Then the king comforted the knight, and the court laughed loudly at the tale, and all made accord that the lords and the ladies who belonged to the Round Table, each hero among them, should wear bound about him a baldric of bright green[11] for the sake of Sir Gawain. And to this was agreed all the honour of the Round Table, and he who ware it was honoured the more thereafter, as it is testified in the best book of romance. The end of the tale That in Arthur’s days this adventure befell, the book of Brutus bears witness. For since that bold knight came hither first, and the siege and the assault were ceased at Troy, I wis Many a venture herebefore Hath fallen such as this: May He that bare the crown of thorn Bring us unto His bliss. _Amen_ Notes [0]. Page 2.—_Carol._ Dance accompanied by song. Often mentioned in old romances. [1]. Page 4.—_Agravain_, “_à la dure main_.” This characterisation of Gawain’s brother seems to indicate that there was a French source at the root of this story. The author distinctly tells us more than once that the tale, as he tells it, was written _in a book_. M. Gaston Paris thinks that the direct source was an Anglo-Norman poem, now lost. [2]. Page 10.—_If any in this hall holds himself so hardy._ This, the main incident of the tale, is apparently of very early date. The oldest version we possess is that found in the Irish tale of the _Fled Bricrend_ (Bricriu’s feast), where the hero of the tale is the Irish champion, Cuchulinn. Two mediæval romances, the _Mule sans Frein_ (French) and _Diu Krône_ (German), again attribute it to Gawain; while the continuator of Chrétien de Troye’s _Conte del Graal_ gives as hero a certain Carados, whom he represents as Arthur’s nephew; and the prose _Perceval_ has Lancelot. So far as the mediæval versions are concerned, the original hero is undoubtedly Gawain; and our poem gives the fullest and most complete form of the story we possess. In the Irish version the magician is a _giant_, and the abnormal size and stature of the Green Knight is, in all probability, the survival of a primitive feature. His curious _colour_ is a trait found nowhere else. In _Diu Krône_ we are told that the challenger changes shapes in a terrifying manner, but no details are given.