For hit is grene as my goune. Sir Gawayne, ȝe maye Þenk vpon þis ilke þrepe, þer þou forth þryngeȝ Among prynces of prys; and þis a pure token 330 Of þe chaunce _at_ þe grene chapel _of_ cheualrous knyȝteȝ. And ȝe schal in þis nwe ȝer aȝayn to my woneȝ, And we schyn reuel þe remnaunt of þis ryche fest ful bene.' Þer laþed hym fast þe lord, 335 And sayde 'With my wyf, I wene, We schal yow wel acorde, Þat watȝ your enmy kene.' 'Nay, for soþe,' quod þe segge, and sesed hys helme, And hatȝ hit of hendely, and þe haþel þonkkeȝ, 340 'I haf soiorned sadly; sele yow bytyde! And He ȝelde hit yow ȝare þat ȝarkkeȝ al menskes! And comaundeȝ me to þat cortays, your comlych fere, Boþe þat on and þat oþer myn honoured ladyeȝ, Þat þus hor knyȝt wyth hor kest han koyntly bigyled. 345 Bot hit is no ferly þaȝ a fole madde, And þurȝ wyles of wymmen be wonen to sorȝe, For so watȝ Adam in erde with one bygyled, And Salamon with fele sere, and Samson eftsoneȝ Dalyda dalt hym hys wyrde, and Dauyth þerafter 350 Watȝ blended with Barsabe, þat much bale þoled. Now þese were wrathed wyth her wyles, hit were a wynne huge To luf hom wel, and leue hem not, a leude þat couþe. For þes wer forne þe freest, þat folȝed alle þe sele Exellently of alle þyse oþer vnder heuenryche 355 þat mused; And alle þay were biwyled With wymmen þat þay vsed. Þaȝ I be now bigyled, Me þink me burde be excused.' 360 [Foot-note: 34 Hector] Hestor _MS._] [Foot-note: 37 dyngeȝ] dynneȝ _MS._] [Foot-note: 63 not] mot _MS._] [Foot-note: 69 and] & & _MS._] [Foot-note: 137 as] at _MS._] [Foot-note: 172 welcom] welcon _MS._] [Foot-note: 179 þy (1st)] þy þy _MS._] [Foot-note: 237 he] he he _MS._] [Foot-note: 322 hardily] hardilyly _MS._] [Foot-note: 331 _at... of_ (2nd)] _transposed in MS._] [Foot-note: 358 With] With wyth _MS._] VI THE PEARL ABOUT 1375. The facts leading to the presumption that _Pearl_ and _Sir Gawayne_ are by the same author have been mentioned in the prefatory note to _Sir Gawayne_. But the poems are markedly different in subject and tone. _Pearl_, like Chaucer's _Death of Blanche the Duchess_, is an elegy cast in the vision form made popular by the _Roman de la Rose_. The subject is a little girl, who died before she was two years old, and the treatment is deeply religious. Her death is symbolized as the loss of a pearl without spot, that slipped from its owner's hand through the grass into the earth.