32
Bi a mounte on že morne meryly he rydes
Into a forest ful dep, žat ferly watz wylde,
Hi3e hillez on vche a halue, and holtwodez vnder
Of hore okez ful hoge a hundreth togeder;
Že hasel and že ha3žorne were harled al samen,
With ro3e raged mosse rayled aywhere,
With mony bryddez vnblyže vpon bare twyges,
Žat pitosly žer piped for pyne of že colde.
Že gome vpon Gryngolet glydez hem vnder,
Žur3 mony misy and myre, mon al hym one,
Carande for his costes, lest he ne keuer schulde
To se že seruyse of žat syre, žat on žat self nyt
Of a burde watz borne oure baret to quelle;
And žerfore sykyng he sayde, "I beseche že, lorde,
And Mary, žat is myldest moder so dere,
Of sum herber žer he3ly I my3t here masse,
Ande žy matynez to-morne, mekely I ask,
And žerto prestly I pray my pater and aue

33
Nade he sayned hymself, segge, bot žrye,
Er he watz war in že wod of a won in a mote,
Abof a launde, on a lawe, loken vnder boez
Of mony borelych bole aboute bi že diches:
A castel že comlokest žat euer kny3t a3te,
Pyched on a prayere, a park al aboute,
With a pyked palays pyned ful žik,
Žat vmbete3e mony tre mo žen two myle.
Žat holde on žat on syde že hažel auysed,
As hit schemered and schon žur3 že schyre okez;
Ženne hatz he hendly of his helme, and he3ly he žonkez
Jesus and sayn Gilyan, žat gentyle ar bože,
Žat cortaysly had hym kydde, and his cry herkened.
"Now bone hostel," cože že burne, "I beseche yow ette!"
Ženne gerdez he to Gryngolet with že gilt helez,
And he ful chauncely hatz chosen to že chef gate,
Žat bro3t bremly že burne to že bryge ende

mauler's (non-verse) translation:

31
He climbed over many a cliff in countries unknown,
Having wandered far from his friends, riding as a stranger.
At every shallows and streambed the man crossed,
It was a wonder if he did not find a foe before him,
And one so foul and so fell that fighting was the only option.
So many wonders did that man find in those hills,
It would be too tiresome to tell a tenth part thereof.
Sometimes with dragons he battled, and with wolves as well,
Sometimes with wildmen that dwelled in the crags,
Both with wild bulls and bears, and boars other times,
And ogres of the highlands that chased him about.
Had he not been valiant and unshakable and trusted in God,
Doubtless he would have been killed many times over.
For battle bothered him less than the chill of winter,
When the clouds shed cold rain
That froze before if could fall to the pallid earth.
Nearly slain by the sleet, he slept in his armor,
More than enough nights among the barren rocks,
Where the cold stream ran clattering from the crest
And hung high over his head in hard icicles,
Thus in peril and pain and awful plights
The knight rides across the country until Christmas Eve,

32
In the morning he merrily rides over a hill
Into a forest quite deep, and wondrously wild
With high hills on each side and woods below
Full of huge hoary oaks a hundred at a time;
Hazel and hawthorn were entangled together
With rough ragged moss hanging everywhere
And many wretched birds upon bare branches
Piteously twittered, tormented by the cold.
Gawain upon Gringolet gallops beneath them
Through the muck and the mire, one man, all alone.
Worried about his religious duty, lest he cannot find a way
To attend a service for the Lord, that on that selfsame night,
Was born of a virgin, our suffering to end,
And therefore, sighing, he said, "I beseech you O Lord,
And Mary that is mildest of mothers and so noble,
For some haven where in devotion I might hear mass,
And your matins tomorrow, humbly I beg.
To this end I hereby say my pater and ave

33
The knight had barely crossed himself three times
Before he caught sight through the trees of a building with a moat
In a glade on a mound, overhung by boughs
Of the many burly tree trunks surrounding the moat.
The comeliest castle ever owned by a knight,
It was set in a meadow with a lawn all around,
And guarded by sturdy spiked palisade
That encircled numerous trees and ran more than two miles.
The knight surveyed that side to the stronghold,
As it shimmered and shone through the fair oak trees.
The he properly took off his helmet and piously thanked
Jesus and Saint Julian, who are gentle ones both
And had treated him kindly by listening to his prayer,
"Now good lodging," he said, "I pray yet that this is."
Then he urged Gringolet onward with his gilded spurs,
And by chance had chosen the chief approach
That brought him directly to the edge of the drawbridge.

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