– his sides and his limbs so long and so large, that I believe he may have been half giant..." And like that story, in which Sir Gawain, having beheaded this Otherworldly knight at King Arthur's feast on New Year's Day, has himself to receive a stroke of the axe exactly a year later, this tale of Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle involves receiving what has already been given to another. Sir Kay goes out to see to his horse and puts the Carle's own colt out into the rain with a slap on its backside. The Carle immediately sends Sir Kay flying to the ground with a slap of his own. Sir Gawain, however, is kind to the colt and receives kindness in return from the Carle. As the others sit at the table, tucking into their food without a second thought, Sir Gawain stands on the floor of the hall, waiting courteously to be invited to the meal. The giant asks him to go over to the buttery door, to select a spear and throw it at his face. Sir Gawain complies and, as the giant leans down towards the knight invitingly, Sir Gawain casts the spear. It clatters against the wall behind the Carle, sending sparks ‘as though from a flint’. Whether it has passed straight through the Carle's head or whether Sir Gawain has (uncharacteristically) missed, the listener is not told; although in the 17th-century version, the Carle ducks. Seemingly uninjured by this spear, the Carle and his guests finish their meal; although Sir Gawain has become enamoured of the Carle's beautiful wife and eats little. Following a dinner in which the Carle appears to demonstrate an ability to read his guests’ thoughts, and then a recital upon the harp by the Carle's beautiful daughter, they all retire to bed. Sir Gawain is invited to spend the night in the Carle's own chamber. Here, a bed is prepared for him and the Carle's beautiful wife is soon lying in it. The Carle invites Sir Gawain to do as he wishes with her and Sir Gawain courteously complies. When their lovemaking is threatening to become rather too serious, however, the Carle steps in and offers Sir Gawain his daughter for the night instead. Sir Gawain spends the night with the Carle's beautiful daughter. In the morning, the Carle shows Sir Gawain the bones of all