Of the Desert-House and the Chamber of Love in the Wilderness
Then in a while they grew sober and went on their ways, and the sun was
westering behind them, and casting long shadows. And in a little while
they were come out of the thick woods and were in a country of steep
little valleys, grassy, besprinkled with trees and bushes, with hills
of sandstone going up from them, which were often broken into cliffs
rising sheer from the tree-beset bottoms: and they saw plenteous deer
both great and small, and the wild things seemed to fear them but
little. To Ralph it seemed an exceeding fair land, and he was as
joyous as it was fair; but the Lady was pensive, and at last she said:
"Thou deemest it fair, and so it is; yet is it the lonesomest of
deserts. I deem indeed that it was once one of the fairest of lands,
with castles and cots and homesteads all about, and fair people no few,
busy with many matters amongst them. But now it is all passed away,
and there is no token of a dwelling of man, save it might be that those
mounds we see, as yonder, and yonder again, are tofts of house-walls
long ago sunken into the earth of the valley. And now few even are the
hunters or way-farers that wend through it."
Quoth Ralph: "Thou speakest as if there had been once histories and
tales of this pleasant wilderness: tell me, has it anything to do with
that land about the wide river which we went through, Roger and I, as
we rode to the Castle of Abundance the other day? For he spoke of
tales of deeds and mishaps concerning it." "Yea," she said, "so it is,
and the little stream that runs yonder beneath those cliffs, is making
its way towards that big river aforesaid, which is called the Swelling
Flood. Now true it is also that there are many tales about of the wars
and miseries that turned this land into a desert, and these may be true
enough, and belike are true. But these said tales have become blended
with the story of those aforesaid wars of the Land of the Tower; of
which indeed this desert is verily a part, but was desert still in the
days when I was Queen of the Land; so thou mayst well think that they
who hold me to be the cause of all this loneliness (and belike Roger
thought it was so) have scarce got hold of the very sooth of the
matter."
"Even so I deemed," said Ralph: "and to-morrow we shall cross the big
river, thou and I. Is there a ferry or a ford there whereas we shall
come, or how shall we win over it?"
She was growing merrier again now, and laughed at this and said: "O
fair boy! the crossing will be to-morrow and not to-day; let to-morrow
cross its own rivers; for surely to-day is fair enough, and fairer
shall it be when thou hast been fed and art sitting by me in rest and
peace till to-morrow morning. So now hasten yet a little more; and we
will keep the said little stream in sight as well as we may for the
bushes."
So they sped on, till Ralph said: "Will thy feet never tire, beloved?"
"O child," she said, "thou hast heard my story, and mayst well deem
that they have wrought many a harder day's work than this day's. And
moreover they shall soon rest; for look! yonder is our house for this
even, and till to-morrow's sun is high: the house for me and thee and
none else with us." And therewith she pointed to a place where the
stream ran in a chain of pools and stickles, and a sheer cliff rose up
some fifty paces beyond it, but betwixt the stream and the cliff was a
smooth table of greensward, with three fair thorn bushes thereon, and
it went down at each end to the level of the river's lip by a green
slope, but amidmost, the little green plain was some ten feet above the
stream, and was broken by a little undercliff, which went down sheer
into the water. And Ralph saw in the face of the high cliff the mouth
of a cave, however deep it might be.
"Come," said the Lady, "tarry not, for I know that hunger hath hold of
thee, and look, how low the sun is growing!" Then she caught him by the
hand, and fell to running with him to the edge of the stream, where at
the end of the further slope it ran wide and shallow before it entered
into a deep pool overhung with boughs of alder and thorn. She stepped
daintily over a row of big stones laid in the rippling shallow; and
staying herself in mid-stream on the biggest of them, and gathering up
her gown, looked up stream with a happy face, and then looked over her
shoulder to Ralph and said: "The year has been good to me these
seasons, so that when I stayed here on my way to the Castle of
Abundance, I found but few stones washed away, and crossed wellnigh
dry-shod, but this stone my feet are standing on now, I brought down
from under the cliff, and set it amid-most, and I said that when I
brought thee hither I would stay thereon and talk with thee while I
stood above the freshness of the water, as I am doing now."
Ralph looked on her and strove to answer her, but no words would come
to his lips, because of the greatness of his longing; she looked on him
fondly, and then stooped to look at the ripples that bubbled up about
her shoes, and touched them at whiles; then she said: "See how they
long for the water, these feet that have worn the waste so long, and
know how kind it will run over them and lap about them: but ye must
abide a little, waste-wearers, till we have done a thing or two. Come,
love!" And she reached her hand out behind her to Ralph, not looking
back, but when she felt his hand touch it, she stepped lightly over the
other stones, and on to the grass with him, and led him quietly up the
slope that went up to the table of greensward before the cave. But
when they came on to the level grass she kissed him, and then turned
toward the valley and spake solemnly: "May all blessings light on this
House of the wilderness and this Hall of the Summer-tide, and the
Chamber of Love that here is!"
Then was she silent a while, and Ralph brake not the silence. Then she
turned to him with a face grown merry and smiling, and said: "Lo! how
the poor lad yearneth for meat, as well he may, so long as the day hath
been. Ah, beloved, thou must be patient a little. For belike our
servants have not yet heard of the wedding of us. So we twain must
feed each the other. Is that so much amiss?"
He laughed in her face for love, and took her by the wrist, but she
drew her hand away and went into the cave, and came forth anon holding
a copper kettle with an iron bow, and a bag of meal, which she laid at
his feet; then she went into the cave again, and brought forth a flask
of wine and a beaker; then she caught up the little cauldron, which was
well-beaten, and thin and light, and ran down to the stream therewith,
and came up thence presently, bearing it full of water on her head,
going as straight and stately as the spear is seen on a day of tourney,
moving over the barriers that hide the knight, before he lays it in the
rest. She came up to him and set the water-kettle before him, and put
her hands on his shoulders, and kissed his cheek, and then stepped back
from him and smote her palms together, and said: "Yea, it is well! But
there are yet more things to do before we rest. There is the dighting
of the chamber, and the gathering of wood for the fire, and the mixing
of the meal, and the kneading and the baking of cakes; and all that is
my work, and there is the bringing of the quarry for the roast, and
that is thine."
Then she ran into the cave and brought forth a bow and a quiver of
arrows, and said: "Art thou somewhat of an archer?" Quoth he: "I
shoot not ill." "And I," she said, "shoot well, all woodcraft comes
handy to me. But this eve I must trust to thy skill for my supper. Go
swiftly and come back speedily. Do off thine hauberk, and beat the
bushes down in the valley, and bring me some small deer, as roe or hare
or coney. And wash thee in the pool below the stepping-stones, as I
shall do whiles thou art away, and by then thou comest back, all shall
be ready, save the roasting of the venison."
So he did off his wargear, but thereafter tarried a little, looking at
her, and she said: "What aileth thee not to go? the hunt's up." He
said: "I would first go see the rock-hall that is for our chamber
to-night; wilt thou not bring me in thither?" "Nay," she said, "for I
must be busy about many matters; but thou mayst go by thyself, if thou
wilt."
So he went and stooped down and entered the cave, and found it high and
wide within, and clean and fresh and well-smelling, and the floor of
fine white sand without a stain.
So he knelt down and kissed the floor, and said aloud: "God bless this
floor of the rock-hall whereon my love shall lie to-night!" Then he
arose and went out of the cave, and found the Lady at the entry
stooping down to see what he would do; and she looked on him fondly and
anxiously; but he turned a merry face to her, and caught her round the
middle and strained her to his bosom, and then took the bow and arrows
and ran down the slope and over the stream, into the thicket of the
valley.
He went further than he had looked for, ere he found a prey to his
mind, and then he smote a roe with a shaft and slew her, and broke up
the carcase and dight it duly, and so went his ways back. When he came
to the stream he looked up and saw a little fire glittering not far
from the cave, but had no clear sight of the Lady, though he thought he
saw her gown fluttering nigh one of the thorn-bushes. Then he did off
his raiment and entered that pool of the stream, and was glad to bathe
him in the same place where her body had been but of late; for he had
noted that the stones of the little shore were still wet with her feet
where she had gone up from the water.
But now, as he swam and sported in the sun-warmed pool he deemed he
heard the whinnying of a horse, but was not sure, so he held himself
still to listen, and heard no more. Then he laughed and bethought him
of Falcon his own steed, and dived down under the water; but as he came
up, laughing still and gasping, he heard a noise of the clatter of
horse hoofs, as if some one were riding swiftly up the further side of
the grassy table, where it was stony, as he had noted when they passed
by.
A deadly fear fell upon his heart as he thought of his love left all
alone; so he gat him at once out of the water and cast his shirt over
his head; but while his arms were yet entangled in the sleeves thereof,
came to his ears a great and awful sound of a man's voice roaring out,
though there were no shapen words in the roar. Then were his arms free
through the sleeves, and he took up the bow and fell to bending it, and
even therewith he heard a great wailing of a woman's voice, and she
cried out, piteously: "Help me, O help, lovely creature of God!"
Yet must he needs finish bending the bow howsoever his heart died
within him; or what help would there be of a naked and unarmed man? At
last it was bent and an arrow nocked on the string, as he leapt over
the river and up the slope.
But even as he came up to that pleasant place he saw all in a moment of
time; that there stood Silverfax anigh the Cave's mouth, and the Lady
lying on the earth anigh the horse; and betwixt her and him the Knight
of the Sun stood up stark, his shining helm on his head, the last rays
of the setting sun flashing in the broidered image of his armouries.
He turned at once upon Ralph, shaking his sword in the air (and there
was blood upon the blade) and he cried out in terrible voice: "The
witch is dead, the whore is dead! And thou, thief, who hast stolen her
from me, and lain by her in the wilderness, now shalt thou die, thou!"
Scarce had he spoken than Ralph drew his bow to the arrow-head and
loosed; there was but some twenty paces betwixt them, and the shaft,
sped by that fell archer, smote the huge man through the eye into the
brain, and he fell down along clattering, dead without a word more.
But Ralph gave forth a great wail of woe, and ran forward and knelt by
the Lady, who lay all huddled up face down upon the grass, and he
lifted her up and laid her gently on her back. The blood was flowing
fast from a great wound in her breast, and he tore off a piece of his
shirt to staunch it, but she without knowledge of him breathed forth
her last breath ere he could touch the hurt, and he still knelt by her,
staring on her as if he knew not what was toward.
She had dight her what she could to welcome his return from the
hunting, and had set a wreath of meadow-sweet on her red hair, and a
garland of eglantine about her girdlestead, and left her feet naked
after the pool of the stream, and had turned the bezels of her
finger-rings outward, for joy of that meeting.
After a while he rose up with a most bitter cry, and ran down the green
slope and over the water, and hither and thither amongst the bushes
like one mad, till he became so weary that he might scarce go or stand
for weariness. Then he crept back again to that Chamber of Love, and
sat down beside his new-won mate, calling to mind all the wasted words
of the day gone by; for the summer night was come now, most fair and
fragrant. But he withheld the sobbing passion of his heart and put
forth his hand, and touched her, and she was still, and his hand felt
her flesh that it was cold as marble. And he cried out aloud in the
night and the wilderness, where there was none to hear him, and arose
and went away from her, passing by Silverfax who was standing nearby,
stretching out his head, and whinnying at whiles. And he sat on the
edge of the green table, and there came into his mind despite himself
thoughts of the pleasant fields of Upmeads, and his sports and
pleasures there, and the even-song of the High House, and the folk of
his fellowship and his love. And therewith his breast arose and his
face was wryed, and he wept loud and long, and as if he should never
make an end of it. But so weary was he, that at last he lay back and
fell asleep, and woke not till the sun was high in the heavens. And so
it was, that his slumber had been so heavy, that he knew not at first
what had befallen; and one moment he felt glad, and the next as if he
should never be glad again, though why he wotted not. Then he turned
about and saw Silverfax cropping the grass nearby, and the Lady lying
there like an image that could move no whit, though the world awoke
about her. Then he remembered, yet scarce all, so that wild hopes
swelled his heart, and he rose to his knees and turned to her, and
called to mind that he should never see her alive again, and sobbing
and wailing broke out from him, for he was young and strong, and sorrow
dealt hardly with him.
But presently he arose to his feet and went hither and thither, and
came upon the quenched coals of the cooking-fire: she had baked cakes
for his eating, and he saw them lying thereby, and hunger constrained
him, so he took and ate of them while the tears ran down his face and
mingled with the bread he ate. And when he had eaten, he felt stronger
and therefore was life more grievous to him, and when he thought what
he should do, still one thing seemed more irksome than the other.
He went down to the water to drink, and passed by the body of the
Knight of the Sun, and wrath was fierce in his heart against him who
had overthrown his happiness. But when he had drunk and washed hands
and face he came back again, and hardened his heart to do what he must
needs do. He took up the body of the Lady and with grief that may not
be told of, he drew it into the cave, and cut boughs of trees and laid
them over her face and all her body, and then took great stones from
the scree at that other end of the little plain, and heaped them upon
her till she was utterly hidden by them. Then he came out on to the
green place and looked on the body of his foe, and said to himself that
all must be decent and in order about the place whereas lay his love.
And he came and stood over the body and said: "I have naught to do to
hate him now: if he hated me, it was but for a little while, and he
knew naught of me. So let his bones be covered up from the wolf and
the kite. Yet shall they not lie alongside of her. I will raise a
cairn above him here on this fair little plain which he spoilt of all
joy." Therewith he fell to, and straightened his body, and laid his
huge limbs together and closed his eyes and folded his arms over his
breast; and then he piled the stones above him, and went on casting
them on the heap a long while after there was need thereof.
Ralph had taken his raiment from the stream-side and done them on
before this, and now he did on helm and hauberk, and girt his sword to
his side. Then as he was about leaving the sorrowful place, he looked
on Silverfax, who had not strayed from the little plain, and came up to
him and did off saddle and bridle, and laid them within the cave, and
bade the beast go whither he would. He yet lingered about the place,
and looked all around him and found naught to help him, and could frame
in his mind no intent of a deed then, nor any tale of a deed he should
do thereafter. Yet belike in his mind were two thoughts, and though
neither softened his grief save a little, he did not shrink from them
as he did from all others; and these two were of his home at Upmeads,
which was so familiar to him, and of the Well at the World's End, which
was but a word.