The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain

The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain is a Middle Scots

Middle Scots

Middle Scots was the Anglic language of Lowland Scotland in the period from 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 13th century its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots, which was virtually indistinguishable from early Northumbrian Middle English...

Arthurian romance. An alliterative poem

Alliterative verse

In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of alliterative verse are those found in the oldest literature of many Germanic...

, it earliest copy survives in a printed edition now lying in the National Library of Scotland

National Library of Scotland

The National Library of Scotland is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. It is based in a collection of buildings in Edinburgh city centre. The headquarters is on George IV Bridge, between the Old Town and the university quarter...

dated 8 April, 1508; no manuscript copy of this lively and exciting tale has survived. The narrative is based on an episode from a segment appended to the 12th-century French romance Perceval, the Story of the Grail
Perceval, the Story of the Grail
Perceval, the Story of the Grail is the unfinished fifth romance of Chrétien de Troyes. Probably written between 1181 and 1191, it is dedicated to Chrétien's patron Philip, Count of Flanders...

by Chrétien de Troyes

Chrétien de Troyes

Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...

. The adventure centres around Gawain

Gawain

Gawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...

, King Arthur

King Arthur

King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

's nephew, the hero of many similar romances in various languages.

In the story, King Arthur

King Arthur

is on pilgrimage to the Holy Land; ostensibly, although all the action takes place in France. The king encounters a castle near the river Rhone whose lord bears allegiance to no higher sovereign. King Arthur is aghast at the thought and lays siege to it on his return. The final outcome of the siege is decided by a single-combat between King Arthur's nephew Sir Gawain and Gologras, the lord of the castle. The name Gologras is unique to this poem, but the tale upholds a longstanding Arthurian tradition of casting Sir Gawain as an exemplar of courtesy; Sir Gawain twice demonstrates that fairness and chivalry

Chivalry

Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...

will, in the end, gain more for King Arthur than will violence alone. The closing episode of the poem also shows another aspect of this character of Sir Gawain, one that is evident in the late-fourteenth century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by the Pearl poet

Pearl Poet

The "Pearl Poet", or the "Gawain Poet", is the name given to the author of Pearl, an alliterative poem written in 14th-century Middle English. Its author appears also to have written the poems Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, and Cleanness; some scholars suggest the author may also have...

. His courtesy involves the reciprocal exchange of favours. Sir Gawain wins a long and intricately-described battle with Gologras, but then pretends, instead, to have been defeated and is taken prisoner by his adversary.

History

Gologros is written in Middle Scots

Middle Scots

, a dialect closely related to the northern variants of Middle English

Middle English

Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....

. It was written in the Anglo-Scottish

Anglo-Scottish border

The Anglo-Scottish border is the official border and mark of entry between Scotland and England. It runs for 154 km between the River Tweed on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. It is Scotland's only land border...

border country

Border Country

Border Country is a novel by Raymond Williams. The book was re-published in December 2005 as one of the first group of titles in the Library of Wales series, having been out of print for several years. Written in English, the novel was first published in 1960.It is set in rural South Wales, close...

, a region that produced many other poems such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In the poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his...

and The Awntyrs off Arthur. The vocabulary is very similar to that in those poems, and like them heavy use is made of alliteration

Alliterative verse

. The continuations of Chrétien's French Perceval provided the source for another surviving English-language poem, The Jeaste of Sir Gawain, which likewise depicts King Arthur

King Arthur

's nephew Sir Gawain

Gawain

engaging in single combat.

No manuscript copy of Gologros survives, and it is not known when exactly it was written. However, it is probably not much older than the earliest printed

Printing

Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....

version, which is dated to 1508. This version is found in a book printed in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

by Andrew Chepman and David Myllar, which was one of the first books ever printed in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Only one copy of the book is known, MS National Library of Scotland, Advocates Library H.30.a. The book was re-published by J. Pinkerton in 1792. No other editions are known until 1827, when a corrected facsimile version of the 1508 copy was produced.

Poetic style

The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain is written in stanzas of thirteen lines each, rhyming ababababcdddc. Like another Middle English poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In the poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his...

, most of the lines of each stanza are alliterative long lines; and like this earlier and more famous Arthurian poem recounting an adventure of Sir Gawain, it has a tail of four short lines at the end of every stanza. In the case of The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain, however – unlike its more famous cousin – the last four lines of every stanza form a "separate quatrain... linked by final rhyme to the ninth line", a style of alliteration and rhyme that is identical to that found in the Middle English poem The Awntyrs off Arthure Perhaps this challenging rhyme scheme, coupled with the poem's use of a large number of technical terms for combat and costume, a Scots dialect and general unavailability of the text, has contributed to its relative, although undeserved, neglect.

Plot

The story told in The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain is based upon the First Continuation of Chrétien de Troyes

Chrétien de Troyes

Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...

' late twelfth-century romance, Perceval, the Story of the Grail
Perceval, the Story of the Grail
Perceval, the Story of the Grail is the unfinished fifth romance of Chrétien de Troyes. Probably written between 1181 and 1191, it is dedicated to Chrétien's patron Philip, Count of Flanders...

. although unlike any part of the First Continuation of Chretien's poem, the action of this romance takes place during a journey of pilgrimage that King Arthur takes to the Holy Land. At least, this is what the listener is told he is doing:

"The Roy rial raid withoutin resting,

And socht to the cieté of Christe, ovr the salt flude."

'The king rode without resting and made his way to the city of Christ, across the salt sea.' King Arthur embarks upon this journey with an army, however:

"With banrentis, barounis, and bernis full bald,

Biggast of bane and blude bred in Britane.

Thai walit out werryouris with wapinnis to wald,

The gayest grumys on grund, with geir that myght gane."

'Bannerets, barons and brave warriors sought out the strongest and most capable, those who had the finest weapons, the most splendid knights of the age, formidably armed for combat.' King Arthur's army soon runs out of food. They arrive near a castle whose lord swears allegiance to the king, offers him food in abundance and also thirty thousand more troops:

"I may refresh yow with folk, to feght gif you nedis,

With thretty thousand tald, and traistfully tight,

Of wise, wourthy, and wight, in their ware weedis."

'I can refresh you with folk to fight if the need arises; with thirty thousand trusted men, well-equipped with armour and weaponry.' Perhaps this is meant not so much as a pilgrimage as a crusade.

But whatever the ultimate motives behind his journey, King Arthur has set out for the Holy Land and arrived, in France, tired and hungry, at the castle of this lord who will soon offer him thirty thousand more troops, apparently unaware that this lord is his own cousin. And here there is an episode illustrating the characters of Sir Kay and Sir Gawain; similar to those found, for example, in the Middle English tail-rhyme romance Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle
Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle
Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle is a Middle English tail-rhyme romance of 660 lines, composed in about 1400. A similar story is told in a 17th century minstrel piece found in the Percy Folio and known as The Carle of Carlisle...

and in the possibly late-twelfth century First Continuation of Chretien de Troyes' story of Perceval and the graal. Sir Kay is sent into the castle to ask for food. He finds the hall deserted but in an adjoining kitchen is a dwarf roasting a fowl. Sir Kay assaults the dwarf and grabs the meat, earning for himself a graphic punch in the face when the lord of the castle appears to see what is going on. Sir Kay flees the castle and King Arthur sends Sir Gawain to engage with its lord.

Sir Gawain exhibits his characteristic refinement and courtesy, receives in return the full obedience of the lord to King Arthur’s sovereignty and the occasion is marked by a feast that lasts for four days, along with the provision of an extra thirty thousand mouths to feed on the journey.
After many more weary days of travel, King Arthur reaches a magnificent castle on the river Rhone

Rhône

Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...

, in southern France. Moored alongside are forty sea-going vessels bound for distant corners of the world and King Arthur asks who is the overlord of this wonderful place. On being told that its lord owes allegiance to nobody, he is horrified and vows to lay siege to it on his return.

King Arthur journeys to the Holy land, but the tale says nothing about his business there and proceeds very quickly to his arrival back within sight of this magnificent castle on the Rhone. He crosses the river and begins to build siege engines and to assemble his army in readiness for attack. The lord of this castle, Gologras, sends out a company of armed warriors to show their defiance and King Arthur prepares himself for a long siege.

The king soon shows himself to be curiously unfamiliar with the rules of war, just as earlier he seemed curiously unaware that the castle at which he stopped to seek food belonged to his cousin. Parallels may be drawn with some Old Welsh tales found in the Mabinogion

Mabinogion

The Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...

, in which King Arthur is sometimes shown in a rather feeble light. But fortunately, he has Sir Spinogras at his side, who is able to explain that the presence of a warrior on the top of a tower flashing sunlight in his direction from his shield and brandishing his spear, is a challenge to single combat. King Arthur assigns one of his own knights to the challenge.

The knights meet on the plain and Gologras’s knight is defeated. Gologras sends out another warrior, King Arthur responds accordingly and after a long and hard battle, the two knights kill one another. In response, Gologras sends out four knights and these are met by four of King Arthur’s knights. Following this battle in which honours are even, four more are sent out the following day, but honours at the end of it all, remain even. Perhaps at this point, in these rules of engagement, a commander is forced to choose, on the strength of what he has seen of the prowess of the opposing side's nobility, whether to acknowledge their superiority, to engage all his forces in pitched battle, or to settle the matter in a final, single combat. Gologras emerges from the castle with a retinue of knights. In true Celtic fashion, he has chosen the latter. King Arthur’s nephew Sir Gawain, insists upon taking up this challenge on the king’s behalf.

This single-combat between Gologras and Sir Gawain is long and very evenly fought, but at last Sir Gawain gains the upper hand, Gologras slips in the blood that covers the ground beneath them and Sir Gawain is able to draw his dagger and hold it to his adversary's throat. But Gologras will not ask for mercy. He prefers death to the dishonour of surrendering to Sir Gawain. The victorious knight tries to persuade the other to capitulate and Gologras replies that if Sir Gawain will pretend to have been defeated and to walk off the field as his prisoner, then he will see that matters are resolved to Sir Gawain’s liking once he is in his castle. Despite not knowing Gologras at all, Sir Gawain agrees to this plan, sensing that his adversary is honourable. They pick themselves up from the ground, pretend to fight for a while, then Gologras leads Sir Gawain off the field as his prisoner. Roles have been reversed. King Arthur groans in anguish and begins to weep.

Once inside the castle, however, Gologras addresses his noblemen, lets them understand the situation and they tell him that they would rather that he remained as their lord, even though he may have been defeated in battle. Gologras and Sir Gawain issue from the castle together, unarmed, and Gologras approaches King Arthur in submission. Three days’ feasting ensues in celebration, and at the end of it, as King Arthur prepares to leave, he relinquishes his sovereignty of the land and gives full control back to Gologras.

Influences

The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain contains a number of themes and allusions that are traditional or derived from earlier Arthurian romances. In particular, most of the elements that make up the story have been inspired or directly derived from the First Continuation of Chretien de Troyes' story of Perceval and the graal. But The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain has been fashioned from bits and pieces of this continuation and brought together, along with material from elsewhere, to form a new work; in the way that many Middle English romances were created through the reworking of pre-existing story elements and motifs: such as, for example, Libeaus Desconus

Libeaus Desconus

Libeaus Desconus is a 14th century Middle English version of the popular "Fair Unknown" story. Its author is thought to be Thomas Chestre. The story matter displays strong parallels to that of Renaut de Beaujeu's Le Bel Inconnu; both versions describe the adventures of Gingalain, the son of King...

First Continuation

Sir Gawain finds himself obliged to fight with two knights at the same time at the castle of Escavalon, having journeyed there from the castle of the Fisher King, but he is rescued from this grim necessity by the timely arrival and intervention of his uncle, King Arthur. The king so impresses everybody at Escavalon that: "In all the isles of the sea there was no prince one could name waging war on King Arthur who did not make peace with him and pay him homage there before all his noble company." All except for one, we are told, against whom King Arthur marches. During a long siege of this lord's castle, Sir Gawain is badly injured. The castle finally surrenders and Sir Gawain is carried there to recover from his wounds.

Later in the story, on his way to a "castle Proud" to rescue Gifflet, who is held prisoner there, King Arthur and his knights have to cross a barren wasteland. Unable to find food for three days, they arrive at last at a manor. Sir Kay goes in to ask for food and finds a dwarf roasting a peacock; he is rude to this dwarf, assaults him and is given a blow in return by the lord of the manor who appears suddenly. Sir Kay goes back to inform the king that no food is available. Sir Gawain goes in instead and soon King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table have the sustenance they require. Sir Gawain has already been described as being "the most courteous of the age, unsurpassed by count or king,"

King Arthur and his knights at last reach the castle Proud, which is heavily defended. Shortly after arriving, a number of single-combats take place. First Sir Lucan defeats one of the castle's knights, then he is himself defeated and taken prisoner. Bran de Lis is then victorious for King Arthur, Sir Kay loses his joust and, after an interval for a hunt, Sir Yvain is also victorius. The castle's lord, the "Riche Soldoier" [sic], then decides to fight. Sir Gawain rides against him.

The battle is won by Sir Gawain, but the Riche Soldoier will not surrender. He tells Sir Gawain that he would rather die than ask for mercy, because if the girl he loves knows that he has been defeated, she will die of grief. But he promises that he and his castle will surrender to King Arthur if they can walk off the field now as though he has won the battle; in this way the girl will be shielded from the truth. Sir Gawain agrees to this, leaves the field as though defeated and King Arthur's knights despair. But soon, Sir Gawain reappears with Gifflet and the castle's lord approaches King Arthur in submission.

Later still in the tale, Sir Gawain wears the armour and rides the horse of an unknown knight who has been killed, in order to pursue the knight's quest.

Alliterative Morte Arthure

In the late-fourteenth century Middle English poem known as the Alliterative Morte Arthure, based upon an episode in Geoffrey of Monmouth's mid-twelfth century Historia Regum Britanniae
Historia Regum Britanniae
The Historia Regum Britanniae is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written c. 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation...

, King Arthur travels with an army across France in order to meet a Roman army sent against him. He encounters this army in France, defeats and kills its commander, sending the army back to Rome in disarray, along with the bodies of sixty of the chief senators of Rome, and reaches Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

(an area of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

to the immediate south of the ancient region of Cisalpine Gaul

Cisalpine Gaul

Cisalpine Gaul, in Latin: Gallia Cisalpina or Citerior, also called Gallia Togata, was a Roman province until 41 BC when it was merged into Roman Italy.It bore the name Gallia, because the great body of its inhabitants, after the expulsion of the Etruscans, consisted of Gauls or Celts...

) before news reaches him of Mordred's treachery, prompting an inauspicious and premature return.

The Knightly tale of Gologras and Gawain, also, has King Arthur fighting in France and leading an army towards Tuscany.

"In the tyme of Arthur, as trew men me tald,

The King turnit on ane tyde towart Tuskane,

Hym to seik ovr the sey, that saiklese was sald,

The syre that sendis all seill, suthly to sane."

'In the time of Arthur, as honest men have told me, the king set off one day for Tuscany, to seek Our Lord over the sea who was betrayed and died for us, our benevolent Father in all truthfulness.'

Parallels

Parallels can be found in medieval Arthurian literature, medieval romance and in Welsh mythology. In particular, the motif of reciprocity is widespread in early British literature.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

In addition to the episodes described above, the First Continuation of Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval includes a scene in which a magician, who is the father of a knight of the Round Table, Sir Carados, enters King Arthur's court and invites one of the king's knights to cut off his head, promising that the knight can cut off his head afterwards. This is done, and a token blow received in return. The episode is very similar to one composed two hundred years later in Middle English alliterative verse, the opening scene of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight found in MS Cotton Nero A.x, and is possibly its direct source. In the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, however, the return blow is to be delivered in exactly a year's time.

Sir Gawain, on his last night at Sir Bertilak's castle in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, having gone through much to locate the Green Chapel at which he must suffer this return stroke of the axe, is determined, in truly chivalrous style, to be "merrier than ever before." Likewise, Gologras, in The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain, is determined to be seen to be relaxed and "mery" in his hall, even when things are going badly for him outside and his knights are failing to gain the upper hand. This show of composure in adversity becomes a measure of honour and chivalry for both protagonists. And the climax of both The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight involves reciprocity. In the one, Sir Gawain takes upon himself what he has given to Gologras, that is, the mantle of defeat. In the other, Sir Gawain receives what he has given to his opponent, that is, a stroke of the axe. And not only a stroke of the axe, but earlier, also, in Bertilak's castle, a game was played in which everything that Bertilak had gained in the forest was given to Sir Gawain, and everything that Sir Gawain had achieved in the castle was (supposed to be) given to his host. More reciprocity.

Amis and Amiloun

A fourteenth century Middle English poem Amis and Amiloun, found in the famous Auchinleck Manuscript

Auchinleck manuscript

The Auchinleck Manuscript, NLS Adv. MS 19.2.1, currently forms part of the collection of the National Library of Scotland. It is an illuminated manuscript copied on parchment in the 14th century in London. The manuscript provides a glimpse of a time of considerable political tension in England...

, tells a story that contains many elements and motifs that are ultimately derived from European folklore. Based upon a twelfth century Old French poem Amis et Amiles

Amis et Amiles

Amis et Amiles is an old French romance based on a widespread legend of friendship and sacrifice. In its earlier and simpler form it is the story of two friends, one of whom, Amis, was sick with leprosy because he had committed perjury to save his friend. A vision informed him that he could only be...

, it tells of a pair of unrelated young men who are so alike that nobody can tell them apart. They swear blood brotherhood

Blood brother

Blood brother can refer to one of two things: two males related by birth, or two or more men not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other. This is usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where the blood of each man is mingled together...

together, a pledge that is put to the test when Amis has to fight a trial by combat

Trial by combat

Trial by combat was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession, in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the fight was proclaimed to be right. In essence, it is a judicially sanctioned duel...

over a crime of which he is guilty. He rides to Amiloun, who by now is married, and they exchange identities. Amis rides back to Amiloun's castle pretending to be its lord. Amiloun rides away to fight the single combat on Amis's behalf, able to swear that he is innocent of the crime.

Mabinogion

Tales from the Middle Welsh Mabinogion are found in two manuscripts dating to the mid- and late-fourteenth century, but many of the tales themselves "evolved over a span of centuries: passed on from storyteller to storyteller, they were by turns expanded and distorted, improved and misunderstood." A mythological tale in the first of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi

Four Branches of the Mabinogi

The Four Branches of the Mabinogi are the best known tales from the collection of medieval Welsh prose known as the Mabinogion. The word "Mabinogi" originally designated only these four tales, which are really parts or "branches" of a single work, rather than the whole collection...

, one involving Annwvyn

Annwn

Annwn or Annwfn was the Otherworld in Welsh mythology. Ruled by Arawn, or much later by Gwyn ap Nudd, it was essentially a world of delights and eternal youth where disease is absent and food is ever-abundant. It later became Christianised and identified with the land of souls that had departed...

, not-world, or the Otherworld

Otherworld

Otherworld, or the Celtic Otherworld, is a concept in Celtic mythology that refers to the home of the deities or spirits, or a realm of the dead.Otherworld may also refer to:In film and television:...

, tells of a hunting expedition undertaken by Pwyll

Pwyll

Pwyll Pen Annwn is a prominent figure in Welsh mythology and literature, the lord of Dyfed, husband of Rhiannon and father of the hero Pryderi...

Lord of Dyved

Kingdom of Dyfed

The Kingdom of Dyfed is one of several Welsh petty kingdoms that emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in south-west Wales, based on the former Irish tribal lands of the Déisi from c 350 until it was subsumed into Deheubarth in 920. In Latin, the country of the Déisi was Demetae, eventually to...

. He sets his hounds against those of Arawn

Arawn

In Welsh mythology, Arawn was the king of the otherworld realm of Annwn, appearing prominently in the first branch, and alluded to in the fourth. In later tradition, the role of king of Annwn was largely attributed to the Welsh psychopomp, Gwyn ap Nudd...

, the king of the Otherworld, and in an attempt to make amends, agrees to exchange places with this king for a year and a day in order to do battle with another king of the Otherworld, Havgan, in a year's time. So Arawn takes on the form of Pywll, Pwyll takes on the appearance of Arawn, and after spending a year in each other's lands, Pwyll (who looks like Arawn) does battle with Havgan, who must only be struck once, since if he is struck repeatedly, he will return the next day as fit and well as he ever was.

External links

The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain in Modern English prose translation

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