t down and looked
sadly into the glowing embers and spoke no word.

"Have you no word for me, husband? Can you not even give me a glance?"
asked the lady, and Sir Gawayne turned his eyes to her where she sat;
and then he sprang up in amazement, for there sat no loathly lady, no
ugly and deformed being, but a maiden young and lovely, with black
eyes and long curls of dark hair, with beautiful face and tall and
graceful figure. "Who are you, maiden?" asked Sir Gawayne; and the
fair one replied: "I am your wife, whom you found between the oak and
the holly-tree, and whom you wedded this night."

Sir Gawayne's Choice

"But how has this marvel come to pass?" asked he, wondering, for the
fair maiden was so lovely that he marvelled that he had not known her
beauty even under that hideous disguise. "It is an enchantment to
which I am in bondage," said she. "I am not yet entirely free from it,
but now for a time I may appear to you as I really am. Is my lord
content with his loving bride?" asked she, with a little smile, as she
rose and stood before him. "Content!" he said, as he clasped her in
his arms. "I would not change my dear lady for the fairest dame in
Arthur's court, not though she were Queen Guenever herself. I am the
happiest knight that lives, for I thought to save my uncle and help a
hapless lady, and I have won my own happiness thereby. Truly I shall
never rue the day when I wedded you, dear heart." Long they sat and
talked together, and then Sir Gawayne grew weary, and would fain have
slept, but his lady said: "Husband, now a heavy choice awaits you. I
am under the spell of an evil witch, who has given me my own face and
form for half the day, and the hideous appearance in which you first
saw me for the other half. Choose now whether you will have me fair by
day and ugly by night, or hideous by day and beauteous by night. The
choice is your own."

The Dilemma

Sir Gawayne was no longer oppressed with sleep; the choice before him
was too difficult. If the lady remained hideous by day he would have
to endure the taunts of his fellows; if by night, he would be unhappy
himself. If the lady were fair by day other men might woo her, and he
himself would have no love for her; if she were fair to him alone, his
love would make her look ridiculous before the court and the king.
Nevertheless, acting on the spur of the moment, he spoke: "Oh, be fair
to me only--be your old self by day, and let me have my beauteous