Preserved on a single surviving manuscript dating from around 1400 composed by an anonymous
master Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was rediscovered only 200 years ago and published for
the first time in 1839. One of the earliest great stories of English literature after Beowulf
the poem narrates the strange tale of a green knight on a green horse who rudely interrupts
the Round Table festivities one Yuletide casting a pall of unease over the company and
challenging one of their number to a wager. The virtuous Gawain accepts and decapitates the
intruder with his own axe. Gushing blood the knight reclaims his head orders Gawain to seek
him out a year hence and departs. Next Yuletide Gawain dutifully sets forth... His quest for
the Green Knight involves a winter journey a seduction scene in a dream-like castle a dire
challenge answered - and a drama of enigmatic reward disguised as psychic undoing.
