‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ by anon/Gawain poet

Another slightly rule-bending choice but while it’s a poem I’d also argue that it’s as much of a short story as Chaucer’s The Nun’s Priest’s Tale et al, and written at exactly the same time in the 14^th Century. I half-heartedly collect versions/translations of Gawain’s encounter with the eponymous Christmas visitor to King Arthur’s court and his later tribulations with a seductive noblewoman. There’s something to be said for most ‘translations’ but Simon Armitage’s recent effort (Faber & Faber, 2009) is particularly good, though I would also urge readers to have at least a bit of a bash at the original too.

First printed edition Syr Gawayne: A Collection of Ancient Romance-Poems by Scottish and English Authors Relating to That Celebrated Knight of the Round Table, The Bannatyne Club, 1839