bravely for your own sake, but will you save your life for my sake? Then, if I don't see you again, at least I'll know that you've gone home to Camelot, happy and unhurt, instead of lying in pieces on the snowy hillside.'

So Gawain promised to tie the silk around his waist at once, before he got dressed, and the lady gave him a third kiss and left him to do that. But today, before he went down to join the two enchantresses, Gawain went to the castle priest to make confession. He wasn't entirely sure the scarf would work, so he decided he'd better make sure he was in a state of grace in case he died tomorrow, and confessed every sin he could remember ever having committed, going right back to the time as a child when he and his brothers had killed a unicorn. But he didn't say anything about the scarf he wasn't going to hand over to Sir Bertilak, because he couldn't without betraying Lady Hautdesert's confidence. He hoped that lying about a silk scarf wasn't a very big sin.

It was long dark when Sir Bertilak came in, with nothing to show for his day's hunting but a rather mangy fox-skin. When Gawain gave him three kisses, he said, 'You cunning fox, you're getting richer every time I catch less! You didn't catch anything else, did you?'

'No, but the kisses are more wealth than any man could crave,' said Gawain. 'And I'll remember them when I ride out tomorrow, but now I'd like to say goodbye to everyone in the castle, and thank each of you for looking after me so well.' And so he went round and thanked everyone, first Sir Bertilak, and his wife, and the old woman, and then the servants who had brought him meals and washed his clothes and the grooms who had looked after Gringolet, and then all the people he hadn't had much contact with but he knew they had important work to do, and then Sir Bertilak and his wife again. And when they'd rung in the New Year and sung 'Auld Lang Syne', Gawain went to up to his four-poster bed for the last time, and wondered whether he'd spend the next night sleeping in his armour on the journey home, or sleeping in the earth until Doomsday. He tried to make the most of having a soft bed while it lasted, but he didn't fall asleep until just before dawn, when a servant came to wake him.

It had snowed again, very deeply, and the clouds were gathering ashen-white to drop another load any time soon. Gawain got dressed, with the green scarf carefully tucked inside his shirt, and put his armour on, and went downstairs (trying not to clank too much, in case Sir Bertilak and his wife were still asleep) to where a groom had brought Gringolet out for him. The groom walked beside him through the forest to guide him most of the way to the Green Chapel, 'But, brave Sir Gawain,' he said, 'are you sure you really want to go there? I've heard of this Green Knight, even caught sight of him a couple of times, and he's a fearsome monster, as big as a troll and absolutely pitiless. He kills everyone who passes that way – knights or civilians, men or women, even monks and priests. So, sir, if you promise to ride home to Camelot some other way, I'll go back and tell my master how bravely you faced the Green Knight and overcame him.'

Gawain smiled and said, 'It's very kind of you, but it's no good letting everyone think I'm a hero if I know I'm a coward. I've promised the Green Knight I'll face him, so I will. But if you just point me to where the Green Chapel is, you're welcome to go home to your master, and thank him from me for all his kindness.'

So the groom pointed to a track running down to the bottom of a valley, and then turned and hurried back to Sir Bertilak's castle, and Gawain rode on alone. The trees came to an end, and the path opened onto a bare hillside with nothing but snow, and craggy boulders, and a burial mound that might have been the tomb of some ancient king, standing by a brook which swirled and bubbled as if it was boiling.

There was no sign of a building anywhere, not even a hut with a wriggly tin roof. Gawain was beginning to wonder if the groom had deliberately sent him on the wrong road to try and save his life, when he heard the sound of an axe being sharpened on the rocks above the mound, and it occurred to him that this mound was the Green Chapel. He'd been expecting a Christian chapel, but, of course, this was the sort of place where a primeval monster like the Green Knight would worship. So he called up, in the direction of the noise, 'I'm ready when you are!'

The Green Knight came down the hillside to meet him, looking exactly the same as he had last year, except that his head was back on his neck (without any sign of a scar, so the wound must have healed very neatly) and that he was on foot now, still barefoot in the deep snow, and with a brand-new axe. 'You're welcome to the Green Chapel,' he said, 'but don't you know you should take your helmet off in a holy place? Come on, I haven't got all day!'

So, Gawain took his helmet off, put down his shield, and stretched his neck out, but, as the Green Knight swung the axe at him, he flinched. 'And you're supposed to be the valiant Sir Gawain!' snorted the Green Knight. 'I never flinched when you cut my head off, did I?'

Gawain said, 'No, but then I can't stick mine back on my shoulders, can I? All right, try again, and I'll keep still this time.'

And he stood as still as a stone, while the Green Knight swung the tremendous axe at him, terribly fast – and stopped short, just a sixteenth of an inch from Gawain's skin. 'Now you're getting the hang of it,' the Green Knight said. 'Practice makes perfect.'

Gawain said, 'Well, are you going to play with me all day? You were the one who said you were in a hurry!'

So this time, the Green Knight swung the blade in earnest, just enough to cut the skin on the side of Gawain's neck without damaging anything vital. Gawain didn't even feel the wound for a moment, because he was so surprised to be still alive, but when he saw his blood spattering the snow, he drew his sword, and said, 'There, we've done! A blow for a blow, as agreed, and all debts paid. And if you dare strike me again, I'll fight you!'

'Oh, I'm not going to strike again,' said the Green Knight – except that he wasn't green any more, or quite so huge, and in fact, had turned back into Sir Bertilak de Hautdesert. 'But if it's a matter of paying debts, I think you still owe me a green silk scarf.'