Then Arthur before the high dais salutes the Green Knight, bids him welcome, and entreats him to stay awhile at his Court.  The knight says that his errand is not to abide in any dwelling, but to seek the most valiant of the heroes of the Round Table that he may put his courage to the proof, and thus satisfy himself as to the fame of Arthur’s court.  “I come,” he says, “in peace, as ye may see by this branch that I bear here.  Had I come with hostile intentions, I should not have left my hauberk, helmet, shield, sharp spear, and other weapons behind me.  But because I desire no war, ‘my weeds are softer.’  If thou be so bold as all men say, thou wilt grant me the request I am about to make.”  “Sir courteous knight,” replies Arthur, “if thou cravest battle only, here failest thou not to fight.”  “Nay,” says the Green Knight, “I seek no fighting.  Here about on this bench are only beardless children.  Were I arrayed in arms on a high steed no man here would be a match for me (ll. 250-282).  But it is now Christmas time, and this is the New Year, and I see around me many brave ones;—­if any be so bold in his blood that dare strike a stroke for another, I shall give him this rich axe to do with it whatever he pleases.  I shall abide the first blow just as I sit, and will stand him a stroke, stiff on this floor, provided that I deal him another in return.

      And yet give I him respite,
      A twelvemonth and a day;
      Now haste and let see tite (soon)
      Dare any here-in ought say.’”

If he astounded them at first, much more so did he after this speech, and fear held them all silent.  The knight, righting himself in his saddle, rolls fiercely his red eyes about, bends his bristly green brows, and strokes his beard awaiting a reply.  But finding none that would carp with him, he exclaims, “What! is this Arthur’s house, the fame of which has spread through so many realms?  Forsooth, the renown of the Round Table is overturned by the word of one man’s speech, for all tremble for dread without a blow being struck!” (ll. 283-313).  With this he laughed so loud that Arthur blushed for very shame, and waxed as wroth as the wind.  “I know no man,” he says, “that is aghast at thy great words.  Give me now thy axe and I will grant thee thy request!” Arthur seizes the axe, grasps the handle, and sternly brandishes it about, while the Green Knight, with a stern cheer and a dry countenance, stroking his beard and drawing down his coat, awaits the blow (ll. 314-335).  Sir Gawayne, the nephew of the king, beseeches his uncle to let him undertake the encounter; and, at the earnest entreaty of his nobles, Arthur consents “to give Gawayne the game” (ll. 336-365).

Sir Gawayne then takes possession of the axe, but, before the blow is dealt, the Green Knight asks the name of his opponent.  “In good faith,” answers the good knight, “Gawayne I am called, that bids thee to this buffet, whatever