Sir Gawain, who had thus won grace of his life, rode through wild ways
on Gringalet; oft he lodged in a house, and oft without, and many
adventures did he have and came off victor full often, as at this time I
cannot relate in tale. The hurt that he had in his neck was healed, he
bare the shining girdle as a baldric bound by his side, and made fast
with a knot ’neath his left arm, in token that he was taken in a
fault—and thus he came in safety again to the court.
Then joy awakened in that dwelling when the king knew that the good Sir
Gawain was come, for he deemed it gain. King Arthur kissed the knight,
and the queen also, and many valiant knights sought to embrace him. They
asked him how he had fared, and he told them all that had chanced to
him—the adventure of the chapel, the fashion of the knight, the love of
the lady—at last of the lace. He showed them the wound in the neck which
he won for his disloyalty at the hand of the knight, the blood flew to
his face for shame as he told the tale.