NEIGHBOURS.
NOW on the day appointed for the Weapon-show came the Folk flock-meal to
the great and wide meadow that was cleft by Wildlake as it ran to join
the Weltering Water. Early in the morning, even before sunrise, had the
wains full of women and children begun to come thither. Also there came
little horses and asses from the Shepherd country with one or two or
three damsels or children sitting on each, and by wain-side or by beast
strode the men of the house, merry and fair in their war-gear. The
Woodlanders, moreover, man and woman, elder and swain and young damsel,
streamed out of the wood from Carlstead, eager to make the day begin
before the sunrise, and end before his setting.
Then all men fell to pitching of tents and tilting over of wains; for the
April sun was hot in the Dale, and when he arose the meads were gay with
more than the spring flowers; for the tents and the tilts were stained
and broidered with many colours, and there was none who had not furbished
up his war-gear so that all shone and glittered. And many wore gay
surcoats over their armour, and the women were clad in all their bravery,
and the Houses mostly of a suit; for one bore blue and another
corn-colour, and another green, and another brazil, and so forth, and all
gleaming and glowing with broidery of gold and bright hues. But the
women of the Shepherds were all clad in white, embroidered with green
boughs and red blossoms, and the Woodland women wore dark red kirtles.
Moreover, the women had set garlands of flowers on their heads and the
helms of the men, and for the most part they were slim of body and tall
and light-limbed, and as dainty to look upon as the willow-boughs that
waved on the brook-side.
Thither had the goodmen who were guesting the Runaways brought their
guests, even now much bettered by their new soft days; and much the poor
folk marvelled at all this joyance, and they scarce knew where they were;
but to some it brought back to their minds days of joyance before the
thralldom and all that they had lost, so that their hearts were heavy a
while, till they saw the warriors of the kindreds streaming into the mead
and bethought them why they carried steel.
Now by then the sun was fully up there was a great throng on the Portway,
and this was the folk of the Burg on their way to the Weapon-mead. The
men-at-arms were in the midst of the throng, and at the head of them was
the War-leader, with the banner of the Face before him, wherein was done
the image of the God with the ray-ringed head. But at the rearward of
the warriors went the Alderman and the Burg-wardens, before whom was
borne the banner of the Burg pictured with the Gate and its Towers; but
in the midst betwixt those two was the banner of the Steer, a white beast
on a green field.
So when the Dale-wardens who were down in the meadow heard the music and
beheld who were coming, they bade the companies of the Dale and the
Shepherds and the Woodlanders who were down there to pitch their banners
in a half circle about the ingle of the meadow which was made by the
streams of Wildlake and the Weltering Water, and gather to them to be
ordered there under their leaders of scores and half-hundreds and
hundreds; and even so they did. But the banners of the Dale without the
Burg were the Bridge, and the Bull, and the Vine, and the Sickle. And
the Shepherds had three banners, to wit Greenbury, and the Fleece, and
the Thorn.
As for the Woodlanders, they said that they were abiding their great
banner, but it should come in good time; ‘and meantime,’ said they, ‘here
are the war-tokens that we shall fight under; for they are good enough
banners for us poor men, the remnant of the valiant of time past.’
Therewith they showed two great spears, and athwart the one was tied an
arrow, its point dipped in blood, its feathers singed with fire; and they
said, ‘This is the banner of the War-shaft.’
On the other spear there was nought; but the head thereof was great and
long, and they had so burnished the steel that the sun smote out a ray of
light from it, so that it might be seen from afar. And they said: ‘This
is the Banner of the Spear! Down yonder where the ravens are gathering
ye shall see a banner flying over us. There shall fall many a mother’s
son.’
Smiled the Dale-wardens, and said that these were good banners to fight
under; and those that stood nearby shouted for the valiancy of the
Woodland Carles.
Now the Dale-wardens went to the entrance from the Portway to the meadow,
and there met the Men of the Burg, and two of them went one on either
side of the War-leader to show him to his seat, and the others abode till
the Alderman and Burg-wardens came up, and then joined themselves to
them, and the horns blew up both in the meadow and on the road, and the
new-comers went their ways to their appointed places amidst the shouts of
the Dalesmen; and the women and children and old men from the Burg
followed after, till all the mead was covered with bright raiment and
glittering gear, save within the ring of men at the further end.
So came the War-leader to his seat of green turf raised in the ingle
aforesaid; and he stood beside it till the Alderman and Wardens had taken
their places on a seat behind him raised higher than his; below him on
the step of his seat sat the Scrivener with his pen and ink-horn and
scroll of parchment, and men had brought him a smooth shield whereon to
write.
On the left side of Face-of-god stood the men of the Face all glittering
in their arms, and amongst them were Wolf-stone and his two fellows, but
Dallach was not yet whole of his hurts. On his right were the folk of
the House of the Steer: the leader of that House was an old white-bearded
man, grandfather of the Bride, for her father was dead; and who but the
Bride herself stood beside him in her glorious war-gear, looking as if
she were new come from the City of the Gods, thought most men; but those
who beheld her closely deemed that she looked heavy-eyed and haggard, as
if she were aweary. Nevertheless, wheresoever she passed, and whosoever
looked on her (and all men looked on her), there arose a murmur of praise
and love; and the women, and especially the young ones, said how fair her
deed was, and how meet she was for it; and some of them were for doing on
war-gear and faring to battle with the carles; and of these some were
sober and solemn, as was well seen afterwards, and some spake lightly:
some also fell to boasting of how they could run and climb and swim and
shoot in the bow, and fell to baring of their arms to show how strong
they were: and indeed they were no weaklings, though their arms were
fair.
There then stood the ring of men, each company under its banner; and
beyond them stood the women and children and men unmeet for battle; and
beyond them again the tilted wains and the tents.
Now Face-of-god sat him down on the turf-seat with his bright helm on his
head and his naked sword across his knees, while the horns blew up
loudly, and when they had done, the elder of the Dale-wardens cried out
for silence. Then again arose Face-of-god and said:
‘Men of the Dale, and ye friends of the Shepherds, and ye, O valiant
Woodlanders; we are not assembled here to take counsel, for in three
days’ time shall the Great Folk-mote be holden, whereat shall be counsel
enough. But since I have been appointed your Chief and War-leader, till
such time as the Folk-mote shall either yeasay or naysay my leadership, I
have sent for you that we may look each other in the face and number our
host and behold our weapons, and see if we be meet for battle and for the
dealing with a great host of foemen. For now no longer can it be said
that we are going to war, but rather that war is on our borders, and we
are blended with it; as many have learned to their cost; for some have
been slain and some sorely hurt. Therefore I bid you now, all ye that
are weaponed, wend past us that the tale of you may be taken. But first
let every hundred-leader and half-hundred-leader and score-leader make
sure that he hath his tale aright, and give his word to the captain of
his banner that he in turn may give it out to the Scrivener with his name
and the House and Company that he leadeth.’
So he spake and sat him adown; and the horns blew again in token that the
companies should go past; and the first that came was Hall-ward of the
House of the Steer, and the first of those that went after him was the
Bride, going as if she were his son.
So he cried out his name, and the name of his House, and said, ‘An
hundred and a half,’ and passed forth, his men following him in most
goodly array. Each man was girt with a good sword and bore a long heavy
spear over his shoulder, save a score who bare bows; and no man lacked a
helm, a shield, and a coat of fence.
Then came a goodly man of thirty winters, and stayed before the Scrivener
and cried out:
‘Write down the House of the Bridge of the Upper Dale at one hundred, and
War-well their leader.’
And he strode on, and his men followed clad and weaponed like those of
the Steer, save that some had axes hanging to their girdles instead of
swords; and most bore casting-spears instead of the long spears, and half
a score were bowmen.
Then came Fox of Upton leading the men of the Bull of Middale, an hundred
and a half lacking two; very great and tall were his men, and they also
bore long spears, and one score and two were bowmen.
Then Fork-beard of Lea, a man well on in years, led on the men of the
Vine, an hundred and a half and five men thereto; two score of them bare
bow in hand and were girt with sword; the rest bore their swords naked in
their right hands, and their shields (which were but small bucklers)
hanging at their backs, and in the left hand each bore two
casting-spears. With these went two doughty women-at-arms among the
bowmen, tall and well-knit, already growing brown with the spring sun,
for their work lay among the stocks of the vines on the southward-looking
bents.
Next came a tall young man, yellow-haired, with a thin red beard, and
gave himself out for Red-beard of the Knolls; he bore his father’s name,
as the custom of their house was, but the old man, who had long been head
man of the House of the Sickle, was late dead in his bed, and the young
man had not seen twenty winters. He bade the Scrivener write the tale of
the Men of the Sickle at an hundred and a half, and his folk fared past
the War-leader joyously, being one half of them bowmen; and fell shooters
they were; the other half were girt with swords, and bore withal long
ashen staves armed with great blades curved inwards, which weapon they
called heft-sax.
All these bands, as the name and the tale of them was declared were
greeted with loud shouts from their fellows and the bystanders; but now
arose a greater shout still, as Stone-face, clad in goodly glittering
array, came forth and said:
‘I am Stone-face of the House of the Face, and I bring with me two
hundreds of men with their best war-gear and weapons: write it down,
Scrivener!’
And he strode on like a young man after those who had gone past, and
after him came the tall Hall-face and his men, a gallant sight to see:
two score bowmen girt with swords, and the others with naked swords
waving aloft, and each bearing two casting-spears in his left hand.
Then came a man of middle age, broad-shouldered, yellow-haired,
blue-eyed, of wide and ruddy countenance, and after him a goodly company;
and again great was the shout that went up to the heavens; for he said:
‘Scrivener, write down that Hound-under-Greenbury, from amongst the
dwellers in the hills where the sheep feed, leadeth the men who go under
the banner of Greenbury, to the tale of an hundred and four score.’
Therewith he passed on, and his men followed, stout, stark, and
merry-faced, girt with swords, and bearing over their shoulders
long-staved axes, and spears not so long as those which the Dalesmen
bore; and they had but a half score of arrow-shot with them.
Next came a young man, blue-eyed also, with hair the colour of flax on
the distaff, broad-faced and short-nosed, low of stature, but very
strong-built, who cried out in a loud, cheerful voice:
‘I am Strongitharm of the Shepherds, and these valiant men are of the
Fleece and the Thorn blended together, for so they would have it; and
their tale is one hundred and two score and ten.’
Then the men of those kindreds went past merry and shouting, and they
were clad and weaponed like to them of Greenbury, but had with them a
score of bowmen. And all these Shepherd-folk wore over their hauberks
white woollen surcoats broidered with green and red.
Now again uprose the cry, and there stood before the War-leader a very
tall man of fifty winters, dark-faced and grey-eyed, and he spake slowly
and somewhat softly, and said:
‘War-leader, this is Red-wolf of the Woodlanders leading the men who go
under the sign of the War-shaft, to the number of an hundred and two.’
Then he passed on, and his men after him, tall, lean, and silent amidst
the shouting. All these men bare bows, for they were keen hunters; each
had at his girdle a little axe and a wood-knife, and some had long swords
withal. They wore, everyone of the carles, short green surcoats over
their coats of fence; but amongst them were three women who bore like
weapons to the men, but were clad in red kirtles under their hauberks,
which were of good ring-mail gleaming over them from throat to knee.
Last came another tall man, but young, of twenty-five winters, and spake:
‘Scrivener, I am Bears-bane of the Woodlanders, and these that come after
me wend under the sign of the Spear, and they are of the tale of one
hundred and seven.’
And he passed by at once, and his men followed him, clad and weaponed no
otherwise than they of the War-shaft, and with them were two women.
Now went all those companies back to their banners, and stood there; and
there arose among the bystanders much talk concerning the Weapon-show,
and who were the best arrayed of the Houses. And of the old men, some
spake of past weapon-shows which they had seen in their youth, and they
set them beside this one, and praised and blamed. So it went on a little
while till the horns blew again, and once more there was silence. Then
arose Face-of-god and said:
‘Men of Burgdale, and ye Shepherd-folk, and ye of the Woodland, now shall
ye wot how many weaponed men we may bring together for this war.
Scrivener, arise and give forth the tale of the companies, as they have
been told unto you.’
Then the Scrivener stood up on the turf-bench beside Face-of-god, and
spake in a loud voice, reading from his scroll:
‘Of the Men of Burgdale there have passed by me nine hundreds and six; of
the Shepherds three hundreds and eight and ten; and of the Woodlanders
two hundreds and nine; so that all told our men are fourteen hundreds and
thirty and three.’
Now in those days men reckoned by long hundreds, so that the whole tale
of the host was one thousand, five hundred, and four score and one,
telling the tale in short hundreds.
When the tale had been given forth and heard, men shouted again, and they
rejoiced that they were so many. For it exceeded the reckoning which the
Alderman had given out at the Gate-thing. But Face-of-god said:
‘Neighbours, we have held our Weapon-show; but now hold you ready, each
man, for the Hosting toward very battle; for belike within seven days
shall the leaders of hundreds and twenties summon you to be ready in arms
to take whatso fortune may befall. Now is sundered the Weapon-show. Be
ye as merry to-day as your hearts bid you to be.’
Therewith he came down from his seat with the Alderman and the Wardens,
and they mingled with the good folk of the Dale and the Shepherds and the
Woodlanders, and merry was their converse there. It yet lacked an hour
of noon; so presently they fell to and feasted in the green meadow,
drinking from wain to wain and from tent to tent; and thereafter they
played and sported in the meads, shooting at the butts and wrestling, and
trying other masteries. Then they fell to dancing one and all, and so at
last to supper on the green grass in great merriment. Nor might you have
known from the demeanour of any that any threat of evil overhung the
Dale. Nay, so glad were they, and so friendly, that you might rather
have deemed that this was the land whereof tales tell, wherein people die
not, but live for ever, without growing any older than when they first
come thither, unless they be born into the land itself, and then they
grow into fair manhood, and so abide. In sooth, both the land and the
folk were fair enough to be that land and the folk thereof.
But a little after sunset they sundered, and some fared home; but many of
them abode in the tents and tilted wains, because the morrow was the
first day of the Spring Market: and already were some of the Westland
chapmen come; yea, two of them were with the bystanders in the meadow;
and more were looked for ere the night was far spent.