Honor

Roy C. Lackey · 01 Dec 2005, 09:17 · from 2005-December.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2005 03:17:41 -0600
Subject: (urth) Honor
Message-ID: <002b01c5f658$170fe600$ec3ec6d8 at rclackey.stic.net>

hartshorn quoted and wrote:
>> Two things I don't understand about that scene. One is the point of the
>> Green Knight story, with Able in the role of Gawain.
>
>Abel was the Green Knight, IIRC.   Gawain gets let off with a nick on the
>neck because he behaves honorably even though the supernatural scales are
>weighed against him.

Able's original shield was plain green. He doesn't actually use the
designation "Green Knight" when he relates his little story to Leort, but
that's clearly the story. And Able doesn't get off with a nick -- according
to him, his head was cut off and bounced across the floor. Able stood up,
picked up his head, and tucked it under his arm. (W, 98)

-Roy

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