Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Weston Translation Version 2)

One of the greatest English poems, a medieval masterpiece that pulses with dark magic and deeper meaning. When a monstrous green knight rides into Arthur's Christmas feast and issues his terrible challenge, Sir Gawain must step forward to defend his king's honor. The deal is simple: one knight takes an axe to the Green Knight's neck, and a year later, returns the favor. Gawain strikes true, watching the Green Knight's severed head roll across the hall, only to watch the headless body mount its horse and ride away, promising to meet Gawain at the Green Chapel when the year turns. What follows is a year of harrowing quests and testing, as Gawain must survive the wilderness, resist temptation from a beautiful lady who offers him a magic girdle, and ultimately face his own mortality at the appointed hour. The poem builds to an agonizing moment of truth: what happens when the blow finally falls, and does honor survive intact? This is chivalry's darkest night, a poem about what men will do to live and what they become in the doing.