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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Story of the Glittering Plain, by William
+Morris
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Story of the Glittering Plain
+       or the Land of Living Men
+
+
+Author: William Morris
+
+
+
+Release Date: October 16, 2007  [eBook #2565]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING
+PLAIN***
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1913 Longmans, Green and Co. edition by David Price,
+email ccx074@pglaf.org
+
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN WHICH HAS BEEN ALSO CALLED THE LAND OF
+LIVING MEN OR THE ACRE OF THE UNDYING
+
+
+WRITTEN
+BY WILLIAM MORRIS
+
+POCKET EDITION
+
+LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
+39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
+NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA
+1913
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
+
+
+First printed in the _English Illustrated Magazine_, Vol. VII, 1890.
+
+First Edition in book form, 200 copies printed at the Kelmscott Press in
+the Golden Type, quarto, April 1891, Reeves and Turner, with six copies
+on vellum.
+
+Printed at the Kelmscott Press in the Troy Type, with wood-engravings
+from designs by Walter Crane, 250 copies and seven on vellum, January
+1894.
+
+Printed September 1891, in imperial 16mo.
+
+Transferred to Longmans, Green and Co., June 1896.
+
+Reprinted February 1898 and August 1904.
+
+Included in Volume XIV of the _Collected Works of William Morris_, July
+1912.
+
+Included in Longmans' Pocket Library, November 1913.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I: OF THOSE THREE WHO CAME TO THE HOUSE OF THE RAVEN
+
+
+It has been told that there was once a young man of free kindred and
+whose name was Hallblithe: he was fair, strong, and not untried in
+battle; he was of the House of the Raven of old time.
+
+This man loved an exceeding fair damsel called the Hostage, who was of
+the House of the Rose, wherein it was right and due that the men of the
+Raven should wed.
+
+She loved him no less, and no man of the kindred gainsaid their love, and
+they were to be wedded on Midsummer Night.
+
+But one day of early spring, when the days were yet short and the nights
+long, Hallblithe sat before the porch of the house smoothing an ash stave
+for his spear, and he heard the sound of horse-hoofs drawing nigh, and he
+looked up and saw folk riding toward the house, and so presently they
+rode through the garth gate; and there was no man but he about the house,
+so he rose up and went to meet them, and he saw that they were but three
+in company: they had weapons with them, and their horses were of the
+best; but they were no fellowship for a man to be afraid of; for two of
+them were old and feeble, and the third was dark and sad, and drooping of
+aspect: it seemed as if they had ridden far and fast, for their spurs
+were bloody and their horses all a-sweat.
+
+Hallblithe hailed them kindly and said: "Ye are way-worn, and maybe ye
+have to ride further; so light down and come into the house, and take
+bite and sup, and hay and corn also for your horses; and then if ye needs
+must ride on your way, depart when ye are rested; or else if ye may, then
+abide here night-long, and go your ways to-morrow, and meantime that
+which is ours shall be yours, and all shall be free to you."
+
+Then spake the oldest of the elders in a high piping voice and said:
+"Young man, we thank thee; but though the days of the springtide are
+waxing, the hours of our lives are waning; nor may we abide unless thou
+canst truly tell us that this is the Land of the Glittering Plain: and if
+that be so, then delay not, lead us to thy lord, and perhaps he will make
+us content."
+
+Spake he who was somewhat less stricken in years than the first: "Thanks
+have thou! but we need something more than meat and drink, to wit the
+Land of Living Men.  And Oh! but the time presses."
+
+Spake the sad and sorry carle: "We seek the Land where the days are many:
+so many that he who hath forgotten how to laugh, may learn the craft
+again, and forget the days of Sorrow."
+
+Then they all three cried aloud and said:
+
+"Is this the Land?  Is this the Land?"
+
+But Hallblithe wondered, and he laughed and said: "Wayfarers, look under
+the sun down the plain which lieth betwixt the mountains and the sea, and
+ye shall behold the meadows all gleaming with the spring lilies; yet do
+we not call this the Glittering Plain, but Cleveland by the Sea.  Here
+men die when their hour comes, nor know I if the days of their life be
+long enough for the forgetting of sorrow; for I am young and not yet a
+yokefellow of sorrow; but this I know, that they are long enough for the
+doing of deeds that shall not die.  And as for Lord, I know not this
+word, for here dwell we, the sons of the Raven, in good fellowship, with
+our wives that we have wedded, and our mothers who have borne us, and our
+sisters who serve us.  Again I bid you light down off your horses, and
+eat and drink, and be merry; and depart when ye will, to seek what land
+ye will."
+
+They scarce looked on him, but cried out together mournfully:
+
+"This is not the Land!  This is not the Land!"
+
+No more than that they said, but turned about their horses and rode out
+through the garth gate, and went clattering up the road that led to the
+pass of the mountains.  But Hallblithe hearkened wondering, till the
+sound of their horse-hoofs died away, and then turned back to his work:
+and it was then two hours after high-noon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II: EVIL TIDINGS COME TO HAND AT CLEVELAND
+
+
+Not long had he worked ere he heard the sound of horsehoofs once more,
+and he looked not up, but said to himself, "It is but the lads bringing
+back the teams from the acres, and riding fast and driving hard for joy
+of heart and in wantonness of youth."
+
+But the sound grew nearer and he looked up and saw over the turf wall of
+the garth the flutter of white raiment; and he said:
+
+"Nay, it is the maidens coming back from the sea-shore and the gathering
+of wrack."
+
+So he set himself the harder to his work, and laughed, all alone as he
+was, and said: "She is with them: now I will not look up again till they
+have ridden into the garth, and she has come from among them, and leapt
+off her horse, and cast her arms about my neck as her wont is; and it
+will rejoice her then to mock me with hard words and kind voice and
+longing heart; and I shall long for her and kiss her, and sweet shall the
+coming days seem to us: and the daughters of our folk shall look on and
+be kind and blithe with us."
+
+Therewith rode the maidens into the garth, but he heard no sound of
+laughter or merriment amongst them, which was contrary to their wont; and
+his heart fell, and it was as if instead of the maidens' laughter the
+voices of those wayfarers came back upon the wind crying out, "Is this
+the Land?  Is this the Land?"
+
+Then he looked up hastily, and saw the maidens drawing near, ten of the
+House of the Raven, and three of the House of the Rose; and he beheld
+them that their faces were pale and woe-begone, and their raiment rent,
+and there was no joy in them.  Hallblithe stood aghast while one who had
+gotten off her horse (and she was the daughter of his own mother) ran
+past him into the hall, looking not at him, as if she durst not: and
+another rode off swiftly to the horse-stalls.  But the others, leaving
+their horses, drew round about him, and for a while none durst utter a
+word; and he stood gazing at them, with the spoke-shave in his hand, he
+also silent; for he saw that the Hostage was not with them, and he knew
+that now he was the yokefellow of sorrow.
+
+At last he spoke gently and in a kind voice, and said: "Tell me, sisters,
+what evil hath befallen us, even if it be the death of a dear friend, and
+the thing that may not be amended."
+
+Then spoke a fair woman of the Rose, whose name was Brightling, and said:
+"Hallblithe, it is not of death that we have to tell, but of sundering,
+which may yet be amended.  We were on the sand of the sea nigh the Ship-
+stead and the Rollers of the Raven, and we were gathering the wrack and
+playing together; and we saw a round-ship nigh to shore lying with her
+sheet slack, and her sail beating the mast; but we deemed it to be none
+other than some bark of the Fish-biters, and thought no harm thereof, but
+went on running and playing amidst the little waves that fell on the
+sand, and the ripples that curled around our feet.  At last there came a
+small boat from the side of the round-ship, and rowed in toward shore,
+and still we feared not, though we drew a little aback from the surf and
+let fall our gown-hems.  But the crew of that boat beached her close to
+where we stood, and came hastily wading the surf towards us; and we saw
+that they were twelve weaponed men, great, and grim, and all clad in
+black raiment.  Then indeed were we afraid, and we turned about and fled
+up the beach; but now it was too late, for the tide was at more than half
+ebb and long was the way over the sand to the place where we had left our
+horses tied among the tamarisk-bushes.  Nevertheless we ran, and had
+gotten up to the pebble-beach before they ran in amongst us: and they
+caught us, and cast us down on to the hard stones.
+
+"Then they made us sit in a row on a ridge of the pebbles; and we were
+sore afraid, yet more for defilement at their hands than for death; for
+they were evil-looking men exceeding foul of favour.  Then said one of
+them: 'Which of all you maidens is the Hostage of the House of the Rose?'
+
+"Then all we kept silence, for we would not betray her.  But the evil man
+spake again: 'Choose ye then whether we shall take one, or all of you
+across the waters in our black ship.'  Yet still we others spake not,
+till arose thy beloved, O Hallblithe, and said:
+
+"'Let it be one then, and not all; for I am the Hostage.'
+
+"'How shalt thou make us sure thereof?' said the evil carle.
+
+"She looked on him proudly and said: 'Because I say it.'
+
+"'Wilt thou swear it?' said he.
+
+"'Yea,' said she, 'I swear it by the token of the House wherein I shall
+wed; by the wings of the Fowl that seeketh the Field of Slaying.'
+
+"'It is enough,' said the man, 'come thou with us.  And ye maidens sit ye
+there, and move not till we have made way on our ship, unless ye would
+feel the point of the arrow.  For ye are within bowshot of the ship, and
+we have shot weapons aboard.'
+
+"So the Hostage departed with them, and she unweeping, but we wept
+sorely.  And we saw the small boat come up to the side of the round-ship,
+and the Hostage going over the gunwale along with those evil men, and we
+heard the hale and how of the mariners as they drew up the anchor and
+sheeted home; and then the sweeps came out and the ship began to move
+over the sea.  And one of those evil-minded men bent his bow and shot a
+shaft at us, but it fell far short of where we sat, and the laugh of
+those runagates came over the sands to us.  So we crept up the beach
+trembling, and then rose to our feet and got to our horses, and rode
+hither speedily, and our hearts are broken for thy sorrow."
+
+At that word came Hallblithe's own sister out from the hall; and she bore
+weapons with her, to wit Hallblithe's sword and shield and helm and
+hauberk.  As for him he turned back silently to his work, and set the
+steel of the spear on the new ashen shaft, and took the hammer and smote
+the nail in, and laid the weapon on a round pebble that was thereby, and
+clenched the nail on the other side.  Then he looked about, and saw that
+the other damsel had brought him his coal-black war-horse ready saddled
+and bridled; then he did on his armour, and girt his sword to his side
+and leapt into the saddle, and took his new-shafted spear in hand and
+shook the rein.  But none of all those damsels durst say a word to him or
+ask him whither he went, for they feared his face, and the sorrow of his
+heart.  So he got him out of the garth and turned toward the sea-shore,
+and they saw the glitter of his spear-point a minute over the turf-wall,
+and heard the clatter of his horse-hoofs as he galloped over the hard
+way; and thus he departed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III: THE WARRIORS OF THE RAVEN SEARCH THE SEAS
+
+
+Then the women bethought them, and they spake a word or two together, and
+then they sundered and went one this way and one that, to gather together
+the warriors of the Raven who were a-field, or on the way, nigh unto the
+house, that they might follow Hallblithe down to the sea-shore and help
+him; after a while they came back again by one and two and three,
+bringing with them the wrathful young men; and when there was upward of a
+score gathered in the garth armed and horsed, they rode their ways to the
+sea, being minded to thrust a long-ship of the Ravens out over the
+Rollers into the sea, and follow the strong-thieves of the waters and
+bring a-back the Hostage, so that they might end the sorrow at once, and
+establish joy once more in the House of the Raven and the House of the
+Rose.  But they had with them three lads of fifteen winters or
+thereabouts to lead their horses back home again, when they should have
+gone up on to the Horse of the Brine.
+
+Thus then they departed, and the maidens stood in the garth-gate till
+they lost sight of them behind the sandhills, and then turned back
+sorrowfully into the house, and sat there talking low of their sorrow.
+And many a time they had to tell their tale anew, as folk came into the
+hall one after another from field and fell.  But the young men came down
+to the sea, and found Hallblithe's black horse straying about amongst the
+tamarisk-bushes above the beach; and they looked thence over the sand,
+and saw neither Hallblithe nor any man: and they gazed out seaward, and
+saw neither ship nor sail on the barren brine.  Then they went down on to
+the sand, and sundered their fellowship, and went half one way, half the
+other, betwixt the sandhills and the surf, where now the tide was
+flowing, till the nesses of the east and the west, the horns of the bay,
+stayed them.  Then they met together again by the Rollers, when the sun
+was within an hour of setting.  There and then they laid hand to that
+ship which is called the Seamew, and they ran her down over the Rollers
+into the waves, and leapt aboard and hoisted sail, and ran out the oars
+and put to sea; and a little wind was blowing seaward from the gates of
+the mountains behind them.
+
+So they quartered the sea-plain, as the kestrel doth the water-meadows,
+till the night fell on them, and was cloudy, though whiles the wading
+moon shone out; and they had seen nothing, neither sail nor ship, nor
+aught else on the barren brine, save the washing of waves and the
+hovering of sea-fowl.  So they lay-to outside the horns of the bay and
+awaited the dawning.  And when morning was come they made way again, and
+searched the sea, and sailed to the out-skerries, and searched them with
+care; then they sailed into the main and fared hither and thither and up
+and down: and this they did for eight days, and in all that time they saw
+no ship nor sail, save three barks of the Fish-biters nigh to the Skerry
+which is called Mew-stone.
+
+So they fared home to the Raven Bay, and laid their keel on the Rollers,
+and so went their ways sadly, home to the House of the Raven: and they
+deemed that for this time they could do no more in seeking their valiant
+kinsman and his fair damsel.  And they were very sorry; for these two
+were well-beloved of all men.  But since they might not amend it, they
+abode in peace, awaiting what the change of days might bring them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV: NOW HALLBLITHE TAKETH THE SEA
+
+
+Now must it be told of Hallblithe that he rode fiercely down to the sea-
+shore, and from the top of the beach he gazed about him, and there below
+him was the Ship-stead and Rollers of his kindred, whereon lay the three
+long-ships, the Seamew, and the Osprey and the Erne.  Heavy and huge they
+seemed to him as they lay there, black-sided, icy-cold with the washing
+of the March waves, their golden dragon-heads looking seaward wistfully.
+But first had he looked out into the offing, and it was only when he had
+let his eyes come back from where the sea and sky met, and they had
+beheld nothing but the waste of waters, that he beheld the Ship-stead
+closely; and therewith he saw where a little to the west of it lay a
+skiff, which the low wave of the tide lifted and let fall from time to
+time.  It had a mast, and a black sail hoisted thereon and flapping with
+slackened sheet.  A man sat in the boat clad in black raiment, and the
+sun smote a gleam from the helm on his head.  Then Hallblithe leapt off
+his horse, and strode down the sands shouldering his spear; and when he
+came near to the man in the boat he poised his spear and shook it and
+cried out: "Man, art thou friend or foe?"
+
+Said the man: "Thou art a fair young man: but there is grief in thy voice
+along with wrath.  Cast not till thou hast heard me, and mayst deem
+whether I may do aught to heal thy grief."
+
+"What mayst thou do?" said Hallblithe; "art thou not a robber of the sea,
+a harrier of the folks that dwell in peace?"
+
+The man laughed: "Yea," said he, "my craft is thieving and carrying off
+the daughters of folk, so that we may have a ransom for them.  Wilt thou
+come over the waters with me?"
+
+Hallblithe said wrathfully:
+
+"Nay, rather, come thou ashore here!  Thou seemest a big man, and belike
+shall be good of thine hands.  Come and fight with me; and then he of us
+who is vanquished, if he be unslain, shall serve the other for a year,
+and then shalt thou do my business in the ransoming."
+
+The man in the boat laughed again, and that so scornfully that he angered
+Hallblithe beyond measure: then he arose in the boat and stood on his
+feet swaying from side to side as he laughed.  He was passing big, long-
+armed and big-headed, and long hair came from under his helm like the
+tail of a red horse; his eyes were grey and gleaming, and his mouth wide.
+
+In a while he stayed his laughter and said: "O Warrior of the Raven, this
+were a simple game for thee to play; though it is not far from my mind,
+for fighting when I needs must win is no dull work.  Look you, if I slay
+or vanquish thee, then all is said; and if by some chance stroke thou
+slayest me, then is thine only helper in this matter gone from thee.  Now
+to be short, I bid thee come aboard to me if thou wouldst ever hear
+another word of thy damsel betrothed.  And moreover this need not hinder
+thee to fight with me if thou hast a mind to it thereafter; for we shall
+soon come to a land big enough for two to stand on.  Or if thou listest
+to fight in a boat rocking on the waves, I see not but there may be
+manhood in that also."
+
+Now was the hot wrath somewhat run off Hallblithe, nor durst he lose any
+chance to hear a word of his beloved; so he said: "Big man, I will come
+aboard.  But look thou to it, if thou hast a mind to bewray me; for the
+sons of the Raven die hard."
+
+"Well," said the big man, "I have heard that their minstrels are of many
+words, and think that they have tales to tell.  Come aboard and loiter
+not."  Then Hallblithe waded the surf and lightly strode over the gunwale
+of the skiff and sat him down.  The big man thrust out into the deep and
+haled home the sheet; but there was but little wind.
+
+Then said Hallblithe: "Wilt thou have me row, for I wot not whitherward
+to steer?"
+
+Said the red carle: "Maybe thou art not in a hurry; I am not: do as thou
+wilt."  So Hallblithe took the oars and rowed mightily, while the alien
+steered, and they went swiftly and lightly over the sea, and the waves
+were little.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V: THEY COME UNTO THE ISLE OF RANSOM
+
+
+So the sun grew low, and it set; the stars and the moon shone a while and
+then it clouded over.  Hallblithe still rowed and rested not, though he
+was weary; and the big man sat and steered, and held his peace.  But when
+the night was grown old and it was not far from the dawn, the alien said:
+"Youngling of the Ravens, now shalt thou sleep and I will row."
+
+Hallblithe was exceeding weary; so he gave the oars to the alien and lay
+down in the stern and slept.  And in his sleep he dreamed that he was
+lying in the House of the Raven, and his sisters came to him and said,
+"Rise up now, Hallblithe! wilt thou be a sluggard on the day of thy
+wedding?  Come thou with us to the House of the Rose that we may bear
+away the Hostage."  Then he dreamed that they departed, and he arose and
+clad himself: but when he would have gone out of the hall, then was it no
+longer daylight, but moonlight, and he dreamed that he had dreamed:
+nevertheless he would have gone abroad, but might not find the door; so
+he said he would go out by a window; but the wall was high and smooth
+(quite other than in the House of the Raven, where were low windows all
+along one aisle), nor was there any way to come at them.  But he dreamed
+that he was so abashed thereat, and had such a weakness on him, that he
+wept for pity of himself: and he went to his bed to lie down; and lo!
+there was no bed and no hall; nought but a heath, wild and wide, and
+empty under the moon.  And still he wept in his dream, and his manhood
+seemed departed from him, and he heard a voice crying out, "Is this the
+Land?  Is this the Land?"
+
+Therewithal he awoke, and as his eyes cleared he beheld the big man
+rowing and the black sail flapping against the mast; for the wind had
+fallen dead and they were faring on over a long smooth swell of the sea.
+It was broad daylight, but round about them was a thick mist, which
+seemed none the less as if the sun were ready to shine through it.
+
+As Hallblithe caught the red man's eye, he smiled and nodded on him and
+said: "Now has the time come for thee first to eat and then to row.  But
+tell me what is that upon thy cheeks?"
+
+Hallblithe, reddening somewhat, said: "The night dew hath fallen on me."
+
+Quoth the sea-rover, "It is no shame for thee a youngling to remember thy
+betrothed in thy sleep, and to weep because thou lackest her.  But now
+bestir thee, for it is later than thou mayest deem."
+
+Therewith the big man drew in the oars and came to the afterpart of the
+boat, and drew meat and drink out of a locker thereby; and they ate and
+drank together, and Hallblithe grew strong and somewhat less downcast;
+and he went forward and gat the oars into his hands.
+
+Then the big red man stood up and looked over his left shoulder and said:
+"Soon shall we have a breeze and bright weather."
+
+Then he looked into the midmost of the sail and fell a-whistling such a
+tune as the fiddles play to dancing men and maids at Yule-tide, and his
+eyes gleamed and glittered therewithal, and exceeding big he looked.  Then
+Hallblithe felt a little air on his cheek, and the mist grew thinner, and
+the sail began to fill with wind till the sheet tightened: then, lo! the
+mist rising from the face of the sea, and the sea's face rippling gaily
+under a bright sun.  Then the wind increased, and the wall of mist
+departed and a few light clouds sped over the sky, and the sail swelled
+and the boat heeled over, and the seas fell white from the prow, and they
+sped fast over the face of the waters.
+
+Then laughed the red-haired man, and said: "O croaker on the dead branch,
+now is the wind such that no rowing of thine may catch up with it: so in
+with the oars now, and turn about, and thou shalt see whitherward we are
+going."
+
+Then Hallblithe turned about on the thwart and looked across the sea, and
+lo! before them the high cliffs and crags and mountains of a new land
+which seemed to be an isle, and they were deep blue under the sun, which
+now shone aloft in the mid heaven.  He said nought at all, but sat
+looking and wondering what land it might be; but the big man said: "O
+tomb of warriors, is it not as if the blueness of the deep sea had heaved
+itself up aloft, and turned from coloured air into rock and stone, so
+wondrous blue it is?  But that is because those crags and mountains are
+so far away, and as we draw nigher to them, thou shalt see them as they
+verily are, that they are coal-black; and yonder land is an isle, and is
+called the Isle of Ransom.  Therein shall be the market for thee where
+thou mayst cheapen thy betrothed.  There mayst thou take her by the hand
+and lead her away thence, when thou hast dealt with the chapman of
+maidens and hast pledged thee by the fowl of battle, and the edge of the
+fallow blade to pay that which he will have of thee."
+
+As the big man spoke there was a mocking in his voice and his face and in
+his whole huge body, which made the sword of Hallblithe uneasy in his
+scabbard; but he refrained his wrath, and said: "Big man, the longer I
+look, the less I can think how we are to come up on to yonder island; for
+I can see nought but a huge cliff, and great mountains rising beyond it."
+
+"Thou shalt the more wonder," said the alien, "the nigher thou drawest
+thereto; for it is not because we are far away that thou canst see no
+beach or strand, or sloping of the land seaward, but because there is
+nought of all these things.  Yet fear not! am I not with thee? thou shalt
+come ashore on the Isle of Ransom."
+
+Then Hallblithe held his peace, and the other spake not for a while, but
+gave a short laugh once or twice; and said at last in a big voice,
+"Little Carrion-biter, why dost thou not ask me of my name?"
+
+Now Hallblithe was a tall man and a fell fighter; but he said: "Because I
+was thinking of other things and not of thee."
+
+"Well," said the big man, in a voice still louder, "when I am at home men
+call me the Puny Fox."
+
+Then Hallblithe said: "Art thou a Fox?  It may well be that thou shalt
+beguile me as such beasts will but look to it, that if thou dost I shall
+know how to avenge me."
+
+Then rose up the big man from the helm, and straddled wide in the boat,
+and cried out in a great roaring voice: "Crag-nester, I am one of seven
+brethren, and the smallest and weakest of them.  Art thou not afraid?"
+
+"No," said Hallblithe, "for the six others are not here.  Wilt thou fight
+here in boat, O Fox?"
+
+"Nay," said Fox, "rather we will drink a cup of wine together."
+
+So he opened the locker again and drew out thence a great horn of some
+huge neat of the outlands, which was girthed and stopped with silver, and
+also a golden cup, and he filled the cup from the horn and gave it into
+Hallblithe's hand and said: "Drink, O black-fledged nestling!  But call a
+health over the cup if thou wilt."  So Hallblithe raised the cup aloft
+and cried: "Health to the House of the Raven and to them that love it! an
+ill day to its foemen!"  Then he set his lips to the cup and drank; and
+that wine seemed to him better and stronger than any he had ever tasted.
+But when he had given the cup back again to Fox, that red one filled it
+again, and cried over it, "The Treasure of the Sea! and the King that
+dieth not!"  Then he drank, and filled again for Hallblithe, and steered
+with his knees meanwhile; and thus they drank three cups each, and Fox
+smiled and was peaceful and said but little, but Hallblithe sat wondering
+how the world was changed for him since yesterday.
+
+But now was the sky blown all clear of clouds and the wind piped shrill
+behind them, and the great waves rose and fell about them, and the sun
+glittered on them in many colours.  Fast flew the boat before the wind as
+though it would never stop, and the day was waning, and the wind still
+rising; and now the Isle of Ransom uphove huge before them, and
+coal-black, and no beach and no haven was to be seen therein; and still
+they ran before the wind towards that black cliff-wall, against which the
+sea washed for ever, and no keel ever built by man might live for one
+moment 'twixt the surf and the cliff of that grim land.  The sun grew
+low, and sank red under the sea, and that world of stone swallowed up
+half the heavens before them, for they were now come very nigh thereto;
+nor could Hallblithe see aught for it, but that they must be dashed
+against the cliff and perish in a moment of time.
+
+Still the boat flew on; but now when the twilight was come, and they had
+just opened up along reach of the cliff that lay beyond a high ness,
+Hallblithe thought he saw down by the edge of the sea something darker
+than the face of the rock-wall, and he deemed it was a cave: they came a
+little nearer and he saw it was a great cave high enough to let a round-
+ship go in with all her sails set.
+
+"Son of the Raven," quoth Fox, "hearken, for thy heart is not little.
+Yonder is the gate into the Isle of Ransom, and if thou wilt, thou mayst
+go through it.  Yet it may be that if thou goest ashore on to the Isle
+something grievous shall befall thee, a trouble more than thou canst
+bear: a shame it may be.  Now there are two choices for thee: either to
+go up on to the Isle and face all; or to die here by my hand having done
+nothing unmanly or shameful: What sayest thou?"
+
+"Thou art of many words when time so presses, Fox," said Hallblithe.  "Why
+should I not choose to go up on to the Island to deliver my trothplight
+maiden?  For the rest, slay me if thou canst, if we come alive out of
+this cauldron of waters."
+
+Said the big red man: "Look on then, and note Fox how he steereth, as it
+were through a needle's eye."
+
+Now were they underneath the black shadow of the black cliff and amidst
+the twilight the surf was tossed about like white fire.  In the lower
+heavens the stars were beginning to twinkle and the moon was bright and
+yellow, and aloft all was peaceful, for no cloud sullied the sky.  One
+moment Hallblithe saw all this hanging above the turmoil of thundering
+water and dripping rock and the next he was in the darkness of the cave,
+the roaring wind and the waves still making thunder about him, though of
+a different voice from the harsh hubbub without.  Then he heard Fox say:
+"Sit down now and take the oars, for presently shall we be at home at the
+landing place."
+
+So Hallblithe took the oars and rowed, and as they went up the cave the
+sea fell, and the wind died out into the aimless gustiness of hollow
+places; and for a little while was all as dark as dark might be.  Then
+Hallblithe saw that the darkness grew a little greyer, and he looked over
+his shoulder and saw a star of light before the bows of the boat, and Fox
+cried out: "Yea, it is like day; bright will the moon be for such as
+needs must be wayfaring to-night!  Cease rowing, O Son of the coal-blue
+fowl, for there is way enough on her."
+
+Then Hallblithe lay on his oars, and in a minute the bows smote the land;
+then he turned about and saw a steep stair of stone, and up the sloping
+shaft thereof the moonlit sky and the bright stars.  Then Fox arose and
+came forward and leapt out of the boat and moored her to a big stone:
+then he leapt back again and said: "Bear a hand with the victuals; we
+must bring them out of the boat unless thou wilt sleep supperless, as I
+will not.  For to-night must we be guests to ourselves, since it is far
+to the dwelling of my people, and the old man is said to be a
+skin-changer, a flit-by-night.  And as to this cave, it is deemed to be
+nowise safe to sleep therein, unless the sleeper have a double share of
+luck.  And thy luck, meseemeth, O Son of the Raven, is as now somewhat
+less than a single share.  So to-night we shall sleep under the naked
+heaven."
+
+Hallblithe yea-said this, and they took the meat and drink, such as they
+needed, from out the boat, and climbed the steep stair no little way, and
+so came out on to a plain place, which seemed to Hallblithe bare and
+waste so far as he saw it by the moonlight; for the twilight was gone
+now, and nought was left of the light of day save a glimmer in the west.
+
+This Hallblithe deemed wonderful, that no less out on the open heath and
+brow of the land than in the shut-in cave, all that tumult of the wind
+had fallen, and the cloudless night was calm, and with a little air
+blowing from the south and the landward.
+
+Therewithal was Fox done with his loud-voiced braggart mood, and spoke
+gently and peaceably like to a wayfarer, who hath business of his to look
+to as other men.  Now he pointed to certain rocks or low crags that a
+little way off rose like a reef out of the treeless plain; then said he:
+"Shipmate, underneath yonder rocks is our resting-place for to-night; and
+I pray thee not to deem me churlish that I give thee no better harbour.
+But I have a charge over thee to bring thee safe thus far on thy quest;
+and thou wouldst find it hard to live among such housemates as thou
+wouldst find up yonder amongst our folks to-night.  But to-morrow shalt
+thou come to speech with him who will deal with thee concerning the
+ransom."
+
+"It is enough," said Hallblithe, "and I thank thee for thy leading: and
+as for thy rough and uncomely words which thou hast given me, I pardon
+thee for them: for I am none the worse of them: forsooth, if I had been,
+my sword would have had a voice in the matter."
+
+"I am well content as it is, Son of the Raven," quoth Fox; "I have done
+my bidding and all is well."
+
+"Tell me then who it is hath bidden thee bring me hither?"
+
+"I may not tell thee," said Fox; "thou art here, be content, as I am."
+
+And he spake no more till they had come to the reef aforesaid, which was
+some two furlongs from the place where they had come from out of the
+cave.  There then they set forth their supper on the stones, and ate what
+they would, and drank of that good strong wine while the horn bare out.
+And now was Fox of few words, and when Hallblithe asked him concerning
+that land, he had little to say.  And at last when Hallblithe asked him
+of that so perilous house and those who manned it, he said to him:
+
+"Son of the Raven, it avails not asking of these matters; for if I tell
+thee aught concerning them I shall tell thee lies.  Once again let it be
+enough for thee that thou hast passed over the sea safely on thy quest;
+and a more perilous sea it is forsooth than thou deemest.  But now let us
+have an end of vain words, and make our bed amidst these stones as best
+we may; for we should be stirring betimes in the morning."  Hallblithe
+said little in answer, and they arrayed their sleeping places cunningly,
+as the hare doth her form, and like men well used to lying abroad.
+
+Hallblithe was very weary and he soon fell asleep; and as he lay there,
+he dreamed a dream, or maybe saw a vision; whether he were asleep when he
+saw it, or between sleeping and waking, I know not.  But this was his
+dream or his vision; that the Hostage was standing over him, and she as
+he had seen her but yesterday, bright-haired and ruddy-cheeked and white-
+skinned, kind of hand and soft of voice, and she said to him:
+"Hallblithe, look on me and hearken, for I have a message for thee."  And
+he looked and longed for her, and his soul was ravished by the sweetness
+of his longing, and he would have leapt up and cast his arms about her,
+but sleep and the dream bound him, and he might not.  Then the image
+smiled on him and said: "Nay, my love, lie still, for thou mayst not
+touch me: here is but the image of the body which thou desirest.  Hearken
+then.  I am in evil plight, in the hands of strong-thieves of the sea,
+nor know I what they will do with me, and I have no will to be shamed; to
+be sold for a price from one hand to another, yet to be bedded without a
+price, and to lie beside some foe-man of our folk, and he to cast his
+arms about me, will I, will I not: this is a hard case.  Therefore to-
+morrow morning at daybreak while men sleep, I think to steal forth to the
+gunwale of the black ship and give myself to the gods, that they and not
+these runagates may be masters of my life and my soul, and may do with me
+as they will: for indeed they know that I may not bear the strange
+kinless house, and the love and caressing of the alien house-master, and
+the mocking and stripes of the alien house-mistress.  Therefore let the
+Hoary One of the sea take me and look to my matters, and carry me to life
+or death, which-so he will.  Thin now grows the night, but lie still a
+little yet, while I speak another word.
+
+"Maybe we shall meet alive again, and maybe not: and if not, though we
+have never yet lain in one bed together, yet I would have thee remember
+me: yet not so that my image shall come between thee and thy
+speech-friend and bed-fellow of the kindred, that shall lie where I was
+to have lain.  Yet again, if I live and thou livest, I have been told and
+have heard that by one way or other I am like to come to the Glittering
+Plain, and the Land of Living Men.  O my beloved, if by any way thou
+mightest come thither also, and we might meet there, and we two alive,
+how good it were!  Seek that land then, beloved! seek it, whether or no
+we once more behold the House of the Rose, or tread the floor of the
+Raven dwelling.  And now must even this image of me sunder from thee.
+Farewell!"
+
+Therewith was the dream done and the vision departed; and Hallblithe sat
+up full of anguish and longing; and he looked about him over the dreary
+land, and it was somewhat light and the sky was grown grey and cloudy,
+and he deemed that the dawn was come.  So he leapt to his feet and
+stooped down over Fox, and took him by the shoulder, and shook him and
+said: "Faring-fellow, awake! the dawn is come, and we have much to do."
+
+Fox sat up and growled like a dog, and rubbed his eyes and looked about
+him and said: "Thou hast waked me for nought: it is the false dawn of the
+moon that shineth now behind the clouds and casteth no shadow; it is but
+an hour after midnight.  Go to sleep again, and let me be, else will I
+not be a guide to thee when the day comes."  And he lay down and was
+asleep at once.  Then Hallblithe went and lay down again full of sorrow:
+Yet so weary was he that he presently fell asleep, and dreamed no more.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI: OF A DWELLING OF MAN ON THE ISLE OF RANSOM
+
+
+When he awoke again the sun shone on him, and the morning was calm and
+windless.  He sat up and looked about him, but could see no signs of Fox
+save the lair wherein he had lain.  So he arose to his feet and sought
+for him about the crannies of the rocks, and found him not; and he
+shouted for him, and had no answer.  Then he said, "Belike he has gone
+down to the boat to put a thing in, or take a thing out."  So he went his
+ways to the stair down into the water-cave, and he called on Fox from the
+top of the stair, and had no answer.
+
+So he went down that long stair with a misgiving in his heart, and when
+he came to the last step there was neither man nor boat, nor aught else
+save the water and the living rock.  Then was he exceeding wroth, for he
+knew that he had been beguiled, and he was in an evil case, left alone on
+an Isle that he knew not, a waste and desolate land, where it seemed most
+like he should die of famine.
+
+He wasted no breath or might now in crying out for Fox, or seeking him;
+for he said to himself: "I might well have known that he was false and a
+liar, whereas he could scarce refrain his joy at my folly and his guile.
+Now is it for me to strive for life against death."
+
+Then he turned and went slowly up the stair, and came out on to the open
+face of that Isle, and he saw that it was waste indeed, and dreadful: a
+wilderness of black sand and stones and ice-borne rocks, with here and
+there a little grass growing in the hollows, and here and there a dreary
+mire where the white-tufted rushes shook in the wind, and here and there
+stretches of moss blended with red-blossomed sengreen; and otherwhere
+nought but the wind-bitten creeping willow clinging to the black sand,
+with a white bleached stick and a leaf or two, and again a stick and a
+leaf.  In the offing looking landward were great mountains, some very
+great and snow-capped, some bare to the tops; and all that was far away,
+save the snow, was deep-blue in the sunny morning.  But about him on the
+heath were scattered rocks like the reef beneath which he had slept the
+last night, and peaks, and hammers, and knolls of uncouth shapes.
+
+Then he went to the edge of the cliffs and looked down on the sea which
+lay wrinkled and rippling on toward the shore far below him, and long he
+gazed thereon and all about, but could see neither ship nor sail, nor
+aught else save the washing of waves and the hovering of sea fowl.
+
+Then he said: "Were it not well if I were to seek that house-master of
+whom Fox spake?  Might he not flit me at least to the Land of the
+Glittering Plain?  Woe is me! now am I of that woful company, and I also
+must needs cry out, Where is the land?  Where is the land?"
+
+Therewith he turned toward the reef above their lair, but as he went he
+thought and said: "Nay, but was not this Stead a lie like the rest of
+Fox's tale? and am I not alone in this sea-girt wilderness?  Yea, and
+even that image of my Beloved which I saw in the dream, perchance that
+also was a mere beguiling; for now I see that the Puny Fox was in all
+ways wiser than is meet and comely."  Yet again he said: "At least I will
+seek on, and find out whether there be another man dwelling on this
+hapless Isle, and then the worst of it will be battle with him, and death
+by point and edge rather than by hunger; or at the best we may become
+friends and fellows and deliver each other."  Therewith he came to the
+reef, and with much ado climbed to the topmost of its rocks and looked
+down thence landward: and betwixt him and the mountains, and by seeming
+not very far off, he saw smoke arising: but no house he saw, nor any
+other token of a dwelling.  So he came down from the stone and turned his
+back upon the sea and went toward that smoke with his sword in its
+sheath, and his spear over his shoulder.  Rough and toilsome was the way:
+three little dales he crossed amidst the mountain necks, each one narrow
+and bare, with a stream of water amidst, running seaward, and whether in
+dale or on ridge, he went ever amidst sand and stones, and the weeds of
+the wilderness, and saw no man, or man-tended beast.
+
+At last, after he had been four hours on the way, but had not gone very
+far, he topped a stony bent, and from the brow thereof beheld a wide
+valley grass-grown for the more part, with a river running through it,
+and sheep and kine and horses feeding up and down it.  And amidst this
+dale by the stream-side, was a dwelling of men, a long hall and other
+houses about it builded of stone.
+
+Then was Hallblithe glad, and he strode down the bent speedily, his war-
+gear clashing upon him: and as he came to the foot thereof and on to the
+grass of the dale, he got amongst the pasturing horses, and passed close
+by the horse-herd and a woman that was with him.  They scowled at him as
+he went by, but meddled not with him in any way.  Although they were
+giant-like of stature and fierce of face, they were not ill-favoured:
+they were red-haired, and the woman as white as cream where the sun had
+not burned her skin; they had no weapons that Hallblithe might see save
+the goad in the hand of the carle.
+
+So Hallblithe passed on and came to the biggest house, the hall
+aforesaid: it was very long, and low as for its length, not over shapely
+of fashion, a mere gabled heap of stones.  Low and strait was the door
+thereinto, and as Hallblithe entered stooping lowly, and the fire of the
+steel of his spear that he held before him was quenched in the mirk of
+the hall, he smiled and said to himself: "Now if there were one anigh who
+would not have me enter alive, and he with a weapon in his hand, soon
+were all the tale told."  But he got into the hall unsmitten, and stood
+on the floor thereof, and spake: "The sele of the day to whomsoever is
+herein!  Will any man speak to the new comer?"
+
+But none answered or gave him greeting; and as his eyes got used to the
+dusk of the hall, he looked about him, and neither on the floor or the
+high seat nor in any ingle could he see a man; and there was silence
+there, save for the crackling of the flickering flame on the hearth
+amidmost, and the running of the rats behind the panelling of the walls.
+
+On one side of the hall was a row of shut-beds, and Hallblithe deemed
+that there might be men therein; but since none had greeted him he
+refrained him from searching them for fear of a trap, and he thought, "I
+will abide amidst the floor, and if there be any that would deal with me,
+friend or foe, let him come hither to me."
+
+So he fell to walking up and down the hall from buttery to dais, and his
+war-gear rattled upon him.  At last as he walked he thought he heard a
+small thin peevish voice, which yet was too husky for the squeak of a
+rat.  So he stayed his walk and stood still, and said: "Will any man
+speak to Hallblithe, a newcomer, and a stranger in this Stead?"
+
+Then that small voice made a word and said: "Why paceth the fool up and
+down our hall, doing nothing, even as the Ravens flap croaking about the
+crags, abiding the war-mote and the clash of the fallow blades?"
+
+Said Hallblithe, and his voice sounded big in the hall: "Who calleth
+Hallblithe a fool and mocketh at the sons of the Raven?"
+
+Spake the voice: "Why cometh not the fool to the man that may not go to
+him?"
+
+Then Hallblithe bent forward to hearken, and he deemed that the voice
+came from one of the shut-beds, so he leaned his spear against a pillar,
+and went into the shut-bed he had noted, and saw where there lay along in
+it a man exceeding old by seeming, sore wasted, with long hair as white
+as snow lying over the bed-clothes.
+
+When the elder saw Hallblithe, he laughed a thin cracked laugh as if in
+mockery and said: "Hail newcomer! wilt thou eat?"
+
+"Yea," said Hallblithe.
+
+"Go thou into the buttery then," said the old carle, "and there shalt
+thou find on the cupboard cakes and curds and cheese: eat thy fill, and
+when thou hast done, look in the ingle, and thou shalt see a cask of mead
+exceeding good, and a stoup thereby, and two silver cups; fill the stoup
+and bring it hither with the cups; and then may we talk amidst of
+drinking, which is good for an old carle.  Hasten thou! or I shall deem
+thee a double fool who will not fare to fetch his meat, though he be
+hungry."
+
+Then Hallblithe laughed, and went down the hall into the buttery and
+found the meat, and ate his fill, and came away with the drink back to
+the Long-hoary man, who chuckled as he came and said: "Fill up now for
+thee and for me, and call a health to me and wish me somewhat."
+
+"I wish thee luck," said Hallblithe, and drank.  Said the elder: "And I
+wish thee more wits; is luck all that thou mayst wish me?  What luck may
+an outworn elder have?"
+
+"Well then," quoth Hallblithe, "what shall I wish thee?  Wouldst thou
+have me wish thee youth?"
+
+"Yea, certes," said the Long-hoary, "that and nought else."
+
+"Youth then I wish thee, if it may avail thee aught," said Hallblithe,
+and he drank again therewith.
+
+"Nay, nay," said the old carle peevishly, "take a third cup, and wish me
+youth with no idle words tacked thereto."
+
+Said Hallblithe raising the cup: "Herewith I wish thee youth!" and he
+drank.
+
+"Good is the wish," said the elder; "now ask thou the old carle whatso
+thou wilt."
+
+Said Hallblithe: "What is this land called?"
+
+"Son," said the other, "hast thou heard it called the Isle of Ransom?"
+
+"Yea," said Hallblithe, "but what wilt thou call it?"
+
+"By no other name," said the hoary carle.
+
+"It is far from other lands?" said Hallblithe.
+
+"Yea," said the carle, "when the light winds blow, and the ships sail
+slow."
+
+"What do ye who live here?" said Hallblithe.  "How do ye live, what work
+win ye?"
+
+"We win diverse work," said the elder, "but the gainfullest is robbing
+men by the high hand."
+
+"Is it ye who have stolen from me the Hostage of the Rose?" said
+Hallblithe.
+
+Said the Long-hoary, "Maybe; I wot not; in diverse ways my kinsmen
+traffic, and they visit many lands.  Why should they not have come to
+Cleveland also?"
+
+"Is she in this Isle, thou old runagate?" said Hallblithe.
+
+"She is not, thou young fool," said the elder.  Then Hallblithe flushed
+red and spake: "Knowest thou the Puny Fox?"
+
+"How should I not?" said the carle, "since he is the son of one of my
+sons."
+
+"Dost thou call him a liar and a rogue?" said Hallblithe.
+
+The elder laughed; "Else were I a fool," said he; "there are few bigger
+liars or bigger rogues than the Puny Fox!"
+
+"Is he here in this Isle?" said Hallblithe; "may I see him?"
+
+The old man laughed again, and said: "Nay, he is not here, unless he hath
+turned fool since yesterday: why should he abide thy sword, since he hath
+done what he would and brought thee hither?"
+
+Then he laughed, as a hen cackles a long while, and then said: "What more
+wilt thou ask me?"
+
+But Hallblithe was very wroth: "It availeth nought to ask," he said; "and
+now I am in two minds whether I shall slay thee or not."
+
+"That were a meet deed for a Raven, but not for a man," said the carle,
+"and thou that hast wished me luck!  Ask, ask!"
+
+But Hallblithe was silent a long while.  Then the carle said, "Another
+cup for the longer after youth!"
+
+Hallblithe filled, and gave to him, and the old man drank and said: "Thou
+deemest us all liars in the Isle of Ransom because of thy beguiling by
+the Puny Fox: but therein thou errest.  The Puny Fox is our chiefest
+liar, and doth for us the more part of such work as we need: therefore,
+why should we others lie.  Ask, ask!"
+
+"Well then," said Hallblithe, "why did the Puny Fox bewray me, and at
+whose bidding?"
+
+Said the elder: "I know, but I will not tell thee.  Is this a lie?"
+
+"Nay, I deem it not," said Hallblithe: "But, tell me, is it verily true
+that my trothplight is not here, that I may ransom her?"
+
+Said the Long-hoary: "I swear it by the Treasure of the Sea, that she is
+not here: the tale was but a lie of the Puny Fox."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII: A FEAST IN THE ISLE OF RANSOM
+
+
+Hallblithe pondered his answer awhile with downcast eyes and said at
+last: "Have ye a mind to ransom me, now that I have walked into the
+trap?"
+
+"There is no need to talk of ransom," said the elder; "thou mayst go out
+of this house when thou wilt, nor will any meddle with thee if thou
+strayest about the Isle, when I have set a mark on thee and given thee a
+token: nor wilt thou be hindered if thou hast a mind to leave the Isle,
+if thou canst find means thereto; moreover as long as thou art in the
+Isle, in this house mayst thou abide, eating and drinking and resting
+with us."
+
+"How then may I leave this Isle?" said Hallblithe.
+
+The elder laughed: "In a ship," said he.
+
+"And when," said Hallblithe, "shall I find a ship that shall carry me?"
+
+Said the old carle, "Whither wouldest thou my son?"  Hallblithe was
+silent a while, thinking what answer he should make; then he said: "I
+would go to the land of the Glittering Plain."
+
+"Son, a ship shall not be lacking thee for that voyage," said the elder.
+"Thou mayst go to-morrow morn.  And I bid thee abide here to-night, and
+thy cheer shall not be ill.  Yet if thou wilt believe my word, it will be
+well for thee to say as little as thou mayst to any man here, and that
+little as little proud as maybe: for our folk are short of temper and
+thou knowest there is no might against many.  Indeed it is not unlike
+that they will not speak one word to thee, and if that be so, thou hast
+no need to open thy mouth to them.  And now I will tell thee that it is
+good that thou hast chosen to go to the Glittering Plain.  For if thou
+wert otherwise minded, I wot not how thou wouldest get thee a keel to
+carry thee, and the wings have not yet begun to sprout on thy shoulders,
+raven though thou be.  Now I am glad that thou art going thy ways to the
+Glittering Plain to-morrow; for thou wilt be good company to me on the
+way: and I deem that thou wilt be no churl when thou art glad."
+
+"What," said Hallblithe, "art thou wending thither, thou old man?"
+
+"Yea," said he, "nor shall any other be on the ship save thou and I, and
+the mariners that waft us; and they forsooth shall not go aland there.
+Why should not I go, since there are men to bear me aboard?"
+
+Said Hallblithe, "And when thou art come aland there, what wilt thou do?"
+
+"Thou shalt see, my son," said the Long-hoary.  "It may be that thy good
+wishes shall be of avail to me.  But now since all this may only be if I
+live through this night, and since my heart hath been warmed by the good
+mead, and thy fellowship, and whereas I am somewhat sleepy, and it is
+long past noon, go forth into the hall, and leave me to sleep, that I may
+be as sound as eld will let me to-morrow.  And as for thee, folk, both
+men and women, shall presently come into the hall, and I deem not that
+any shall meddle with thee; but if so be that any challenge thee,
+whatsoever may be his words, answer thou to him, 'THE HOUSE OF THE
+UNDYING,' and there will be an end of it.  Only look thou to it that no
+naked steel cometh out of thy scabbard.  Go now, and if thou wilt, go out
+of doors; yet art thou safer within doors and nigher unto me."
+
+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?"
+
+"Right ahead lieth the land, and it is still a good way off.  High rise
+the mountains there, but by seeming there is no snow on them; and though
+they be blue they are not blue like the mountains of the Isle of Ransom.
+Also it seemed to me as if fair slopes of woodland and meadow come down
+to the edge of the sea.  But it is yet far away."
+
+"Yea," said the elder, "is it so?  Then will I not wear myself with
+making words for thee.  I will rest rather, and gather might.  Come again
+when an hour hath worn, and tell me what thou seest; and may happen then
+thou shalt have my tale!"  And he laid him down therewith and seemed to
+be asleep at once.  And Hallblithe might not amend it; so he waited
+patiently till the hour had worn, and then went forward again, and looked
+long and carefully, and came back and said to the Sea-eagle, "The hour is
+worn."
+
+The old chieftain turned himself about and said "What hast thou seen?"
+
+Said Hallblithe: "The mountains are pale and high, and below them are
+hills dark with wood, and betwixt them and the sea is a fair space of
+meadowland, and methought it was wide."
+
+Said the old man: "Sawest thou a rocky skerry rising high out of the sea
+anigh the shore?"
+
+"Nay," said Hallblithe, "if there be, it is all blended with the meadows
+and the hills."
+
+Said the Sea-eagle: "Abide the wearing of another hour, and come and tell
+me again, and then I may have a gainful word for thee."  And he fell
+asleep again.  But Hallblithe abided, and when the hour was worn, he went
+forward and stood on the forecastle.  And this was the third shift of the
+rowers, and the stoutest men in the ship now held the oars in their
+hands, and the ship shook through all her length and breadth as they
+drave her over the waters.
+
+So Hallblithe came aft to the old man and found him asleep; so he took
+him by the shoulder, and shook him and said: "Awake, faring-fellow, for
+the land is a-nigh."
+
+So the old man sat up and said: "What hast thou seen?"
+
+Said Hallblithe: "I have seen the peaks and cliffs of the far-off
+mountains; and below them are hills green with grass and dark with woods,
+and thence stretch soft green meadows down to the sea-strand, which is
+fair and smooth, and yellow."
+
+"Sawest thou the skerry?" said the Sea-eagle.
+
+"Yea, I saw it," said Hallblithe, "and it rises sheer from out the sea
+about a mile from the yellow strand; but its rocks are black, like the
+rocks of the Isle of Ransom."
+
+"Son," said the elder, "give me thine hands and raise me up a little."  So
+Hallblithe took him and raised him up, so that he sat leaning against the
+pillows; and he looked not on Hallblithe, but on the bows of the ship,
+which now pitched but a little up and down, for the sea was laid quiet
+now.  Then he cried in his shrill, piping voice: "It is the Land!  It is
+the Land!"
+
+But after a little while he turned to Hallblithe and spake: "Short is the
+tale to tell: thou hast wished me youth, and thy wish hath thriven; for
+to-day, ere the sun goes down, thou shalt see me as I was in the days
+when I reaped the harvest of the sea with sharp sword and hardy heart.
+For this is the land of the Undying King, who is our lord and our gift-
+giver; and to some he giveth the gift of youth renewed, and life that
+shall abide here the Gloom of the Gods.  But none of us all may come to
+the Glittering Plain and the King Undying without turning the back for
+the last time on the Isle of Ransom: nor may any men of the Isle come
+hither save those who are of the House of the Sea-eagle, and few of
+those, save the chieftains of the House, such as are they who sat by thee
+on the high-seat that even.  Of these once in a while is chosen one of
+us, who is old and spent and past battle, and is borne to this land and
+the gift of the Undying.  Forsooth some of us have no will to take the
+gift, for they say they are liefer to go to where they shall meet more of
+our kindred than dwell on the Glittering Plain and the Acre of the
+Undying; but as for me I was ever an overbearing and masterful man, and
+meseemeth it is well that I meet as few of our kindred as may be: for
+they are a strifeful race."
+
+Hereat Hallblithe marvelled exceedingly, and he said: "And what am I in
+all this story?  Why am I come hither with thy furtherance?"
+
+Said the Sea-eagle: "We had a charge from the Undying King concerning
+thee, that we should bring thee hither alive and well, if so be thou
+camest to the Isle of Ransom.  For what cause we had the charge, I know
+not, nor do I greatly heed."
+
+Said Hallblithe: "And shall I also have that gift of undying youth, and
+life while the world of men and gods endureth?"
+
+"I must needs deem so," said the Sea-eagle, "so long as thou abidest on
+the Glittering Plain; and I see not how thou mayst ever escape thence."
+
+Now Hallblithe heard him, how he said "escape," and thereat he was
+somewhat ill at ease, and stood and pondered a little.  At last he said:
+"Is this then all that thou hast to tell me concerning the Glittering
+Plain?"
+
+"By the Treasure of the Sea!" said the elder, "I know no more of it.  The
+living shall learn.  But I suppose that thou mayst seek thy troth-plight
+maiden there all thou wilt.  Or thou mayst pray the Undying King to have
+her thither to thee.  What know I?  At least, it is like that there shall
+be no lack of fair women there: or else the promise of youth renewed is
+nought and vain.  Shall this not be enough for thee?"
+
+"Nay," said Hallblithe.
+
+"What," said the elder, "must it be one woman only?"
+
+"One only," said Hallblithe.
+
+The old man laughed his thin mocking laugh, and said: "I will not assure
+thee but that the land of the Glittering Plain shall change all that for
+thee so soon as it touches the soles of thy feet."
+
+Hallblithe looked at him steadily and smiled, and said: "Well is it then
+that I shall find the Hostage there; for then shall we be of one mind,
+either to sunder or to cleave together.  It is well with me this day."
+
+"And with me it shall be well ere long," said the Sea-eagle.
+
+But now the rowers ceased rowing and lay on their oars, and the shipmen
+cast anchor; for they were but a bowshot from the shore, and the ship
+swung with the tide and lay side-long to the shore.  Then said the Sea-
+eagle: "Look forth, shipmate, and tell me of the land."
+
+And Hallblithe looked and said: "The yellow beach is sandy and
+shell-strewn, as I deem, and there is no great space of it betwixt the
+sea and the flowery grass; and a bowshot from the strand I see a little
+wood amidst which are fair trees blossoming."
+
+"Seest thou any folk on the shore?" said the old man.  "Yea," said
+Hallblithe, "close to the edge of the sea go four; and by seeming three
+are women, for their long gowns flutter in the wind.  And one of these is
+clad in saffron colour, and another in white, and another in watchet; but
+the carle is clad in dark red; and their raiment is all glistening as
+with gold and gems; and by seeming they are looking at our ship as though
+they expected somewhat."
+
+Said the Sea-eagle: "Why now do the shipmen tarry and have not made ready
+the skiff?  Swillers and belly-gods they be; slothful swine that forget
+their chieftain."
+
+But even as he spake came four of the shipmen, and without more ado took
+him up, bed and all, and bore him down into the waist of the ship,
+whereunder lay the skiff with four strong rowers lying on their oars.
+These men made no sign to Hallblithe, nor took any heed of him; but he
+caught up his spear, and followed them and stood by as they lowered the
+old man into the boat.  Then he set his foot on the gunwale of the ship
+and leapt down lightly into the boat, and none hindered or helped him;
+and he stood upright in the boat, a goodly image of battle with the sun
+flashing back from his bright helm, his spear in his hand, his white
+shield at his back, and thereon the image of the Raven; but if he had
+been but a salt-boiling carle of the sea-side none would have heeded him
+less.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X: THEY HOLD CONVERSE WITH FOLK OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN
+
+
+Now the rowers lifted the ash-blades, and fell to rowing towards shore:
+and almost with the first of their strokes, the Sea-eagle moaned out:
+
+"Would we were there, oh, would we were there!  Cold groweth eld about my
+heart.  Raven's Son, thou art standing up; tell me if thou canst see what
+these folk of the land are doing, and if any others have come thither?"
+
+Said Hallblithe: "There are none others come, but kine and horses are
+feeding down the meadows.  As to what those four are doing, the women are
+putting off their shoon, and girding up their raiment, as if they would
+wade the water toward us; and the carle, who was barefoot before, wendeth
+straight towards the sea, and there he standeth, for very little are the
+waves become."
+
+The old man answered nothing, and did but groan for lack of patience; but
+presently when the water was yet waist deep the rowers stayed the skiff,
+and two of them slipped over the gunwale into the sea, and between them
+all they took up the chieftain on his bed and got him forth from the boat
+and went toward the strand with him; and the landsfolk met them where the
+water was shallower, and took him from their hands and bore him forth on
+to the yellow sand, and laid him down out of reach of the creeping ripple
+of the tide.  Hallblithe withal slipped lightly out of the boat and waded
+the water after them.  But the shipmen rowed back again to their ship,
+and presently Hallblithe heard the hale and how, as they got up their
+anchor.
+
+But when Hallblithe was come ashore, and was drawn near the folk of the
+land, the women looked at him askance, and they laughed and said:
+"Welcome to thee also, O young man!"  And he beheld them, and saw that
+they were of the stature of the maidens of his own land; they were
+exceeding fair of skin and shapely of fashion, so that the nakedness of
+their limbs under their girded gowns, and all glistening with the sea,
+was most lovely and dainty to behold.  But Hallblithe knelt by the Sea-
+eagle to note how he fared, and said: "How is it with thee, O chieftain?"
+
+The old man answered not a word, and he seemed to be asleep, and
+Hallblithe deemed that his cheeks were ruddier and his skin less wasted
+and wrinkled than aforetime.  Then spake one of those women: "Fear not,
+young man; he is well and will soon be better."  Her voice was as sweet
+as a spring bird in the morning; she was white-skinned and dark-haired,
+and full sweetly fashioned; and she laughed on Hallblithe, but not
+mockingly; and her fellows also laughed, as though it was strange for him
+to be there.  Then they did on their shoon again, and with the carle laid
+their hands to the bed whereon the old man lay, and lifted him up, and
+bore him forth on to the grass, turning their faces toward the flowery
+wood aforesaid; and they went a little way and then laid him down again
+and rested; and so on little by little, till they had brought him to the
+edge of the wood, and still he seemed to be asleep.  Then the damsel who
+had spoken before, she with the dark hair, said to Hallblithe, "Although
+we have gazed on thee as if with wonder, this is not because we did not
+look to meet thee, but because thou art so fair and goodly a man: so
+abide thou here till we come back to thee from out of the wood."
+
+Therewith she stroked his hand, and with her fellows lifted the old man
+once more, and they bore him out of sight into the thicket.
+
+But Hallblithe went to and fro a dozen paces from the wood, and looked
+across the flowery meads and deemed he had never seen any so fair.  And
+afar off toward the hills he saw a great roof arising, and thought he
+could see men also; and nigher to him were kine pasturing, and horses
+also, whereof some drew anear him and stretched out their necks and gazed
+at him; and they were goodly after their kind; and a fair stream of water
+came round the corner out of the wood and down the meadows to the sea;
+and Hallblithe went thereto and could see that there was but little ebb
+and flow of the tide on that shore; for the water of the stream was clear
+as glass, and the grass and flowers grew right down to its water; so he
+put off his helm and drank of the stream and washed his face and his
+hands therein, and then did on his helm again and turned back again
+toward the wood, feeling very strong and merry; and he looked out seaward
+and saw the Ship of the Isle of Ransom lessening fast; for a little land
+wind had arisen and they had spread their sails to it; and he laid down
+on the grass till the four folk of the country came out of the wood
+again, after they had been gone somewhat less than an hour, but the Sea-
+eagle was not with them: and Hallblithe rose up and turned to them, and
+the carle saluted him and departed, going straight toward that far-away
+roof he had seen; and the women were left with Hallblithe, and they
+looked at him and he at them as he stood leaning on his spear.
+
+Then said the black-haired damsel: "True it is, O Spearman, that if we
+did not know of thee, our wonder would be great that a man so young and
+lucky-looking should have sought hither."
+
+"I wot not why thou shouldest wonder," said Hallblithe; "I will tell thee
+presently wherefore I come hither.  But tell me, is this the Land of the
+Glittering Plain?"
+
+"Even so," said the damsel, "dost thou not see how the sun shineth on it?
+Just so it shineth in the season that other folks call winter."
+
+"Some such marvel I thought to hear of," said he; "for I have been told
+that the land is marvellous; and fair though these meadows be, they are
+not marvellous to look on now: they are like other lands, though it
+maybe, fairer."
+
+"That may be," she said; "we have nought but hearsay of other lands.  If
+we ever knew them we have forgotten them."
+
+Said Hallblithe, "Is this land called also the Acre of the Undying?"
+
+As he spake the words the smile faded from the damsel's face; she and her
+fellows grew pale, and she said: "Hold thy peace of such words!  They are
+not lawful for any man to utter here.  Yet mayst thou call it the Land of
+the Living."
+
+He said: "I crave pardon for the rash word."
+
+Then they smiled again, and drew near to him, and caressed him with their
+hands, and looked on him lovingly; but he drew a little aback from them
+and said: "I have come hither seeking something which I have lost, the
+lack whereof grieveth me."
+
+Quoth the damsel, drawing nearer to him again, "Mayst thou find it, thou
+lovely man, and whatsoever else thou desirest."
+
+Then he said: "Hath a woman named the Hostage been brought hither of late
+days?  A fair woman, bright-haired and grey-eyed, kind of countenance,
+soft of speech, yet outspoken and nought timorous; tall according to our
+stature, but very goodly of fashion; a woman of the House of the Rose,
+and my troth-plight maiden."
+
+They looked on each other and shook their heads, and the black-haired
+damsel spake: "We know of no such a woman, nor of the kindred which thou
+namest."
+
+Then his countenance fell, and became piteous with desire and grief, and
+he bent his brows upon them, for they seemed to him light-minded and
+careless, though they were lovely.
+
+But they shrank from him trembling, and drew aback; for they had all been
+standing close to him, beholding him with love, and she who had spoken
+most had been holding his left hand fondly.  But now she said: "Nay, look
+not on us so bitterly!  If the woman be not in the land, this cometh not
+of our malice.  Yet maybe she is here.  For such as come hither keep not
+their old names, and soon forget them what they were.  Thou shalt go with
+us to the King, and he shall do for thee what thou wilt; for he is
+exceeding mighty."
+
+Then was Hallblithe appeased somewhat; and he said: "Are there many women
+in the land?"
+
+"Yea, many," said that damsel.
+
+"And many that are as fair as ye be?" said he.  Then they laughed and
+were glad, and drew near to him again and took his hands and kissed them;
+and the black-haired damsel said: "Yea, yea, there be many as fair as we
+be, and some fairer," and she laughed.
+
+"And that King of yours," said he, "how do ye name him?"
+
+"He is the King," said the damsel.
+
+"Hath he no other name?" said Hallblithe.
+
+"We may not utter it," she said; "but thou shalt see him soon, that there
+is nought but good in him and mightiness."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI: THE SEA-EAGLE RENEWETH HIS LIFE
+
+
+But while they spake together thus, came a man from out of the wood very
+tall of stature, red-bearded and black-haired, ruddy-cheeked,
+full-limbed, most joyous of aspect; a man by seeming of five and thirty
+winters.  He strode straight up to Hallblithe, and cast his arms about
+him, and kissed his cheek, as if he had been an old and dear friend newly
+come from over seas.
+
+Hallblithe wondered and laughed, and said: "Who art thou that deemest me
+so dear?"
+
+Said the man: "Short is thy memory, Son of the Raven, that thou in so
+little space hast forgotten thy shipmate and thy faring-fellow; who gave
+thee meat and drink and good rede in the Hall of the Ravagers."  Therewith
+he laughed joyously and turned about to the three maidens and took them
+by the hands and kissed their lips, while they fawned upon him lovingly.
+
+Then said Hallblithe: "Hast thou verily gotten thy youth again, which
+thou badest me wish thee?"
+
+"Yea, in good sooth," said the red-bearded man; "I am the Sea-eagle of
+old days; and I have gotten my youth, and love therewithal, and somewhat
+to love moreover."
+
+Therewith he turned to the fairest of the damsels, and she was
+white-skinned and fragrant as the lily, rose-cheeked and slender, and the
+wind played with the long locks of her golden hair, which hung down below
+her knees; so he cast his arms about her and strained her to his bosom,
+and kissed her face many times, and she nothing loth, but caressing him
+with lips and hand.  But the other two damsels stood by smiling and
+joyous: and they clapped their hands together and kissed each other for
+joy of the new lover; and at last fell to dancing and skipping about them
+like young lambs in the meadows of Spring-tide.  But amongst them all,
+stood up Hallblithe leaning on his spear with smiling lips and knitted
+brow; for he was pondering in his mind in what wise he might further his
+quest.
+
+But after they had danced a while the Sea-eagle left his love that he had
+chosen and took a hand of either of the two damsels, and led them
+tripping up to Hallblithe, and cried out: "Choose thou, Raven's baby,
+which of these twain thou wilt have to thy mate; for scarcely shalt thou
+see better or fairer."
+
+But Hallblithe looked on them proudly and sternly, and the black-haired
+damsel hung down her head before him and said softly: "Nay, nay,
+sea-warrior; this one is too lovely to be our mate.  Sweeter love abides
+him, and lips more longed for."
+
+Then stirred Hallblithe's heart within him and he said: "O Eagle of the
+Sea, thou hast thy youth again: what then wilt thou do with it?  Wilt
+thou not weary for the moonlit main, and the washing of waves and the
+dashing of spray, and thy fellows all glistening with the brine?  Where
+now shall be the alien shores before thee, and the landing for fame, and
+departure for the gain of goods?  Wilt thou forget the ship's black side,
+and the dripping of the windward oars, as the squall falleth on when the
+sun hath arisen, and the sail tuggeth hard on the sheet, and the ship
+lieth over and the lads shout against the whistle of the wind?  Has the
+spear fallen from thine hand, and hast thou buried the sword of thy
+fathers in the grave from which thy body hath escaped?  What art thou, O
+Warrior, in the land of the alien and the King?  Who shall heed thee or
+tell the tale of thy glory, which thou hast covered over with the hand of
+a light woman, whom thy kindred knoweth not, and who was not born in a
+house wherefrom it hath been appointed thee from of old to take the
+pleasure of woman?  Whose thrall art thou now, thou lifter of the spoil,
+thou scarer of the freeborn?  The bidding of what lord or King wilt thou
+do, O Chieftain, that thou mayst eat thy meat in the morning and lie soft
+in thy bed in the evening?"
+
+"O Warrior of the Ravagers, here stand I, Hallblithe of the Raven, and I
+am come into an alien land beset with marvels to seek mine own, and find
+that which is dearest to mine heart; to wit, my troth-plight maiden the
+Hostage of the Rose, the fair woman who shall lie in my bed, and bear me
+children, and stand by me in field and fold, by thwart and gunwale,
+before the bow and the spear, by the flickering of the cooking-fire, and
+amidst the blaze of the burning hall, and beside the bale-fire of the
+warrior of the Raven.  O Sea-eagle, my guester amongst the foemen, my
+fellow-farer and shipmate, say now once for all whether thou wilt help me
+in my quest, or fall off from me as a dastard?"
+
+Again the maidens shrank before his clear and high-raised voice, and they
+trembled and grew pale.
+
+But the Sea-eagle laughed from a countenance kind with joy, and said:
+"Child of the Raven, thy words are good and manly: but it availeth nought
+in this land, and I wot not how thou wilt fare, or why thou hast been
+sent amongst us.  What wilt thou do?  Hadst thou spoken these words to
+the Long-hoary, the Grandfather, yesterday, his ears would have been deaf
+to them; and now that thou speakest them to the Sea-eagle, this joyous
+man on the Glittering Plain, he cannot do according to them, for there is
+no other land than this which can hold him.  Here he is strong and stark,
+and full of joy and love; but otherwhere he would be but a gibbering
+ghost drifting down the wind of night.  Therefore in whatsoever thou
+mayst do within this land I will stand by thee and help thee; but not one
+inch beyond it may my foot go, whether it be down into the brine of the
+sea, or up into the clefts of the mountains which are the wall of this
+goodly land.
+
+"Thou hast been my shipmate and I love thee, I am thy friend; but here in
+this land must needs be the love and the friendship.  For no ghost can
+love thee, no ghost may help thee.  And as to what thou sayest concerning
+the days gone past and our joys upon the tumbling sea, true it is that
+those days were good and lovely; but they are dead and gone like the lads
+who sat on the thwart beside us, and the maidens who took our hands in
+the hall to lead us to the chamber.  Other days have come in their stead,
+and other friends shall cherish us.  What then?  Shall we wound the
+living to pleasure the dead, who cannot heed it?  Shall we curse the
+Yuletide, and cast foul water on the Holy Hearth of the winter feast,
+because the summer once was fair and the days flit and the times change?
+Now let us be glad!  For life liveth."
+
+Therewith he turned about to his damsel and kissed her on the mouth.  But
+Hallblithe's face was grown sad and stern, and he spake slowly and
+heavily: "So is it, shipmate, that whereas thou sayest that the days
+flit, for thee they shall flit no more; and the day may come for thee
+when thou shalt be weary, and know it, and long for the lost which thou
+hast forgotten.  But hereof it availeth nought for me to speak any
+longer, for thine ears are deaf to these words, and thou wilt not hear
+them.  Therefore I say no more save that I thank thee for thy help
+whatsoever it may be; and I will take it, for the day's work lieth before
+me, and I begin to think that it may be heavy enough."
+
+The women yet looked downcast, and as if they would be gone out of
+earshot; but the Sea-eagle laughed as one who is well content, and said:
+"Thou thyself wilt make it hard for thyself after the wont of thy proud
+and haughty race; but for me nothing is hard any longer; neither thy
+scorn nor thy forebodings of evil.  Be thou my friend as much as thou
+canst, and I will be thine wholly.  Now ye women, whither will ye lead
+us?  For I am ready to see any new thing ye will show us."
+
+Said his damsel: "We will take you to the King, that your hearts may be
+the more gladdened.  And as for thy friend the Spearman, O Sea-warrior,
+let not his heart be downcast.  Who wotteth but that these two desires,
+the desire of his heart, and the desire of a heart for him, may not be
+one and the same desire, so that he shall be fully satisfied?"  As she
+spoke she looked sidelong at Hallblithe, with shy and wheedling eyes; and
+he wondered at her word, and a new hope sprang up in his heart that he
+was presently to be brought face to face with the Hostage, and that this
+was that love, sweeter than their love, which abode in him, and his heart
+became lighter, and his visage cleared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII: THEY LOOK ON THE KING OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN
+
+
+So now the women led them along up the stream, and Hallblithe went side
+by side by the Sea-eagle; but the women had become altogether merry
+again, and played and ran about them as gamesome as young goats; and they
+waded the shallows of the clear bright stream barefoot to wash their
+limbs of the sea-brine, and strayed about the meadows, plucking the
+flowers and making them wreaths and chaplets, which they did upon
+themselves and the Sea-eagle; but Hallblithe they touched not, for still
+they feared him.  They went on as the stream led them up toward the
+hills, and ever were the meads about them as fair and flowery as might
+be.  Folk they saw afar off, but fell in with none for a good while,
+saving a man and a maid clad lightly as for mid-summer days, who were
+wandering together lovingly and happily by the stream-side, and who gazed
+wonderingly on the stark Sea-eagle, and on Hallblithe with his glittering
+spear.  The black-haired damsel greeted these twain and spake something
+to them, and they laughed merrily, and the man stooped down amongst the
+grasses and blossoms of the bank, and drew forth a basket, and spread
+dainty victuals on the grass under a willow-tree, and bade them be his
+guests that fair afternoon.  So they sat down there above the glistering
+stream and ate and drank and were merry.  Thereafter the new-comers and
+their way-leaders departed with kind words, and still set their faces
+towards the hills.
+
+At last they saw before them a little wooded hill, and underneath it
+something red and shining, and other coloured things gleaming in the sun
+about it.  Then said the Sea-eagle: "What have we yonder?"
+
+Said his damsel: "That is the pavilion of the King; and about it are the
+tents and tilts of our folk who are of his fellowship: for oft he abideth
+in the fields with them, though he hath houses and halls as fair as the
+heart of man can conceive."
+
+"Hath he no foemen to fear?" said the Sea-eagle.
+
+"How should that be?" said the damsel.  "If perchance any came into this
+land to bring war upon him, their battle-anger should depart when once
+the bliss of the Glittering Plain had entered into their souls, and they
+would ask for nought but leave to abide here and be happy.  Yet I trow
+that if he had foemen he could crush them as easily as I set my foot on
+this daisy."
+
+So as they went on they fell in with many folk, men and women, sporting
+and playing in the fields; and there was no semblance of eld on any of
+them, and no scar or blemish or feebleness of body or sadness of
+countenance; nor did any bear a weapon or any piece of armour.  Now some
+of them gathered about the new-corners, and wondered at Hallblithe and
+his long spear and shining helm and dark grey byrny; but none asked
+concerning them, for all knew that they were folk new come to the bliss
+of the Glittering Plain.  So they passed amidst these fair folk little
+hindered by them, and into Hallblithe's thoughts it came how joyous the
+fellowship of such should be and how his heart should be raised by the
+sight of them, if only his troth-plight maiden were by his side.
+
+Thus then they came to the King's pavilion, where it stood in a bight of
+the meadow-land at the foot of the hill, with the wood about it on three
+sides.  So fair a house Hallblithe deemed he had never seen; for it was
+wrought all over with histories and flowers, and with hems sewn with
+gold, and with orphreys of gold and pearl and gems.
+
+There in the door of it sat the King of the Land in an ivory chair; he
+was clad in golden gown, girt with a girdle of gems, and had his crown on
+his head and his sword by his side.  For this was the hour wherein he
+heard what any of his folk would say to him, and for that very end he sat
+there in the door of his tent, and folk were standing before him, and
+sitting and lying on the grass round about; and now one, now another,
+came up to him and spoke before him.
+
+His face shone like a star; it was exceeding beauteous, and as kind as
+the even of May in the gardens of the happy, when the scent of the
+eglantine fills all the air.  When he spoke his voice was so sweet that
+all hearts were ravished, and none might gainsay him.
+
+But when Hallblithe set eyes on him, he knew at once that this was he
+whose carven image he had seen in the Hall of the Ravagers, and his heart
+beat fast, and he said to himself: "Hold up thine head now, O Son of the
+Raven, strengthen thine heart, and let no man or god cow thee.  For how
+can thine heart change, which bade thee go to the house wherefrom it was
+due to thee to take the pleasure of woman, and there to pledge thy faith
+and troth to her that loveth thee most, and hankereth for thee day by day
+and hour by hour, so that great is the love that we twain have builded
+up."
+
+Now they drew nigh, for folk fell back before them to the right and left,
+as before men who are new come and have much to do; so that there was
+nought between them and the face of the King.  But he smiled upon them so
+that he cheered their hearts with the hope of fulfilment of their
+desires, and he said: "Welcome, children!  Who be these whom ye have
+brought hither for the increase of our joy?  Who is this tall,
+ruddy-faced, joyous man so meet for the bliss of the Glittering Plain?
+And who is this goodly and lovely young man, who beareth weapons amidst
+our peace, and whose face is sad and stern beneath the gleaming of his
+helm?"
+
+Said the dark-haired damsel: "O King!  O Gift-giver and assurer of joy!
+this tall one is he who was once oppressed by eld, and who hath come
+hither to thee from the Isle of Ransom, according to the custom of the
+land."
+
+Said the King: "Tall man, it is well that thou art come.  Now are thy
+days changed and thou yet alive.  For thee battle is ended, and therewith
+the reward of battle, which the warrior remembereth not amidst the hard
+hand-play: peace hath begun, and thou needest not be careful for the
+endurance thereof: for in this land no man hath a lack which he may not
+satisfy without taking aught from any other.  I deem not that thine heart
+may conceive a desire which I shall not fulfil for thee, or crave a gift
+which I shall not give thee."
+
+Then the Sea-eagle laughed for joy, and turned his head this way and
+that, so that he might the better take to him the smiles of all those
+that stood around.
+
+Then the King said to Hallblithe: "Thou also art welcome; I know thee who
+thou art: meseemeth great joy awaiteth thee, and I will fulfil thy desire
+to the uttermost."
+
+Said Hallblithe: "O great King of a happy land, I ask of thee nought save
+that which none shall withhold from me uncursed."
+
+"I will give it to thee," said the King, "and thou shalt bless me.  But
+what is it which thou wouldst?  What more canst thou have than the Gifts
+of the land?"
+
+Said Hallblithe: "I came hither seeking no gifts, but to have mine own
+again; and that is the bodily love of my troth-plight maiden.  They stole
+her from me, and me from her; for she loved me.  I went down to the sea-
+side and found her not, nor the ship which had borne her away.  I sailed
+from thence to the Isle of Ransom, for they told me that there I should
+buy her for a price; neither was her body there.  But her image came to
+me in a dream of the night, and bade me seek to her hither.  Therefore, O
+King, if she be here in the land, show me how I shall find her, and if
+she be not here, show me how I may depart to seek her otherwhere.  This
+is all my asking."
+
+Said the King: "Thy desire shall be satisfied; thou shalt have the woman
+who would have thee, and whom thou shouldst have."
+
+Hallblithe was gladdened beyond measure by that word; and now did the
+King seem to him a comfort and a solace to every heart, even as he had
+deemed of his carven image in the Hall of the Ravagers; and he thanked
+him, and blessed him.
+
+But the King bade him abide by him that night, and feast with him.  "And
+on the morrow," said he, "thou shalt go thy ways to look on her whom thou
+oughtest to love."
+
+Therewith was come the eventide and beginning of night, warm and fragrant
+and bright with the twinkling of stars, and they went into the King's
+pavilion, and there was the feast as fair and dainty as might be; and
+Hallblithe had meat from the King's own dish, and drink from his cup; but
+the meat had no savour to him and the drink no delight, because of the
+longing that possessed him.
+
+And when the feast was done, the damsels led Hallblithe to his bed in a
+fair tent strewn with gold about his head like the starry night, and he
+lay down and slept for sheer weariness of body.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII: HALLBLITHE BEHOLDETH THE WOMAN WHO LOVETH HIM
+
+
+But on the morrow the men arose, and the Sea-eagle and his damsel came to
+Hallblithe; for the other two damsels were departed, and the Sea-eagle
+said to him:
+
+"Here am I well honoured and measurelessly happy; and I have a message
+for thee from the King."
+
+"What is it?" said Hallblithe; but he deemed that he knew what it would
+be, and he reddened for the joy of his assured hope.
+
+Said the Sea-eagle: "Joy to thee, O shipmate!  I am to take thee to the
+place where thy beloved abideth, and there shalt thou see her, but not so
+as she can see thee; and thereafter shalt thou go to the King, that thou
+mayst tell him if she shall accomplish thy desire."
+
+Then was Hallblithe glad beyond measure, and his heart danced within him,
+and he deemed it but meet that the others should be so joyous and blithe
+with him, for they led him along without any delay, and were glad at his
+rejoicing; and words failed him to tell of his gladness.
+
+But as he went, the thoughts of his coming converse with his beloved
+curled sweetly round his heart, so that scarce anything had seemed so
+sweet to him before; and he fell a-pondering what they twain, he and the
+Hostage, should do when they came together again; whether they should
+abide on the Glittering Plain, or go back again to Cleveland by the Sea
+and dwell in the House of the Kindred; and for his part he yearned to
+behold the roof of his fathers and to tread the meadow which his scythe
+had swept, and the acres where his hook had smitten the wheat.  But he
+said to himself, "I will wait till I hear her desire hereon."
+
+Now they went into the wood at the back of the King's pavilion and
+through it, and so over the hill, and beyond it came into a land of hills
+and dales exceeding fair and lovely; and a river wound about the dales,
+lapping in turn the feet of one hill-side or the other; and in each dale
+(for they passed through two) was a goodly house of men, and tillage
+about it, and vineyards and orchards.  They went all day till the sun was
+near setting, and were not weary, for they turned into the houses by the
+way when they would, and had good welcome and meat and drink and what
+they would of the folk that dwelt there.  Thus anigh sunset they came
+into a dale fairer than either of the others, and nigh to the end where
+they had entered it was an exceeding goodly house.  Then said the damsel:
+
+"We are nigh-hand to our journey's end; let us sit down on the grass by
+this river-side whilst I tell thee the tale which the King would have
+thee know."
+
+So they sat down on the grass beside the brimming river, scant two
+bowshots from that fair house, and the damsel said, reading from a scroll
+which she drew from her bosom:
+
+"O Spearman, in yonder house dwelleth the woman foredoomed to love thee:
+if thou wouldst see her, go thitherward, following the path which turneth
+from the river-side by yonder oak-tree, and thou shalt presently come to
+a thicket of bay-trees at the edge of an apple-orchard, whose trees are
+blossoming; abide thou hidden by the bay-leaves, and thou shalt see
+maidens come into the orchard, and at last one fairer than all the
+others.  This shall be thy love fore-doomed, and none other; and thou
+shalt know her by this token, that when she hath set her down on the
+grass beside the bay-tree, she shall say to her maidens 'Bring me now the
+book wherein is the image of my beloved, that I may solace myself with
+beholding it before the sun goes down and the night cometh.'"
+
+Now Hallblithe was troubled when she read out these words, and he said:
+"What is this tale about a book?  I know not of any book that lieth
+betwixt me and my beloved."
+
+"O Spearman," said the damsel, "I may tell thee no more, because I know
+no more.  But keep up thine heart!  For dost thou know any more than I do
+what hath befallen thy beloved since thou wert sundered from her? and why
+should not this matter of the book be one of the things that hath
+befallen her?  Go now with joy, and come again blessing us."
+
+"Yea, go, faring-fellow," said the Sea-eagle, "and come back joyful, that
+we may all be merry together.  And we will abide thee here."
+
+Hallblithe foreboded evil, but he held his peace and went his ways down
+the path by the oak-tree; and they abode there by the water-side, and
+were very merry talking of this and that (but no whit of Hallblithe), and
+kissing and caressing each other; so that it seemed but a little while to
+them ere they saw Hallblithe coming back by the oak-tree.  He went
+slowly, hanging his head like a man sore-burdened with grief: thus he
+came up to them, and stood there above them as they lay on the fragrant
+grass, and he saying no word and looking so sad and sorry, and withal so
+fell, that they feared his grief and his anger, and would fain have been
+away from him; so that they durst not ask him a question for a long
+while, and the sun sank below the hill while they abided thus.
+
+Then all trembling the damsel spake to the Sea-eagle: "Speak to him, dear
+friend, else must I flee away, for I fear his silence."
+
+Quoth the Sea-eagle: "Shipmate and friend, what hath betided?  How art
+thou?  May we hearken, and mayhappen amend it?"
+
+Then Hallblithe cast himself adown on the grass and said: "I am accursed
+and beguiled; and I wander round and round in a tangle that I may not
+escape from.  I am not far from deeming that this is a land of dreams
+made for my beguiling.  Or has the earth become so full of lies, that
+there is no room amidst them for a true man to stand upon his feet and go
+his ways?"
+
+Said the Sea-eagle: "Thou shalt tell us of what hath betid, and so ease
+the sorrow of thy soul if thou wilt.  Or if thou wilt, thou shalt nurse
+thy sorrow in thine heart and tell no man.  Do what thou wilt; am I not
+become thy friend?"
+
+Said Hallblithe: "I will tell you twain the tidings, and thereafter ask
+me no more concerning them.  Hearken.  I went whereas ye bade me, and hid
+myself in the bay-tree thicket; and there came maidens into the
+blossoming orchard and made a resting-place with silken cushions close to
+where I was lurking, and stood about as though they were looking for some
+one to come.  In a little time came two more maidens, and betwixt them
+one so much fairer than any there, that my heart sank within me: whereas
+I deemed because of her fairness that this would be the fore-doomed love
+whereof ye spake, and lo, she was in nought like to my troth-plight
+maiden, save that she was exceeding beauteous: nevertheless, heart-sick
+as I was, I determined to abide the token that ye told me of.  So she lay
+down amidst those cushions, and I beheld her that she was sad of
+countenance; and she was so near to me that I could see the tears welling
+into her eyes, and running down her cheeks; so that I should have grieved
+sorely for her had I not been grieving so sorely for myself.  For
+presently she sat up and said 'O maiden, bring me hither the book wherein
+is the image of my beloved, that I may behold it in this season of sunset
+wherein I first beheld it; that I may fill my heart with the sight
+thereof before the sun is gone and the dark night come.'
+
+"Then indeed my heart died within me when I wotted that this was the love
+whereof the King spake, that he would give to me, and she not mine own
+beloved, yet I could not choose but abide and look on a while, and she
+being one that any man might love beyond measure.  Now a maiden went away
+into the house and came back again with a book covered with gold set with
+gems; and the fair woman took it and opened it, and I was so near to her
+that I saw every leaf clearly as she turned the leaves.  And in that book
+were pictures of many things, as flaming mountains, and castles of war,
+and ships upon the sea, but chiefly of fair women, and queens, and
+warriors and kings; and it was done in gold and azure and cinnabar and
+minium.  So she turned the leaves, till she came to one whereon was
+pictured none other than myself, and over against me was the image of
+mine own beloved, the Hostage of the Rose, as if she were alive, so that
+the heart within me swelled with the sobbing which I must needs refrain,
+which grieved me like a sword-stroke.  Shame also took hold of me as the
+fair woman spoke to my painted image, and I lying well-nigh within touch
+of her hand; but she said: 'O my beloved, why dost thou delay to come to
+me?  For I deemed that this eve at least thou wouldst come, so many and
+strong as are the meshes of love which we have cast about thy feet.  Oh
+come to-morrow at the least and latest, or what shall I do, and wherewith
+shall I quench the grief of my heart?  Or else why am I the daughter of
+the Undying King, the Lord of the Treasure of the Sea?  Why have they
+wrought new marvels for me, and compelled the Ravagers of the Coasts to
+serve me, and sent false dreams flitting on the wings of the night?  Yea,
+why is the earth fair and fruitful, and the heavens kind above it, if
+thou comest not to-night, nor to-morrow, nor the day after?  And I the
+daughter of the Undying, on whom the days shall grow and grow as the
+grains of sand which the wind heaps up above the sea-beach.  And life
+shall grow huger and more hideous round about the lonely one, like the
+ling-worm laid upon the gold, that waxeth thereby, till it lies all
+around about the house of the queen entrapped, the moveless unending ring
+of the years that change not.'
+
+"So she spake till the weeping ended her words, and I was all abashed
+with shame and pale with anguish.  I stole quietly from my lair unheeded
+of any, save that one damsel said that a rabbit ran in the hedge, and
+another that a blackbird stirred in the thicket.  Behold me, then, that
+my quest beginneth again amidst the tangle of lies whereinto I have been
+entrapped."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV: HALLBLITHE HAS SPEECH WITH THE KING AGAIN
+
+
+He stood up when he had made an end, as a man ready for the road; but
+they lay there downcast and abashed, and had no words to answer him.  For
+the Sea-eagle was sorry that his faring-fellow was hapless, and was sorry
+that he was sorry; and as for the damsel, she had not known but that she
+was leading the goodly Spearman to the fulfilment of his heart's desire.
+Albeit after a while she spake again and said:
+
+"Dear friends, day is gone and night is at hand; now to-night it were ill
+lodging at yonder house; and the next house on our backward road is over
+far for wayworn folk.  But hard by through the thicket is a fair little
+wood-lawn, by the lip of a pool in the stream wherein we may bathe us to-
+morrow morning; and it is grassy and flowery and sheltered from all winds
+that blow, and I have victual enough in my wallet.  Let us sup and rest
+there under the bare heaven, as oft is the wont of us in this land; and
+on the morrow early we will arise and get us back again to Wood-end,
+where yet the King abideth, and there shalt thou talk to him again, O
+Spearman."
+
+Said Hallblithe: "Take me whither ye will; but now nought availeth.  I am
+a captive in a land of lies, and here most like shall I live betrayed and
+die hapless."
+
+"Hold thy peace, dear friend, of such words as those last," said she, "or
+I must needs flee from thee, for they hurt me sorely.  Come now to this
+pleasant place."
+
+She took him by the hand and looked kindly on him, and the Sea-eagle
+followed him, murmuring an old song of the harvest-field, and they went
+together by a path through a thicket of white-thorn till they came unto a
+grassy place.  There then they sat them down, and ate and drank what they
+would, sitting by the lip of the pool till a waning moon was bright over
+their heads.  And Hallblithe made no semblance of content; but the Sea-
+eagle and his damsel were grown merry again, and talked and sang together
+like autumn stares, with the kissing and caressing of lovers.
+
+So at last those twain lay down amongst the flowers, and slept in each
+other's arms; but Hallblithe betook him to the brake a little aloof, and
+lay down, but slept not till morning was at hand, when slumber and
+confused dreams overtook him.
+
+He was awaked from his sleep by the damsel, who came pushing through the
+thicket all fresh and rosy from the river, and roused him, and said:
+
+"Awake now, Spearman, that we may take our pleasure in the sun; for he is
+high in the heavens now, and all the land laughs beneath him."
+
+Her eyes glittered as she spoke, and her limbs moved under her raiment as
+though she would presently fall to dancing for very joy.  But Hallblithe
+arose wearily, and gave her back no smile in answer, but thrust through
+the thicket to the water, and washed the night from off him, and so came
+back to the twain as they sat dallying together over their breakfast.  He
+would not sit down by them, but ate a morsel of bread as he stood, and
+said: "Tell me how I can soonest find the King: I bid you not lead me
+thither, but let me go my ways alone.  For with me time presses, and with
+you meseemeth time is nought.  Neither am I a meet fellow for the happy."
+
+But the Sea-eagle sprang up, and swore with a great oath that he would
+nowise leave his shipmate in the lurch.  And the damsel said: "Fair man,
+I had best go with thee; I shall not hinder thee, but further thee
+rather, so that thou shalt make one day's journey of two."
+
+And she put forth her hand to him, and caressed him smiling, and fawned
+upon him, and he heeded it little, but hung not aback from them since
+they were ready for the road: so they set forth all three together.
+
+They made such diligence on the backward road that the sun was not set by
+then they came to Wood-end; and there was the King sitting in the door of
+his pavilion.  Thither went Hallblithe straight, and thrust through the
+throng, and stood before the King; who greeted him kindly, and was no
+less sweet of face than on that other day.
+
+Hallblithe hailed him not, but said: "King, look on my anguish, and if
+thou art other than a king of dreams and lies, play no longer with me,
+but tell me straight out if thou knowest of my troth-plight maiden,
+whether she is in this land or not."
+
+Then the King smiled on him and said: "True it is that I know of her; yet
+know I not whether she is in this land or not."
+
+"King," said Hallblithe, "wilt thou bring us together and stay my heart's
+bleeding?"
+
+Said the King: "I cannot, since I know not where she is."
+
+"Why didst thou lie to me the other day?" said Hallblithe.
+
+"I lied not," said the King; "I bade bring thee to the woman that loved
+thee, and whom thou shouldst love; and that is my daughter.  And look
+thou!  Even as I may not bring thee to thine earthly love, so couldst
+thou not make thyself manifest before my daughter, and become her
+deathless love.  Is it not enough?"
+
+He spake sternly for all that he smiled, and Hallblithe said: "O King,
+have pity on me!"
+
+"Yea," said the King; "pity thee I do: but I will live despite thy
+sorrow; my pity of thee shall not slay me, or make thee happy.  Even in
+such wise didst thou pity my daughter."
+
+Said Hallblithe: "Thou art mighty, O King, and maybe the mightiest.  Wilt
+thou not help me?"
+
+"How can I help thee?" said the King, "thou who wilt not help thyself.
+Thou hast seen what thou shouldst do: do it then and be holpen."
+
+Then said Hallblithe: "Wilt thou not slay me, O King, since thou wilt not
+do aught else?"
+
+"Nay," said the King, "thy slaying wilt not serve me nor mine: I will
+neither help nor hinder.  Thou art free to seek thy love wheresoever thou
+wilt in this my realm.  Depart in peace!"
+
+Hallblithe saw that the King was angry, though he smiled upon him; yet so
+coldly, that the face of him froze the very marrow of Hallblithe's bones:
+and he said within himself: "This King of lies shall not slay me, though
+mine anguish be hard to bear: for I am alive, and it may be that my love
+is in this land, and I may find her here, and how to reach another land I
+know not."
+
+So he turned from before the face of the King as the sun was setting, and
+he went down the land southward betwixt the mountains and the sea, not
+heeding whether it were night or day; and he went on till it was long
+past midnight, and then for mere weariness laid him down under a tree,
+not knowing where he was, and fell asleep.
+
+And in the morning he woke up to the bright sun, and found folk standing
+round about him, both men and women, and their sheep were anigh them, for
+they were shepherd folk.  So when they saw that he was awake, they
+greeted him, and were blithe with him and made much of him: and they took
+him home to their house, and gave him to eat and to drink, and asked him
+what he would that they might serve him.  And they seemed to him to be
+kind and simple folk, and though he loathed to speak the words, so sick
+at heart he was, yet he told them how he was seeking his troth-plight
+maiden, his earthly love, and asked them to say if they had seen any
+woman like her.
+
+They heard him kindly and pitied him, and told him how they had heard of
+a woman in the land, who sought her beloved even as he sought his.  And
+when he heard that, his heart leapt up, and he asked them to tell him
+more concerning this woman.  Then they said that she dwelt in the hill-
+country in a goodly house, and had set her heart on a lovely man, whose
+image she had seen in a book, and that no man but this one would content
+her; and this, they said, was a sad and sorry matter, such as was unheard
+of hitherto in the land.
+
+So when Hallblithe heard this, as heavily as his heart fell again, he
+changed not countenance, but thanked the kind folk and departed, and went
+on down the land betwixt the mountains and the sea, and before nightfall
+he had been into three more houses of folk, and asked there of all comers
+concerning a woman who was sundered from her beloved; and at none of them
+gat he any answer to make him less sorry than yesterday.  At the last of
+the three he slept, and on the morrow early there was the work to begin
+again; and the next day was the same as the last, and the day after
+differed not from it.  Thus he went on seeking his beloved betwixt the
+mountains and the plain, till the great rock-wall came down to the side
+of the sea and made an end of the Glittering Plain on that side.  Then he
+turned about and went back by the way he had come, and up the country
+betwixt the mountains and the plain northward, until he had been into
+every house of folk in those parts and asked his question.
+
+Then he went up into that fair country of the dales, and even anigh to
+where dwelt the King's Daughter, and otherwhere in the land and
+everywhere, quartering the realm of the Glittering Plain as the heron
+quarters the flooded meadow when the waters draw aback into the river.  So
+that now all people knew him when he came, and they wondered at him; but
+when he came to any house for the third or fourth time, they wearied of
+him, and were glad when he departed.
+
+Ever it was one of two answers that he had: either folk said to him,
+"There is no such woman; this land is happy, and nought but happy people
+dwell herein;" or else they told him of the woman who lived in sorrow,
+and was ever looking on a book, that she might bring to her the man whom
+she desired.
+
+Whiles he wearied and longed for death, but would not die until there was
+no corner of the land unsearched.  Whiles he shook off weariness, and
+went about his quest as a craftsman sets about his work in the morning.
+Whiles it irked him to see the soft and merry folk of the land, who had
+no skill to help him, and he longed for the house of his fathers and the
+men of the spear and the plough; and thought, "Oh, if I might but get me
+back, if it were but for an hour and to die there, to the meadows of the
+Raven, and the acres beneath the mountains of Cleveland by the Sea.  Then
+at least should I learn some tale of what is or what hath been, howsoever
+evil the tidings were, and not be bandied about by lies for ever."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV: YET HALLBLITHE SPEAKETH WITH THE KING
+
+
+So wore the days and the moons; and now were some six moons worn since
+first he came to the Glittering Plain; and he was come to Wood-end again,
+and heard and knew that the King was sitting once more in the door of his
+pavilion to hearken to the words of his people, and he said to himself:
+"I will speak yet again to this man, if indeed he be a man; yea, though
+he turn me into stone."
+
+And he went up toward the pavilion; and on the way it came into his mind
+what the men of the kindred were doing that morning; and he had a vision
+of them as it were, and saw them yoking the oxen to the plough, and
+slowly going down the acres, as the shining iron drew the long furrow
+down the stubble-land, and the light haze hung about the elm-trees in the
+calm morning, and the smoke rose straight into the air from the roof of
+the kindred.  And he said: "What is this? am I death-doomed this morning
+that this sight cometh so clearly upon me amidst the falseness of this
+unchanging land?"
+
+Thus he came to the pavilion, and folk fell back before him to the right
+and the left, and he stood before the King, and said to him: "I cannot
+find her; she is not in thy land."
+
+Then spake the King, smiling upon him, as erst: "What wilt thou then?  Is
+it not time to rest?"
+
+He said: "Yea, O King; but not in this land."
+
+Said the King: "Where else than in this land wilt thou find rest?  Without
+is battle and famine, longing unsatisfied, and heart-burning and fear;
+within it is plenty and peace and good will and pleasure without cease.
+Thy word hath no meaning to me."
+
+Said Hallblithe: "Give me leave to depart, and I will bless thee."
+
+"Is there nought else to do?" said the King.
+
+"Nought else," said Hallblithe.
+
+Therewith he felt that the King's face changed though he still smiled on
+him, and again he felt his heart grow cold before the King.
+
+But the King spake and said: "I hinder not thy departure, nor will any of
+my folk.  No hand will be raised against thee; there is no weapon in all
+the land, save the deedless sword by my side and the weapons which thou
+bearest."
+
+Said Hallblithe: "Dost thou not owe me a joy in return for my beguiling?"
+
+"Yea," said the King, "reach out thine hand to take it."
+
+"One thing only may I take of thee," said Hallblithe; "my troth-plight
+maiden or else the speeding of my departure."
+
+Then said the King, and his voice was terrible though yet he smiled: "I
+will not hinder; I will not help.  Depart in peace!"
+
+Then Hallblithe turned away dizzy and half fainting, and strayed down the
+field, scarce knowing where he was; and as he went he felt his sleeve
+plucked at, and turned about, and lo! he was face to face with the Sea-
+eagle, no less joyous than aforetime.  He took Hallblithe in his arms and
+embraced him and kissed him, and said: "Well met, faring-fellow!  Whither
+away?"
+
+"Away out of this land of lies," said Hallblithe.
+
+The Sea-eagle shook his head, and quoth he: "Art thou still seeking a
+dream?  And thou so fair that thou puttest all other men to shame."
+
+"I seek no dream," said Hallblithe, "but rather the end of dreams."
+
+"Well," said the Sea-eagle, "we will not wrangle about it.  But hearken.
+Hard by in a pleasant nook of the meadows have I set up my tent; and
+although it be not as big as the King's pavilion, yet is it fair enough.
+Wilt thou not come thither with me and rest thee to-night; and to-morrow
+we will talk of this matter?"
+
+Now Hallblithe was weary and confused, and downhearted beyond his wont,
+and the friendly words of the Sea-eagle softened his heart, and he smiled
+on him and said: "I give thee thanks; I will come with thee: thou art
+kind, and hast done nought to me save good from the time when I first saw
+thee lying in thy bed in the Hall of the Ravagers.  Dost thou remember
+the day?"
+
+The Sea-eagle knitted his brow as one striving with a troublous memory,
+and said: "But dimly, friend, as if it had passed in an ugly dream:
+meseemeth my friendship with thee began when I came to thee from out of
+the wood, and saw thee standing with those three damsels; that I remember
+full well ye were fair to look on."
+
+Hallblithe wondered at his words, but said no more about it, and they
+went together to a flowery nook nigh a stream of clear water where stood
+a silken tent, green like the grass which it stood on, and flecked with
+gold and goodly colours.  Nigh it on the grass lay the Sea-eagle's
+damsel, ruddy-cheeked and sweet-lipped, as fair as aforetime.  She turned
+about when she heard men coming, and when she saw Hallblithe a smile came
+into her face like the sun breaking out on a fair but clouded morning,
+and she went up to him and took him by the hands and kissed his cheek,
+and said: "Welcome, Spearman! welcome back!  We have heard of thee in
+many places, and have been sorry that thou wert not glad, and now are we
+fain of thy returning.  Shall not sweet life begin for thee from
+henceforward?"
+
+Again was Hallblithe moved by her kind welcome; but he shook his head and
+spake: "Thou art kind, sister; yet if thou wouldst be kinder thou wilt
+show me a way whereby I may escape from this land.  For abiding here has
+become irksome to me, and meseemeth that hope is yet alive without the
+Glittering Plain."
+
+Her face fell as she answered: "Yea, and fear also, and worse, if aught
+be worse.  But come, let us eat and drink in this fair place, and gather
+for thee a little joyance before thou departest, if thou needs must
+depart."
+
+He smiled on her as one not ill-content, and laid himself down on the
+grass, while the twain busied themselves, and brought forth fair cushions
+and a gilded table, and laid dainty victual thereon and good wine.
+
+So they ate and drank together, and the Sea-eagle and his mate became
+very joyous again, and Hallblithe bestirred himself not to be a
+mar-feast; for he said within himself: "I am departing, and after this
+time I shall see them no more; and they are kind and blithe with me, and
+have been aforetime; I will not make their merry hearts sore.  For when I
+am gone I shall be remembered of them but a little while."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI: THOSE THREE GO THEIR WAYS TO THE EDGE OF THE GLITTERING
+PLAIN
+
+
+So the evening wore merrily; and they made Hallblithe lie in an ingle of
+the tent on a fair bed, and he was weary, and slept thereon like a child.
+But in the morning early they waked him; and while they were breaking
+their fast they began to speak to him of his departure, and asked him if
+he had an inkling of the way whereby he should get him gone, and he said:
+"If I escape it must needs be by way of the mountains that wall the land
+about till they come down to the sea.  For on the sea is no ship and no
+haven; and well I wot that no man of the land durst or can ferry me over
+to the land of my kindred, or otherwhere without the Glittering Plain.
+Tell me therefore (and I ask no more of you), is there any rumour or
+memory of a way that cleaveth yonder mighty wall of rock to other lands?"
+
+Said the damsel: "There is more than a memory or a rumour: there is a
+road through the mountains known to all men.  For at whiles the earthly
+pilgrims come into the Glittering Plain thereby; and yet but seldom, so
+many are the griefs and perils which beset the wayfarers on that road.
+Whereof thou hadst far better bethink thee in time, and abide here and be
+happy with us and others who long sore to make thee happy."
+
+"Nay," said Hallblithe, "there is nought to do but tell me of the way,
+and I will depart at once, blessing you."
+
+Said the Sea-eagle: "More than that at least will we do.  May I lose the
+bliss whereto I have attained, if I go not with thee to the very edge of
+the land of the Glittering Plain.  Shall it not be so, sweetheart?"
+
+"Yea, at least we may do that," said the damsel; and she hung her head as
+if she were ashamed, and said: "And that is all that thou wilt get from
+us at most."
+
+Said Hallblithe: "It is enough, and I asked not so much."
+
+Then the damsel busied herself, and set meat and drink in two wallets,
+and took one herself and gave the other to the Sea-eagle, and said: "We
+will be thy porters, O Spearman, and will give thee a full wallet from
+the last house by the Desert of Dread, for when thou hast entered
+therein, thou mayst well find victual hard to come by: and now let us
+linger no more since the road is dear to thee."
+
+So they set forth on foot, for in that land men were slow to feel
+weariness; and turning about the hill of Wood-end, they passed by some
+broken country, and came at even to a house at the entrance of a long
+valley, with high and steeply-sloping sides, which seemed, as it were, to
+cleave the dale country wherein they had fared aforetime.  At that house
+they slept well-guested by its folk, and the next morning took their way
+down the valley, and the folk of the house stood at the door to watch
+their departure; for they had told the wayfarers that they had fared but
+a little way thitherward and knew of no folk who had used that road.
+
+So those three fared down the valley southward all day, ever mounting
+higher as they went.  The way was pleasant and easy, for they went over
+fair, smooth, grassy lawns betwixt the hill-sides, beside a clear
+rattling stream that ran northward; at whiles were clumps of tall trees,
+oak for the most part, and at whiles thickets of thorn and eglantine and
+other such trees: so that they could rest well shaded when they would.
+
+They passed by no house of men, nor came to any such in the even, but lay
+down to sleep in a thicket of thorn and eglantine, and rested well, and
+on the morrow they rose up betimes and went on their ways.
+
+This second day as they went, the hill-sides on either hand grew lower,
+till at last they died out into a wide plain, beyond which in the
+southern offing the mountains rose huge and bare.  This plain also was
+grassy and beset with trees and thickets here and there.  Hereon they saw
+wild deer enough, as hart and buck, and roebuck and swine: withal a lion
+came out of a brake hard by them as they went, and stood gazing on them,
+so that Hallblithe looked to his weapons, and the Sea-eagle took up a big
+stone to fight with, being weaponless; but the damsel laughed, and
+tripped on her way lightly with girt-up gown, and the beast gave no more
+heed to them.
+
+Easy and smooth was their way over this pleasant wilderness, and clear to
+see, though but little used, and before nightfall, after they had gone a
+long way, they came to a house.  It was not large nor high, but was built
+very strongly and fairly of good ashlar: its door was shut, and on the
+jamb thereof hung a slug-horn.  The damsel, who seemed to know what to
+do, set her mouth to the horn, and blew a blast; and in a little while
+the door was opened, and a big man clad in red scarlet stood therein: he
+had no weapons, but was somewhat surly of aspect: he spake not, but stood
+abiding the word: so the damsel took it up and said: "Art thou not the
+Warden of the Uttermost House?"
+
+He said: "I am."
+
+Said the damsel: "May we guest here to-night?"
+
+He said: "The house lieth open to you with all that it hath of victual
+and plenishing: take what ye will, and use what ye will."
+
+They thanked him; but he heeded not their thanks, and withdrew him from
+them.  So they entered and found the table laid in a fair hall of stone
+carven and painted very goodly; so they ate and drank therein, and
+Hallblithe was of good heart, and the Sea-eagle and his mate were merry,
+though they looked softly and shyly on Hallblithe because of the
+sundering anigh; and they saw no man in the house save the man in
+scarlet, who went and came about his business, paying no heed to them.  So
+when the night was deep they lay down in the shut-bed off the hall, and
+slept, and the hours were tidingless to them until they woke in the
+morning.
+
+On the morrow they arose and broke their fast, and thereafter the damsel
+spake to the man in scarlet and said: "May we fill our wallets with
+victual for the way?"
+
+Said the Warden: "There lieth the meat."
+
+So they filled their wallets, while the man looked on; and they came to
+the door when they were ready, and he unlocked it to them, saying no
+word.  But when they turned their faces towards the mountains he spake at
+last, and stayed them at the first step.  Quoth he: "Whither away?  Ye
+take the wrong road!"
+
+Said Hallblithe: "Nay, for we go toward the mountains and the edge of the
+Glittering Plain."
+
+"Ye shall do ill to go thither," said the Warden, "and I bid you
+forbear."
+
+"O Warden of the Uttermost House, wherefore should we forbear?" said the
+Sea-eagle.
+
+Said the scarlet man: "Because my charge is to further those who would go
+inward to the King, and to stay those who would go outward from the
+King."
+
+"How then if we go outward despite thy bidding?" said the Sea-eagle,
+"wilt thou then hinder us perforce?"
+
+"How may I," said the man, "since thy fellow hath weapons?"
+
+"Go we forth, then," said the Sea-eagle.
+
+"Yea," said the damsel, "we will go forth.  And know, O Warden, that this
+weaponed man only is of mind to fare over the edge of the Glittering
+Plain; but we twain shall come back hither again, and fare inwards."
+
+Said the Warden: "Nought is it to me what ye will do when you are past
+this house.  Nor shall any man who goeth out of this garth toward the
+mountains ever come back inwards save he cometh in the company of new-
+corners to the Glittering Plain."
+
+"Who shall hinder him?" said the Sea-eagle.
+
+"The KING," said the Warden.
+
+Then there was silence awhile, and the man said:
+
+"Now do as ye will."  And therewith he turned back into the house and
+shut the door.
+
+But the Sea-eagle and the damsel stood gazing on one another, and at
+Hallblithe; and the damsel was downcast and pale; but the Sea-eagle cried
+out:
+
+"Forward now, O Hallblithe, since thou willest it, and we will go with
+thee and share whatever may befall thee; yea, right up to the very edge
+of the Glittering Plain.  And thou, O beloved, why dost thou delay?  Why
+dost thou stand as if thy fair feet were grown to the grass?"
+
+But the damsel gave a lamentable cry, and cast herself down on the
+ground, and knelt before the Sea-eagle, and took him by the knees, and
+said betwixt sobbing and weeping: "O my lord and love, I pray thee to
+forbear, and the Spearman, our friend, shall pardon us.  For if thou
+goest, I shall never see thee more, since my heart will not serve me to
+go with thee.  O forbear!  I pray thee!"
+
+And she grovelled on the earth before him; and the Sea-eagle waxed red,
+and would have spoken but Hallblithe cut his speech across, and said
+"Friends, be at peace!  For this is the minute that sunders us.  Get ye
+back at once to the heart of the Glittering Plain, and live there and be
+happy; and take my blessing and thanks for the love and help that ye have
+given me.  For your going forward with me should destroy you and profit
+me nothing.  It would be but as the host bringing his guests one field
+beyond his garth, when their goal is the ends of the earth; and if there
+were a lion in the path, why should he perish for courtesy's sake?"
+
+Therewith he stooped down to the damsel, and lifted her up and kissed her
+face; and he cast his arms about the Sea-eagle and said to him:
+"Farewell, shipmate!"
+
+Then the damsel gave him the wallet of victual, and bade him farewell,
+weeping sorely; and he looked kindly on them for a moment of time, and
+then turned away from them and fared on toward the mountains, striding
+with great strides, holding his head aloft.  But they looked no more on
+him, having no will to eke their sorrow, but went their ways back again
+without delay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII: HALLBLITHE AMONGST THE MOUNTAINS
+
+
+So strode on Hallblithe; but when he had gone but a little way his head
+turned, and the earth and heavens wavered before him, so that he must
+needs sit down on a stone by the wayside, wondering what ailed him.  Then
+he looked up at the mountains, which now seemed quite near to him at the
+plain's ending, and his weakness increased on him; and lo! as he looked,
+it was to him as if the crags rose up in the sky to meet him and overhang
+him, and as if the earth heaved up beneath him, and therewith he fell
+aback and lost all sense, so that he knew not what was become of the
+earth and the heavens and the passing of the minutes of his life.
+
+When he came to himself he knew not whether he had lain so a great while
+or a little; he felt feeble, and for a while he lay scarce moving, and
+beholding nought, not even the sky above him.  Presently he turned about
+and saw hard stone on either side, so he rose wearily and stood upon his
+feet, and knew that he was faint with hunger and thirst.  Then he looked
+around him, and saw that he was in a narrow valley or cleft of the
+mountains amidst wan rocks, bare and waterless, where grew no blade of
+green; but he could see no further than the sides of that cleft, and he
+longed to be out of it that he might see whitherward to turn.  Then he
+bethought him of his wallet, and set his hand to it and opened it,
+thinking to get victual thence; but lo! it was all spoilt and wasted.
+None the less, for all his feebleness, he turned and went toiling slowly
+along what seemed to be a path little trodden leading upward out of the
+cleft; and at last he reached the crest thereof, and sat him down on a
+rock on the other side; yet durst not raise his eyes awhile and look on
+the land, lest he should see death manifest therein.  At last he looked,
+and saw that he was high up amongst the mountain-peaks: before him and on
+either hand was but a world of fallow stone rising ridge upon ridge like
+the waves of the wildest of the winter sea.  The sun not far from its
+midmost shone down bright and hot on that wilderness; yet was there no
+sign that any man had ever been there since the beginning of the world,
+save that the path aforesaid seemed to lead onward down the stony slope.
+
+This way and that way and all about he gazed, straining his eyes if
+perchance he might see any diversity in the stony waste; and at last
+betwixt two peaks of the rock-wall on his left hand he descried a streak
+of green mingling with the cold blue of the distance; and he thought in
+his heart that this was the last he should see of the Glittering Plain.
+Then he spake aloud in that desert, and said, though there was none to
+hear: "Now is my last hour come; and here is Hallblithe of the Raven
+perishing, with his deeds undone and his longing unfulfilled, and his
+bridal-bed acold for ever.  Long may the House of the Raven abide and
+flourish, with many a man and maiden, valiant and fair and fruitful!  O
+kindred, cast thy blessing on this man about to die here, doing none
+otherwise than ye would have him!"
+
+He sat there a little while longer, and then he said to himself: "Death
+tarries; were it not well that I go to meet him, even as the cot-carle
+preventeth the mighty chieftain?"
+
+Then he arose, and went painfully down the slope, steadying himself with
+the shaft of his gleaming spear; but all at once he stopped; for it
+seemed to him that he heard voices borne on the wind that blew up the
+mountain-side.  But he shook his head and said: "Now forsooth beginneth
+the dream which shall last for ever; nowise am I beguiled by it."  None
+the less he strove the more eagerly with the wind and the way and his
+feebleness; yet did the weakness wax on him, so that it was but a little
+while ere he faltered and reeled and fell down once more in a swoon.
+
+When he came to himself again he was no longer alone: a man was kneeling
+down by him and holding up his head, while another before him, as he
+opened his eyes, put a cup of wine to his lips.  So Hallblithe drank and
+was refreshed; and presently they gave him bread, and he ate, and his
+heart was strengthened, and the happiness of life returned to it, and he
+lay back, and slept sweetly for a season.
+
+When he awoke from that slumber he found that he had gotten back much of
+his strength again, and he sat up and looked around him, and saw three
+men sitting anigh, armed and girt with swords, yet in evil array, and
+sore travel-worn.  One of these was very old, with long white hair
+hanging down; and another, though he was not so much stricken in years,
+still looked an old man of over sixty winters.  The third was a man some
+forty years old, but sad and sorry and drooping of aspect.
+
+So when they saw him stirring, they all fixed their eyes upon him, and
+the oldest man said: "Welcome to him who erst had no tidings for us!"  And
+the second said: "Tell us now thy tidings."  But the third, the sorry
+man, cried out aloud, saying: "Where is the Land?  Where is the Land?"
+
+Said Hallblithe: "Meseemeth the land which ye seek is the land which I
+seek to flee from.  And now I will not hide that meseemeth I have seen
+you before, and that was at Cleveland by the Sea when the days were
+happier."
+
+Then they all three bowed their heads in yea-say, and spake: "'Where is
+the Land?  Where is the Land?"
+
+Then Hallblithe arose to his feet, and said: "Ye have healed me of the
+sickness of death, and I will do what I may to heal you of your sickness
+of sorrow.  Come up the pass with me, and I will show you the land afar
+off."
+
+Then they arose like young and brisk men, and he led them over the brow
+of the ridge into the little valley wherein he had first come to himself:
+there he showed them that glimpse of a green land betwixt the two peaks,
+which he had beheld e'en now; and they stood a while looking at it and
+weeping for joy.
+
+Then spake the oldest of the seekers: "Show us the way to the land."
+
+"Nay," said Hallblithe, "I may not; for when I would depart thence, I
+might not go by mine own will, but was borne out hither, I wot not how.
+For when I came to the edge of the land against the will of the King, he
+smote me, and then cast me out.  Therefore since I may not help you, find
+ye the land for yourselves, and let me go blessing you, and come out of
+this desert by the way whereby ye entered it.  For I have an errand in
+the world."
+
+Spake the youngest of the seekers: "Now art thou become the yoke-fellow
+of Sorrow, and thou must wend, not whither thou wouldst, but whither she
+will: and she would have thee go forward toward life, not backward toward
+death."
+
+Said the midmost seeker: "If we let thee go further into the wilderness
+thou shalt surely die: for hence to the peopled parts, and the City of
+Merchants, whence we come, is a month's journey: and there is neither
+meat nor drink, nor beast nor bird, nor any green thing all that way; and
+since we have found thee famishing, we may well deem that thou hast no
+victual.  As to us we have but little; so that if it be much more than
+three days' journey to the Glittering Plain, we may well starve and die
+within sight of the Acre of the Undying.  Nevertheless that little will
+we share with thee if thou wilt help us to find that good land; so that
+thou mayst yet put away Sorrow, and take Joy again to thy board and bed."
+
+Hallblithe hung his head and answered nought; for he was confused by the
+meshes of ill-hap, and his soul grew sick with the bitterness of death.
+But the sad man spake again and said: "Thou hast an errand sayest thou?
+is it such as a dead man may do?"
+
+Hallblithe pondered, and amidst the anguish of his despair was borne in
+on him a vision of the sea-waves lapping the side of a black ship, and a
+man therein: who but himself, set free to do his errand, and his heart
+was quickened within him, and he said: "I thank you, and I will wend back
+with you, since there is no road for me save back again into the trap."
+
+The three seekers seemed glad thereat, and the second one said: "Though
+death is pursuing, and life lieth ahead, yet will we not hasten thee
+unduly.  Time was when I was Captain of the Host, and learned how battles
+were lost by lack of rest.  Therefore have thy sleep now, that thou mayst
+wax in strength for our helping."
+
+Said Hallblithe: "I need not rest; I may not rest; I will not rest."
+
+Said the sad man: "It is lawful for thee to rest.  So say I, who was once
+a master of law."
+
+Said the long-hoary elder: "And I command thee to rest; I who was once
+the king of a mighty folk."
+
+In sooth Hallblithe was now exceeding weary; so he laid him down and
+slept sweetly in the stony wilderness amidst those three seekers, the
+old, the sad, and the very old.
+
+When he awoke he felt well and strong again, and he leapt to his feet and
+looked about him, and saw the three seekers stirring, and he deemed by
+the sun that it was early morning.  The sad man brought forth bread and
+water and wine, and they broke their fast; and when they had done he
+spake and said: "Abideth now in wallet and bottle but one more full meal
+for us, and then no more save a few crumbs and a drop or two of wine if
+we husband it well."
+
+Said the second elder: "Get we to the road, then, and make haste.  I have
+been seeking, and meseemeth, though the way be long, it is not utterly
+blind for us.  Or look thou, Raven-son, is there not a path yonder that
+leadeth onward up to the brow of the ghyll again? and as I have seen, it
+leadeth on again down from the said brow."
+
+Forsooth there was a track that led through the stony tangle of the
+wilderness; so they took to the road with a good heart, and went all day,
+and saw no living thing, and not a blade of grass or a trickle of water:
+nought save the wan rocks under the sun; and though they trusted in their
+road that it led them aright, they saw no other glimpse of the Glittering
+Plain, because there rose a great ridge like a wall on the north side,
+and they went as it were down along a trench of the rocks, albeit it was
+whiles broken across by ghylls, and knolls, and reefs.
+
+So at sunset they rested and ate their victual, for they were very weary;
+and thereafter they lay down, and slept as soundly as if they were in the
+best of the halls of men.  On the morrow betimes they arose soberly and
+went their ways with few words, and, as they deemed, the path still led
+them onward.  And now the great ridge on the north rose steeper and
+steeper, and their crossing it seemed not to be thought of; but their
+half-blind track failed them not.  They rested at even, and ate and drank
+what little they had left, save a mouthful or two of wine, and then went
+on again by the light of the moon, which was so bright that they still
+saw their way.  And it happened to Hallblithe, as mostly it does with men
+very travel-worn, that he went on and on scarce remembering where he was,
+or who his fellows were, or that he had any fellows.
+
+So at midnight they lay down in the wilderness again, hungry and weary.
+They rose at dawn and went forward with waning hope: for now the mountain
+ridge on the north was close to their path, rising up along a sheer wall
+of pale stone over which nothing might go save the fowl flying; so that
+at first on that morning they looked for nothing save to lay their bones
+in that grievous desert where no man should find them.
+
+But, as beset with famine, they fared on heavily down the narrow track,
+there came a hoarse cry from Hallblithe's dry throat and it was as if his
+cry had been answered by another like to his; and the seekers turned and
+beheld him pointing to the cliff-side, and lo! half-way up the pale sun-
+litten crag stood two ravens in a cranny of the stone, flapping their
+wings and croaking, with thrusting forth and twisting of their heads; and
+presently they came floating on the thin pure air high up over the heads
+of the wayfarers, croaking for the pleasure of the meeting, as though
+they laughed thereat.
+
+Then rose the heart of Hallblithe, and he smote his palms together, and
+fell to singing an old song of his people, amidst the rocks whereas few
+men had sung aforetime.
+
+   Whence are ye and whither, O fowl of our fathers?
+   What field have ye looked on, what acres unshorn?
+   What land have ye left where the battle-folk gathers,
+   And the war-helms are white o'er the paths of the corn?
+
+   What tale do ye bear of the people uncraven,
+   Where amidst the long hall-shadow sparkle the spears;
+   Where aloft on the hall-ridge now flappeth the raven,
+   And singeth the song of the nourishing years?
+
+   There gather the lads in the first of the morning,
+   While white lies the battle-day's dew on the grass,
+   And the kind steeds trot up to the horn's voice of warning,
+   And the winds wake and whine in the dusk of the pass.
+
+   O fowl of our fathers, why now are ye resting?
+   Come over the mountains and look on the foe.
+   Full fair after fight won shall yet be your nesting;
+   And your fledglings the sons of the kindred shall know.
+
+Therewith he strode with his head upraised, and above him flew the
+ravens, croaking as if they answered his song in friendly fashion.
+
+It was but a little after this that the path turned aside sharp toward
+the cliffs, and the seekers were abashed thereof, till Hallblithe running
+forward beheld a great cavern in the face of the cliff at the path's
+ending: so he turned and cried on his fellows, and they hastened up, and
+presently stood before that cavern's mouth with doubt and joy mingled in
+their minds; for now, mayhappen, they had reached the gate of the
+Glittering Plain, or mayhappen the gate of death.
+
+The sad man hung his head and spake: "Doth not some new trap abide us?
+What do we here? is this aught save death?"
+
+Spake the Elder of Elders: "Was not death on either hand e'en now, even
+as treason besetteth the king upon his throne?"
+
+And the second said: "Yea, we were as the host which hath no road save
+through the multitude of foe-men."
+
+But Hallblithe laughed and said: "Why do ye hang back, then?  As for me,
+if death be here, soon is mine errand sped."  Therewith he led the way
+into the dark of the cave, and the ravens hung about the crag overhead
+croaking, as the men left the light.
+
+So was their way swallowed up in the cavern, and day and its time became
+nought to them; they went on and on, and became exceeding faint and
+weary, but rested not, for death was behind them.  Whiles they deemed
+they heard waters running, and whiles the singing of fowl; and to
+Hallblithe it seemed that he heard his name called, so that he shouted
+back in answer; but all was still when the sound of his voice had died
+out.
+
+At last, when they were pressing on again after a short while of resting,
+Hallblithe cried out that the cave was lightening: so they hastened
+onward, and the light grew till they could dimly see each other, and
+dimly they beheld the cave that it was both wide and high.  Yet a little
+further, and their faces showed white to one another, and they could see
+the crannies of the rocks, and the bats hanging garlanded from the roof.
+So then they came to where the day streamed down bright on them from a
+break overhead, and lo! the sky and green leaves waving against it.
+
+To those way-worn men it seemed hard to clamber out that way, and
+especially to the elders: so they went on a little further to see if
+there were aught better abiding them, but when they found the daylight
+failing them again, they turned back to the place of the break in the
+roof, lest they should waste their strength and perish in the bowels of
+the mountain.  So with much ado they hove up Hallblithe till he got him
+first on to a ledge of the rocky wall, and so, what by strength, what by
+cunning, into the daylight through the rent in the roof.  So when he was
+without he made a rope of his girdle and strips from his raiment, for he
+was ever a deft craftsman, and made a shift to heave up therewith the sad
+man, who was light and lithe of body; and then the two together dealt
+with the elders one after another, till they were all four on the face of
+the earth again.
+
+The place whereto they had gotten was the side of a huge mountain, stony
+and steep, but set about with bushes, which seemed full fair to those
+wanderers amongst the rocks.  This mountain-slope went down towards a
+fair green plain, which Hallblithe made no doubt was the outlying waste
+of the Glittering Plain: nay, he deemed that he could see afar off
+thereon the white walls of the Uttermost House.  So much he told the
+seekers in few words; and then while they grovelled on the earth and wept
+for pure joy, whereas the sun was down and it was beginning to grow dusk,
+he went and looked around soberly to see if he might find water and any
+kind of victual; and presently a little down the hillside he came upon a
+place where a spring came gushing up out of the earth and ran down toward
+the plain; and about it was green grass growing plentifully, and a little
+thicket of bramble and wilding fruit-trees.  So he drank of the water,
+and plucked him a few wilding apples somewhat better than crabs, and then
+went up the hill again and fetched the seekers to that mountain hostelry;
+and while they drank of the stream he plucked them apples and bramble-
+berries.  For indeed they were as men out of their wits, and were dazed
+by the extremity of their jog, and as men long shut up in prison, to whom
+the world of men-folk hath become strange.  Simple as the victual was,
+they were somewhat strengthened by it and by the plentiful water, and as
+night was now upon them, it was of no avail for them to go further: so
+they slept beneath the boughs of the thorn-bushes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII: HALLBLITHE DWELLETH IN THE WOOD ALONE
+
+
+But on the morrow they arose betimes, and broke their fast on that
+woodland victual, and then went speedily down the mountain-side; and
+Hallblithe saw by the clear morning light that it was indeed the
+Uttermost House which he had seen across the green waste.  So he told the
+seekers; but they were silent and heeded nought, because of a fear that
+had come upon them, lest they should die before they came into that good
+land.  At the foot of the mountain they came upon a river, deep but not
+wide, with low grassy banks, and Hallblithe, who was an exceeding strong
+swimmer, helped the seekers over without much ado; and there they stood
+upon the grass of that goodly waste.
+
+Hallblithe looked on them to note if any change should come over them,
+and he deemed that already they were become stronger and of more avail.
+But he spake nought thereof, and strode on toward the Uttermost House,
+even as that other day he had stridden away from it.
+
+Such diligence they made, that it was but little after noon when they
+came to the door thereof.  Then Hallblithe took the horn and blew upon
+it, while his fellows stood by murmuring, "It is the Land!  It is the
+Land!"
+
+So came the Warden to the door, clad in red scarlet, and the elder went
+up to him and said: "Is this the Land?"
+
+"What land?" said the Warden.
+
+"Is it the Glittering Plain?" said the second of the seekers.
+
+"Yea, forsooth," said the Warden.  Said the sad man: "Will ye lead us to
+the King?
+
+"Ye shall come to the King," said the Warden.
+
+"When, oh when?" cried they out all three.
+
+"The morrow of to-morrow, maybe," said the Warden.
+
+"Oh! if to-morrow were but come!" they cried.
+
+"It will come," said the red man; "enter ye the house, and eat and drink
+and rest you."
+
+So they entered, and the Warden heeded Hallblithe nothing.  They ate and
+drank and then went to their rest, and Hallblithe lay in a shut-bed off
+from the hall, but the Warden brought the seekers otherwhere, so that
+Hallblithe saw them not after he had gone to bed; but as for him he slept
+and forgot that aught was.
+
+In the morning when he awoke he felt very strong and well-liking; and he
+beheld his limbs that they were clear of skin and sleek and fair; and he
+heard one hard by in the hall carolling and singing joyously.  So he
+sprang from his bed with the wonder of sleep yet in him, and drew the
+curtains of the shut-bed and looked forth into the hall; and lo on the
+high-seat a man of thirty winters by seeming, tall, fair of fashion, with
+golden hair and eyes as grey as glass, proud and noble of aspect; and
+anigh him sat another man of like age to look on, a man strong and burly,
+with short curling brown hair and a red beard, and ruddy countenance, and
+the mien of a warrior.  Also, up and down the hall, paced a man younger
+of aspect than these two, tall and slender, black-haired and dark-eyed,
+amorous of countenance; he it was who was singing a snatch of song as he
+went lightly on the hall pavement: a snatch like to this
+
+   Fair is the world, now autumn's wearing,
+   And the sluggard sun lies long abed;
+   Sweet are the days, now winter's nearing,
+   And all winds feign that the wind is dead.
+
+   Dumb is the hedge where the crabs hang yellow,
+   Bright as the blossoms of the spring;
+   Dumb is the close where the pears grow mellow,
+   And none but the dauntless redbreasts sing.
+
+   Fair was the spring, but amidst his greening
+   Grey were the days of the hidden sun;
+   Fair was the summer, but overweening,
+   So soon his o'er-sweet days were done.
+
+   Come then, love, for peace is upon us,
+   Far off is failing, and far is fear,
+   Here where the rest in the end hath won us,
+   In the garnering tide of the happy year.
+
+   Come from the grey old house by the water,
+   Where, far from the lips of the hungry sea,
+   Green groweth the grass o'er the field of the slaughter,
+   And all is a tale for thee and me.
+
+So Hallblithe did on his raiment and went into the hall; and when those
+three saw him they smiled upon him kindly and greeted him; and the noble
+man at the board said: "Thanks have thou, O Warrior of the Raven, for thy
+help in our need: thy reward from us shall not be lacking."
+
+Then the brown-haired man came up to him, and clapped him on the back and
+said to him: "Brisk man of the Raven, good is thy help at need; even so
+shall be mine to thee henceforward."
+
+But the young man stepped up to him lightly, and cast his arms about him,
+and kissed him, and said: "O friend and fellow, who knoweth but I may one
+day help thee as thou hast holpen me? though thou art one who by seeming
+mayst well help thyself.  And now mayst thou be as merry as I am to-day!"
+
+Then they all three cried out joyously: "It is the Land!  It is the
+Land!"
+
+So Hallblithe knew that these men were the two elders and the sad man of
+yesterday, and that they had renewed their youth.
+
+Joyously now did those men break their fast: nor did Hallblithe make any
+grim countenance, for he thought: "That which these dotards and
+drivellers have been mighty enough to find, shall I not be mighty enough
+to flee from?"  Breakfast done, the seekers made little delay, so eager
+as they were to behold the King, and to have handsel of their new sweet
+life.  So they got them ready to depart, and the once-captain said: "Art
+thou able to lead us to the King, O Raven-son, or must we seek another
+man to do so much for us?"
+
+Said Hallblithe: "I am able to lead you so nigh unto Wood-end (where, as
+I deem, the King abideth) that ye shall not miss him."
+
+Therewith they went to the door, and the Warden unlocked to them, and
+spake no word to them when they departed, though they thanked him kindly
+for the guesting.
+
+When they were without the garth, the young man fell to running about the
+meadow plucking great handfuls of the rich flowers that grew about,
+singing and carolling the while.  But he who had been king looked up and
+down and round about, and said at last: "Where be the horses and the
+men?"
+
+But his fellow with the red beard said: "Raven-son, in this land when
+they journey, what do they as to riding or going afoot?"
+
+Said Hallblithe: "Fair fellows, ye shall wot that in this land folk go
+afoot for the most part, both men and women; whereas they weary but
+little, and are in no haste."
+
+Then the once-captain clapped the once-king on the shoulder, and said:
+"Hearken, lord, and delay no longer, but gird up thy gown, since here is
+no mare's son to help thee: for fair is to-day that lies before us, with
+many a new fair day beyond it."
+
+So Hallblithe led the way inward, thinking of many things, yet but little
+of his fellows.  Albeit they, and the younger man especially, were of
+many words; for this black-haired man had many questions to ask, chiefly
+concerning the women, what they were like to look on, and of what mood
+they were.  Hallblithe answered thereto as long as he might, but at last
+he laughed and said: "Friend, forbear thy questions now; for meseemeth in
+a few hours thou shalt be as wise hereon as is the God of Love himself."
+
+So they made diligence along the road, and all was tidingless till on the
+second day at even they came to the first house off the waste.  There had
+they good welcome, and slept.  But on the morrow when they arose,
+Hallblithe spake to the Seekers, and said: "Now are things much changed
+betwixt us since the time when we first met: for then I had all my
+desire, as I thought, and ye had but one desire, and well nigh lacked
+hope of its fulfilment.  Whereas now the lack hath left you and come to
+me.  Wherefore even as time agone ye might not abide even one night at
+the House of the Raven, so hard as your desire lay on you; even so it
+fareth with me to-day, that I am consumed with my desire, and I may not
+abide with you; lest that befall which befalleth betwixt the full man and
+the fasting.  Wherefore now I bless you and depart."
+
+They abounded in words of good-will to him, and the once-king said:
+"Abide with us, and we shall see to it that thou have all the dignities
+that a man may think of."
+
+And the once-captain said: "Lo, here is mine hand that hath been mighty;
+never shalt thou lack it for the accomplishment of thine uttermost
+desire.  Abide with us."
+
+Lastly said the young man: "Abide with us, Son of the Raven!  Set thine
+heart on a fair woman, yea even were it the fairest; and I will get her
+for thee, even were my desire set on her."
+
+But he smiled on them, and shook his head, and said: "All hail to you!
+but mine errand is yet undone."  And therewith he departed.
+
+He skirted Wood-end and came not to it, but got him down to the side of
+the sea, not far from where he first came aland, but somewhat south of
+it.  A fair oak-wood came down close to the beach of the sea; it was some
+four miles end-long and over-thwart.  Thither Hallblithe betook him, and
+in a day or two got him wood-wright's tools from a house of men a little
+outside the wood, three miles from the sea-shore.  Then he set to work
+and built him a little frame-house on a lawn of the wood beside a clear
+stream; for he was a very deft wood-wright.  Withal he made him a bow and
+arrows, and shot what he would of the fowl and the deer for his
+livelihood; and folk from that house and otherwhence came to see him, and
+brought him bread and wine and spicery and other matters which he needed.
+And the days wore, and men got used to him, and loved him as if he had
+been a rare image which had been brought to that land for its adornment;
+and now they no longer called him the Spearman, but the Wood-lover.  And
+as for him, he took all in patience, abiding what the lapse of days
+should bring forth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX: HALLBLITHE BUILDS HIM A SKIFF
+
+
+After Hallblithe had been housed a little while, and the time was again
+drawing nigh to the twelfth moon since he had come to the Glittering
+Plain, he went in the wood one day; and, pondering many things without
+fixing on any one, he stood before a very great oak-tree and looked at
+the tall straight bole thereof, and there came into his head the words of
+an old song which was written round a scroll of the carving over the shut-
+bed, wherein he was wont to lie when he was at home in the House of the
+Raven: and thus it said:
+
+   I am the oak-tree, and forsooth
+   Men deal by me with little ruth;
+   My boughs they shred, my life they slay,
+   And speed me o'er the watery way.
+
+He looked up into that leafy world for a little and then turned back
+toward his house; but all day long, whether he were at work or at rest,
+that posy ran in his head, and he kept on saying it over, aloud or not
+aloud, till the day was done and he went to sleep.
+
+Then in his sleep he dreamed that an exceeding fair woman stood by his
+bedside, and at first she seemed to him to be an image of the Hostage.
+But presently her face changed, and her body and her raiment; and, lo! it
+was the lovely woman, the King's daughter whom he had seen wasting her
+heart for the love of him.  Then even in his dream shame thereof overtook
+him, and because of that shame he awoke, and lay awake a little,
+hearkening the wind going through the woodland boughs, and the singing of
+the owl who had her dwelling in the hollow oak nigh to his house.  Slumber
+overcame him in a little while, and again the image of the King's
+daughter came to him in his dream, and again when he looked upon her,
+shame and pity rose so hotly in his heart that he awoke weeping, and lay
+a while hearkening to the noises of the night.  The third time he slept
+and dreamed; and once more that image came to him.  And now he looked,
+and saw that she had in her hand a book covered outside with gold and
+gems, even as he saw it in the orchard-close aforetime: and he beheld her
+face that it was no longer the face of one sick with sorrow; but glad and
+clear, and most beauteous.
+
+Now she opened the book and held it before Hallblithe and turned the
+leaves so that he might see them clearly; and therein were woods and
+castles painted, and burning mountains, and the wall of the world, and
+kings upon their thrones, and fair women and warriors, all most lovely to
+behold, even as he had seen it aforetime in the orchard when he lay
+lurking amidst the leaves of the bay-tree.
+
+So at last she came to the place in the book wherein was painted
+Hallblithe's own image over against the image of the Hostage; and he
+looked thereon and longed.  But she turned the leaf, and, lo! on one side
+the Hostage again, standing in a fair garden of the spring with the
+lilies all about her feet, and behind her the walls of a house, grey,
+ancient, and lovely: and on the other leaf over against her was painted a
+sea rippled by a little wind and a boat thereon sailing swiftly, and one
+man alone in the boat sitting and steering with a cheerful countenance;
+and he, who but Hallblithe himself.  Hallblithe looked thereon for a
+while and then the King's daughter shut the book, and the dream flowed
+into other imaginings of no import.
+
+In the grey dawn Hallblithe awoke, and called to mind his dream, and he
+leapt from his bed and washed the night from off him in the stream, and
+clad himself and went the shortest way through the wood to that House of
+folk aforesaid: and as he went his face was bright and he sang the second
+part of the carven posy; to wit:
+
+   Along the grass I lie forlorn
+   That when a while of time is worn,
+   I may be filled with war and peace
+   And bridge the sundering of the seas.
+
+He came out of the wood and hastened over the flowery meads of the
+Glittering Plain, and came to that same house when it was yet very early.
+At the door he came across a damsel bearing water from the well, and she
+spake to him and said: "Welcome, Wood-lover!  Seldom art thou seen in our
+garth; and that is a pity of thee.  And now I look on thy face I see that
+gladness hath come into thine heart, and that thou art most fair and
+lovely.  Here then is a token for thee of the increase of gladness."
+Therewith she set her buckets on the earth, and stood before him, and
+took him by the ears, and drew down his face to hers and kissed him
+sweetly.  He smiled on her and said: "I thank thee, sister, for the kiss
+and the greeting; but I come here having a lack."
+
+"Tell us," she said, "that we may do thee a pleasure."
+
+He said: "I would ask the folk to give me timber, both beams and battens
+and boards; for if I hew in the wood it will take long to season."
+
+"All this is free for thee to take from our wood-store when thou hast
+broken thy fast with us," said the damsel.  "Come thou in and rest thee."
+
+She took him by the hand and they went in together, and she gave him to
+eat and drink, and went up and down the house, saying to every one: "Here
+is come the Wood-lover, and he is glad again; come and see him."
+
+So the folk gathered about him, and made much of him.  And when they had
+made an end of breakfast, the head man of the House said to him: "The
+beasts are in the wain, and the timber abideth thy choosing; come and
+see."
+
+So he brought Hallblithe to the timber-bower, where he chose for himself
+all that he needed of oak-timber of the best; and they loaded the wain
+therewith, and gave him what he would moreover of nails and treenails and
+other matters; and he thanked them; and they said to him: "Whither now
+shall we lead thy timber?"
+
+"Down to the sea-side," quoth he, "nighest to my dwelling."
+
+So did they, and more than a score, men and women, went with him, some in
+the wain, and some afoot.  Thus they came down to the sea-shore, and laid
+the timber on the strand just above high-water mark; and straightway
+Hallblithe fell to work shaping him a boat, for well he knew the whole
+craft thereof; and the folk looked on wondering, till the tide had ebbed
+the little it was wont to ebb, and left the moist sand firm and smooth;
+then the women left watching Hallblithe's work, and fell to paddling
+barefoot in the clear water, for there was scarce a ripple on the sea;
+and the carles came and played with them so that Hallblithe was left
+alone a while; for this kind of play was new to that folk, since they
+seldom came down to the sea-side.  Thereafter they needs must dance
+together, and would have had Hallblithe dance with them; and when he
+naysaid them because he was fain of his work, in all playfulness they
+fell to taking the adze out of his hand, whereat he became somewhat
+wroth, and they were afraid and went and had their dance out without him.
+
+By this time the sun was grown very hot, and they came to him again, and
+lay down about him and watched his work, for they were weary.  And one of
+the women, still panting with the dance, spake as she looked on the
+loveliness of her limbs, which one of the swains was caressing:
+"Brother," said she, "great strokes thou smitest; when wilt thou have
+smitten the last of them, and come to our house again?"
+
+"Not for many days, fair sister," said he, without looking up.
+
+"Alas that thou shouldst talk so," said a carle, rising up from the warm
+sand; "what shall all thy toil win thee?"
+
+Spake Hallblithe: "Maybe a merry heart, or maybe death."
+
+At that word they all rose up together, and stood huddled together like
+sheep that have been driven to the croft-gate, and the shepherd hath left
+them for a little and they know not whither to go.  Little by little they
+got them to the wain and harnessed their beasts thereto, and departed
+silently by the way that they had come; but in a little time Hallblithe
+heard their laughter and merry speech across the flowery meadows.  He
+heeded their departure little, but went on working, and worked the sun
+down, and on till the stars began to twinkle.  Then he went home to his
+house in the wood, and slept and dreamed not, and began again on the
+morrow with a good heart.
+
+To be short, no day passed that he wrought not his full tale of work, and
+the days wore, and his ship-wright's work throve.  Often the folk of that
+house, and from otherwhere round about, came down to the strand to watch
+him working.  Nowise did they wilfully hinder him, but whiles when they
+could get no talk from him, they would speak of him to each other,
+wondering that he should so toil to sail upon the sea; for they loved the
+sea but little, and it soon became clear to them that he was looking to
+nought else: though it may not be said that they deemed he would leave
+the land for ever.  On the other hand, if they hindered him not, neither
+did they help, saving when he prayed them for somewhat which he needed,
+which they would then give him blithely.
+
+Of the Sea-eagle and his damsel, Hallblithe saw nought; whereat he was
+well content, for he deemed it of no avail to make a second sundering of
+it.
+
+So he worked and kept his heart up, and at last all was ready; he had
+made him a mast and a sail, and oars, and whatso-other gear there was
+need of.  So then he thrust his skiff into the sea on an evening whenas
+there were but two carles standing by; for there would often be a score
+or two of folk.  These two smiled on him and bespake him kindly, but
+would not help him when he bade them set shoulder to her bows and shove.
+Albeit he got the skiff into the water without much ado, and got into
+her, and brought her to where a stream running from out of his wood made
+a little haven for her up from the sea.  There he tied her to a
+tree-hole, and busied himself that even with getting the gear into her,
+and victual and water withal, as much as he deemed he should need: and
+so, being weary, he went to his house to sleep, thinking that he should
+awake in the grey of the morning and thrust out into the deep sea.  And
+he was the more content to abide, because on that eve, as oftenest betid,
+the wind blew landward from the sea, whereas in the morning it oftenest
+blew seaward from the land.  In any case he thought to be astir so timely
+that he should come alone to his keel, and depart with no leave-takings.
+But, as it fell out, he overslept himself, so that when he came out into
+the wood clad in all his armour, with his sword girt to his side, and his
+spear over his shoulder, he heard the voices of folk, and presently found
+so many gathered about his boat that he had some ado to get aboard.
+
+The folk had brought many gifts for him of such things as they deemed he
+might need for a short voyage, as fruit and wine, and woollen cloths to
+keep the cold night from him; he thanked them kindly as he stepped over
+the gunwale, and some of the women kissed him: and one said (she it was,
+who had met him at the stead that morning when he went to fetch timber):
+"Thou wilt be back this even, wilt thou not, brother?  It is yet but
+early, and thou shalt have time enough to take all thy pleasure on the
+sea, and then come back to us to eat thy meat in our house at nightfall."
+
+She spake, knitting her brows in longing for his return; but he knew that
+all those deemed he would come back again soon; else had they deemed him
+a rebel of the King, and might, as he thought, have stayed him.  So he
+changed not countenance in any wise, but said only: "farewell, sister,
+for this day, and farewell to all you till I come back."
+
+Therewith he unmoored his boat, and sat down and took the oars, and rowed
+till he was out of the little haven, and on the green sea, and the keel
+rose and fell on the waves.  Then he stepped the mast and hoisted sail,
+and sheeted home, for the morning wind was blowing gently from the
+mountains over the meadows of the Glittering Plain, so the sail filled,
+and the keel leapt forward and sped over the face of the cold sea.  And
+it is to be said that whether he wotted or not, it was the very day
+twelve months since he had come to that shore along with the Sea-eagle.
+So that folk stood and watched the skiff growing less and less upon the
+deep till they could scarce see her.  Then they turned about and went
+into the wood to disport them, for the sun was growing hot.  Nevertheless,
+there were some of them (and that damsel was one), who came back to the
+sea-shore from time to time all day long; and even when the sun was down
+they looked seaward under the rising moon, expecting to see Hallblithe's
+bark come into the shining path which she drew across the waters round
+about the Glittering Land.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX: SO NOW SAILETH HALLBLITHE AWAY FROM THE GLITTERING PLAIN
+
+
+But as to Hallblithe, he soon lost sight of the Glittering Plain and the
+mountains thereof, and there was nought but sea all round about him, and
+his heart swelled with joy as he sniffed the brine and watched the
+gleaming hills and valleys of the restless deep; and he said to himself
+that he was going home to his Kindred and the Roof of his Fathers of old
+time.
+
+He stood as near due north as he might; but as the day wore, the wind
+headed him, and he deemed it not well to beat, lest he should make his
+voyage overlong; so he ran on with the wind abeam, and his little craft
+leapt merrily over the sea-hills under the freshening breeze.  The sun
+set and the moon and stars shone out, and he still sailed on, and durst
+not sleep, save as a dog does, with one eye.  At last came dawn, and as
+the light grew it was a fair day with a falling wind, and a bright sky,
+but it clouded over before sunset, and the wind freshened from the north
+by east, and, would he, would he not, Hallblithe must run before it night-
+long, till at sunrise it fell again, and all day was too light for him to
+make much way beating to northward; nor did it freshen till after the
+moon was risen some while after sunset.  And now he was so weary that he
+must needs sleep; so he lashed the helm, and took a reef in the sail, and
+ran before the wind, he sleeping in the stern.
+
+But past the middle of the night, towards the dawning, he awoke with the
+sound of a great shout in his ears.  So he looked over the dark waters,
+and saw nought, for the night was cloudy again.  Then he trimmed his
+craft, and went to sleep again, for he was over-burdened with slumber.
+
+When he awoke it was broad daylight; so he looked to the tiller and got
+the boat's head a little up to the wind, and then gazed about him with
+the sleep still in his eyes.  And as his eyes took in the picture before
+him he could not refrain a cry; for lo! there arose up great and grim
+right ahead the black cliffs of the Isle of Ransom.  Straightway he got
+to the sheet, and strove to wear the boat; but for all that he could do
+she drifted toward the land, for she was gotten into a strong current of
+the sea that set shoreward.  So he struck sail, and took the oars and
+rowed mightily so that he might bear her off shore; but it availed
+nothing, and still he drifted landward.  So he stood up from the oars,
+and turned about and looked, and saw that he was but some three furlongs
+from the shore, and that he was come to the very haven-mouth whence he
+had set sail with the Sea-eagle a twelvemonth ago: and he knew that into
+that haven he needs must get him, or be dashed to pieces against the high
+cliffs of the land: and he saw how the waves ran on to the cliffs, and
+whiles one higher than the others smote the rock-wall and ran up it, as
+if it could climb over on to the grassy lip beyond, and then fell back
+again, leaving a river of brine running down the steep.
+
+Then he said that he would take what might befall him inside the haven.
+So he hoisted sail again, and took the tiller, and steered right for the
+midmost of the gate between the rocks, wondering what should await him
+there.  Then it was but a few minutes ere his bark shot into the
+smoothness of the haven, and presently began to lose way; for all the
+wind was dead within that land-locked water.  Hallblithe looked steadily
+round about seeking his foe; but the haven was empty of ship or boat; so
+he ran his eye along the shore to see where he should best lay his keel
+and as aforesaid there was no beach there, and the water was deep right
+up to the grassy lip of the land; though the tides ran somewhat high, and
+at low water would a little steep undercliff go up from the face of the
+sea.  But now it was near the top of the tide, and there was scarce two
+feet betwixt the grass and the dark-green sea.
+
+Now Hallblithe steered toward an ingle of the haven; and beyond it, a
+little way off, rose a reef of rocks out of the green grass, and thereby
+was a flock of sheep feeding, and a big man lying down amongst them, who
+seemed to be unarmed, as Hallblithe could not see any glint of steel
+about him.  Hallblithe drew nigh the shore, and the big man stirred not;
+nor did he any the more when the keel ran along the shore, and Hallblithe
+leapt out and moored his craft to his spear stuck deep in the earth.  And
+now Hallblithe deems that the man must be either dead or asleep: so he
+drew his sword and had it in his right hand, and in his left a sharp
+knife, and went straight up to the man betwixt the sheep, and found him
+so lying on his side that he could not see his face; so he stirred him
+with his foot, and cried out: "Awake, O Shepherd! for dawn is long past
+and day is come, and therewithal a guest for thee!"
+
+The man turned over and slowly sat up, and, lo! who should it be but the
+Puny Fox?  Hallblithe started back at the sight of him, and cried out at
+him, and said: "Have I found thee, O mine enemy?"
+
+The Puny Fox sat up a little straighter, and rubbed his eyes and said:
+"Yea, thou hast found me sure enough.  But as to my being thine enemy, a
+word or two may be said about that presently."
+
+"What!" said Hallblithe, "dost thou deem that aught save my sword will
+speak to thee?"
+
+"I wot not," said the Puny Fox, slowly rising to his feet, "but I suppose
+thou wilt not slay me unarmed, and thou seest that I have no weapons."
+
+"Get thee weapons, then," quoth Hallblithe, "and delay not; for the sight
+of thee alive sickens me."
+
+"Ill is that," said the Puny Fox, "but come thou with me at once, where I
+shall find both the weapons and a good fighting-stead.  Hasten! time
+presseth, now thou art come at last."
+
+"And my boat?" said Hallblithe.
+
+"Wilt thou carry her in thy pouch?" said the Puny Fox; "thou wilt not
+need her again, whether thou slay me, or I thee."
+
+Hallblithe knit his brows on him in his wrath; for he deemed that Fox's
+meaning was to threaten him with the vengeance of the kindred.  Howbeit,
+he said nought; for he deemed it ill to wrangle in words with one whom he
+was presently to meet in battle; so he followed as the Puny Fox led.  Fox
+brought him past the reef of rock aforesaid, and up a narrow cleft of the
+cliffs overlooking the sea, whereby they came into a little grass-grown
+meadow well nigh round in shape, as smooth and level as a hall-floor, and
+fenced about by a wall of rock: a place which had once been the mouth of
+an earth-fire, and a cauldron of molten stone.
+
+When they stood on the smooth grass Fox said: "Hold thee there a little,
+while I go to my weapon-chest, and then shall we see what is to be done."
+
+Therewith he turned aside to a cranny of the rock, and going down on his
+hands and knees, fell to creeping like a worm up a hole therein, which
+belike led to a cavern; for after his voice had come forth from the
+earth, grunting and groaning, and cursing this thing, and that, out he
+comes again feet first, and casts down an old rusty sword without a
+sheath; a helm no less rusty, and battered withal, and a round target,
+curled up and outworn as if it would fall to pieces of itself.  Then he
+stands up and stretches himself, and smiles pleasantly on Hallblithe and
+says: "Now, mine enemy, when I have donned helm and shield and got my
+sword in hand, we may begin the play: as to a hauberk I must needs go
+lack; for I could not come by it; I think the old man must have chaffered
+it away: he was ever too money-fain."
+
+But Hallblithe looked on him angrily and said: "Hast thou brought me
+hither to mock me?  Hast thou no better weapons wherewith to meet a
+warrior of the Raven than these rusty shards, which look as if thou hadst
+robbed a grave of the dead?  I will not fight thee so armed."
+
+"Well," said the Puny Fox, "and from out of a grave come they verily: for
+in that little hole lieth my father's grandsire, the great Sea-mew of the
+Ravagers, the father of that Sea-eagle whom thou knowest.  But since thou
+thinkest scorn of these weapons of a dead warrior, in go the old carle's
+treasures again!  It is as well maybe; since he might be wrath beyond his
+wont if he were to wake and miss them; and already this cold cup of the
+once-boiling rock is not wholly safe because of him."
+
+So he crept into the hole once more, and out of it presently, and stood
+smiting his palms one against the other to dust them, like a man who has
+been handling parchments long laid by; and Hallblithe stood looking at
+him, still wrathful, but silent.
+
+Then said the Puny Fox: "This at least was a wise word of thine, that
+thou wouldst not fight me.  For the end of fighting is slaying; and it is
+stark folly to fight without slaying; and now I see that thou desirest
+not to slay me: for if thou didst, why didst thou refuse to fall on me
+armed with the ghosts of weapons that I borrowed from a ghost?  Nay, why
+didst thou not slay me as I crept out of yonder hole?  Thou wouldst have
+had a cheap bargain of me either way.  It would be rank folly to fight
+me."
+
+Said Hallblithe hoarsely: "Why didst thou bewray me, and lie to me, and
+lure me away from the quest of my beloved, and waste a whole year of my
+life?"
+
+"It is a long story," said the Puny Fox, "which I may tell thee some day.
+Meantime I may tell thee this, that I was compelled thereto by one far
+mightier than I, to wit the Undying King."
+
+At that word the smouldering wrath blazed up in Hallblithe, and he drew
+his sword hastily and hewed at the Puny Fox: but he leapt aside nimbly
+and ran in on Hallblithe, and caught his sword-arm by the wrist, and tore
+the weapon out of his hand, and overbore him by sheer weight and stature,
+and drave him to the earth.  Then he rose up, and let Hallblithe rise
+also, and took his sword and gave it into his hand again and said: "Crag-
+nester, thou art wrathful, but little.  Now thou hast thy sword again and
+mayst slay me if thou wilt.  Yet not until I have spoken a word to thee:
+so hearken! or else by the Treasure of the Sea I will slay thee with my
+bare hands.  For I am strong indeed in this place with my old kinsman
+beside me.  Wilt thou hearken?"
+
+"Speak," said Hallblithe, "I hearken."
+
+Said the Puny Fox: "True it is that I lured thee away from thy quest, and
+wore away a year of thy life.  Yet true it is also that I repent me
+thereof, and ask thy pardon.  What sayest thou?"
+
+Hallblithe spake not, but the heat died out of his face and he was become
+somewhat pale.  Said the Puny Fox: "Dost thou not remember, O Raven, how
+thou badest me battle last year on the sea-shore by the side of the
+Rollers of the Raven? and how this was to be the prize of battle, that
+the vanquished should serve the vanquisher year-long, and do all his
+will?  And now this prize and more thou hast won without battle; for I
+swear by the Treasure of the Sea, and by the bones of the great Sea-mew
+yonder, that I will serve thee not year-long but life-long, and that I
+will help thee in thy quest for thy beloved.  What sayest thou?"
+
+Hallblithe stood speechless a moment, looking past the Puny Fox, rather
+than at him.  Then the sword tumbled out of his hand on to the grass, and
+great tears rolled down his cheeks and fell on to his raiment, and he
+reached out his hand to the Puny Fox and said: "O friend, wilt thou not
+bring me to her? for the days wear, and the trees are growing old round
+about the Acres of the Raven."
+
+Then the Puny Fox took his hand; and laughed merrily in his face, and
+said: "Great is thine heart, O Carrion-biter!  But now that thou art my
+friend I will tell thee that I have a deeming of the whereabouts of thy
+beloved.  Or where deemest thou was the garden wherein thou sawest her
+standing on the page of the book in that dream of the night?  So it is, O
+Raven-son, that it is not for nothing that my grandsire's father lieth in
+yonder hole of the rocks; for of late he hath made me wise in mighty
+lore.  Thanks have thou, O kinsman!"  And he turned him toward the rock
+wherein was the grave.
+
+But Hallblithe said: "What is to do now?  Am I not in a land of foemen?"
+
+"Yea, forsooth," said the Puny Fox, "and even if thou knewest where thy
+love is, thou shouldst hardly escape from this isle unslain, save for
+me."
+
+Said Hallblithe: "Is there not my bark, that I might depart at once? for
+I deem not that the Hostage is on the Isle of Ransom."
+
+The Puny Fox laughed boisterously and said: "Nay, she is not.  But as to
+thy boat, there is so strong a set of the flood-tide toward this end of
+the isle, that with the wind blowing as now, from the north-north-east,
+thou mayst not get off the shore for four hours at least, and I misdoubt
+me that within that time we shall have tidings of a ship of ours coming
+into the haven.  Thy bark they shall take, and thee also if thou art
+therein; and then soon were the story told, for they know thee for a
+rebel of the Undying King.  Hearken!  Dost thou not hear the horn's
+voice?  Come up hither and we shall see what is towards."
+
+So saying, he led hastily up a kind of stair in the rock-wall, until they
+reached a cranny, whence through a hole in the cliff, they could see all
+over the haven.  And lo! as they looked, in the very gate and entry of it
+came a great ship heaving up her bows on the last swell of the outer sea
+(where the wind had risen somewhat), and rolling into the smooth, land-
+locked water.  Black was her sail, and the image of the Sea-eagle
+enwrought thereon spread wide over it; and the banner of the Flaming
+Sword streamed out from the stern.  Many men all-weaponed were on the
+decks, and the minstrels high up on the poop were blowing a merry song of
+return on their battle-horns.
+
+"Lo, you," said the Puny Fox, "thy luck or mine hath served thee this
+time, in that the Flaming Sword did not overhaul thee ere thou madest the
+haven.  We are well here at least."
+
+Said Hallblithe: "But may not some of them come up hither perchance?"
+
+"Nay, nay," said the Puny Fox; "they fear the old man in the cleft
+yonder; for he is not over guest-fain.  This mead is mine own, as for
+other living men; it is my unroofed house, and I have here a house with a
+roof also, which I will show thee presently.  For now since the Flaming
+Sword hath come, there is no need for haste; nay, we cannot depart till
+they have gone up-country.  So I will show thee presently what we shall
+do to-night."
+
+So there they sat and watched those men bring their ship to the shore and
+moor her hard by Hallblithe's boat.  They cried out when they saw her,
+and when they were aland they gathered about her to note her build, and
+the fashion of the spear whereto she was tied.  Then in a while the more
+part of them, some fourscore in number, departed up the valley toward the
+great house and left none but a half dozen ship-warders behind.
+
+"Seest thou, friend of the Ravens," said the Fox, "hadst thou been there,
+they might have done with thee what they would.  Did I not well to bring
+thee into my unroofed house?"
+
+"Yea, verily," said Hallblithe; "but will not some of the ship-wards, or
+some of the others returning, come up hither and find us?  I shall yet
+lay my bones in this evil island."
+
+The Puny Fox laughed, and said: "It is not so bad as thy sour looks would
+have it; anyhow it is good enough for a grave, and at this present I may
+call it a casket of precious things."
+
+"What meanest thou?" said Hallblithe eagerly.
+
+"Nay, nay," said the other, "nought but what thou knowest.  Art thou not
+therein, and I myself? without reckoning the old carle in the hole
+yonder.  But I promise thee thou shalt not die here this time, unless
+thou wilt.  And as to folk coming up hither, I tell thee again they durst
+not; because they fear my great-grandsire over much.  Not that they are
+far wrong therein; for now he is dead, the worst of him seemeth to come
+out of him, and he is not easily dealt with, save by one who hath some
+share of his wisdom.  Thou thyself couldst see by my kinsman, the Sea-
+eagle, how much of ill blood and churlish malice there may be in our
+kindred when they wax old, and loneliness and dreariness taketh hold of
+them.  For I must tell thee that I have oft heard my father say that his
+father the Sea-eagle was in his youth and his prime blithe and buxom, a
+great lover of women, and a very friendly fellow.  But ever, as I say, as
+the men of our kind wax in years, they worsen; and thereby mayst thou
+deem how bad the old man in yonder must be, since he hath lain so long in
+the grave.  But now we will go to that house of mine on the other side of
+the mead, over against my kinsman's."
+
+Therewith he led Hallblithe down from the rock while Hallblithe said to
+him: "What! art thou also dead that thou hast a grave here?"
+
+"Nay, nay," said Fox, smiling, "am I so evil-conditioned then?  I am no
+older than thou art."
+
+"But tell me," said Hallblithe, "wilt thou also wax evil as thou growest
+old?"
+
+"Maybe not," said Fox, looking hard at him, "for in my mind it is that I
+may be taken into another house, and another kindred, and amongst them I
+shall be healed of much that might turn to ill."
+
+Therewith were they come across the little meadow to a place where was a
+cave in the rock closed with a door, and a wicket window therein.  Fox
+led Hallblithe into it, and within it was no ill dwelling; for it was dry
+and clean, and there were stools therein and a table, and shelves and
+lockers in the wall.  When they had sat them down Fox said: "Here
+mightest thou dwell safely as long as thou wouldst, if thou wouldst risk
+dealings with the old carle.  But, as I wot well that thou art in haste
+to be gone and get home to thy kindred, I must bring thee at dusk to-day
+close up to our feast-hall, so that thou mayst be at hand to do what hath
+to be done to-night, so that we may get us gone to-morrow.  Also thou
+must do off thy Raven gear lest we meet any in the twilight as we go up
+to the house; and here have I to hand home-spun raiment such as our war-
+taken thralls wear, which shall serve thy turn well enough; but this thou
+needst not do on till the time is at hand for our departure; and then I
+will bring thee away, and bestow thee in a bower hard by the hall; and
+when thou art within, I may so look to it that none shall go in there, or
+if they do, they shall see nought in thee save a carle known to them by
+name.  My kinsman hath learned me to do harder things than this.  But now
+it is time to eat and drink."
+
+Therewith he drew victual from out a locker and they fell to.  But when
+they had eaten, Fox taught Hallblithe what he should do in the hall that
+night, as shall be told hereafter.  And then, with much talk about many
+things, they wore away the day in that ancient cup of the seething rock,
+and a little before dusk set out for the hall, bearing with them
+Hallblithe's gear bundled up together, as though it had been wares from
+over sea.  So they came to the house before the tables were set, and the
+Puny Fox bestowed Hallblithe in a bower which gave into the buttery, so
+that it was easy to go straight into the mid-most of the hall.  There was
+Hallblithe clad and armed in his Raven gear; but Fox gave him a vizard to
+go over his face, so that none might know him when he entered therein.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI: OF THE FIGHT OF THE CHAMPIONS IN THE HALL OF THE RAVAGERS
+
+
+Now it is to be told that the chieftains came into the hall that night
+and sat down at the board on the dais, even as Hallblithe had seen them
+do aforetime.  And the chieftain of all, who was called the Erne of the
+Sea-eagles, rose up according to custom and said: "Hearken, folk! this is
+a night of the champions, whereon we may not eat till the pale blades
+have clashed together, and one hath vanquished and another been overcome.
+Now let them stand forth and give out the prize of victory which the
+vanquished shall pay to the vanquisher.  And let it be known, that,
+whosoever may be the champion that winneth the battle, whether he be a
+kinsman, or an alien, or a foeman declared; yea, though he have left the
+head of my brother at the hall-door, he shall pass this night with us
+safe from sword, safe from axe, safe from hand: he shall eat as we eat,
+drink as we drink, sleep as we sleep, and depart safe from any hand or
+weapon, and shall sail the sea at his pleasure in his own keel or in
+ours, as to him and us may be meet.  Blow up horns for the champions!"
+
+So the horns blew a cheerful strain, and when they were done, there came
+into the hall a tall man clad in black, and with black armour and weapons
+saving the white blade of his sword.  He had a vizard over his face, but
+his hair came down from under his helm like the tail of a red horse.
+
+So he stood amidst the floor and cried out: "I am the champion of the
+Ravagers.  But I swear by the Treasure of the Sea that I will cross no
+blade to-night save with an alien, a foeman of the kindred.  Hearest
+thou, O chieftain, O Erne of the Sea-eagles?"
+
+"Hear it I do," said the chieftain, "and I deem that thy meaning is that
+we should go supperless to bed; and this cometh of thy perversity: for we
+know thee despite thy vizard.  Belike thou deemest that thou shalt not be
+met this even, and that there is no free alien in the island to draw
+sword against thee.  But beware!  For when we came aland this morning we
+found a skiff of the aliens tied to a great spear stuck in the bank of
+the haven; so that there will be one foeman at least abroad in the
+island.  But we said if we should come on the man, we would set his head
+on the gable of the hall with the mouth open toward the North for a token
+of reproach to the dwellers in the land over sea.  But now give out the
+prize of victory, and I swear by the Treasure of the Sea that we will
+abide by thy word."
+
+Said the champion: "These are the terms and conditions of the battle;
+that whichso of us is vanquished, he shall either die, or serve the
+vanquisher for twelve moons, to fare with him at his will, to go his
+errands, and do according to his commandment in all wise.  Hearest thou,
+chieftain?"
+
+"Yea," said he, "and by the Undying King, both thou and we shall abide by
+this bargain.  So look to it that thou smite great strokes, lest our hall
+lack a gable-knop.  Horns, blow up for the alien champion!"
+
+So again the horns were winded; and ere their voice had died, in from the
+buttery screens came a glittering image of war, and there stood the alien
+champion over against the warrior of the sea; and he too had a vizard
+over his face.
+
+Now when the folk saw him, and how slim and light and small he looked
+beside their champion, and they beheld the Raven painted on his white
+shield, they hooted and laughed for scorn of him and his littleness.  But
+he tossed his sword up lightly and caught it by the hilts as it fell, and
+drew nigher to the champion of the sea and stood facing him within reach
+of his sword.  Then the chieftain on the high-seat put his two hands to
+his mouth and roared out: "Fall on, ye champions, fall on!"
+
+But the folk in the hall were so eager that they stood on the benches and
+the boards, and craned over each other's shoulders, so that they might
+lose no whit of the hand-play.  Now flashed the blades in the candle-lit
+hall, and the red-haired champion hove up his sword and smote two great
+strokes to right and to left; but the alien gave way before him, and the
+folk cried out at him in scorn and in joy of their champion, who fell to
+raining down great strokes like the hail amidst the lightning.  But so
+deft was the alien, that he stood amidst it unhurt, and laid many strokes
+on his foeman, and did all so lightly and easily, that it seemed as if he
+were dancing rather than fighting; and the folk held their peace and
+began to doubt if their huge champion would prevail.  Now the red-haired
+fetched a mighty stroke at the alien, who leapt aside lightly and gat his
+sword in his left hand and dealt a great stroke on the other's head, and
+the red-haired staggered, for he had over-reached himself; and again the
+alien smote him a left-handed stroke so that he fell full length on the
+floor with a mighty clatter, and the sword flew out of his hand: and the
+folk were dumb-founded.
+
+Then the alien threw himself on the sea-champion, and knelt upon him, and
+shortened his sword as if to slay him with a thrust.  But thereon the man
+overthrown cried out: "Hold thine hand, for I am vanquished!  Now give me
+peace according to the bargain struck between us, that I shall serve thee
+year-long, and follow thee wheresoever thou goest."
+
+Therewith the alien champion arose and stood off from him, and the man of
+the sea gat to his feet, and did off his helm, so that all men could see
+that he was the Puny Fox.
+
+Then the victorious champion unhelmed himself, and lo, it was Hallblithe!
+And a shout arose in the hall, part of wonder, part of wrath.
+
+Then cried out the Puny Fox: "I call on all men here to bear witness that
+by reason of this battle, Hallblithe of the Ravens is free to come and go
+as he will in the Isle of Ransom, and to take help of any man that will
+help him, and to depart from the isle when he will and how he will,
+taking me with him if so he will."
+
+Said the chieftain: "Yea, this is right and due, and so shall it be.  But
+now, since no freeman, who is not a foe of the passing hour, may abide in
+our hall without eating of our meat, come up here, Hallblithe, and sit by
+me, and eat and drink of the best we have, since the Norns would not give
+us thine head for a gable-knop.  But what wilt thou do with thy thrall
+the Puny Fox; and whereto in the hall wilt thou have him shown?  Or wilt
+thou that he sit fasting in the darkness to-night, laid in gyves and
+fetters?  Or shall he have the cheer of whipping and stripes, as
+befitteth a thrall to whom the master oweth a grudge?  What is thy will
+with him?"
+
+Said Hallblithe: "My will is that thou give him a seat next to me,
+whether that be high or low, or the bench of thy prison-house.  That he
+eat of my dish, and drink of my cup, whatsoever the meat and drink may
+be.  For to-morrow I mean that we twain shall go under the earth-collar
+together, and that our blood shall run together and that we shall be
+brothers in arms henceforward."  Then Hallblithe did on his helm again
+and drew his sword, and looked aside to the Puny Fox to bid him do the
+like, and he did so, and Hallblithe said: "Chieftain, thou hast bidden me
+to table, and I thank thee; but I will not set my teeth in meat, out of
+our own house and land, which hath not been truly given to me by one who
+wotteth of me, unless I have conquered it as a prey of battle; neither
+will I cast a lie into the loving-cup which shall pass from thy lips to
+mine: therefore I will tell thee, that though I laid a stroke or two on
+the Puny Fox, and those no light ones, yet was this battle nought true
+and real, but a mere beguiling, even as that which I saw foughten in this
+hall aforetime, when meseemeth the slain men rose up in time to drink the
+good-night cup.  Therefore, O men of the Ravagers, and thou, O Puny Fox,
+there is nought to bind your hands and refrain your hearts, and ye may
+slay me if ye will without murder or dishonour, and may make the head of
+Hallblithe a knop for your feast-hall.  Yet shall one or two fall to
+earth before I fall."
+
+Therewith he shook his sword aloft, and a great roar arose, and weapons
+came down from the wall, and the candles shone on naked steel.  But the
+Puny Fox came and stood by Hallblithe, and spake in his ear amidst the
+uproar: "Well now, brother-in-arms, I have been trying to learn thee the
+lore of lies, and surely thou art the worst scholar who was ever smitten
+by master.  And the outcome of it is that I, who have lied so long and
+well, must now pay for all, and die for a barren truth."
+
+Said Hallblithe: "Let all be as it will!  I love thee, lies and all; but
+as for me I cannot handle them.  Lo you! great and grim shall be the
+slaying, and we shall not fall unavenged."
+
+Said the Puny Fox: "Hearken! for still they hang back.  Belike it is I
+that have drawn this death on thee and me.  My last lie was a fool's lie
+and we die for it: for what wouldst thou have done hadst thou wotted that
+thy beloved, the Hostage of the Rose--"  He broke off perforce; for
+Hallblithe was looking to right and left and handling his sword, and
+heard not that last word of his; and from both sides of the hall the
+throng was drawing round about those twain, weapon in hand.  Then
+Hallblithe set his eyes on a big man in front who was heaving up a heavy
+short-sword and thought that he would at least slay this one.  But or
+ever he might smite, the great horn blared out over the tumult, and men
+forbore a while and fell somewhat silent.
+
+Then came down to them the voice of the chieftain, a loud voice, but
+clear and with mirth mingled with anger in it, and he said: "What do
+these fools of the Ravagers cumbering the floor of the feast-hall, and
+shaking weapons when there is no foeman anigh?  Are they dreaming-drunk
+before the wine is poured?  Why do they not sit down in their places, and
+abide the bringing in of the meat?  And ye women, where are ye, why do ye
+delay our meat, when ye may well wot that our hearts are drooping for
+hunger; and all hath been duly done, the battle of the champions fought
+and won, and the prize of war given forth and taken?  How long, O folk,
+shall your chieftains sit fasting?"
+
+Then there arose great laughter in the hall, and men withdrew them from
+those twain and went and sat them down in their places.
+
+Then the chieftain said: "Come up hither, I say, O Hallblithe, and bring
+thy war-thrall with thee if thou wilt.  But delay not, unless it be so
+that thou art neither hungry nor thirsty; and good sooth thou shouldst be
+both; for men say that the ravens are hard to satisfy.  Come then and
+make good cheer with us!"
+
+So Hallblithe thrust his sword into the sheath, and the Puny Fox did the
+like, and they went both together up the hall to the high-seat.  And
+Hallblithe sat down on the chieftain's right hand, and the Puny Fox next
+to him; and the chieftain, the Erne, said: "O Hallblithe, dost thou need
+thine armour at table; or dost thou find it handy to take thy meat clad
+in thy byrny and girt with a sword?"
+
+Then laughed Hallblithe and said: "Nay, meseemeth to-night I shall need
+war-gear no more."  And he stood up and did off all his armour and gave
+it, sword and all, into the hands of a woman, who bore it off, he knew
+not whither.  And the Erne looked on him and said: "Well is that! and now
+I see that thou art a fair young man, and it is no marvel though maidens
+desire thee."
+
+As he spake came in the damsels with the victual and the cheer was
+exceeding good, and Hallblithe grew light-hearted.
+
+But when the healths had been drunk as aforetime, and men had drunk a cup
+or two thereafter, there rose a warrior from one of the endlong benches,
+a big young man, black-haired and black-bearded, ruddy of visage, and he
+said in a voice that was rough and fat: "O Erne, and ye other chieftains,
+we have been talking here at our table concerning this guest of thine who
+hath beguiled us, and we are not wholly at one with thee as to thy
+dealings with him.  True it is, now that the man hath our meat in his
+belly, that he must depart from amongst us with a whole skin, unless of
+his own will he stand up to fight some man of us here.  Yet some of us
+think that he is not so much our friend that we should help him to a keel
+whereon to fare home to those that hate us: and we say that it would not
+be unlawful to let the man abide in the isle, and proclaim him a wolf's-
+head within a half-moon of to-day.  Or what sayest thou?"
+
+Said the Erne: "Wait for my word a while, and hearken to another!  Is the
+Grey-goose of the Ravagers in the hall?  Let him give out his word on
+this matter."
+
+Then arose a white-headed carle from a table nigh to the dais, whose
+black raiment was well adorned with gold.  Despite his years his face was
+fair and little wrinkled; a man with a straight nose and a well-fashioned
+mouth, and with eyes still bright and grey.  He spake: "O folk, I find
+that the Erne hath done well in cherishing this guest.  For first, if he
+hath beguiled us, he did it not save by the furtherance and sleight of
+our own kinsman; therefore if any one is to die for beguiling us, let it
+be the Puny Fox.  Secondly, we may well wot that heavy need hath driven
+the man to this beguilement; and I say that it was no unmanly deed for
+him to enter our hall and beguile us with his sleight; and that he hath
+played out the play right well and cunningly with the wisdom of a
+warrior.  Thirdly, the manliness of him is well proven, in that having
+overcome us in sleight, he hath spoken out the sooth concerning our
+beguilement and hath made himself our foeman and captive, when he might
+have sat down by us as our guest, freely and in all honour.  And this he
+did, not as contemning the Puny Fox and his lies and crafty wiles (for he
+hath told us that he loveth him); but so that he might show himself a man
+in that which trieth manhood.  Moreover, ye shall not forget that he is
+the rebel of the Undying King, who is our lord and master; therefore in
+cherishing him we show ourselves great-hearted, in that we fear not the
+wrath of our master.  Therefore I naysay the word of the War-brand that
+we should make this man a wolf's-head; for in so doing we shall show
+ourselves lesser-hearted than he is, and of no account beside of him; and
+his head on our hall-gable should be to us a nithing-stake, and a tree of
+reproach.  So I bid thee, O Erne, to make much of this man; and thou
+shalt do well to give him worthy gifts, such as warriors may take, so
+that he may show them at home in the House of the Raven, that it may be
+the beginning of peace betwixt us and his noble kindred.  This is my say,
+and later on I shall wax no wiser."
+
+Therewith he sat down, and there arose a murmur and stir in the hall; but
+the more part said that the Grey-goose had spoken well, and that it was
+good to be at peace with such manly fellows as the new guest was.
+
+But the Erne said: "One word will I lay hereto, to wit, that he who
+desireth mine enmity let him do scathe to Hallblithe of the Ravens and
+hinder him."
+
+Then he bade fill round the cups, and called a health to Hallblithe, and
+all men drank to him, and there was much joyance and merriment.
+
+But when the night was well worn, the Erne turned to Hallblithe and said:
+"That was a good word of the Grey-goose which he spake concerning the
+giving of gifts: Raven-son, wilt thou take a gift of me and be my
+friend?"
+
+"Thy friend will I be," said Hallblithe, "but no gift will I take of thee
+or any other till I have the gift of gifts, and that is my troth-plight
+maiden.  I will not be glad till I can be glad with her."
+
+Then laughed the Erne, and the Puny Fox grinned all across his wide face,
+and Hallblithe looked from one to the other of them and wondered at their
+mirth, and when they saw his wondering eyes, they did but laugh the more;
+and the Erne said: "Nevertheless, thou shalt see the gift which I would
+give thee; and then mayst thou take it or leave it as thou wilt.  Ho ye!
+bring in the throne of the Eastland with them that minister to it!"
+
+Certain men left the hall as he spake, and came back bearing with them a
+throne fashioned most goodly of ivory, parcel-gilt and begemmed, and
+adorned with marvellous craftsmanship: and they set it down amidst of the
+hall-floor and went aback to their places, while the Erne sat and smiled
+kindly on the folk and on Hallblithe.  Then arose the sound of fiddles
+and the lesser harp, and the doors of the screen were opened, and there
+flowed into the hall a company of fair damsels not less than a score,
+each one with a rose on her bosom, and they came and stood in order
+behind the throne of the Eastlands, and they strewed roses on the ground
+before them: and when they were duly ranged they fell to singing:
+
+         Now waneth spring,
+         While all birds sing,
+         And the south wind blows
+         The earliest rose
+         To and fro
+         By the doors we know,
+         And the scented gale
+         Fills every dale.
+   Slow now are brooks running because of the weed,
+   And the thrush hath no cunning to hide her at need,
+   So swift as she flieth from hedge-row to tree
+   As one that toil trieth, and deedful must be.
+
+         And O! that at last,
+         All sorrows past,
+         This night I lay
+         'Neath the oak-beams grey!
+         O, to wake from sleep,
+         To see dawn creep
+         Through the fruitful grove
+         Of the house that I love!
+   O! my feet to be treading the threshold once more,
+   O'er which once went the leading of swords to the war!
+   O! my feet in the garden's edge under the sun,
+   Where the seeding grass hardens for haysel begun!
+
+         Lo, lo! the wind blows
+         To the heart of the Rose,
+         And the ship lies tied
+         To the haven side!
+         But O for the keel
+         The sails to feel!
+         And the alien ness
+         Growing less and less;
+   As down the wind driveth and thrusts through the sea
+   The sail-burg that striveth to turn and go free,
+   But the lads at the tiller they hold her in hand,
+   And the wind our well-willer drives fierce to the land.
+
+         We shall wend it yet,
+         The highway wet;
+         For what is this
+         That our bosoms kiss?
+         What lieth sweet
+         Before our feet?
+         What token hath come
+         To lead us home?
+   'Tis the Rose of the garden walled round from the croft
+   Where the grey roof its warden steep riseth aloft,
+   'Tis the Rose 'neath the oaken-beamed hall, where they bide,
+   The pledges unbroken, the hand of the bride.
+
+Hallblithe heard the song, and half thought it promised him somewhat; but
+then he had been so misled and mocked at, that he scarce knew how to
+rejoice at it.
+
+Now the Erne spake: "Wilt thou not take the chair and these dainty song-
+birds that stand about it?  Much wealth might come into thine hall if
+thou wert to carry them over sea to rich men who have no kindred, nor
+affinity wherein to wed, but who love women as well as other men."
+
+Said Hallblithe: "I have wealth enow were I once home again.  As to these
+maidens, I know by the fashion of them that they are no women of the
+Rose, as by their song they should be.  Yet will I take any of these
+maidens that have will to go with me and be made sisters of my sisters,
+and wed with the warriors of the Rose; or if they are of a kindred, and
+long to sit each in the house of her folk, then will we send them home
+over the sea with warriors to guard them from all trouble.  For this gift
+I thank thee.  As to thy throne, I bid thee keep it till a keel cometh
+thy way from our land, bringing fair gifts for thee and thine.  For we
+are not so unwealthy."
+
+Those that sat nearby heard his words and praised them; but the Erne
+said: "All this is free to thee, and thou mayst do what thou wilt with
+the gifts given to thee.  Yet shalt thou have the throne; and I have
+thought of a way to make thee take it.  Or what sayst thou, Puny Fox?"
+
+Said the Puny Fox: "Yea if thou wilt, thou mayst, but I thought it not of
+thee that thou wouldst.  Now is all well."
+
+Again Hallblithe looked from one to the other and wondered what they
+meant.  But the Erne cried out: "Bring in now the sitter, who shall fill
+the empty throne!"
+
+Then again the screen-doors opened, and there came in two weaponed men,
+leading between them a woman clad in gold and garlanded with roses.  So
+fair was the fashion of her face and all her body, that her coming seemed
+to make a change in the hall, as though the sun had shone into it
+suddenly.  She trod the hall-floor with firm feet, and sat down on the
+ivory chair.  But even before she was seated therein Hallblithe knew that
+the Hostage was under that roof and coming toward him.  And the heart
+rose in his breast and fluttered therein, so sore he yearned toward the
+Daughter of the Rose, and his very speech-friend.  Then he heard the Erne
+saying, "How now, Raven-son, wilt thou have the throne and the sitter
+therein, or wilt thou gainsay me once more?"
+
+Thereafter he himself spake, and the sound of his voice was strange to
+him and as if he knew it not: "Chieftain, I will not gainsay thee, but
+will take thy gift, and thy friendship therewith, whatsoever hath
+betided.  Yet would I say a word or two unto the woman that sitteth
+yonder.  For I have been straying amongst wiles and images, and mayhappen
+I shall yet find this to be but a dream of the night, or a beguilement of
+the day."  Therewith he arose from the table, and walked slowly down the
+hall; but it was a near thing that he did not fall a-weeping before all
+those aliens, so full his heart was.
+
+He came and stood before the Hostage, and their eyes were upon each
+other, and for a little while they had no words.  Then Hallblithe began,
+wondering at his voice as he spake: "Art thou a woman and my
+speech-friend?  For many images have mocked me, and I have been
+encompassed with lies, and led astray by behests that have not been
+fulfilled.  And the world hath become strange to me, and empty of
+friends."
+
+Then she said: "Art thou verily Hallblithe?  For I also have been
+encompassed by lies, and beset by images of things unhelpful."
+
+"Yea," said he, "I am Hallblithe of the Ravens, wearied with desire for
+my troth-plight maiden."
+
+Then came the rosy colour into the fairness of her face, as the rising
+sun lighteth the garden of flowers in the June morning; and she said: "If
+thou art Hallblithe, tell me what befell to the finger-gold-ring that my
+mother gave me when we were both but little."
+
+Then his face grew happy, and he smiled, and he said: "I put it for thee
+one autumntide in the snake's hole in the bank above the river, amidst
+the roots of the old thorn-tree, that the snake might brood it, and make
+the gold grow greater; but when winter was over and we came to look for
+it, lo! there was neither ring nor snake, nor thorn-tree: for the flood
+had washed it all away."
+
+Thereat she smiled most sweetly, and whereas she had been looking on him
+hitherto with strained and anxious eyes, she now beheld him simply and
+friendly; and she said: "O Hallblithe, I am a woman indeed, and thy
+speech-friend.  This is the flesh that desireth thee, and the life that
+is thine, and the heart which thou rejoicest.  But now tell me, who are
+these huge images around us, amongst whom I have sat thus, once in every
+moon this year past, and afterwards I was taken back to the women's
+bower?  Are they men or mountain-giants?  Will they slay us, or shut us
+up from the light and air?  Or hast thou made peace with them?  Wilt thou
+then dwell with me here, or shall we go back again to Cleveland by the
+Sea?  And when, oh when, shall we depart?"
+
+He smiled and said: "Quick come thy questions, beloved.  These are the
+folks of the Ravagers and the Sea-eagles: they be men, though fierce and
+wild they be.  Our foes they have been, and have sundered us; but now are
+they our friends, and have brought us together.  And to-morrow, O friend,
+shall we depart across the waters to Cleveland by the Sea."
+
+She leaned forward, and was about to speak softly to him, but suddenly
+started back, and said: "There is a big, red-haired man, as big as any
+here, behind thy shoulder.  Is he also a friend?  What would he with us?"
+
+So Hallblithe turned about, and beheld the Puny Fox beside him, who took
+up the word and spoke, smiling as a man in great glee: "O maiden of the
+Rose, I am Hallblithe's thrall, and his scholar, to unlearn the craft of
+lying, whereby I have done amiss towards both him and thee.  Whereof I
+will tell thee all the tale soon.  But now I will say that it is true
+that we depart to-morrow for Cleveland by the Sea, thou and he, and I in
+company.  Now I would ask thee, Hallblithe, if thou wouldst have me
+bestow this gift of thine in safe-keeping to-night, since there is an end
+of her sitting in the hall like a graven image: and to-morrow the way
+will be long and wearisome, What sayest thou?"
+
+Said the Hostage: "Shall I trust this man and go with him?"
+
+"Yea, thou shalt trust him," said Hallblithe, "for he is trusty.  And
+even were he not, it is meet for us of the Raven and the Rose to do as
+our worth biddeth us, and not to fear this folk.  And it behoveth us to
+do after their customs since we are in their house."
+
+"That is sooth," she said; "big man, lead me out of the hall to my place.
+Farewell, Hallblithe, for a little while, and then shall there be no more
+sundering for us."
+
+Therewith she departed with the Puny Fox, and Hallblithe went back to the
+high-seat and sat down by the Erne, who laughed on him and said: "Thou
+hast taken my gift, and that is well: yet shall I tell thee that I would
+not have given it to thee if I could have kept it for myself in such
+plight as thou wilt have it.  But all I could do, and the Puny Fox to
+help withal, availed me nought.  So good luck go with thine hands.  Now
+will we to bed, and to-morrow I will lead thee out on thy way; for to say
+sooth, there be some here who are not well pleased with either thee or
+me; and thou knowest that words are wasted on wilful men, but that deeds
+may avail somewhat."
+
+Therewith he cried out for the cup of good-night, and when it was
+drunken, Hallblithe was shown to a fair shut-bed; even that wherein he
+had lain aforetime; and there he went to sleep in joy, and in good liking
+with all men.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII: THEY GO FROM THE ISLE OF RANSOM AND COME TO CLEVELAND BY
+THE SEA
+
+
+In the morning early Hallblithe arose from his bed, and when he came into
+the mid-hall, there was the Puny Fox and the Hostage with him; Hallblithe
+kissed her and embraced her, and she him; yet not like lovers long
+sundered, but as a man and maid betrothed are wont to do, for there were
+folk coming and going about the hall.  Then spake the Puny Fox: "The Erne
+is abiding us out in the meadow yonder; for now nought will serve him but
+he must needs go under the earth-collar with us.  How sayest thou, is he
+enough thy friend?"
+
+Said Hallblithe, smiling on the Hostage: "What hast thou to say to it,
+beloved?"
+
+"Nought at all," she said, "if thou art friend to any of these men.  I
+may deem that I have somewhat against the chieftain, whereof belike this
+big man may tell thee hereafter; but even so much meseemeth I have
+against this man himself, who is now become thy friend and scholar; for
+he also strove for my beguilement, and that not for himself, but for
+another."
+
+"True it is," said the Fox, "that I did it for another; even as yesterday
+I took thy mate Hallblithe out of the trap whereinto he had strayed, and
+compassed his deliverance by means of the unfaithful battle; and even as
+I would have stolen thee for him, O Rose-maiden, if need had been; yea,
+even if I must have smitten into ruin the roof-tree of the Ravagers.  And
+how could I tell that the Erne would give thee up unstolen?  Yea, thou
+sayeth sooth, O noble and spotless maiden; all my deeds, both good and
+ill, have I done for others; and so I deem it shall be while my life
+lasteth."
+
+Then Hallblithe laughed and said: "Art thou nettled, fellow-in-arms, at
+the word of a woman who knoweth thee not?  She shall yet be thy friend, O
+Fox.  But tell me, beloved, I deemed that thou hadst not seen Fox before;
+how then can he have helped the Erne against thee?"
+
+"Yet she sayeth sooth," said Fox, "this was of my sleight: for when I had
+to come before her, I changed my skin, as I well know how; there are
+others in this land who can do so much as that.  But what sayest thou
+concerning the brotherhood with the Erne?"
+
+"Let it be so," said Hallblithe, "he is manly and true, though masterful,
+and is meet for this land of his.  I shall not fall out with him; for
+seldom meseemeth shall I see the Isle of Ransom."
+
+"And I never again," said the Puny Fox.
+
+"Dost thou loathe it, then," said the Hostage, "because of the evil thou
+hast done therein?"
+
+"Nay," said he, "what is the evil, when henceforth I shall do but good?
+Nay, I love the land.  Belike thou deemest it but dreary with its black
+rocks and black sand, and treeless wind-swept dales; but I know it in
+summer and winter, and sun and shade, in storm and calm.  And I know
+where the fathers dwelt and the sons of their sons' sons have long lain
+in the earth.  I have sailed its windiest firths, and climbed its
+steepest crags; and ye may well wot that it hath a friendly face to me;
+and the land-wights of the mountains will be sorry for my departure."
+
+So he spake, and Hallblithe would have answered him, but by now were they
+come to a grassy hollow amidst the dale, where the Erne had already made
+the earth-yoke ready.  To wit, he had loosened a strip of turf all save
+the two ends, and had propped it up with two ancient dwarf-wrought
+spears, so that amidmost there was a lintel to go under.
+
+So when he saw those others coming, he gave them the sele of the day, and
+said to Hallblithe: "What is it to be? shall I be less than thy brother-
+in-arms henceforward?"
+
+Said Hallblithe: "Not a whit less.  It is good to have brothers in other
+lands than one."
+
+So they made no delay, but clad in all their war-gear, they went under
+the earth-yoke one after the other; thereafter they stood together, and
+each let blood in his arm, so that the blood of all three mingled
+together fell down on the grass of the ancient earth; and they swore
+friendship and brotherhood each to each.
+
+But when all was done the Erne spake: "Brother Hallblithe, as I lay awake
+in bed this morning I deemed that I would take ship with thee to
+Cleveland by the Sea, that I might dwell there a while.  But when I came
+out of the hall, and saw the dale lying green betwixt hill-side and hill-
+side, and the glittering river running down amidmost, and the sheep and
+kine and horses feeding up and down on either side the water: and I
+looked up at the fells and saw how deep blue they stood up against the
+snowy peaks, and I thought of all our deeds on the deep sea, and the
+merry nights, in yonder abode of men: then I thought that I would not
+leave the kindred, were it but for a while, unless war and lifting called
+me.  So now I will ride with thee to the ship, and then farewell to
+thee."
+
+"It is good," said Hallblithe, "though not as good as it might be.  Glad
+had we been with thee in the hall of the Ravens."
+
+As he spoke drew anigh the carles leading the horses, and with them came
+six of those damsels whom the Erne had given to Hallblithe the night
+before; two of whom asked to be brought to their kindred over sea; but
+the other four were fain to go with Hallblithe and the Hostage, and
+become their sisters at Cleveland by the Sea.
+
+So then they got to horse and rode down the dale toward the haven, and
+the carles rode with them, so that of weaponed men they were a score in
+company.  But when they were half-way to the haven they saw where hard by
+three knolls on the way-side were men standing with their weapons and war-
+gear glittering in the sun.  So the Erne laughed and said: "Shall we have
+a word with War-brand then?"
+
+But they rode steadily on their way, and when they came up to the knolls
+they saw that it was War-brand indeed with a score of men at his back;
+but they stirred not when they saw Erne's company that it was great.  Then
+Erne laughed aloud and cried out in a big voice, "What, lads! ye ride
+early this morning; are there foemen abroad in the Isle?"
+
+They shrank back before him, but a carle of those who was hindermost
+cried out: "Art thou coming back to us, Erne, or have thy new friends
+bought thee to lead them in battle?"
+
+"Fear it nought," quoth Erne, "I shall be back before the shepherd's
+noon."
+
+So they went their ways and came to the haven, and there lay the Flaming
+Sword, and beside her a trim bark, not right great, all ready for sea:
+and Hallblithe's skiff was made fast to her for an after-boat.
+
+Then the Hostage and Hallblithe and the six damsels went aboard her, and
+when the Erne had bidden them farewell, they cast off the hawsers and
+thrust her out through the haven-mouth; but ere they had got midmost of
+the haven, they saw the Erne, that he had turned about, and was riding up
+the dale with his house-carles, and each man's weapon was shining in his
+hand: and they wondered if he were riding to battle with War-brand; and
+Fox said: "Meseemeth our brother-in-arms hath in his mind to give those
+waylayers an evil minute, and verily he is the man to do the same."
+
+So they gat them out of the haven, and the ebb-tide drave out seaward
+strongly, and the wind was fair for Cleveland by the Sea; and they ran
+speedily past the black cliffs of the Isle of Ransom, and soon were they
+hull down behind them.  But on the afternoon of the next day they hove up
+the land of the kindreds, and by sunset they beached their ship on the
+sand by the Rollers of the Raven, and went ashore without more ado.  And
+the strand was empty of all men, even as on the day when Hallblithe first
+met the Puny Fox.  So then in the cool of the evening they went up toward
+the House of the Raven.  Those damsels went together hand in hand two by
+two, and Hallblithe held the Hostage by the hand; but the Puny Fox went
+along beside them, gleeful and of many words; telling them tales of his
+wiles and his craft, and his skin-changing.
+
+"But now," quoth he, "I have left all that behind me in the Isle of
+Ransom, and have but one shape, and I would for your behoof that it were
+a goodlier one: and but one wisdom have I, even that which dwelleth in
+mine own head-bone.  Yet it may be that this may avail you one time or
+other.  But lo you! though I am thy thrall, have I not the look of a
+thrall-huckster from over sea leading up my wares to the cheaping-stead?"
+They laughed at his words and were merry, and much love there was amongst
+them as they went up to the House of the Raven.
+
+But when they came thither they went into the garth, and there was no man
+therein, for it was now dusk, and the windows of the long hall were
+yellow with candle-light.  Then said Fox: "Abide ye here a little; for I
+would go into the hall alone and see the conditions of thy people, O
+Hallblithe."
+
+"Go thou, then," said Hallblithe, "but be not rash.  I counsel thee; for
+our folk are not over-patient when they deem they have a foe before
+them."
+
+The Puny Fox laughed, and said: "So it is then the world over, that happy
+men are wilful and masterful."
+
+Then he drew his sword and smote on the door with the pommel, and the
+door opened to him and in he went: and he found that fair hall full of
+folk and bright with candles; and he stood amidst the floor; all men
+looked on him, and many knew him at once to be a man of the Ravagers, and
+silence fell upon the hall, but no man stirred hand against him.  Then he
+said: "Will ye hearken to the word of an evil man, a robber of the
+folks?"
+
+Spake the chieftain from the dais: "Words will not hurt us, sea-warrior;
+and thou art but one among many; wherefore thy might this eve is but as
+the might of a new-born baby.  Speak, and afterwards eat and drink, and
+depart safe from amongst us!"
+
+Spake the Puny Fox: "What is gone with Hallblithe, a fair young man of
+your kindred, and with the Hostage of the Rose, his troth-plight maiden?"
+
+Then was the hush yet greater in the hall, so that you might have heard a
+pin drop; and the chieftain said: "It is a grief of ours that they are
+gone, and that none hath brought us back their dead bodies that we might
+lay them in the Acre of the Fathers."
+
+Then leapt up a man from the end-long table nigh to Fox, and cried out:
+"Yea, folk! they are gone, and we deem that runagates of thy kindred, O
+new-come man, have stolen them from us; wherefor they shall one day pay
+us."
+
+Then laughed the Puny Fox and said: "Some would say that stealing
+Hallblithe was like stealing a lion, and that he might take care of
+himself; though he was not as big as I am."
+
+Said the last speaker: "Did thy kin or didst thou steal him, O evil man?"
+
+"Yea, I stole him," quoth Fox, "but by sleight, and not by might."
+
+Then uprose great uproar in the hall, but the chieftain on the high-seat
+cried out: "Peace, peace!" and the noise abated, and the chieftain said:
+"Dost thou mean that thou comest hither to give us thine head for making
+away with Hallblithe and the Hostage?"
+
+"I mean to ask rather," said the Fox, "what thou wilt give me for the
+bodies of these twain?"
+
+Said the chieftain: "A boat-load of gold were not too much if thou
+shouldst live a little longer."
+
+Quoth the Puny Fox: "Well, in anywise I will go and bring in the bodies
+aforesaid, and leave my reward to the goodwill of the Ravens."
+
+Therewith he turned about to go, but lo! there already in the door stood
+Hallblithe holding the Hostage by the hand; and many in the hall saw
+them, for the door was wide.  Then they came in and stood by the side of
+the Puny Fox, and all men in the hall arose and shouted for joy.  But
+when the tumult was a little abated, the Puny Fox cried out: "O
+chieftain, and all ye folk! if a boat-load of gold were not too much
+reward for the bringing back the dead bodies of your friends, what reward
+shall he have who hath brought back their bodies and the souls therein?"
+
+Said the chieftain: "The man shall choose his own reward."  And the men
+in the hall shouted their yeasay.
+
+Then said the Puny Fox: "Well, then, this I choose, that ye make me one
+of your kindred before the fathers of old time."
+
+They all cried out that he had chosen wisely and manfully; but Hallblithe
+said: "I bid you do for him no less than this; and ye shall wot that he
+is already my sworn brother-in-arms."
+
+Now the chieftain cried out: "O Wanderers from over the sea, come up
+hither and sit with us and be merry at last!"
+
+So they went up to the dais, Hallblithe and the Hostage, and the Puny Fox
+and the six maidens withal.  And since the night was yet young, the
+supper of the men of the Ravens was turned into the wedding-feast of
+Hallblithe and the Hostage, and that very night she became a wife of the
+Ravens, that she might bear to the House the best of men and the fairest
+of women.
+
+But on the morrow they brought the Puny Fox to the mote-stead of the
+kindreds that he might stand before the fathers and be made a son of the
+kindred; and this they did because of the word of Hallblithe, and because
+they believed in the tale which he told them of the Glittering Plain and
+the Acre of the Undying.  The four maidens also were made sisters of the
+House; and the other twain were sent home to their own kindred in all
+honour.
+
+Of the Puny Fox it is said that he soon lost and forgot all the lore
+which he had learned of the ancient men, living and dead; and became as
+other men and was no wizard.  Yet he was exceeding valiant and doughty;
+and he ceased not to go with Hallblithe wheresoever he went; and many
+deeds they did together, whereof the memory of men hath failed: but
+neither they nor any man of the Ravens came any more to the Glittering
+Plain, or heard any tidings of the folk that dwell there.
+
+HEREWITH ENDETH THE TALE.
+
+Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
+at Paul's Work, Edinburgh
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN***
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