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Gawain confessed, "I flinchedat first, but will not fail.Though once my head's unhitchedit's off once and for all!" "So be brisk with the blow, bring on the blade.Deal me my destiny and do it out of hand,and I'll stand the stroke without shiver or shudderand be wasted by your weapon. You have my word.""Take this then," said the other, throwing up the axe,menacing the young man with the gaze of a maniac.Then he launches his swing but leaves him unscathed,withholds his arm before harm could be done.And Gawain was motionless, never moved a muscle,but stood stone-still, or as still as a tree stumpanchored in the earth by a hundred roots.Then the warrior in green mocked Gawain again:"Now you've plucked up your courage I'll dispatch you properly.May the honorable knighthood heaped on you by Arthur—if it proves to be powerful—protect your pretty neck."Hoisted and aimed, the axe hurtled downwards,the blade baring down on the knight's bare neck,a ferocious blow, but far from being fatalit skewed to one side, just skimming the skinand finely snicking the fat of the fleshso that bright red blood shot from body to earth.Seeing it shining on the snowy groundGawain leapt for

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