Three days has a lunar significance, interesting when we think of Gawain as a solar hero. The moon is dark and unseen for three nights and is in its “hag” aspect.
Gawain is tempted and three times resists (well, almost!) – A reminder that we should not get too carried away and rely, solely, on instinct/bodymind either. We need to realise that we should listen to it, pay it our close attention, and integrate our headmind aspect to help it. Ultimately, it is about the balance between these two aspects of our conciousness. Those that succeed get to “keep their heads”
This is my interpretation and I guess each generation, each culture, maybe each individual reads and derives their own interpretation from tales such as these, but isn’t that the purpose and eternal gift of a true mythological teaching; that it does answer us when we ask the question? And it was Gawain who first asked that question.
[...] Armitage was right to say (in his Guardian article) that a translation melts the “thin coat of ice” that lies between the original poem and a modern reader (or listener). Unless you’re an expert in Middle English (which I’m not) the language barrier inevitably slows you down, whereas a translation allows you to canter through the poem at the same speed as a its first audience. Which gave me a fresh sense of what a marvellous storyteller the Gawain-poet was – it’s a tale you can return to again and again and find new meanings. (Here’s a blog with some interesting reflections on the symbolism of the tale.) [...]