The Story of the Glittering Plain

W >> William Morris >> The Story of the Glittering Plain

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

So Hallblithe went back into the main hall, and the sun had gotten
round now, and was shining into the hall, through the clerestory
windows, so that he saw clearly all that was therein. And he deemed
the hall fairer within than without; and especially over the shut-
beds were many stories carven in the panelling, and Hallblithe beheld
them gladly. But of one thing he marvelled, that whereas he was in
an island of the strong-thieves of the waters, and in their very home
and chiefest habitation, there were no ships or seas pictured in that
imagery, but fair groves and gardens, with flowery grass and fruited
trees all about. And there were fair women abiding therein, and
lovely young men, and warriors, and strange beasts and many marvels,
and the ending of wrath and beginning of pleasure and the crowning of
love. And amidst these was pictured oft and again a mighty king with
a sword by his side and a crown on his head; and ever was he smiling
and joyous, so that Hallblithe, when he looked on him, felt of better
heart and smiled back on the carven image.

So while Hallblithe looked on these things, and pondered his case
carefully, all alone as he was in that alien hall, he heard a noise
without of talking and laughter, and presently the pattering of feet
therewith, and then women came into the hall, a score or more, some
young, some old, some fair enough, and some hard-featured and
uncomely, but all above the stature of the women whom he had seen in
his own land.

So he stood amidst the hall-floor and abided them; and they saw him
and his shining war-gear, and ceased their talking and laughter, and
drew round about him, and gazed at him; but none said aught till an
old crone came forth from the ring, and said "Who art thou, standing
under weapons in our hall?"

He knew not what to answer, and held his peace; and she spake again:
"Whither wouldest thou, what seekest thou?"

Then answered Hallblithe: "THE HOUSE OF THE UNDYING."

None answered, and the other women all fell away from him at once,
and went about their business hither and thither through the hall.
But the old crone took him by the hand, and led him up to the dais,
and set him next to the midmost high-seat. Then she made as if she
would do off his war-gear, and he would not gainsay her, though he
deemed that foes might be anear; for in sooth he trusted in the old
carle that he would not bewray him, and moreover he deemed it would
be unmanly not to take the risks of the guesting, according to the
custom of that country.

So she took his armour and his weapons and bore them off to a shut-
bed next to that wherein lay the ancient man, and she laid the gear
within it, all save the spear, which she laid on the wall-pins above;
and she made signs to him that therein he was to lie; but she spake
no word to him. Then she brought him the hand-washing water in a
basin of latten, and a goodly towel therewith, and when he had washed
she went away from him, but not far.

This while the other women were busy about the hall; some swept the
floor down, and when it was swept strawed thereon rushes and handfuls
of wild thyme: some went into the buttery and bore forth the boards
and the trestles: some went to the chests and brought out the rich
hangings, the goodly bankers and dorsars, and did them on the walls:
some bore in the stoups and horns and beakers, and some went their
ways and came not back a while, for they were busied about the
cooking. But whatever they did, none hailed him, or heeded him more
than if he had been an image, as he sat there looking on. None save
the old woman who brought him the fore-supper, to wit a great horn of
mead, and cakes and dried fish.

So was the hall arrayed for the feast very fairly, and Hallblithe sat
there while the sun westered and the house grew dim, and dark at
last, and they lighted the candles up and down the hall. But a
little after these were lit, a great horn was winded close without,
and thereafter came the clatter of arms about the door, and exceeding
tall weaponed men came in, one score and five, and strode two by two
up to the foot of the dais, and stood there in a row. And Hallblithe
deemed their war-gear exceeding good; they were all clad in ring-
locked byrnies, and had steel helms on their heads with garlands of
gold wrought about them and they bore spears in their hands, and
white shields hung at their backs. Now came the women to them and
unarmed them; and under their armour their raiment was black; but
they had gold rings on their arms, and golden collars about their
necks. So they strode up to the dais and took their places on the
high-seat, not heeding Hallblithe any more than if he were an image
of wood. Nevertheless that man sat next to him who was the chieftain
of all and sat in the midmost high-seat; and he bore his sheathed
sword in his hand and laid it on the board before him, and he was the
only man of those chieftains who had a weapon.

But when these were set down there was again a noise without, and
there came in a throng of men armed and unarmed who took their places
on the end-long benches up and down the hall; with these came women
also, who most of them sat amongst the men, but some busied them with
the serving: all these men were great of stature, but none so big as
the chieftains on the high-seat.

Now came the women in from the kitchen bearing the meat, whereof no
little was flesh-meat, and all was of the best. Hallblithe was duly
served like the others, but still none spake to him or even looked on
him; though amongst themselves they spoke in big, rough voices so
that the rafters of the hall rang again.

When they had eaten their fill the women filled round the cups and
the horns to them, and those vessels were both great and goodly. But
ere they fell to drinking uprose the chieftain who sat furthest from
the midmost high-seat on the right and cried a health: "THE TREASURE
OF THE SEA!" Then they all stood up and shouted, women as well as
men, and emptied their horns and cups to that health. Then stood up
the man furthest on the left and cried out, "Drink a health to the
Undying King!" And again all men rose up and shouted ere they drank.
Other healths they drank, as the "Cold Keel," the "Windworn Sail,"
the "Quivering Ash" and the "Furrowed Beach." And the wine and mead
flowed like rivers in that hall of the Wild Men. As for Hallblithe,
he drank what he would but stood not up, nor raised his cup to his
lips when a health was drunk; for he knew not whether these men were
his friends or his foes, and he deemed it would be little-minded to
drink to their healths, lest he might be drinking death and confusion
to his own kindred.

But when men had drunk a while, again a horn blew at the nether end
of the hall, and straightway folk arose from the endlong tables, and
took away the boards and trestles, and cleared the floor and stood
against the wall; then the big chieftain beside Hallblithe arose and
cried out: "Now let man dance with maid, and be we merry! Music,
strike up!" Then flew the fiddle-bows and twanged the harps, and the
carles and queens stood forth on the floor; and all the women were
clad in black raiment, albeit embroidered with knots and wreaths of
flowers. A while they danced and then suddenly the music fell, and
they all went back to their places. Then the chieftain in the high-
seat arose and took a horn from his side, and blew a great blast on
it that filled the hall; then he cried in a loud voice: "Be we
merry! Let the champions come forth!"

Men shouted gleefully thereat, and straightway ran into the hall from
out the screens three tall men clad all in black armour with naked
swords in their hands, and stood amidst the hall-floor, somewhat on
one side, and clashed their swords on their shields and cried out:
"Come forth ye Champions of the Raven!"

Then leapt Hallblithe from his seat and set his hand to his left
side, but no sword was there; so he sat down again, remembering the
warning of the Elder, and none heeded him.

Then there came into the hall slowly and mournfully three men-at-
arms, clad and weaponed like the warriors of his folk, with the image
of the Raven on their helms and shields. So Hallblithe refrained
him, for besides that this seemed like to be a fair battle of three
against three, he doubted some snare, and he determined to look on
and abide.

So the champions fell to laying on strokes that were no child's play,
though Hallblithe doubted if the edges bit, and it was but a little
while before the Champions of the Raven fell one after another before
the Wild Men, and folk drew them by the heels out into the buttery.
Then arose great laughter and jeering, and exceeding wroth was
Hallblithe; howbeit he refrained him because he remembered all he had
to do. But the three Champions of the Sea strode round the hall,
tossing up their swords and catching them as they fell, while the
horns blew up behind them.

After a while the hall grew hushed, and the chieftain arose and
cried: "Bring in now some sheaves of the harvest we win, we lads of
the oar and the arrow!" Then was there a stir at the screen doors,
and folk pressed forward to see, and, lo, there came forward a string
of women, led in by two weaponed carles; and the women were a score
in number, and they were barefoot and their hair hung loose and their
gowns were ungirt, and they were chained together wrist to wrist; yet
had they gold at arm and neck: there was silence in the hall when
they stood amidst of the floor.

Then indeed Hallblithe could not refrain himself, and he leapt from
his seat and on to the board, and over it, and ran down the hall, and
came to those women and looked them in the face one by one, while no
man spake in the hall. But the Hostage was not amongst them; nay
forsooth, they none of them favoured of the daughters of his people,
though they were comely and fair; so that again Hallblithe doubted if
this were aught but a feast-hall play done to anger him; whereas
there was but little grief in the faces of those damsels, and more
than one of them smiled wantonly in his face as he looked on them.

So he turned about and went back to his seat, having said no word,
and behind him arose much mocking and jeering; but it angered him
little now; for he remembered the rede of the elder and how that he
had done according to his bidding, so that he deemed the gain was
his. So sprang up talk in the hall betwixt man and man, and folk
drank about and were merry, till the chieftain arose again and smote
the board with the flat of his sword, and cried out in a loud and
angry voice, so that all could hear: "Now let there be music and
minstrelsy ere we wend bedward!"

Therewith fell the hubbub of voices, and there came forth three men
with great harps, and a fourth man with them, who was the minstrel;
and the harpers smote their harps so that the roof rang therewith,
and the noise, though it was great, was tuneable, and when they had
played thus a little while, they abated their loudness somewhat, and
the minstrel lifted his voice and sang:

The land lies black
With winter's lack,
The wind blows cold
Round field and fold;
All folk are within,
And but weaving they win.
Where from finger to finger the shuttle flies fast,
And the eyes of the singer look fain on the cast,
As he singeth the story of summer undone
And the barley sheaves hoary ripe under the sun.

Then the maidens stay
The light-hung sley,
And the shuttles bide
By the blue web's side,
While hand in hand
With the carles they stand.
But ere to the measure the fiddles strike up,
And the elders yet treasure the last of the cup,
There stand they a-hearkening the blast from the lift,
And e'en night is a-darkening more under the drift.

There safe in the hall
They bless the wall,
And the roof o'er head,
Of the valiant stead;
And the hands they praise
Of the olden days.
Then through the storm's roaring the fiddles break out,
And they think not of warring, but cast away doubt,
And, man before maiden, their feet tread the floor,
And their hearts are unladen of all that they bore.

But what winds are o'er-cold
For the heart of the bold?
What seas are o'er-high
For the undoomed to die?
Dark night and dread wind,
But the haven we find.
Then ashore mid the flurry of stone-washing surf!
Cloud-hounds the moon worry, but light lies the turf;
Lo the long dale before us! the lights at the end,
Though the night darkens o'er us, bid whither to wend.

Who beateth the door
By the foot-smitten floor?
What guests are these
From over the seas?
Take shield and sword
For their greeting-word.
Lo, lo, the dance ended! Lo, midst of the hall
The fallow blades blended! Lo, blood on the wall!
Who liveth, who dieth? O men of the sea,
For peace the folk crieth; our masters are ye.

Now the dale lies grey
At the dawn of day;
And fair feet pass
O'er the wind-worn grass;
And they turn back to gaze
On the roof of old days.
Come tread ye the oaken-floored hall of the sea!
Be your hearts yet unbroken; so fair as ye be,
That kings are abiding unwedded to gain
The news of our riding the steeds of the main.

Much shouting and laughter arose at the song's end; and men sprang up
and waved their swords above the cups, while Hallblithe sat scowling
down on their merriment. Lastly arose the chieftain and called out
loudly for the good-night cup, and it went round and all men drank.
Then the horn blew for bed, and the chieftains went to their
chambers, and the others went to the out-bowers or laid them down on
the hall-floor, and in a little while none stood upright thereon. So
Hallblithe arose, and went to the shut-bed appointed for him, and
laid him down and slept dreamlessly till the morning.

CHAPTER VIII: HALLBLITHE TAKETH SHIP AGAIN AWAY FROM THE ISLE OF
RANSOM

When he awoke, the sun shone into the hall by the windows above the
buttery, and there were but few folk left therein. But so soon as
Hallblithe was clad, the old woman came to him, and took him by the
hand, and led him to the board, and signed to him to eat of what was
thereon; and he did so; and by then he was done, came folk who went
into the shut-bed where lay the Long-hoary, and they brought him
forth bed and all and bare him out a-doors. Then the crone brought
Hallblithe his arms and he did on byrny and helm, girt his sword to
his side, took his spear in his hand and went out a-doors; and there
close by the porch lay the Long-hoary upon a horse-litter. So
Hallblithe came up to him and gave him the sele of the day: and the
elder said: "Good morrow, son, I am glad to see thee. Did they try
thee hard last night?"

And Hallblithe saw two of the carles that had borne out the elder,
that they were talking together, and they looked on him and laughed
mockingly; so he said to the elder: "Even fools may try a wise man,
and so it befell last night. Yet, as thou seest, mumming hath not
slain me."

Said the old man: "What thou sawest was not all mumming; it was done
according to our customs; and well nigh all of it had been done, even
hadst thou not been there. Nay, I will tell thee; at some of our
feasts it is not lawful to eat either for the chieftains or the
carles, till a champion hath given forth a challenge, and been
answered and met, and the battle fought to an end. But ye men, what
hindereth you to go to the horses' heads and speed on the road the
chieftain who is no longer way-worthy?"

So they ran to the horses and set down the dale by the riverside, and
just as Hallblithe was going to follow afoot, there came a swain from
behind the house leading a red horse which he brought to Hallblithe
as one who bids mount. So Hallblithe leapt into the saddle and at
once caught up with the litter of the Long-hoary down along the
river. They passed by no other house, save here and there a cot
beside some fold or byre; they went easily, for the way was smooth by
the river-side; so in less than two hours they came where the said
river ran into the sea. There was no beach there, for the water was
ten fathom deep close up to the lip of the land; but there was a
great haven land-locked all but a narrow outgate betwixt the sheer
black cliffs. Many a great ship might have lain in that haven; but
as now there was but one lying there, a round-ship not very great,
but exceeding trim and meet for the sea.

There without more ado the carles took the elder from the litter and
bore him aboard, and Hallblithe followed him as if he had been so
appointed. They laid the old man adown on the poop under a tilt of
precious web, and so went aback by the way that they had come; and
Hallblithe went and sat down beside the Long-hoary, who spake to him
and said: "Seest thou, son, how easy it is for us twain to be
shipped for the land whither we would go? But as easy as it is for
thee to go thither whereas we are going, just so hard had it been for
thee to go elsewhere. Moreover I must tell thee that though many an
one of the Isle of Ransom desireth to go this voyage, there shall
none else go, till the world is a year older, and he who shall go
then shall be likest to me in all ways, both in eld and in
feebleness, and in gibing speech, and all else; and now that I am
gone, his name shall be the same as that whereby ye may call me to-
day, and that is Grandfather. Art thou glad or sorry, Hallblithe?"

"Grandfather," said Hallblithe, "I can scarce tell thee: I move as
one who hath no will to wend one way or other. Meseems I am drawn to
go thither whereas we are going; therefore I deem that I shall find
my beloved on the Glittering Plain: and whatever befalleth
afterward, let it be as it will!"

"Tell me, my son," said the Grandfather, "how many women are there in
the world?"

"How may I tell thee?" said Hallblithe.

"Well, then," said the elder, "how many exceeding fair women are
there?"

Said Hallblithe, "Indeed I wot not."

"How many of such hast thou seen?" said the Grandfather.

"Many," said Hallblithe; "the daughters of my folk are fair, and
there will be many other such amongst the aliens."

Then laughed the elder, and said: "Yet, my son, he who had been thy
fellow since thy sundering from thy beloved, would have said that in
thy deeming there is but one woman in the world; or at least one fair
woman: is it not so?"

Then Hallblithe reddened at first, as though he were angry; then he
said: "Yea, it is so."

Said the Grandfather in a musing way: "I wonder if before long I
shall think of it as thou dost."

Then Hallblithe gazed at him marvelling, and studied to see wherein
lay the gibe against himself; and the Grandfather beheld him, and
laughed as well as he might, and said: "Son, son; didst thou not
wish me youth?"

"Yea," said Hallblithe, "but what ails thee to laugh so? What is it
I have said or done?"

"Nought, nought," said the elder, laughing still more, "only thou
lookest so mazed. And who knoweth what thy wish may bring forth?"

Thereat was Hallblithe sore puzzled; but while he set himself to
consider what the old carle might mean, uprose the hale and how of
the mariners; they cast off the hawsers from the shore, ran out the
sweeps, and drave the ship through the haven-gates. It was a bright
sunny day; within, the green water was oily-smooth, without the
rippling waves danced merrily under a light breeze, and Hallblithe
deemed the wind to be fair; for the mariners shouted joyously and
made all sail on the ship; and she lay over and sped through the
waves, casting off the seas from her black bows. Soon were they
clear of those swart cliffs, and it was but a little afterwards that
the Isle of Ransom was grown deep blue behind them and far away.

CHAPTER IX: THEY COME TO THE LAND OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN

As in the hall, so in the ship, Hallblithe noted that the folk were
merry and of many words one with another, while to him no man cast a
word save the Grandfather. As to Hallblithe, though he wondered much
what all this betokened, and what the land was whereto he was
wending, he was no man to fear an unboded peril; and he said to
himself that whatever else betid, he should meet the Hostage on the
Glittering Plain; so his heart rose and he was of good cheer, and as
the Grandfather had foretold, he was a merry faring-fellow to him.
Many a gibe the old man cast at him, and whiles Hallblithe gave him
back as good as he took, and whiles he laughed as the stroke went
home and silenced him; and whiles he understood nought of what the
elder said. So wore the day and still the wind held fair, though it
was light; and the sun set in a sky nigh cloudless, and there was
nowhere any forecast of peril. But when night was come, Hallblithe
lay down on a fair bed, which was dight for him in the poop, and he
soon fell asleep and dreamed not save such dreams as are but made up
of bygone memories, and betoken nought, and are not remembered.

When he awoke, day lay broad on the sea, and the waves were little,
the sky had but few clouds, the sun shone bright, and the air was
warm and sweet-breathed.

He looked aside and saw the old man sitting up in his bed, as ghastly
as a dead man dug up again: his bushy eyebrows were wrinkled over
his bleared old eyes, the long white hair dangled forlorn from his
gaunt head: yet was his face smiling and he looked as happy as the
soul within him could make the half-dead body. He turned now to
Hallblithe and said:

"Thou art late awake: hadst thou been waking earlier, the sooner had
thine heart been gladdened. Go forward now, and gaze thy fill and
come and tell me thereof."

"Thou art happy, Grandfather," said Hallblithe, "what good tidings
hath morn brought us?"

"The Land! the Land!" said the Long-hoary; "there are no longer tears
in this old body, else should I be weeping for joy."

Said Hallblithe: "Art thou going to meet some one who shall make
thee glad before thou diest, old man?"

"Some one?" said the elder; "what one? Are they not all gone?
burned, and drowned, and slain and died abed? Some one, young man?
Yea, forsooth some one indeed! Yea, the great warrior of the Wasters
of the Shore; the Sea-eagle who bore the sword and the torch and the
terror of the Ravagers over the coal-blue sea. It is myself, MYSELF
that I shall find on the Land of the Glittering Plain, O young
lover!"

Hallblithe looked on him wondering as he raised his wasted arms
towards the bows of the ship pitching down the slope of the sunlit
sea, or climbing up it. Then again the old man fell back on his bed
and muttered: "What fool's work is this! that thou wilt draw me on
to talk loud, and waste my body with lack of patience. I will talk
with thee no more, lest my heart swell and break, and quench the
little spark of life within me."

Then Hallblithe arose to his feet, and stood looking at him,
wondering so much at his words, that for a while he forgat the land
which they were nearing, though he had caught glimpses of it, as the
bows of the round-ship fell downward into the hollow of the sea. The
wind was but light, as hath been said, and the waves little under it,
but there was still a smooth swell of the sea which came of breezes
now dead, and the ship wallowed thereon and sailed but slowly.

In a while the old man opened his eyes again, and said in a low
peevish voice: "Why standest thou staring at me? why hast thou not
gone forward to look upon the land? True it is that ye Ravens are
short of wits."

Said Hallblithe: "Be not wrath, chieftain; I was wondering at thy
words, which are exceeding marvellous; tell me more of this land of
the Glittering Plain."

Said the Grandfather: "Why should I tell it thee? ask of the
mariners. They all know more than thou dost."

"Thou knowest," said Hallblithe, "that these men speak not to me, and
take no more heed of me than if I were an image which they were
carrying to sell to the next mighty man they may hap on. Or tell me,
thou old man," said he fiercely, "is it perchance a thrall-market
whereto they are bringing me? Have they sold her there, and will
they sell me also in the same place, but into other hands."

"Tush!" said the Grandfather somewhat feebly, "this last word of
thine is folly; there is no buying or selling in the land whereto we
are bound. As to thine other word, that these men have no fellowship
with thee, it is true: thou art my fellow and the fellow of none
else aboard. Therefore if I feel might in me, maybe I will tell thee
somewhat."

Then he raised his head a little and said: "The sun grows hot, the
wind faileth us, and slow and slow are we sailing."

Even as he spoke there was a stir amidships, and Hallblithe looked
and beheld the mariners handling the sweeps, and settling themselves
on the rowing-benches. Said the elder: "There is noise amidships,
what are they doing?"

The old man raised himself a little again, and cried out in his
shrill voice: "Good lads! brave lads! Thus would we do in the old
time when we drew anear some shore, and the beacons were sending up
smoke by day, and flame benights; and the shore-abiders did on their
helms and trembled. Thrust her through, lads! Thrust her along!"
Then he fell back again, and said in a weak voice: "Make no more
delay, guest, but go forward and look upon the land, and come back
and tell me thereof, and then the tale may flow from me. Haste,
haste!" So Hallblithe went down from the poop, and in to the waist,
where now the rowers were bending to their oars, and crying out
fiercely as they tugged at the quivering ash; and he clomb on to the
forecastle and went forward right to the dragon-head, and gazed long
upon the land, while the dashing of the oar-blades made the semblance
of a gale about the ship's black sides. Then he came back again to
the Sea-eagle, who said to him: "Son, what hast thou seen?"

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10