King Arthur one day was hunting in the woods when suddenly he met a well-armed knight who stopped him and challenged him to fight.
"But I am not armed," protested Arthur.
"All right, then," replied the knight, "I will give you a chance to escape according to your rules of chivalry. I will give you a riddle to solve and a year in which to solve it. Next year at this time you must return to the same spot, again unarmed, and give me the answer to my riddle. If you fail, then I can kill you without violating your code. The riddle is, 'What is the thing that women desire most?'"
Arthur pledged to return and went back to his castle quite disturbed. Sir Gawaine notiiced how upset he was and asked what the problem was. Arthur explained what had happened.
"That is no problem at all," said Sir Gawaine. "All we have to do is ask some women. Surely we will get the answer very quickly."
"That is a very good idea," said King Arthur. "Let's both travel throughout the country and ask for answers. We can write down all of the answers in a book so that we will not forget any."
So both traveled through the country for several months. But the quest turned out to be more difficult than it had appeared at first. All of the women said something different. The young women wanted husbands, married women wanted to be rich, sick women wanted to be well, and old women wanted to be young again. There did not seem to be anything that all women wanted.
So when only one month remained in the year, King Arthur set off again. This time he came to a forest and found within it the ugliest hag that had ever been seen on the earth. King Arthur was so repelled by her appearance that he was going to ride right past her instead of asking for her answer, but she stood in the road and stopped him.
"Why are you riding so fast through the woods that you do not have time to greet a lonely woman?" she demanded.
"I am on an important quest," replied Arthur curtly, trying to get around her."
And I know the only answer to the question you have been asked that can save your life," replied the hag slyly.
"Then tell me quickly," said Arthur.
"On one condition only. I would like to have husband. And I think one of your knights would do fine. So I will tell you the answer to your question when you obtain the promise of one of your knights to marry me." With that she laughed and went into her cabin.
Arthur returned to the castle more dejected than ever. And again Gawaine asked him what the trouble was. As soon as Arthur had told him, he immediately agreed to marry the hag.
"But you would not believe how ugly she is!" protested Arthur.
"It would be but a small price to pay for the life of my king," replied Gawaine. At last Arthur accepted his offer and returned to the hag.
"The answer is very simple," she replied. "What every woman wants is to have her way with men." When the year was up, Arthur returned to the knight and first gave him all of the answers that he and Gawaine had collected.
"All of these answers are wrong," laughed the knight. "Are you ready to die?"
"Wait, I have one more answer," said Arthur. "What every woman wants is to have her way with men."
The knight walked away in fury. "It must have been my sister who told you," he muttered. Arthur returned to Camelot rejoicing, but Sir Gawaine was forced to go to the forest to claim his bride.
As much of a gentleman as he was, Sir Gawaine had to use all of the self-control he had to keep from vomiting at the sight of his bride-to-be. But he greeted her courteously and returned with her to the court. There he submitted bravely to the mockery of the other knights and the townspeople, and took the hag to the chapel and married her.
Sir Gawaine matained his knightly and courteous behaviour until nighttime when he lay in bed with his bride. Then he could not bring himself to kiss her or even look at her.
"What is the matter, my lord, that you do not do your duty as a husband?" asked the hag. Sir Gawaine, who was truthful as well as courteous, replied, "I am very sorry, but I am upset by your age, your ugliness, and your low birth."
"You do wrong to be upset by these things," she replied. "For age brings discretion, and ugliness provides you security from all your rivals, and tru quality does not depend upon birth but character."
Sir Gawaine was impressed by the wisdom of her reply and turned to face her again. but instead of old hag who had been there before, he now saw a beautiful young lady.
"I see you are surprised," she laughed. "I have been enchanted by my evil stepmother. The enchantment could not be broken until a night of the Round Table would wed me."
"But the charm is only half-broken now," she went on. "I can only have my natural form for half of the day. I can either be a hag by day and beautiful for you at night."
Sir Gawaine mused over this choice for a long time. Finally he said, "There are advantages to both and I cannot decide between them. I will let you make the choice. Let it be the way you desire, for my body and soul are yours."
Then the lady rejoiced. "Now I am free of the charm altogether. For the final test to break the spell was that the knight who married me must be willing to let me have my way with him."
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