over; in the first instance in the section which, in my Perceval studies, I have called the Brun de Branlant section, as it is devoted to Arthur’s expedition against that recalcitrant noble. Gawain’s meeting with the lady takes place, as he here explains, during the siege. Later on, on the expedition against Chastel Orguellous, related in these pages, Arthur and his knights come all unwittingly to the castle of the lady’s brother, Bran de Lis, and Gawain, realising the position, relates the story of the first meeting.
Now in the best and fullest texts the two versions do not agree—they are, in fact, incapable of being harmonised—and the curious point is that this second version, related by Gawain himself, and included in a collection of tales of which he is the hero, represents his conduct in a distinctly less favourable light. In the Studies above referred to I have entered at length into the question, and have expressed my opinion that this second form is really the older, and owes its somewhat repellent character to the fact that it is a survival of a very early, pre-chivalric stage of tradition. It is worthy of note that the subsequent
