-Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

An alliterative poem dating from the late 14th century, this work begins with a New Year's feast in Camelot featuring King Arthur and his knights. The Green Knight appears and offers everyone his axe in exchange for cutting off their head a year later. Sir Gawain, Arthur’s nephew, accepts and wins the mysterious knight’s axe by cutting off his head. One year later, Gawain travels to the Green Chapel to meet the Green Knight and have his head cut off but ultimately learns that the Green Knight is an illusion created by Morgan le Fay. Only a single manuscript copy of this poem survives. It was famously translated from its original Middle English by fantasy writer and scholar J.R.R. Tolkien.