THE WOODLAND CARLES: THE BANNER OF THE WOLF DISPLAYED.
NOW came the day of the Great Folk-mote, and there was much thronging
from everywhere to the Mote-stead, but most from Burgstead itself,
whereas few of the Dale-dwellers who had been at the Fair had gone back
home. Albeit some of the Shepherds and of the Dalesmen of the
westernmost Dale had brought light tents, and tilted themselves in in the
night before the Mote down in the meadows below the Mote-stead. From
early morning there had been a stream of folk on the Portway setting
westward; and many came thus early that they might hold converse with
friends and well-wishers; and some that they might disport them in the
woods. Men went in no ordered bands, as the Burgstead men at least had
done on the day of the Weapon-show, save that a few of them who were
arrayed the bravest gathered about the banners, and went with them to the
Mote-stead; for all the banners must needs be there.
The Folk-mote was to be hallowed-in three hours before noon, as all men
knew; therefore an hour before that time were all men of the Dale and the
Shepherds assembled that might be looked for, save the Alderman and the
chieftains with the banner of the Burg, and these were not like to come
many minutes before the Hallowing. Folk were gathered on the Field in
such wise, that the men-at-arms made a great ring round about the
Doom-ring, (albeit there were many old men there, girt with swords that
they should never heave up again in battle), so that without that ring
there was nought save women and children. But when all the other Houses
were assembled, men looked around, and beheld the place of the
Woodlanders that it was empty; and they marvelled that they were thus
belated. For now all was ready, and a watcher had gone up to the Tower
on the height, and had with him the great Horn of Warning, which could be
heard past the Mote-stead and a great way down the Dale: and if he saw
foes coming from the East he should blow one blast; if from the South,
two; if from the West, three; if from the North, four.
So half an hour from the appointed time of Hallowing rose the rumour that
the Alderman was on the road, and presently they of the women who were on
the outside of the throng, by drawing nigh to the edge of the sheer rock,
could behold the Banner of the Burg on the Portway, and soon after could
see the wain, done about with green boughs, wherein sat the chieftains in
their glittering war-gear. Speedily they spread the tidings, and a
confused shout went up into the air; and in a little while the wain
stayed on Wildlake’s Way at the bottom of the steep slope that went up to
the Mote-stead, and the banner of the Burg came on proudly up the hill.
Soon all men beheld it, and saw that the tall Hall-face bore it in front
of his brother Face-of-god, who came on gleaming in war-gear better than
most men had seen; which was indeed of his father’s fashioning, and his
father’s gift to him that morning.
After Face-of-god came the Alderman, and with him Folk-might leading the
Sun-beam by the hand, and then Stone-face and the Elder of the
Dale-wardens; and then the six Burg-wardens: as to the other
Dale-wardens, they were in their places on the Field.
So now those who had been standing up turned their faces toward the Altar
of the Gods, and those who had been sitting down sprang to their feet,
and the confused rumour of the throng rose into a clear shout as the
chieftains went to their places, and sat them down on the turf-seats
amidst the Doom-ring facing the Speech-hill and the Altar of the Gods.
Amidmost sat the Alderman, on his right hand Face-of-god, and out from
him Hall-face, and then Stone-face and three of the Wardens; but on his
left hand sat first the two Guests, then the Elder of the Dale-wardens,
and then the other three Burg-wardens; as for the Banner of the Burg, its
staff was stuck into the earth behind them, and the Banner raised itself
in the morning wind and flapped and rippled over their heads.
There then they sat, and folk abided, and it still lacked some minutes of
the due time, as the Alderman wotted by the shadow of the great
standing-stone betwixt him and the Altar. Therewithal came the sound of
a great horn from out of the wood on the north side, and men knew it for
the horn of the Woodland Carles, and were glad; for they could not think
why they should be belated; and now men stood up a-tiptoe and on other’s
shoulders to look over the heads of the women and children to behold
their coming; but their empty place was at the southwest corner of the
ring of men.
So presently men beheld them marching toward their place, cleaving the
throng of the women and children, a great company; for besides that they
had with them two score more of men under weapons than on the day of the
Weapon-show, all their little ones and women and outworn elders were with
them, some on foot, some riding on oxen and asses. In their forefront
went the two signs of the Battle-shaft and the War-spear. But moreover,
in front of all was borne a great staff with the cloth of a banner
wrapped round about it, and tied up with a hempen yarn that it might not
be seen.
Stark and mighty men they looked; tall and lean, broad-shouldered,
dark-faced. As they came amongst the throng the voice of their horn died
out, and for a few moments they fared on with no sound save the tramp of
their feet; then all at once the man who bare the hidden banner lifted up
one hand, and straightway they fell to singing, and with that song they
came to their place. And this is some of what they sang:
O white, white Sun, what things of wonder
Hast thou beheld from thy wall of the sky!
All the Roofs of the Rich and the grief thereunder,
As the fear of the Earl-folk flitteth by!
Thou hast seen the Flame steal forth from the Forest
To slay the slumber of the lands,
As the Dusky Lord whom thou abhorrest
Clomb up to thy Burg unbuilt with hands.
Thou lookest down from thy door the golden,
Nor batest thy wide-shining mirth,
As the ramparts fall, and the roof-trees olden
Lie smouldering low on the burning earth.
When flitteth the half-dark night of summer
From the face of the murder great and grim,
’Tis thou thyself and no new-comer
Shines golden-bright on the deed undim.
Art thou our friend, O Day-dawn’s Lover?
Full oft thine hand hath sent aslant
Bright beams athwart the Wood-bear’s cover,
Where the feeble folk and the nameless haunt.
Thou hast seen us quail, thou hast seen us cower,
Thou hast seen us crouch in the Green Abode,
While for us wert thou slaying slow hour by hour,
And smoothing down the war-rough road.
Yea, the rocks of the Waste were thy Dawns upheaving,
To let the days of the years go through;
And thy Noons the tangled brake were cleaving
The slow-foot seasons’ deed to do.
Then gaze adown on this gift of our giving,
For the WOLF comes wending frith and ford,
And the Folk fares forth from the dead to the living,
For the love of the Lief by the light of the Sword.
Then ceased the song, and the whole band of the Woodlanders came pouring
tumultuously into the space allotted them, like the waters pouring over a
river-dam, their white swords waving aloft in the morning sunlight; and
wild and strange cries rose up from amidst them, with sobbing and weeping
of joy. But soon their troubled front sank back into ordered ranks,
their bright blades stood upright in their hands before them, and folk
looked on their company, and deemed it the very Terror of battle and
Render of the ranks of war. Right well were they armed; for though many
of their weapons were ancient and somewhat worn, yet were they the work
of good smiths of old days; and moreover, if any of them lacked good
war-gear of his own, that had the Alderman and his sons made good to
them.
But before the hedge of steel stood the two tall men who held in their
hands the war-tokens of the Battle-shaft and the War-spear, and betwixt
them stood one who was indeed the tallest man of the whole assembly, who
held the great staff of the hidden banner. And now he reached up his
hand, and plucked at the yarn that bound it, which of set purpose was but
feeble, and tore it off, and then shook the staff aloft with both hands,
and shouted, and lo! the Banner of the Wolf with the Sun-burst behind
him, glittering-bright, new-woven by the women of the kindred, ran out in
the fresh wind, and flapped and rippled before His warriors there
assembled.
Then from all over the Mote-stead arose an exceeding great shout, and all
men waved aloft their weapons; but the men of Shadowy Vale who were
standing amidst the men of the Face knew not how to demean themselves,
and some of them ran forth into the Field and leapt for joy, tossing
their swords into the air, and catching them by the hilts as they fell:
and amidst it all the Woodlanders now stood silent, unmoving, as men
abiding the word of onset.
As for that brother and sister: the Sun-beam flushed red all over her
face, and pressed her hands to her bosom, and then the passion of tears
over-mastered her, and her breast heaved, and the tears gushed out of her
eyes, and her body was shaken with weeping. But Folk-might sat still,
looking straight before him, his eyes glittering, his teeth set, his
right hand clutching hard at the hilts of his sword, which lay naked
across his knees. And the Bride, who stood clad in her begemmed and
glittering war-array in the forefront of the Men of the Steer, nigh unto
the seats of the chieftains, beheld Folk-might, and her face flushed and
brightened, and still she looked upon him. The Alderman’s face was as of
one pleased and proud; yet was its joy shadowed as it were by a cloud of
compassion. Face-of-god sat like the very image of the War-god, and
stirred not, nor looked toward the Sun-beam; for still the thought of the
after-grief of battle, and the death of friends and folk that loved him,
lay heavy on his heart, for all that it beat wildly at the shouting of
the men.