One of the earliest great stories of English literature after ?Beowulf?, ?Sir Gawain? is the strange tale of a green knight on a green horse, who rudely interrupts King Arthur's Round Table festivities one Yuletide, challenging the knights to a wager. Simon Armitrage, one of Britain's leading poets, has produced an inventive and groundbreaking translation that " helps] liberate ?Gawain ?from academia" (?Sunday Telegraph?).

Chrysanthemum loves her name, until she starts going to school and the other children make fun of it.

“Morpurgo's dramatic telling captures the vitality of the tale as well as its beauty and mystery.” — Booklist (starred review) Welcome to a medieval world full of sword fights and shape-shifting, monsters and magic, and timeless characters both gallant and wonderfully human. Written anonymously in the fourteenth century, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is retold in its entirety by Michael Morpurgo in a lively and accessible narration that captures all the tale’s drama and humor. Vivid illustrations by the celebrated Michael Foreman infuse this classic tale with dragons, swords, and medieval pageantry.

Contains stories from the age of chivalry, knights and holy quests.

"This Norton Critical Edition of the anonymously written fourteenth-century Arthurian romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is derived from a verse translation by Marie Borroff, first translated in 1967. The poem follows Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's court, as his honor is tested by the Green Knight. After succeeding in beheading the Green Knight, who survives the ordeal, Gawain must uphold his end of the bargain and, after a year's time, meet with the Green Knight again so that the knight may return the grim favor and behead Gawain. The "Contexts" in this Critical Edition provide readers with selections of the poem in its original Middle English, as well as other Arthurian stories that may have influenced the anonymous Gawain-poet. "Criticism" includes a selection of essays on themes ranging from the poem's descriptive techniques, to its use of time and gender. A chronology and selected bibliography are also included"--