At uni, I took every Medieval course I could and the poem fascinated me. Only at the end of the poem, (spoiler alert) full of frightening moments
and almost beheadings, do we discover that de Hautdesert, Gawain's host
and the Green Knight are one and the same.
Fast forward from uni years. I had been divorced and was now a single mom. When I was in Rockport, Massachusetts and I saw a faux suit of armor in a store window, I bought it and wrestled it into the car. Once home, I spray painted it green. Green can be a symbol of fertility which also pleased me.
My daughter when she saw the knight in the corner next to the couch was not impressed that we were the only family she knew that had their own Green Knight. Although she was well-read in the classics, she managed not to read the poem. I had a copy in old English. I didn't blame her.
It became a game between us. She ran her own anti-armor campaign. At Christmas she hung decorations from his eye openings and draped him with tinsel and icicles. She dressed him in scarves, not realizing that sashes were a part of the poem. Any guests were offered the knight, almost to the point where she pleaded with them. There were no takers.
Eventually we moved to Europe and the knight remained in Boston. I have no idea what happened to it. The Green Knight jokes remained part of the family history.
Sometimes I wish I could find another suit of armor and a can of green paint. I know where I would place it in my French flat. I would say nothing to my daughter, but I would have a camera ready when she traveled to visit and walked in to face the new Green Knight.
We do have a family trandition of giving books on Christmas Eve to one another then going to bed and reading them. As a joke, I could buy her this...
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