He came to the green forest, Underneath a green hollen tree, There sat that lady in red scarlet That unseemly was to see.
Some eyes were discourteously turned on the maiden, but she hardly saw them, and at any rate her nose was not crooked, nor had her eyes and mouth changed places, as in the case of the “Loathly Lady.” She heard of the condition on which the lady revealed the secret, and how King Arthur bound himself to bring a fair young knight to wed the hideous being. Then when he revealed to his assembled knights—
Then some took up their hawks, And some took up their hounds, And some sware they would not marry her For cities nor for towns.
Glances again went towards the scarred visage, but Grisell was heedless of them, only listening how Sir Gawaine, Arthur’s nephew, felt that his uncle’s oath must be kept, and offered himself as the bridegroom.
Then after the marriage, when he looked on the lady, instead of the loathly hag he beheld a fair damsel! And he was told by her that he might choose whether she should be foul at night and fair by day, or fair each evening and frightful in the daylight hours. His choice at first was that her beauty should be for him alone, in his home, but when she objected that this would be hard on her, since she could thus never show her face when other dames ride with their lords—
Then buke him gentle Gawayne, Said, “Lady, that’s but a shill; Because thou art mine own lady Thou shalt have all thy will.”
And his courtesy broke the spell of the stepdame, as the lady related—
“She witched me, being a fair young lady, To the green forest to dwell, And there must I walk in woman’s likeness, Most like a fiend in hell.”
Thenceforth the enchantment was broken, and Sir Gawaine’s bride was fair to see.
Grisell had listened intently, absorbed in the narrative, so losing personal thought and feeling that it was startling to her to perceive that Dame Gresford was trying to hush a rude laugh, and one of the young squires was saying, “Hush, hush! for very shame.”
Then she saw that they were applying the story to her, and the blood rushed into her face, but the more courteous youth was trying to turn away attention by calling on the harper for “The Beggar of Bethnal Green,” or “Lord Thomas and Fair Annet,” or any merry ballad. So it was borne in on Grisell that to these young gentlemen she was the lady unseemly to see. Yet though a few hot tears flowed, indignant and sorrowful, the sanguine spirit of youth revived. “Sister Avice had told her how to be not loathly in the sight of those whom she could teach to love her.”