The Green Knight - Sir Pertolepe

Sir Pertolepe was the second son of the noble house that held the four perilous passages to Castle Dangerous, the stronghold where Dame Lionesse was besieged by the Red Knight of the Red Lands, the tyrant Sir Ironside who had hanged nearly forty knights from the trees around her walls. His elder brother, Sir Percard, held the Black Launds and had been killed by Beaumains, the kitchen knave who was in truth Gareth of Orkney, Arthur's nephew. Pertolepe held the Green Launds, the green meadows and forest roads that were the second barrier, and he wore all-green harness from helm to heel, a green shield, and green trappings for his horse, so that when he rode out he looked like a figure of the spring itself, armed and dangerous. He was a knight of great strength and reputation, known at Camelot as one of the most formidable champions on the road, and when he learned that his brother had been slain by a kitchen boy, he armed himself and rode out to avenge the death.

When Lynette, the sharp-tongued damsel who was sister to the besieged lady, rode with Beaumains through the Green Launds, Pertolepe blocked their path and demanded to know whether this was the knight who had killed Percard. Lynette answered with her usual scorn, declaring that her champion was indeed the kitchen knave who had slain the Black Knight, and that he would slay Pertolepe too if the Green Knight did not let them pass. Pertolepe was enraged by the death of his brother and by the insolence of the damsel, and he told Beaumains that he would prove whether a scullion could truly defeat a knight of honour. The two prepared to joust, and their spears were ready.

The duel was longer and more terrible than the fight with Percard had been. Pertolepe was fresh and furious, while Gareth had already fought the Black Knight and was weary. They came together with spears, and the shock of their meeting was so great that both horses were brought to their knees. They fought on foot with swords, and Pertolepe struck Gareth such blows that the young knight's armour was dented and his shield was split. But Gareth, who had the blood of the house of Orkney in his veins and the strength of a man who had trained for a year in silence, pressed forward with a fury that matched the Green Knight's own. At last Gareth struck Pertolepe a blow that brought him down, and stood over him with sword raised, ready to kill him as he had killed Percard.

But Pertolepe was not Percard. He looked up at Gareth and yielded, asking for mercy and swearing that he would become a knight of King Arthur's court and serve the fellowship of the Round Table. Gareth, whose heart was gentler than his arm, spared him and made him swear upon his sword that he would ride to Camelot and tell the king of Beaumains' deeds. Pertolepe kept his oath. He rode to Arthur's court, told the story of his defeat and his brother's death, and was received into the fellowship. He became a loyal knight of the Round Table, and his friendship with Gareth grew so deep that when Gareth married Lionesse, Pertolepe served as one of the carvers at the wedding feast, the knight who had once barred the road now cutting meat for the celebration of love.

Pertolepe's redemption was complete. He fought beside Gareth at the tournament of Kink Kenadon, where Gareth proved his worth before the whole court, and he was present at the small dinner party that Queen Guinevere, the wife of King Arthur, held for her favourite knights. He even appears among the knights who tried to heal Sir Urre, the wounded Hungarian knight who could only be cured by the touch of the best knight in the world, a quest that would ultimately prove Lancelot's supremacy. In the broader Arthurian tradition, the Green Knight is an archetype that appears in many tales, most famously as the supernatural challenger in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the giant who could survive beheading and who tested Sir Gawain's honour at the Green Chapel. But in Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Pertolepe is the Green Knight of the Green Launds, the second brother who yielded where his elder had died, and whose conversion proved that the kitchen knight's strength was matched only by his mercy.