I. i In the beginning

[gawainandthegreenknight]

After the siege and the assault were ceased at Troy,
The city shattered and burnt to cinders and ash,
The man that the treasons there had wrought
Was tried for his treachery, the truest on earth.
It was the noble Aeneas and his high kindred
That then conquered countries, and became lords
Well-nigh of all the wealth in the Western Isles:
When rich Romulus comes swiftly to Rome,
With great pride he first builds upon that place
And names it his own name, as it's now known;
Ticius to Tuscany, and builds towns;
Langobard in Lombardy lifts up homes;
And far over the French flood Felix Brutus,
On many banks full broad, Britain with joy
He begins;
Where war and wrack and wonder
By turns has passed therein,
And oft both bliss and blunder
Have swiftly shifted since.

And when this Britain was built by this powerful prince,
Bold men were bred therein, that loved battle,
That wrought trouble in many a turning time.
More marvels in this land have more often befallen
Than in any other that I know of, since that time.
But of all that here dwelt as Kings of Britain,
Ever was Arthur the highest, as I have heard tell.
Therefore an adventure on this earth I intend to show,
That some men might hold as a marvel to see,
And an extraordinary adventure of all Arthur's wonders.
If you will listen to this lay but a little while,
I shall tell it now just as I heard it in town
With tongue,
As it is set down ever
In story bold and strong,
With letters locked together
As in this land's been long.