Reading Quiz

Questions

1. What, according to the narrator, is the most glorious story of all of the stories of England's glory?
2. What time of year is it in the beginning of the story?
3. Why won't King Arthur start eating? What is he waiting for?
4. What does the Green Knight carry in his hands when he first walks in the room?
5. Who is the Green Knight looking for?
6. What rumor has the Green Knight come to King Arthur's court to confirm?
7. What about the Green Knight's armor shows that he comes in peace?
8. How long after a knight delivers a blow to the Green Knight will the Green Knight return the blow?
9. What color are the Green Knight's eyes?
10. Why does Sir Gawain accept the Green Knight's challenge?
11. What rolls on the floor toward the knight's feet after Gawain accepts the Green Knight's challenge?
12. What is hung as a trophy on the wall after the Green Knight leaves?
13. How much time passes before Gawain prepares to leave to face the Green Knight?
14. What happens in Camelot the day before Gawain leaves on his journey?
15. Why do the Knights of the Round Table cry and feel sorrowful about Gawain's journey?
16. Who is Gringolet?
17. Describe Gawain's shield.
18. How many virtues make Gawain a noble knight?
19. Who rides with Gawain on his journey?
20. To whom does Gawain pray on Christmas Eve, in hopes of finding shelter and a place to listen to Christmas Mass?
21. What prevents Gawain from immediately entering the castle that he happens upon?
22. How long is Gawain invited to stay in the castle?
23. Describe the lord's wife. To whom does Gawain compare her?
24. Who in the castle knows where the Green Chapel is?
25. Why does Gawain agree to stay until New Year's morning?
26. What game do Gawain and the lord play.
27. Why are no male deer killed?
28. Why is Gawain embarrassed when he sees who has entered him room?
29. Who wants to hold Gawain captive in the castle?
30. When Gawain meets the lord in the evening and the men exchange their winnings from the day, what does Gawain give the lord?
31. What kind of animal does the lord hunt on the second day of he and Gawain's game?
32. Why does the lady say that she doubts he is really Sir Gawain?
33. At the end of the day, what does the lord give Gawain?
34. What does Gawain give the lord in exchange for what the lord has given him?
35. What kind of animal does the lord hunt on the third day of his game with Gawain?
36. Why does Gawain refuse the ring that the lord's wife offers him.
37. What is special about the lady's belt (girdle)?
38. On what condition does the lady give her belt (girdle) to Gawain?
39. What do Gawain and the lord exchange on the evening of the third day?
40. Who will show Gawain the way to the Green Chapel?
41. What is the weather like on New Year's Day?
42. What warning does Gawain receive from one of the lord's servants?
43. What is Gawain's first impression of the Green Chapel?
44. What sound does Gawain hear when he enters the Green Chapel?
45. Why does the Green Knight say the man he is about to strike can't be Gawain?
46. Describe Gawain's wound from the Green Knight's axe blow.
47. Who is the owner of the magic belt?
48. How did Gawain fail a little?
49. According to Gawain, what does he have in common with many biblical men?
50. Who sent the Green Knight to King Arthur's court?

Answers

1. The story of King Arthur
2. Christmas time/ New Year
3. He won't eat (or let anyone else start eating) until he hears the story of some marvelous deed, or witnesses some other form of fantastic entertainment.
4. A sprig of holly in one hand and a giant axe in the other
5. The lord of the court, King Arthur
6. He has heard that the men of King Arthur's court are the proudest, boldest and bravest warriors in the land, and he wants to see if that is true.
7. He is carrying a sprig of holly and wears no armor.
8. The Green Knight will return the blow a year and a day later.
9. The Green Knight's eyes glow red.
10. Sir Gawain doesn't want Arthur to take the challenge, so he takes his king's place.
11. The Green Knight's head
12. The axe Gawain used to behead the Green Knight
13. Spring and summer pass, as does the harvest. In other words, it's sometime in the fall, or about ¾ of a year have passed.
14. Arthur throws a feast in honor of Gawain.
15. They're sure the Green Knight will kill him, and he will never return.
16. Gawain's horse
17. It's red with a gold pentangle (pentagram) on it.
18. Five virtues
19. No one; he travels alone
20. The Virgin Mary/ the Blessed Virgin
21. It's surrounded by a moat and the drawbridge is raised.
22. Gawain is invited to stay as long as he likes.
23. She is young and beautiful. Gawain thinks she's lovelier even than Queen Guinevere.
24. The lord of the castle
25.  The lord tells Gawain, that the Green Chapel is not far from the castle and if he leaves New Year's morning he will reach the chapel by noon.
26. Gawain will remain in the castle for the day and the lord will go out hunting, and whatever Gawain earns in the house will be the lord's and whatever the lord earns while hunting will be Gawain's.
27. The lord declares the law of the season is that no male deer will be killed.
28. He is embarrassed because it is the lady of the castle, the lord's wife.
29. The lady of the house
30. A kiss
31. Boar
32. Because he is acting cold and not as courteous (and not kissing her) as a true knight like Gawain
33. The head of he boar he killed
34.  He gives him two kisses, for that is all he has earned.
35. Fox
36. Because he has nothing to give her in return
37. The lady's magic belt prevents the wearer from being killed.
38. Gawain can have the belt if he hides it from her husband.
39. Gawain gives the lord three kisses, and the lord gives Gawain a single fox skin.
40. One of the lord's servants
41. There are terrible storms.
42. The lord's servant tells Gawain to turn back because the creature that lives in the Green Chapel is horrible and kills every man who passes by his chapel. If Gawain turns back, the servant will lie for him and tell no one.
43. He thinks it doesn't look like a chapel at all. Rather, it looks more like a cursed place, somewhere the devil might hang out.
44. The sound of the Green Knight's axe being sharpened
45. He says the man can't be Gawain, because he flinched when the Green Knight brought up his axe and Gawain is too brave and noble to flinch.
46. Gawain's neck is slightly nicked.
47. The Green Knight
48. He gave the lord everything he received while in the lord's home, except the belt, because he loved his life so much.
49. Gawain says many biblical men have been tricked by women, just as he was tricked by the lord's wife.
50. Morgan le Fey