Gawayne and the Green Knight: A Fairy Tale

By noon the next day, Gawayne and his host / Rode side by side along the perilous coast / Of the gray Mere, from whose unquiet sleep / Reverberating murmurs of the deep / Startled the still December's listening air.

The baron, shuddering, pointed seaward. "There," / He said, "year in, year out, these voices haunt / That fearful water; heaven knows what they want! / Men tell me -- and I have no doubt it's true -- / They are knights-errant whom the Green Knight slew! / Woe unto him, the over-bold, who dares / Adventure near that uncouth monster's snares!" / Quoth Gawayne: "How have "you" escaped the net?" / The baron answered: "I? We never met! / When I'm about, he seems to shun the place, / And where he is, I never show my face; / But if we did meet, 't would be safe to say / Not more than one of us would get away!"