And why that noble prince bare the pentangle I am minded to tell you,
though my tale tarry thereby. It is a sign that Solomon set ere-while,
as betokening truth; for it is a figure with five points and each line
overlaps the other, and nowhere hath it beginning or end, so that in
English it is called “the endless knot.” And therefore was it well
suiting to this knight and to his arms, since Gawain was faithful in
five and five-fold, for pure was he as gold, void of all villainy and
endowed with all virtues. Therefore he bare the pentangle on shield and
surcoat as truest of heroes and gentlest of knights.
For first he was faultless in his five senses; and his five fingers
never failed him; and all his trust upon earth was in the five wounds
that Christ bare on the cross, as the Creed tells. And wherever this
knight found himself in stress of battle he deemed well that he drew his
strength from the five joys which the Queen of Heaven had of her Child.
And for this cause did he bear an image of Our Lady on the one half of
his shield, that whenever he looked upon it he might not lack for aid.
And the fifth five that the hero used were frankness and fellowship
above all, purity and courtesy that never failed him, and compassion
that surpasses all; and in these five virtues was that hero wrapped and
clothed. And all these, five-fold, were linked one in the other, so that
they had no end, and were fixed on five points that never failed,
neither at any side were they joined or sundered, nor could ye find
beginning or end. And therefore on his shield was the knot shapen,
red-gold upon red, which is the pure pentangle. Now was Sir Gawain
ready, and he took his lance in hand, and bade them all _Farewell_, he
deemed it had been for ever.