The Story of the Glittering Plain

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But now was the sky blown all clear of clouds and the wind piped
shrill behind them, and the great waves rose and fell about them, and
the sun glittered on them in many colours. Fast flew the boat before
the wind as though it would never stop, and the day was waning, and
the wind still rising; and now the Isle of Ransom uphove huge before
them, and coal-black, and no beach and no haven was to be seen
therein; and still they ran before the wind towards that black cliff-
wall, against which the sea washed for ever, and no keel ever built
by man might live for one moment 'twixt the surf and the cliff of
that grim land. The sun grew low, and sank red under the sea, and
that world of stone swallowed up half the heavens before them, for
they were now come very nigh thereto; nor could Hallblithe see aught
for it, but that they must be dashed against the cliff and perish in
a moment of time.

Still the boat flew on; but now when the twilight was come, and they
had just opened up along reach of the cliff that lay beyond a high
ness, Hallblithe thought he saw down by the edge of the sea something
darker than the face of the rock-wall, and he deemed it was a cave:
they came a little nearer and he saw it was a great cave high enough
to let a round-ship go in with all her sails set.

"Son of the Raven," quoth Fox, "hearken, for thy heart is not little.
Yonder is the gate into the Isle of Ransom, and if thou wilt, thou
mayst go through it. Yet it may be that if thou goest ashore on to
the Isle something grievous shall befall thee, a trouble more than
thou canst bear: a shame it may be. Now there are two choices for
thee: either to go up on to the Isle and face all; or to die here by
my hand having done nothing unmanly or shameful: What sayest thou?"

"Thou art of many words when time so presses, Fox," said Hallblithe.
"Why should I not choose to go up on to the Island to deliver my
trothplight maiden? For the rest, slay me if thou canst, if we come
alive out of this cauldron of waters."

Said the big red man: "Look on then, and note Fox how he steereth,
as it were through a needle's eye."

Now were they underneath the black shadow of the black cliff and
amidst the twilight the surf was tossed about like white fire. In
the lower heavens the stars were beginning to twinkle and the moon
was bright and yellow, and aloft all was peaceful, for no cloud
sullied the sky. One moment Hallblithe saw all this hanging above
the turmoil of thundering water and dripping rock and the next he was
in the darkness of the cave, the roaring wind and the waves still
making thunder about him, though of a different voice from the harsh
hubbub without. Then he heard Fox say: "Sit down now and take the
oars, for presently shall we be at home at the landing place."

So Hallblithe took the oars and rowed, and as they went up the cave
the sea fell, and the wind died out into the aimless gustiness of
hollow places; and for a little while was all as dark as dark might
be. Then Hallblithe saw that the darkness grew a little greyer, and
he looked over his shoulder and saw a star of light before the bows
of the boat, and Fox cried out: "Yea, it is like day; bright will
the moon be for such as needs must be wayfaring to-night! Cease
rowing, O Son of the coal-blue fowl, for there is way enough on her."

Then Hallblithe lay on his oars, and in a minute the bows smote the
land; then he turned about and saw a steep stair of stone, and up the
sloping shaft thereof the moonlit sky and the bright stars. Then Fox
arose and came forward and leapt out of the boat and moored her to a
big stone: then he leapt back again and said: "Bear a hand with the
victuals; we must bring them out of the boat unless thou wilt sleep
supperless, as I will not. For to-night must we be guests to
ourselves, since it is far to the dwelling of my people, and the old
man is said to be a skin-changer, a flit-by-night. And as to this
cave, it is deemed to be nowise safe to sleep therein, unless the
sleeper have a double share of luck. And thy luck, meseemeth, O Son
of the Raven, is as now somewhat less than a single share. So to-
night we shall sleep under the naked heaven."

Hallblithe yea-said this, and they took the meat and drink, such as
they needed, from out the boat, and climbed the steep stair no little
way, and so came out on to a plain place, which seemed to Hallblithe
bare and waste so far as he saw it by the moonlight; for the twilight
was gone now, and nought was left of the light of day save a glimmer
in the west.

This Hallblithe deemed wonderful, that no less out on the open heath
and brow of the land than in the shut-in cave, all that tumult of the
wind had fallen, and the cloudless night was calm, and with a little
air blowing from the south and the landward.

Therewithal was Fox done with his loud-voiced braggart mood, and
spoke gently and peaceably like to a wayfarer, who hath business of
his to look to as other men. Now he pointed to certain rocks or low
crags that a little way off rose like a reef out of the treeless
plain; then said he: "Shipmate, underneath yonder rocks is our
resting-place for to-night; and I pray thee not to deem me churlish
that I give thee no better harbour. But I have a charge over thee to
bring thee safe thus far on thy quest; and thou wouldst find it hard
to live among such housemates as thou wouldst find up yonder amongst
our folks to-night. But tomorrow shalt thou come to speech with him
who will deal with thee concerning the ransom."

"It is enough," said Hallblithe, "and I thank thee for thy leading:
and as for thy rough and uncomely words which thou hast given me, I
pardon thee for them: for I am none the worse of them: forsooth, if
I had been, my sword would have had a voice in the matter."

"I am well content as it is, Son of the Raven," quoth Fox; "I have
done my bidding and all is well."

"Tell me then who it is hath bidden thee bring me hither?"

"I may not tell thee," said Fox; "thou art here, be content, as I
am."

And he spake no more till they had come to the reef aforesaid, which
was some two furlongs from the place where they had come from out of
the cave. There then they set forth their supper on the stones, and
ate what they would, and drank of that good strong wine while the
horn bare out. And now was Fox of few words, and when Hallblithe
asked him concerning that land, he had little to say. And at last
when Hallblithe asked him of that so perilous house and those who
manned it, he said to him:

"Son of the Raven, it avails not asking of these matters; for if I
tell thee aught concerning them I shall tell thee lies. Once again
let it be enough for thee that thou hast passed over the sea safely
on thy quest; and a more perilous sea it is forsooth than thou
deemest. But now let us have an end of vain words, and make our bed
amidst these stones as best we may; for we should be stirring betimes
in the morning." Hallblithe said little in answer, and they arrayed
their sleeping places cunningly, as the hare doth her form, and like
men well used to lying abroad.

Hallblithe was very weary and he soon fell asleep; and as he lay
there, he dreamed a dream, or maybe saw a vision; whether he were
asleep when he saw it, or between sleeping and waking, I know not.
But this was his dream or his vision; that the Hostage was standing
over him, and she as he had seen her but yesterday, bright-haired and
ruddy-cheeked and white-skinned, kind of hand and soft of voice, and
she said to him: "Hallblithe, look on me and hearken, for I have a
message for thee." And he looked and longed for her, and his soul
was ravished by the sweetness of his longing, and he would have leapt
up and cast his arms about her, but sleep and the dream bound him,
and he might not. Then the image smiled on him and said: "Nay, my
love, lie still, for thou mayst not touch me: here is but the image
of the body which thou desirest. Hearken then. I am in evil plight,
in the hands of strong-thieves of the sea, nor know I what they will
do with me, and I have no will to be shamed; to be sold for a price
from one hand to another, yet to be bedded without a price, and to
lie beside some foe-man of our folk, and he to cast his arms about
me, will I, will I not: this is a hard case. Therefore to-morrow
morning at daybreak while men sleep, I think to steal forth to the
gunwale of the black ship and give myself to the gods, that they and
not these runagates may be masters of my life and my soul, and may do
with me as they will: for indeed they know that I may not bear the
strange kinless house, and the love and caressing of the alien house-
master, and the mocking and stripes of the alien house-mistress.
Therefore let the Hoary One of the sea take me and look to my
matters, and carry me to life or death, which-so he will. Thin now
grows the night, but lie still a little yet, while I speak another
word.

"Maybe we shall meet alive again, and maybe not: and if not, though
we have never yet lain in one bed together, yet I would have thee
remember me: yet not so that my image shall come between thee and
thy speech-friend and bed-fellow of the kindred, that shall lie where
I was to have lain. Yet again, if I live and thou livest, I have
been told and have heard that by one way or other I am like to come
to the Glittering Plain, and the Land of Living Men. O my beloved,
if by any way thou mightest come thither also, and we might meet
there, and we two alive, how good it were! Seek that land then,
beloved! seek it, whether or no we once more behold the House of the
Rose, or tread the floor of the Raven dwelling. And now must even
this image of me sunder from thee. Farewell!"

Therewith was the dream done and the vision departed; and Hallblithe
sat up full of anguish and longing; and he looked about him over the
dreary land, and it was somewhat light and the sky was grown grey and
cloudy, and he deemed that the dawn was come. So he leapt to his
feet and stooped down over Fox, and took him by the shoulder, and
shook him and said: "Faring-fellow, awake! the dawn is come, and we
have much to do."

Fox sat up and growled like a dog, and rubbed his eyes and looked
about him and said: "Thou hast waked me for nought: it is the false
dawn of the moon that shineth now behind the clouds and casteth no
shadow; it is but an hour after midnight. Go to sleep again, and let
me be, else will I not be a guide to thee when the day comes." And
he lay down and was asleep at once. Then Hallblithe went and lay
down again full of sorrow: Yet so weary was he that he presently
fell asleep, and dreamed no more.

CHAPTER VI: OF A DWELLING OF MAN ON THE ISLE OF RANSOM

When he awoke again the sun shone on him, and the morning was calm
and windless. He sat up and looked about him, but could see no signs
of Fox save the lair wherein he had lain. So he arose to his feet
and sought for him about the crannies of the rocks, and found him
not; and he shouted for him, and had no answer. Then he said,
"Belike he has gone down to the boat to put a thing in, or take a
thing out." So he went his ways to the stair down into the water-
cave, and he called on Fox from the top of the stair, and had no
answer.

So he went down that long stair with a misgiving in his heart, and
when he came to the last step there was neither man nor boat, nor
aught else save the water and the living rock. Then was he exceeding
wroth, for he knew that he had been beguiled, and he was in an evil
case, left alone on an Isle that he knew not, a waste and desolate
land, where it seemed most like he should die of famine.

He wasted no breath or might now in crying out for Fox, or seeking
him; for he said to himself: "I might well have known that he was
false and a liar, whereas he could scarce refrain his joy at my folly
and his guile. Now is it for me to strive for life against death."

Then he turned and went slowly up the stair, and came out on to the
open face of that Isle, and he saw that it was waste indeed, and
dreadful: a wilderness of black sand and stones and ice-borne rocks,
with here and there a little grass growing in the hollows, and here
and there a dreary mire where the white-tufted rushes shook in the
wind, and here and there stretches of moss blended with red-blossomed
sengreen; and otherwhere nought but the wind-bitten creeping willow
clinging to the black sand, with a white bleached stick and a leaf or
two, and again a stick and a leaf. In the offing looking landward
were great mountains, some very great and snow-capped, some bare to
the tops; and all that was far away, save the snow, was deep-blue in
the sunny morning. But about him on the heath were scattered rocks
like the reef beneath which he had slept the last night, and peaks,
and hammers, and knolls of uncouth shapes.

Then he went to the edge of the cliffs and looked down on the sea
which lay wrinkled and rippling on toward the shore far below him,
and long he gazed thereon and all about, but could see neither ship
nor sail, nor aught else save the washing of waves and the hovering
of sea fowl.

Then he said: "Were it not well if I were to seek that house-master
of whom Fox spake? Might he not flit me at least to the Land of the
Glittering Plain? Woe is me! now am I of that woful company, and I
also must needs cry out, Where is the land? Where is the land?"

Therewith he turned toward the reef above their lair, but as he went
he thought and said: "Nay, but was not this Stead a lie like the
rest of Fox's tale? and am I not alone in this sea-girt wilderness?
Yea, and even that image of my Beloved which I saw in the dream,
perchance that also was a mere beguiling; for now I see that the Puny
Fox was in all ways wiser than is meet and comely." Yet again he
said: "At least I will seek on, and find out whether there be
another man dwelling on this hapless Isle, and then the worst of it
will be battle with him, and death by point and edge rather than by
hunger; or at the best we may become friends and fellows and deliver
each other." Therewith he came to the reef, and with much ado
climbed to the topmost of its rocks and looked down thence landward:
and betwixt him and the mountains, and by seeming not very far off,
he saw smoke arising: but no house he saw, nor any other token of a
dwelling. So he came down from the stone and turned his back upon
the sea and went toward that smoke with his sword in its sheath, and
his spear over his shoulder. Rough and toilsome was the way: three
little dales he crossed amidst the mountain necks, each one narrow
and bare, with a stream of water amidst, running seaward, and whether
in dale or on ridge, he went ever amidst sand and stones, and the
weeds of the wilderness, and saw no man, or man-tended beast.

At last, after he had been four hours on the way, but had not gone
very far, he topped a stony bent, and from the brow thereof beheld a
wide valley grass-grown for the more part, with a river running
through it, and sheep and kine and horses feeding up and down it.
And amidst this dale by the stream-side, was a dwelling of men, a
long hall and other houses about it builded of stone.

Then was Hallblithe glad, and he strode down the bent speedily, his
war-gear clashing upon him: and as he came to the foot thereof and
on to the grass of the dale, he got amongst the pasturing horses, and
passed close by the horse-herd and a woman that was with him. They
scowled at him as he went by, but meddled not with him in any way.
Although they were giant-like of stature and fierce of face, they
were not ill-favoured: they were red-haired, and the woman as white
as cream where the sun had not burned her skin; they had no weapons
that Hallblithe might see save the goad in the hand of the carle.

So Hallblithe passed on and came to the biggest house, the hall
aforesaid: it was very long, and low as for its length, not over
shapely of fashion, a mere gabled heap of stones. Low and strait was
the door thereinto, and as Hallblithe entered stooping lowly, and the
fire of the steel of his spear that he held before him was quenched
in the mirk of the hall, he smiled and said to himself: "Now if
there were one anigh who would not have me enter alive, and he with a
weapon in his hand, soon were all the tale told." But he got into
the hall unsmitten, and stood on the floor thereof, and spake: "The
sele of the day to whomsoever is herein! Will any man speak to the
new comer?"

But none answered or gave him greeting; and as his eyes got used to
the dusk of the hall, he looked about him, and neither on the floor
or the high seat nor in any ingle could he see a man; and there was
silence there, save for the crackling of the flickering flame on the
hearth amidmost, and the running of the rats behind the panelling of
the walls.

On one side of the hall was a row of shut-beds, and Hallblithe deemed
that there might be men therein; but since none had greeted him he
refrained him from searching them for fear of a trap, and he thought,
"I will abide amidst the floor, and if there be any that would deal
with me, friend or foe, let him come hither to me."

So he fell to walking up and down the hall from buttery to dais, and
his war-gear rattled upon him. At last as he walked he thought he
heard a small thin peevish voice, which yet was too husky for the
squeak of a rat. So he stayed his walk and stood still, and said:
"Will any man speak to Hallblithe, a newcomer, and a stranger in this
Stead?"

Then that small voice made a word and said: "Why paceth the fool up
and down our hall, doing nothing, even as the Ravens flap croaking
about the crags, abiding the war-mote and the clash of the fallow
blades?"

Said Hallblithe, and his voice sounded big in the hall: "Who calleth
Hallblithe a fool and mocketh at the sons of the Raven?"

Spake the voice: "Why cometh not the fool to the man that may not go
to him?"

Then Hallblithe bent forward to hearken, and he deemed that the voice
came from one of the shut-beds, so he leaned his spear against a
pillar, and went into the shut-bed he had noted, and saw where there
lay along in it a man exceeding old by seeming, sore wasted, with
long hair as white as snow lying over the bed-clothes.

When the elder saw Hallblithe, he laughed a thin cracked laugh as if
in mockery and said: "Hail newcomer! wilt thou eat?"

"Yea," said Hallblithe.

"Go thou into the buttery then," said the old carle, "and there shalt
thou find on the cupboard cakes and curds and cheese: eat thy fill,
and when thou hast done, look in the ingle, and thou shalt see a cask
of mead exceeding good, and a stoup thereby, and two silver cups;
fill the stoup and bring it hither with the cups; and then may we
talk amidst of drinking, which is good for an old carle. Hasten
thou! or I shall deem thee a double fool who will not fare to fetch
his meat, though he be hungry."

Then Hallblithe laughed, and went down the hall into the buttery and
found the meat, and ate his fill, and came away with the drink back
to the Long-hoary man, who chuckled as he came and said: "Fill up
now for thee and for me, and call a health to me and wish me
somewhat."

"I wish thee luck," said Hallblithe, and drank. Said the elder:
"And I wish thee more wits; is luck all that thou mayst wish me?
What luck may an outworn elder have?"

"Well then," quoth Hallblithe, "what shall I wish thee? Wouldst thou
have me wish thee youth?"

"Yea, certes," said the Long-hoary, "that and nought else."

"Youth then I wish thee, if it may avail thee aught," said
Hallblithe, and he drank again therewith.

"Nay, nay," said the old carle peevishly, "take a third cup, and wish
me youth with no idle words tacked thereto."

Said Hallblithe raising the cup: "Herewith I wish thee youth!" and
he drank.

"Good is the wish," said the elder; "now ask thou the old carle
whatso thou wilt."

Said Hallblithe: "What is this land called?"

"Son," said the other, "hast thou heard it called the Isle of
Ransom?"

"Yea," said Hallblithe, "but what wilt thou call it?"

"By no other name," said the hoary carle.

"It is far from other lands?" said Hallblithe.

"Yea," said the carle, "when the light winds blow, and the ships sail
slow."

"What do ye who live here?" said Hallblithe. "How do ye live, what
work win ye?"

"We win diverse work," said the elder, "but the gainfullest is
robbing men by the high hand."

"Is it ye who have stolen from me the Hostage of the Rose?" said
Hallblithe.

Said the Long-hoary, "Maybe; I wot not; in diverse ways my kinsmen
traffic, and they visit many lands. Why should they not have come to
Cleveland also?"

"Is she in this Isle, thou old runagate?" said Hallblithe.

"She is not, thou young fool," said the elder. Then Hallblithe
flushed red and spake: "Knowest thou the Puny Fox?"

"How should I not?" said the carle, "since he is the son of one of my
sons."

"Dost thou call him a liar and a rogue?" said Hallblithe.

The elder laughed; "Else were I a fool," said he; "there are few
bigger liars or bigger rogues than the Puny Fox!"

"Is he here in this Isle?" said Hallblithe; "may I see him?"

The old man laughed again, and said: "Nay, he is not here, unless he
hath turned fool since yesterday: why should he abide thy sword,
since he hath done what he would and brought thee hither?"

Then he laughed, as a hen cackles a long while, and then said: "What
more wilt thou ask me?"

But Hallblithe was very wroth: "It availeth nought to ask," he said;
"and now I am in two minds whether I shall slay thee or not."

"That were a meet deed for a Raven, but not for a man," said the
carle, "and thou that hast wished me luck! Ask, ask!"

But Hallblithe was silent a long while. Then the carle said,
"Another cup for the longer after youth!"

Hallblithe filled, and gave to him, and the old man drank and said:
"Thou deemest us all liars in the Isle of Ransom because of thy
beguiling by the Puny Fox: but therein thou errest. The Puny Fox is
our chiefest liar, and doth for us the more part of such work as we
need: therefore, why should we others lie. Ask, ask!"

"Well then," said Hallblithe, "why did the Puny Fox bewray me, and at
whose bidding?"

Said the elder: "I know, but I will not tell thee. Is this a lie?"

"Nay, I deem it not," said Hallblithe: "But, tell me, is it verily
true that my trothplight is not here, that I may ransom her?"

Said the Long-hoary: "I swear it by the Treasure of the Sea, that
she is not here: the tale was but a lie of the Puny Fox."

CHAPTER VII: A FEAST IN THE ISLE OF RANSOM

Hallblithe pondered his answer awhile with downcast eyes and said at
last: "Have ye a mind to ransom me, now that I have walked into the
trap?"

"There is no need to talk of ransom," said the elder; "thou mayst go
out of this house when thou wilt, nor will any meddle with thee if
thou strayest about the Isle, when I have set a mark on thee and
given thee a token: nor wilt thou be hindered if thou hast a mind to
leave the Isle, if thou canst find means thereto; moreover as long as
thou art in the Isle, in this house mayst thou abide, eating and
drinking and resting with us."

"How then may I leave this Isle?" said Hallblithe.

The elder laughed: "In a ship," said he.

"And when," said Hallblithe, "shall I find a ship that shall carry
me?"

Said the old carle, "Whither wouldest thou my son?" Hallblithe was
silent a while, thinking what answer he should make; then he said:
"I would go to the land of the Glittering Plain."

"Son, a ship shall not be lacking thee for that voyage," said the
elder. "Thou mayst go to-morrow morn. And I bid thee abide here to-
night, and thy cheer shall not be ill. Yet if thou wilt believe my
word, it will be well for thee to say as little as thou mayst to any
man here, and that little as little proud as maybe: for our folk are
short of temper and thou knowest there is no might against many.
Indeed it is not unlike that they will not speak one word to thee,
and if that be so, thou hast no need to open thy mouth to them. And
now I will tell thee that it is good that thou hast chosen to go to
the Glittering Plain. For if thou wert otherwise minded, I wot not
how thou wouldest get thee a keel to carry thee, and the wings have
not yet begun to sprout on thy shoulders, raven though thou be. Now
I am glad that thou art going thy ways to the Glittering Plain to-
morrow; for thou wilt be good company to me on the way: and I deem
that thou wilt be no churl when thou art glad."

"What," said Hallblithe, "art thou wending thither, thou old man?"

"Yea," said he, "nor shall any other be on the ship save thou and I,
and the mariners that waft us; and they forsooth shall not go aland
there. Why should not I go, since there are men to bear me aboard?"

Said Hallblithe, "And when thou art come aland there, what wilt thou
do?"

"Thou shalt see, my son," said the Long-hoary. "It may be that thy
good wishes shall be of avail to me. But now since all this may only
be if I live through this night, and since my heart hath been warmed
by the good mead, and thy fellowship, and whereas I am somewhat
sleepy, and it is long past noon, go forth into the hall, and leave
me to sleep, that I may be as sound as eld will let me to-morrow.
And as for thee, folk, both men and women, shall presently come into
the hall, and I deem not that any shall meddle with thee; but if so
be that any challenge thee, whatsoever may be his words, answer thou
to him, 'THE HOUSE OF THE UNDYING,' and there will be an end of it.
Only look thou to it that no naked steel cometh out of thy scabbard.
Go now, and if thou wilt, go out of doors; yet art thou safer within
doors and nigher unto me."

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