120
2160
Thenne
gyrdeȝ
strikes (spurs)
he
to
into
Gryngolet,
&
gedereȝ
picks up
þe
rake,
path
Then he pursues his journey,
2161
Schowueȝ
pushes
in
bi
a
schore,
hill-side
at
(...syde) beside
a
schaȝe
small wood
syde,
2162
Rideȝ
þurȝ
through
þe
roȝe
rugged
bonk,
slope
ryȝt
to
þe
dale;
valley
rides through the dale, and looks about.
2163
&
þenne
he
wayted
looked
hym
aboute,
&
wylde
hit
hym
þoȝt,
seemed to
2164
&
seȝe
saw
no
syngne
sign
of
resette,
shelter
bisydeȝ
round about
nowhere,
He sees no sign of a resting-place, but only high and steep banks.
2165
Bot
hyȝe
high
bonkkeȝ
hill-sides
&
brent,
steep
vpon
boþe
halue,
sides
2166
&
ruȝe
rugged
knokled
knobbed
knarreȝ,
crags
with
knorned
rough
stoneȝ;
2167
Þe
skweȝ
clouds
of
by
þe
scowtes
jutting rocks
skayued[1]
grazed
hym
þoȝt.
seemed to
2168
Þenne
he
houed,
halted
&
wyth-hylde
held back
his
hors
at
þat tyde,
then
2169
&
ofte
chaunged
(...cher) looked about
his
cher,
þe
chapel
to
seche;
seek
2170
He
seȝ
saw
non
suche
in
no
syde,
direction
&
selly
strange
hym
þoȝt,
it seemed to
No chapel could he discern.
2171
Sone
except
a lyttel
a little way off
on
a
launde,
glade
a
lawe
knoll
as
hit
we[re];
2172
A
balȝ
smooth-surfaced
berȝ,
mound
bi
a
bonke,
slope
þe
brymme
water’s edge
by-syde,
At last he sees a hill by the side of a stream;
2173
Bi
a
forȝ
channel
of
a
flode,
stream
þat
ferked
flowed
þare;
there
2174
Þe
borne
stream
blubred
bubbled
þer-inne,
there
as
as if
hit
boyled
hade.
2175
Þe
knyȝt
kacheȝ
urges on
his
caple,
horse
&
com
came
to
þe
lawe,
knoll
thither he goes,
2176
Liȝteȝ
dismounts
doun
luflyly,
graciously
&
at
a
lynde
tree
tacheȝ
fastens
alights and fastens his horse to a branch of a tree.
2177
Þe
rayne,
rein
&
his
riche,
noble steed
with
a
roȝe
rugged
braunche;
2178
Þen[n]e
he
boȝeȝ
goes
to
þe
berȝe,
mound
aboute
hit
he
walke,
He walks around the hill, debating with himself what it might be,
2179
D[e]batande
deliberating
with
hym-self,
quat
what
hit
be
myȝt.
2180
Hit
hade
a
hole
on
þe
ende,
&
on
ayþer
both
syde,
2181
&
ouer-growen
overgrown
with
gresse
grass
in
glodes
patches
ay where,
everywhere
2182
&
al
watȝ
holȝ
hollow
in-with,
within
nobot
only
an
olde
caue,
cave
2183
Or
a
creuisse
fissure
of
an
olde
cragge,
crag
he
couþe
could
hit
noȝt
deme
with spelle say which
and at last finds an old cave in the crag.
2184
with
spelle,
2185
“We,[2]
ah
lorde,”
quod
þe
gentyle
noble
knyȝt,
2186
“Wheþer þis be
can this be
þe
grene
chapelle;
2187
He
myȝt
aboute
myd-nyȝt,
midnight
He prays that about midnight he may tell his matins.
2188
[Þ]e
dele
devil
his
matynnes
matins
telle!”
recite
Then spurred he Gringolet, and betook himself along the path by the side of a wood, and rode over a rough hill into the valley. And he lingered there some time, and a wild place he thought it, for he saw no resting-place, but only high hills on both sides, and rough, rugged rocks and huge boulders, and the hill shadows seemed desolating to him. Then he drew up his horse, and it seemed wondrous strange to him that he saw not the Green Chapel on any side. At length a little way off he caught sight of a round hillock by the side of a brook, and there was a ford across the brook, and the water therein bubbled as though it were boiling. The knight caught up the reins and came to the hill, alighted, and tied up the reins to the rugged branch of a tree. Then he went to the hill and walked round about it, debating within himself what place it might be. It had a hole at the end and on either side, and it was overgrown with tufts of grass and was all round and hollow within. He thought it nought but an old cave or a crevice. Within and about it there seemed to be
a spell.
'Ah lord,' quoth the gentle knight,
Is this the green chapel?
Here truly at midnight
Might the devil his matins tell.'
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.