befell a very
wonderful thing, for, upon the instant, it happened in that wise as she
commanded. For Sir Gawaine immediately began to shrink and to shrivel so
that in the space one might count five he had ceased to be what he was
and became instead a misshapen and diminutive dwarf.

Then all they of the Lady Vivien's party laughed and laughed until all
the woods echoed with their mirth. And thus laughing, they took their
departure, and rode away from that place, leaving Sir Gawaine standing
there all bewildered and astonished with terror at what had befallen
him.

So he stood for a little, like one in a maze, but after those others had
entirely gone, he suddenly awoke, as it were, to his woful case. Then
straightway he began running hither and thither, as though he had gone
mad. And he ran in this direction and in that direction, seeking for the
Lady Vivien, but nowhere could he discover any sign of her or her court.
And ever as he ran he cried aloud in a voice of exceeding agony, "Have
mercy! Have mercy!" But, as aforesaid, the lady and those who were with
her had disappeared, and only the lonely woodlands surrounded him. Yet
it appeared to him that he heard the sound of mocking laughter echoing
through the forest, though whether that was really so or whether he was
cheated by his fancy he could not certainly tell.

So after a while Sir Gawaine flung himself down upon the earth and wept
with despair. Then after another while he bestirred himself and prayed
God for help and wiped his eyes. And after that he gathered together the
pieces of his armor which he could not now wear upon his shrunken and
misshapen body, and he carried these pieces of armor away and hid them
in a cave which he had observed not far distant from that place. Then he
mounted upon his horse and rode away, not knowing whither to turn or
what to do in the direful trouble that had fallen upon him.

Now after he had ridden for a while in that way, perched high upon his
horse like some diminutive and withered ape, being still in the
woodlands, he was aware of the sound of voices and of horses' hoofs
coming toward him and then he was further aware of a company approaching
from a distance through the half-naked forest.

[Sidenote: _The Forest company behold Sir Gawaine as a dwarf._]

Then Sir Gawaine was filled with a great panic of shame, and he thought
of naught but how he might hide himself and his misshapen body from
those who were coming. But er