King Arthur, for he had been shriven a little before; and he
wrote thus unto Sir Launcelot: "Flower of all noble knights that ever I
heard of or saw in my days, I, Sir Gawaine, King Lot's son of Orkney,
sister's son unto the noble King Arthur, send unto thee greeting, and
let thee have knowledge, that the tenth day of May I was smitten upon
the old wound which thou gavest me before the city of Benwick, and
through the same wound that thou gavest me I am come unto my death day,
and I will that all the world wit that I Sir Gawaine, Knight of the
Round Table, sought my death, and not through thy deserving, {3} but it
was mine own seeking; wherefore I beseech thee, Sir Launcelot, for to
return again unto this realm and see my tomb, or pray some prayer more
or less for my soul. And that same day that I wrote this letter, I was
hurt to the death in the same wound the which I had of thy hands, Sir
Launcelot, for of a more nobler man might I not be slain. Also, Sir
Launcelot, for all the love that ever was between us, make no tarrying,
but come over the sea in all the haste that thou mayst with thy noble
knights, and rescue that noble king that made thee knight, that is my
lord and uncle King Arthur, for he is full straitly bestood with a
false traitor, which is my half-brother Sir Mordred, and he hath let
crown himself king, and he would have wedded my lady Queen Guenevere,
and so had he done, if she had not put herself in the Tower of London.
And so the tenth day of May last past, my lord and uncle King Arthur
and we all landed upon them at Dover, and there we put that false
traitor Sir Mordred to flight. And there it misfortuned me for to be
stricken upon thy stroke. And the date of this letter was written but
two hours and a half before my death, written with mine own hand, and
so subscribed with part of my heart-blood. And I require thee, as thou
art the most famost knight of the world, that thou wilt see my tomb."
And then Sir Gawaine wept, and also King Arthur wept; and then they
swooned both. And when they awaked both, the king made Sir Gawaine to
receive his Saviour. And then Sir Gawaine prayed the king to send for
Sir Launcelot, and to cherish him above all other knights. And so at
the hour of noon Sir Gawaine betook his soul into the {4} hands of our
Lord God. And then the king let bury him in a chapel within the castle
of Dover; and there yet unto this day all men may see the skull of Sir
Gawaine, and the sa