1558
Then
ruþes
bestirs
hym
himself
þe
renk,
knight
&
ryses
to
þe
masse,
Gawayne rises, hears mass, and then dines.
112
1559
&
siþen
then
hor
their
diner
dinner
watȝ
dyȝt
prepared
&
derely
splendidly
serued.
1560
Þe
lede
knight
with
þe
ladyeȝ
layked
played
alle
day,
Meanwhile the lord pursues the wild boar,
1561
Bot
þe
lorde
ouer
þe
londeȝ
countryside
launced
dashed
ful
ofte,
1562
Sweȝ
pursues
his
vncely
ferocious
swyn,
boar
þat
swyngeȝ
rushes
bi
over
þe
bonkkeȝ,
slopes
1563
&
bote
bit
þe
best
of
his
bracheȝ
hounds
þe
bakkeȝ
backs
in sunder;
asunder
that bit the backs of his hounds asunder,
1564
Þer
where
he
bode in his bay,
stood at bay
tel[1]
till
bawe-men
bowmen
hit
it (=bay)
breken,
broke
1565
&
made[2]
made
hym,
maw-gref his bed,
despite himself
forto
mwe
move
vtter;
into the open
1566
So
felle
many
floneȝ
arrows
per
flete,
flew
when
þe
folk
gedered;
assembled
and caused the stiffest of the hunters to start.
1567
Bot
ȝet
þe
styffest
strongest ones
to
start
start aside
bi stoundeȝ
at times
he
made,
1568
Til
at þe last
at last
he
watȝ
so
mat,
exhausted
he
myȝt
could
no
more
renne,
run
1569
Bot
in
with
þe
hast
speed
þat
he
myȝt,
could
he
to
a
hole
wynneȝ,
goes
The boar runs into a hole in a rock by the side of a brook.
1570
Of
a
rasse,
ledge
bi
a
rokk,
þer
where
renneȝ
runs
þe
boerne,
stream
1571
He
gete
got
þe
bonk
slope
at
his
bak,
back
bigyneȝ
to
scrape,
paw the ground
1572
Þe
froþe
froth
femed[3]
foamed
at
his
mouth
vnfayre
hideous
bi
at
þe
wykeȝ,
corners
The froth foams at his mouth.
1573
Whetteȝ
sharpens
his
whyte
tuscheȝ;
tusks
with
of
hym
þen
irked
it wearied
1574
Alle
þe
burneȝ
men
so
bolde,
þat
hym
by
near
stoden,
stood
1575
To
nye
harass
hym
on-ferum,
from a distance
bot
neȝe
approach
hym
non
none
durst
None durst approach him,
1576
for
because of
woþe;
danger
1577
He
hade
hurt
wounded
so
mony
byforne,
1578
Þat
al
þuȝt[4]
it seemed to
þenne
ful
loþe,
hateful
1579
Be
more
wyth
by
his
tuscheȝ
tusks
torne,
torn
so many had he torn with his tusks.
1580
Þat
breme
fierce
watȝ
[&]
brayn-wod
frenzied
bothe.
as well
Then arose the knight, and betook him to Mass, after which breakfast was joyfully served, and Sir Gawain played with the lady all that day. But over the country the lord was riding following the mischievous boar by steep hillsides, and the beast bit the backs of his hounds in two. There he bode at bay till the bowmen broke in upon him and caused him to utter a cry as the arrows fell fleet upon him when the folk gathered about him. But yet he made the stoutest-hearted to start, until at the last he was so weary that he could not run any longer, but as quickly as he could he gained a hole in a hillock near a rock at the side of a brook. He set himself with his back to the hillock and began to scratch, and full loathsome was his foaming at the mouth, and about his white tusks, and all the men who stood by him were a-weary, but at some distance were they, for near him none durst
aspire.
He had hurt so many before
That no man did desire
To be torn by his tusks any more,
For his brain was fiercely on fire.
Text and side-notes from Richard Morris (1869). Interlinear glosses from Brunetti. Translation from Ernest Kirtlan's Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Rendered Literally Into Modern English.
Sources integrated and rendered by James K. Tauber.