o you
for it, either."
He went down to the Green Knight, and took the food from before him and
put it before himself. Then he took the lady, set her on his own knee,
and he and she went on eating. After dinner he put his finger under her
girdle, took her to the best chamber in the castle, and stood on guard
upon it till morning. Before dawn the lady said to Lawn Dyarrig:
"If the Green Knight strikes the pole of combat first, he'll win the
day; if you strike first, you'll win if you do what I tell you. The
Green Knight has so much enchantment that if he sees it is going against
him the battle is, he'll rise like a fog in the air, come down in the
same form, strike you, and make a green stone of you. When yourself and
himself are going out to fight in the morning, cut a sod a perch long,
in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; you'll leave the sod on
the next little hillock you meet. When the Green Knight is coming down
and is ready to strike, give him a blow with the sod. You'll make a
green stone of him."
As early as the dawn Lawn Dyarrig rose and struck the pole of combat.
The blow that he gave did not leave calf, foal, lamb, kid, or child
waiting for birth, without turning them five times to the left and five
times to the right.
"What do you want?" asked the knight.
"All that's in your kingdom to be against me the first quarter of the
day, and yourself the second quarter.
"You have not left in the kingdom now but myself, and it is early enough
for you that I'll be at you."
The knight faced him, and they went at each other, and fought till late
in the day. The battle was strong against Lawn Dyarrig, when the lady
stood in the door of the castle.
"Increase on your blows and increase on your courage," cried she. "There
is no woman here but myself to wail over you, or to stretch you before
burial."
When the knight heard the voice he rose in the air like a lump of fog.
As he was coming down Lawn Dyarrig struck him with the sod on the right
side of his breast, and made a green stone of him.
The lady rushed out then, and whatever welcome she had for Lawn Dyarrig
the first time, she had twice as much now. Herself and himself went into
the castle, and spent that night very comfortably. In the morning they
rose early, and collected all the gold, utensils, and treasures. Lawn
Dyarrig found the three teeth of his father in a pocket of the Green
Knight, and took them. He and the lady brought all the
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