SO now being out of the wood, they went peaceably and safely along the
Portway, the Runaways mingling with the Dalesmen. Strange showed amidst
the health and wealth of the Dale the rags and misery and nakedness of
the thralls, like a dream amidst the trim gaiety of spring; and
whomsoever they met, or came up with on the road, whatso his business
might be, could not refrain himself from following them, but mingled with
the men-at-arms, and asked them of the tidings; and when they heard who
these poor people were, even delivered thralls of the Foemen, they were
glad at heart and cried out for joy; and many of the women, nay, of the
men also, when they first came across that misery from out the heart of
their own pleasant life, wept for pity and love of the poor folk, now at
last set free, and blessed the swords that should do the like by the
whole people.
They went slowly as men began to gather about them; yea, some of the good
folk that lived hard by must needs fare home to their houses to fetch
cakes and wine for the guests; and they made them sit down and rest on
the green grass by the side of the Portway, and eat and drink to cheer
their hearts; others, women and young swains, while they rested went down
into the meadows and plucked of the spring flowers, and twined them
hastily with deft and well-wont fingers into chaplets and garlands for
their heads and bodies. Thus indeed they covered their nakedness, till
the lowering faces and weather-beaten skins of those hardly-entreated
thralls looked grimly out from amidst the knots of cowslip and oxlip, and
the branches of the milk-white blackthorn bloom, and the long trumpets of
the daffodils, of the hue that wrappeth round the quill which the webster
takes in hand when she would pleasure her soul with the sight of the
yellow growing upon the dark green web.
So they went on again as the evening was waning, and when they were
gotten within a furlong of the Gate, lo! there was come the minstrelsy,
the pipe and the tabor, the fiddle and the harp, and the folk that had
learned to sing the sweetest, both men and women, and Redesman at the
head of them all.
Then fell the throng into an ordered company; first went the music, and
then a score of Face-of-god’s warriors with drawn swords and uplifted
spears; and then the flower-bedecked misery of the Runaways, men and
women going together, gaunt, befouled, and hollow-eyed, with here and
there a flushed cheek or gleaming eye, or tear-bedewed face, as the joy
and triumph of the eve pierced through their wonted weariness of grief;
then the rest of the warriors, and lastly the mingled crowd of Dalesfolk,
tall men and fair women gaily arrayed, clean-faced, clear-skinned, and
sleek-haired, with glancing eyes and ruddy lips.
And now Redesman turned about to the music and drew his bow across his
fiddle, and the other bows ran out in concert, and the harps followed the
story of them, and he lifted up his voice and sang the words of an old
song, and all the singers joined him and blended their voices with his.
And these are some of the words which they sang:
Lo! here is Spring, and all we are living,
We that were wan with Winter’s fear;
Reach out your hands to her hands that are giving,
Lest ye lose her love and the light of the year.
Many a morn did we wake to sorrow,
When low on the land the cloud-wrath lay;
Many an eve we feared to-morrow,
The unbegun unfinished day.
Ah we—we hoped not, and thou wert tardy;
Nought wert thou helping; nought we prayed.
Where was the eager heart, the hardy?
Where was the sweet-voiced unafraid?
But now thou lovest, now thou leadest,
Where is gone the grief of our minds?
What was the word of the tale, that thou heedest
E’en as the breath of the bygone winds?
Green and green is thy garment growing
Over thy blossoming limbs beneath;
Up o’er our feet rise the blades of thy sowing,
Pierced are our hearts with thine odorous breath.
But where art thou wending, thou new-comer?
Hurrying on to the Courts of the Sun?
Where art thou now in the House of the Summer?
Told are thy days and thy deed is done.
Spring has been here for us that are living
After the days of Winter’s fear;
Here in our hands is the wealth of her giving,
The Love of the Earth, and the Light of the Year.
Thus came they to the Gate, and lo! the Bride thereby, leaning against a
buttress, gazing with no dull eyes at the coming throng. She was now
clad in her woman’s attire again, to wit a light flame-coloured gown over
a green kirtle; but she yet bore a gilded helm on her head and a sword
girt to her side in token of her oath to the God. She had been in
Hall-face’s company in that last battle, and had done a man’s service
there, fighting very valiantly, but had not been hurt, and had come back
to Burgstead when the shift of men was.
Now she drew herself up and stood a little way before the Gate and looked
forth on the throng, and when her eyes beheld the Runaways amidst of the
weaponed carles of Burgdale, her face flushed, and her eyes filled with
tears as she stood, partly wondering, partly deeming what they were. She
waited till Stone-face came by her, and then she took the old man by the
sleeve, and drew him apart a little and said to him: ‘What meaneth this
show, my friend? Who hath clad these folk thus strangely; and who be
these three naked tall ones, so fierce-looking, but somewhat noble of
aspect?’
For indeed those three men of the kindreds, when they had gotten into the
Dale, and had rested them, and drunk a cup of wine, and when they had
seen the chaplets and wreaths of the spring-flowers wherewith they were
bedecked, and had smelt the sweet savour of them, fell to walking
proudly, heeding not their nakedness; for no rag had they upon them save
breech-clouts of deer-skin: they had changed weapons with the Burgdale
carles; and one had gotten a great axe, which he bore over his shoulder,
and the shaft thereof was all done about with copper; and another had
shouldered a long heavy thrusting-spear, and the third, an exceeding tall
man, bore a long broad-bladed war-sword. Thus they went, brown of skin
beneath their flower-garlands, their long hair bleached by the sun
falling about their shoulders; high they strode amongst the shuffling
carles and tripping women of the later-come thralls. But when they heard
the music, and saw that they were coming to the Gate in triumph, strange
thoughts of old memories swelled up in their hearts, and they refrained
them not from weeping, for they felt that the joy of life had come back
to them.
Nor must it be deemed that these were the only ones amongst the Runaways
whose hearts were cheered and softened: already were many of them coming
back to life, as they felt their worn bodies caressed by the clear soft
air of Burgdale, and the sweetness of the flowers that hung about them,
and saw all round about the kind and happy faces of their well-willers.
So Stone-face looked on the Bride as she stood with face yet
tear-bedewed, awaiting his answer, and said:
‘Daughter, thou sayest who clad these folk thus? It was misery that hath
so dight them; and they are the images of what we shall be if we love
foul life better than fair death, and so fall into the hands of the
Felons, who were the masters of these men. As for the tall naked men,
they are of our own blood, and kinsmen to Face-of-god’s new friends; and
they are of the best of the vanquished: it was in early days that they
fled from thralldom; as we may have to do. Now, daughter, I bid thee be
as joyous as thou art valiant, and then shall all be well.’
Therewith she smiled on him, and he departed, and she stood a little
while, as the throng moved on and was swallowed by the Gate, and looked
after them; and for all her pity for the other folk, she thought chiefly
of those fearless tall men who were of the blood of those with whom it
was lawful to wed.
There she stood as the wind dried the tears upon her cheeks, thinking of
the sorrow which these folk had endured, and their stripes and mocking,
their squalor and famine; and she wondered and looked on her own fair and
shapely hands with the precious finger-rings thereon, and on the dainty
cloth and trim broidery of her sleeve; and she touched her smooth cheek
with the back of her hand, and smiled, and felt the spring sweet in her
mouth, and its savour goodly in her nostrils; and therewith she called to
mind the aspect of her lovely body, as whiles she had seen it imaged, all
its full measure, in the clear pool at midsummer, or piece-meal, in the
shining steel of the Westland mirror. She thought also with what joy she
drew the breath of life, yea, even amidst of grief, and of how sweet and
pure and well-nurtured she was, and how well beloved of many friends and
the whole folk, and she set all this beside those woeful bodies and
lowering faces, and felt shame of her sorrow of heart, and the pain it
had brought to her; and ever amidst shame and pity of all that misery
rose up before her the images of those tall fierce men, and it seemed to
her as if she had seen something like to them in some dream or
imagination of her mind.
So came the Burgdalers and their guests into the street of Burgstead
amidst music and singing; and the throng was great there. Then
Face-of-god bade make a ring about the strangers, and they did so, and he
and the Runaways alone were in the midst of it; and he spake in a loud
voice and said:
‘Men of the Dale and the Burg, these folk whom here ye see in such a
sorry plight are they whom our deadly foes have rejoiced to torment; let
us therefore rejoice to cherish them. Now let those men come forth who
deem that they have enough and more, so that they may each take into
their houses some two or three of these friends such as would be fain to
be together. And since I am War-leader, and have the right hereto, I
will first choose them whom I will lead into the House of the Face. And
lo you! will I have this man (and he laid his hand on Dallach),who is he
whom I first came across, and who found us all these others, and next I
will have yonder tall carles, the three of them, because I perceive them
to be men meet to be with a War-leader, and to follow him in battle.’
Therewith he drew the three Men of the Wolf towards him, but Dallach
already was standing beside him. And folk rejoiced in Face-of-god.
But the Bride came forward next, and spake to him meekly and simply:
‘War-leader, let me have of the women those who need me most, that I may
bring them to the House of the Steer, and try if there be not some good
days yet to be found for them, wherein they shall but remember the past
grief as an ugly dream.’
Then Face-of-god looked on her, and him-seemed he had never seen her so
fair; and all the shame wherewith he had beheld her of late was gone from
him, and his heart ran over with friendly love towards her as she looked
into his face with kindly eyes; and he said:
‘Kinswoman, take thy choice as thy kindness biddeth, and happy shall they
be whom thou choosest.’
She bowed her head soberly, and chose from among the guests four women of
the saddest and most grievous, and no man of their kindred spake for
going along with them; then she went her ways home, leading one of them
by the hand, and strange was it to see those twain going through sun and
shade together, that poor wretch along with the goodliest of women.
Then came forward one after other of the worthy goodmen of the Dale, and
especially such as were old, and they led away one one man, and another
two, and another three, and often would a man crave to go with a woman or
a woman with a man, and it was not gainsaid them. So were all the guests
apportioned, and ill-content were those goodmen that had to depart
without a guest; and one man would say to another: ‘Such-an-one, be not
downcast; this guest shall be between us, if he will, and shall dwell
with thee and me month about; but this first month with me, since I was
first comer.’ And so forth was it said.
Now to prevent the time to come, it may be said about the Runaways, that
when they had been a little while amongst the Burgdalers, well fed and
well clad and kindly cherished, it was marvellous how they were bettered
in aspect of body, and it began to be seen of them that they were
well-favoured people, and divers of the women exceeding goodly,
black-haired and grey-eyed, and very clear-skinned and white-skinned;
most of them were young, and the oldest had not seen above forty winters.
They of Rose-dale, and especially such as had first fled away to the
wood, were very soon seen to be merry and kindly folk; but they who had
been longest in captivity, and notably those from Silver-dale who were
not of the kindreds, were for a long time sullen and heavy, and it
availed little to trust to them for the doing of work; albeit they would
follow about their friends of Burgdale with the love of a dog; also they
were, divers of them, somewhat thievish, and if they lacked anything
would liefer take it by stealth than ask for it; which forsooth the
Burgdale men took not amiss, but deemed of it as a jest rather.
Very few of the Runaways had any will to fare back to their old homes, or
indeed could be got to go into the wood, or, after a day or two, to say
any word of Rose-dale or Silver-dale. In this and other matters the
Burgdalers dealt with them as with children who must have their way; for
they deemed that their guests had much time to make up; also they were
well content when they saw how goodly they were, for these Dalesmen loved
to see men goodly of body and of a cheerful countenance.
As for Dallach and the three Silver-dale men of the kindred, they went
gladly whereas the Burgdale men would have them; and half a score others
took weapons in their hands when the war was foughten: concerning which
more hereafter.
But on the even whereof the tale now tells, Face-of-god and Stone-face
and their company met after nightfall in the Hall of the Face clad in
glorious raiment, and therewith were Dallach and the men of Silver-dale,
washen and docked of their long hair, after the fashion of warriors who
bear the helm; and they were clad in gay attire, with battle-swords girt
to their sides and gold rings on their arms. Somewhat stern and sad-eyed
were those Silver-dalers yet, though they looked on those about them
kindly and courteously when they met their eyes; and Face-of-god yearned
towards them when he called to mind the beauty and wisdom and
loving-kindness of the Sun-beam. They were, as aforesaid, strong men and
tall, and one of them taller than any amidst that house of tall men.
Their names were Wolf-stone, the tallest, and God-swain, and Spear-fist;
and God-swain the youngest was of thirty winters, and Wolf-stone of
forty. They came into the Hall in such wise, that when they were washed
and attired, and all men were assembled in the Hall, and the Alderman and
the chieftains sitting on the daïs, Face-of-god brought them in from the
out-bower, holding Dallach by the right hand and Wolf-stone by the left;
and he looked but a stripling beside that huge man.
And when the men in the Hall beheld such goodly warriors, and remembered
their grief late past, they all stood up and shouted for joy of them.
But Face-of-god passed up the Hall with them, and stood before the daïs
and said:
‘O Alderman of the Dale and Chief of the House of the Face, here I bring
to you the foes of our foemen, whom I have met in the Wild-wood, and
bidden to our House; and meseemeth they will be our friends, and stand
beside us in the day of battle. Therefore I say, take these guests and
me together, or put us all to the door together; and if thou wilt take
them, then show them to such places as thou deemest meet.’
Then stood up the Alderman and said:
‘Men of Silver-dale and Rose-dale, I bid you welcome! Be ye our friends,
and abide here with us as long as seemeth good to you, and share in all
that is ours. Son Face-of-god, show these warriors to seats on the daïs
beside thee, and cherish them as well as thou knowest how.’
Then Face-of-god brought them up on to the daïs and sat down on the right
hand of his father, with Dallach on his right hand, and then Wolf-stone
out from him; then sat Stone-face, that there might be a man of the Dale
to talk with them and serve them; and on his right hand first Spear-fist
and then God-swain. And when they were all sat down, and the meat was on
the board, Iron-face turned to his son Face-of-god and took his hand, and
said in a loud voice, so that many might hear him:
‘Son Face-of-god, son Gold-mane, thou bearest with thee both ill luck and
good. Erewhile, when thou wanderedst out into the Wild-wood, seeking
thou knewest not what from out of the Land of Dreams, thou didst but
bring aback to us grief and shame; but now that thou hast gone forth with
the neighbours seeking thy foemen, thou hast come aback to us with thine
hands full of honour and joy for us, and we thank thee for thy gifts, and
I call thee a lucky man. Herewith, kinsman, I drink to thee and the
lasting of thy luck.’
Therewith he stood up and drank the health of the War-leader and the
Guests: and all men were exceeding joyous thereat, when they called to
mind his wrath at the Gate-thing, and they shouted for gladness as they
drank that health, and the feast became exceeding merry in the House of
the Face; and as to the war to come, it seemed to them as if it were over
and done in all triumph.