One of the earliest great stories of English literature after ?Beowulf?, ?Sir Gawain? is the strange tale of a green knight on a green horse, who rudely interrupts King Arthur's Round Table festivities one Yuletide, challenging the knights to a wager. Simon Armitrage, one of Britain's leading poets, has produced an inventive and groundbreaking translation that " helps] liberate ?Gawain ?from academia" (?Sunday Telegraph?).

“Morpurgo's dramatic telling captures the vitality of the tale as well as its beauty and mystery.” — Booklist (starred review) Welcome to a medieval world full of sword fights and shape-shifting, monsters and magic, and timeless characters both gallant and wonderfully human. Written anonymously in the fourteenth century, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is retold in its entirety by Michael Morpurgo in a lively and accessible narration that captures all the tale’s drama and humor. Vivid illustrations by the celebrated Michael Foreman infuse this classic tale with dragons, swords, and medieval pageantry.

Strong and powerful warriors of nobility and honor, the Knights of the Round Table fought for kings, rescued damsels, and undertook dangerous quests. But true love may be the most perilous quest of all… Sir Lancelot, First Knight of King Arthur’s realm and the Queen’s champion, cannot be defeated by any earthly man—as long as he keeps his oaths to Arthur and Guinevere. Though arrogant and supremely confident, he will be brought to his knees by a mere maiden: Elaine of Corbenic. Together, they will have a son, Galahad—the knight destined to find the Holy Grail. Lancelot du Lac is the greatest knight of a peerless age, blessed by the Lady of the Lake with extraordinary military prowess. His fighting ability has earned him a place at King Arthur's side, but the powers the Lady has given him come with a terrible price. Elaine of Corbenic is struggling to hold her impoverished family together. The keep is a wreck and the peasants, starving, are on the brink of rebellion. Elaine's father is obsessed with finding the Holy Grail, and her older brother, maimed by Lancelot in a joust, is a bitter drunkard. Without a dowry, she has little hope for the future. Incognito, Lancelot rides into Corbenic on his way to the king's tournament. He finds the practical Elaine irresistible. Thoroughly dismayed when she reveals her contempt for "Lancelot," he must face his own arrogance to win her hand. For only with Elaine at his side will Lancelot have the strength to free himself from the enchantments that bind him…

Elise keeps her cards close to her chest. Few people know that she's also Blanchefleur le Fay, the celebrated singer. But she has an even greater secret… Her baby daughter is the result of a brief but intense affair with Gawain, Count of Meaux. Duty-bound to marry, Gawain is back in Troyes to meet his bride. So why can't he stop thinking about the sweet silver-voiced girl he met the last time he was there? And when he finds his mistress again Gawain must choose between duty…and forbidden desire.

Sir Gawains Little Green Book retells two of the classic stories about one of King Arthurs foremost knights. The Green Knight takes its title and its story from the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In The Green Knight Sir Gawain reminisces, looking back on his life from his point of view as an aging legend. He recalls his youth, when he was much greener, and his first adventure, the only one that has remained his through all the centuries. One Christmas the knights of King Arthur are waiting for the Yuletide banquet. Arthur, as is his custom, will not start a meal on a great feast until some wonder has been seen or miracle performed. This Christmas he is rewarded by a huge, green giant riding into his castle on his green horse, carrying a huge green axe. The giant proposes a simple game, an exchange of blows. One knight gets to try to chop the giants head off with the green axe. In a year and a day that knight will seek out the Green Knight, offering his neck for a return stroke. No one is eager to take up this challenge, and just when it looks like it will fall to Arthur, Gawain, and the kings nephew, volunteers. He takes the green axe and neatly and completely slices off the head of the green giant. The intruder walks over to where his head had fallen, picks it up and it announces that he is the knight of the Green Chapel and that is where Sir Gawain should seek him in a year and day to receive his return blow. He then remounts his horse and, carrying his head, rides away. For the rest of the year Gawain dallies. He wants to ride out in search of the Green Knight, but Arthur keeps him close to court out of love. Spring become fall and Gawain finally sets out. In the course of his journey he meets several different types of people: A peasant wife, a knight guarding a ford and a wild man of the woods. None of them have ever heard of a place called the Green Chapel. Finally, just before Christmas, he finds himself before a great castle. He is welcomed and made much of as a famous knight from a great court. He is told that the Green Chapel is very nearby. His host proposes a game. Gawain should rest until New Years Day, when he must keep his appointment. In that time he would exchange whatever he won around the castle with the lord of the castle for whatever he got in the course of a days hunting. Each morning for the next three days, when Gawain awakes, the lady of the castle is in his room. She throws herself at him, asking for lessons in love. Gawain is honorable, and does not give in. He does accept kisses from her. Meanwhile her husband is hunting, first deer, then a boar, then a fox. Each evening Gawain gives the host kisses in return for his hunting prizes. On the final morning Gawain weakens. While he doesnt give in to the ladys demands for love he does accept a gift from her, a green belt, that she tells him will keep him from being wounded in any way. When that nights exchange takes place, Gawain doesnt mention this prize. Finally, Gawain sets out for the Green Chapel. It is a cold and gray day. The page sent along to guide tries to scare him off, but Gawain goes on alone. He descends into the valley where the Green Chapel is said to be but doesnt see anything. Eventually he hears the sound of a sharpening wheel. Then the Green Knight makes himself known, vaulting down to the valley floor on the haft of a new axe. Gawain, true to his word, opens his collar and offers his neck to the giant. The knight takes his swing, but Gawain flinches. The giant tries again, but it is a feint. Finally a third blow comes, which nicks Gawains neck, causing just a scratch. Gawain leaps back, ready to fight, but the Green Knight just stands laughing at him. The Green Knight then reveals himself as the lord of the castle that had harbored Gawain. He had been changed into this form by Gawai

Restores Gawain to his true role as the honorable representative and servant of the Goddess.

More than fifty specialists have contributed to this new edition of volume 1 of The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. The design of the original work has established itself so firmly as a workable solution to the immense problems of analysis, articulation and coordination that it has been retained in all its essentials for the new edition. The task of the new contributors has been to revise and integrate the lists of 1940 and 1957, to add materials of the following decade, to correct and refine the bibliographical details already available, and to re-shape the whole according to a new series of conventions devised to give greater clarity and consistency to the entries.

Young Gawain proves himself a worthy knight when he accepts the challenge of a mysterious visitor from the North Country.