While I've read the French romance that Ywain and Gawain is based on (or at least a translation of Chretien de Troyes' work), this text offered some interesting items that I failed to notice in that previous reading. In this romance, Ywain, a knight of Arthur's court, rushes off to avenge his cousin's defeat by a mysterious knight. After striking a mortal blow upon this knight and chasing him down to his castle, Ywain hides out, with assistance from a maiden of the keep, and eventually falls in love with the now widow of his foe. Due to the maiden, Lunet's, clever planning, Ywain is forgiven by the lady of the castle and taken as her husband. Alundyne, upon Ywain's request, even agrees to allow her new husband to go off adventuring in knightly fashion, as long as he promises to return in a year, by St. John's day. As might be expected with so specific a request, Ywain fails to do so, is called out for his failure in front of the entire court, and goes mad. After years as wandering the forests, in which Ywain earns the loyalty of a lion and has many adventures, Ywain builds up a reputation as the Knight with the Lion that has ladies seeking out his assistance, eventually leading to the reconciliation with his wife.
As a whole, this text seems to involve warring responsibilities. Ywain swears to Alundyne that, without fail, he will return, but his knightly duties distract him to the point that he fails to do so. Once Ywain is helping out ladies in distress, he offers assistance that has him fighting multiple battles in the same day and, eventually, his own fellow knight Gawain (although each is in disguise). This isn't exactly part of the rash boon motif, but the conflicting responsibilities is similar and puts Ywain's duties at odds with one another.
One scene that stood out to me in particular is where Ywain, seeking shelter for the night, stays at "The Castel of the Hevy Sorow" (whose name should really have been a sign). Once trapped inside,
he discovers that two demon knights have trapped a king and make him deliver thirty virgins of high
birth to them each year. When speaking to some of these captured women, Ywain learns that they are
forced to labor day and night working gold and silver for their captors. Following some of the points I've
seen in Capgrave's Life of St. Katherine and Gower's Confessio Amantis Book 5, unmarried women,
in being removed as marriageable goods from the marital market, are rendered valueless in accordance
to marital exchange value. These maidens working clear commodities of gold and silver is something of a
representation of that squandered marital exchange value, as even these goods do not appear to be
released into market circulation but are held solely for the enjoyment of the demon knights. Thus,
imposing the state of continued unmarriedness harms the potential marital potential of these maidens,
something that is perhaps heightened by the specific mention of their high birth.
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