The Wake (18 page)

buccmaster of holland he saes and grimcell of holland well what is this we has. well we locd but we colde see no man and this was not the sound of weland specan it was the sound of a man of this eorth and an anglisc man

i had not thought to see none from thy ham again saes this man and now he cums from behind the stocc of a great ac treow and i sees that i cnawan him. this is the gleoman who cum to our ham so oft before the beornan with tidans and tales. when i last seen him he was thynne and weac and in fear for he brought tales of the great woe of angland and the cuman of the bastard but it seems now he has cum up from his low place and though an eald man he has fyr in him again

it is ulf the gleoman saes grimcell ulf the scop i had thought thu cwelled my freond. grimcell seems blithe to see this man they is both low folcs after all

ah i has the fleetness of an aelf saes this ulf smercan no frenc man can tac me before my time

where is thu cum from saes grimcell

i is cuman and goan in this holt goan from ham to ham as i does saes the gleoman and doan so cwic for it is not cnawan from one daeg to another who thu will find in this place

but i seen what cum to thy ham saes the gleoman now not smercan no mor and thu is not alone in this for i has been to many places since the cuman of the frenc cyng and there is fyr all ofer the fenns and all ofer angland in these times

i has hierde the cyng is gan saes grimcell

gan yes gan baec to his frenc lands to feoht his own folc they saes and in his place is biscops and frenc ealdors and these cnihts on hors and they is tacan what they can while their mastor is gan. but now what is thu folcs doan walcan in this holt in these daegs

we is grene men saes tofe now. he has not spoc yet but now the gleoman locs at him. tofe he saes it is tofe of bacstune is it not

we is gathran saes tofe and he does not smerc we is gathran men to feoht the ingenga

well now saes the gleoman and he locs at me well now

we will haf our wergild i saes locan at him and with my eages saen do not smerc at us gleoman

wergilds he saes wergilds well now there is many who specs lic this and yes there is grene men in these wuds and sum of them i has met and spoc with

thu has met the grene men saes tofe now lic a cilde again

well now i has met sum mor saes the gleoman yes there is worc bean done. to the west there is men risan in the hylls and in the north there is micel talc of tacan baec the land and in the holts there is grene men all about they is specan and thincan and sum times they is risan to cwell frenc folcs. perhaps as grene men then thu has hierde of this man hereweard

hereweard saes tofe yes

hereweard i saes but i saes it cold

hereweard they saes is a great man of angland saes this gleoman. i has not seen him but he is spac of in these lands now with fear and with fyr. hereweard is son of a great thegn of these parts and he was in gan in flanders for sum time but his cynn was cwelled and his land was toc and he is baec now they saes baec to lead men agan the frenc. when the bastard cum this man hereweard hierde what had cum upon angland and he cum baec to see what was becum of his folcs. well he cum to his hall what had been the hus of his father a thegn and his mothor and this hall it was all gan in fyr and all his cynn folc in it. then he gan to the hus of his brothor but folcs telt him that frenc had cwelled his brothor also and toc his hus and toc also his wifman who they now used for their games

well hereweard he is a great feohtan man he has been feohtan in fyrds all ofer in scaldemariland in flanders efen in the eastern lands where there is no night. this man he toc his great sweord and he gan to the hus of his brothor where ten frenc men was sittan eatan his brothors foda and drincan from his brothors cuppes and bean gifen mete by his brothors wifman and a sad sight this was to see. well these man was not thincan to hiere from another man of this cynn for they thought all was cwelled and soon they all was cwelled also for hereweard he gan in cwic lic lihtnan and he spared none he cut them down and their heafods he put on the hege of his brothors hus all ten of them in a grim line and this to say to frenc folc that this is what wolde becum of them in angland

hereweard then he toc his brothors wif from the hus for he cnawan what wolde becum of her if she staed and they went in to the brunnesweald and it is saed they is here now gathran folcs for the feoht for the great feoht that is cuman for the time when angland rises agan the frenc and drifs them baec to the sea

well at this of course the dumb cilde tofe is leapan around lic a frog in a fuccan croc. he teorns to me with light in his eages and he saes buccmaster this is the man i was tellan thu of that folcs spac of in our ham but we did not cnaw if it was tales only. buccmaster we moste find this man and feoht with him for together there will be no stoppan us all

who is thy fuccan ealdor cilde i saes for i is not hafan this. tofe he stops then for this is not what he was thincan to hiere from me

who is thy fuccan ealdor i saes again i sees this eald gleoman loccan at me

thu is my ealdor saes tofe his words small now his bodig still

i is thy fuccan ealdor cilde i saes that is right not this hereweard not any other man

i only

it is me tofe it is me this is my werod if thu wolde go to sum other then fuccan go cilde fuccan go now but do not cum baec to me efer

he saes naht locs at the ground

this is my werod and we has worc to do and this other man this great cyng this fuccan hereweard he may do his own fuccan worc but i will not hiere naht of him again for it is not our worc cilde it is not our worc

none saes naht then tofe locs at the ground small and the gleoman locs at me and grimcell locs at me lic he oft does with no loc in his eages at all

well then i saes lic naht had been saed well then we moste go from this path for sum may cum here who does not wysc us well. we is goan south

cum saes grimcell to the gleoman and he saes it strong he does not asc me does not loc at me. the gleoman locs at him

where was thu goan saes grimcell to him cum with us for sum time efen if the time is only a scorte one. gif us as we walcs tales and tidans from the land

the gleoman locs at him for a scorte time then at me and tofe and he saes well i will cum then i will cum with thu for a lytel for i wolde cnaw where thu has been and what thu has seen and many things i has to sae what thu may find good to hiere

now thu has hierde

who is he

thy brothor and thy enemi

i is stronger

let us see

upon a hyll stands a treow but this treow it has no stics no leafs. its stocc is gold on it is writhan lines of blud red it reacces to the heofon its roots is deop deop in the eorth. abuf the hyll all the heofon is hwit and below all the ground is deorc. the treow is scinan and from all places folcs is walcan to it walcan to the scinan treow locan for sum thing from it. abuf the tree flies a raefn below it walcs a wulf and deop in the eorth where no man sees around the roots of the treow sleeps a great wyrm and this wyrm what has slept since before all time this wyrm now slow slow slow this wyrm begins to mof

well because we is grene men and because we is as great as any fuccan hereweard we walcs now down the straet and not in the treows lic hunds. we walcs all of us and with me leadan and with my sweord on my belt we walcs tall lic we is the fyrd we is goan to be

where does thu go to ascs the gleoman as we is walcan. this one he locs at me lic he is all the time smercan it seems lic he is all the time smercan yet there is no smerc on his nebb

what is the ham that is most near i saes to him

creatas tun is two miles on this straet he saes

then we will go to creatas tun and there we will spec to the folc and we will tell them we is men of the holt and we is gathran to mac a fyrd agan the frenc and we will asc the men of the tun to cum with us

it is a small place there is not many folc

many small places will gif us many good folc

yes saes tofe yes we gan gathran and he is blithe as a man who goes gathran a wif in litha

is there frenc there saes grimcell to the gleoman we does not want to see frenc

thu has seen too many frenc yes saes the gleoman and cwelled one i thinc

who telt thu this i saes

folcs specs saes the gleoman and folcs thincs the frenc thegn of these parts sum wices ago was cwelled by folcs from the holt

and what does thu thinc gleoman i saes and i saes it strong but still he is smercan it seems to me

i is only a gleoman he saes only a scop what does i cnaw

what does thu cnaw

if any was to asc i wolde sae that to tac and cwell a yonge frenc thegn in the holts of angland is a great thing and that many folcs here specs of it when there is no frenc near them and they is in awe of the folcs who done this though also in fear. for of course it is also a dumb act an act of blud but at a time when all angland is in blud who can spec of this in succ words

folcs specs of it saes tofe folcs of these wuds. he is in a great thryll now

i has hierde folcs in hams spec of it saes the gleoman and i has hierde frenc also spec of it they is in ire and perhaps also in sum fear

fear saes tofe the frenc in fear

of course they does not cnawan who to fear saes the gleoman and the folcs of the hams does not cnawan who to thanc

none cnawan naht saes grimcell

sum saes this thegn was cwelled by aelfs saes the gleoman

aelfs i saes aelfs with lines

but most saes the gleoman is thincan he was cwelled by hereweard

hereweard i saes fuccan hereweard. o i is in ire to hiere of this again who is this fuccan hereweard hereweard always folcs is lic sceop

he ires thu saes the gleoman to me

thu fuccan ires me gleoman i saes with all thy words all thy specan of fuccan hereweard it was not he cwelled the thegn it was us it was me

well saes the gleoman well

with a line saes tofe

ofer his fuccan frenc throta saes i

well saes the gleoman

is thu fuccan smercan

smercan saes the gleoman well no i is not smercan

fuccan hereweard i saes who specs of him why does folcs always spec of him

folcs is folcs saes the gleoman they needs tales of great men it cepes me eatan

tell them tales of us saes tofe tell them tales of us cwellan the thegn

do not saes grimcell do not. does thu want to feoht one hundred frenc men tofe do not spec of us lic this we is men only

we walced on we walced towards creatas tun but i was in ire thincan of this hereweard and of all this specan of him and of how a socman with three oxgangs can cum to be lower than a gleoman sleepan in the fuccan holt lic a brocc or a fox. well i had to thinc of weland i had to thinc of his words always for i cnawan i was ceosan i cnawan i moste be triewe

the daeg was wanan and i was needan to thinc on what had cum and on what wolde cum now and so i telt my werod to stop that night in the holt and when the mergen cum we wolde go in to creatas tun and we wolde tell them of our greatness of our deed with the frenc thegn and we wolde call on men of that ham to cum with us to feoht. i wolde gather many folcs and what moste be done then wolde cum to me or weland wolde cum to me and gif me my lead when my werod was great and my sweord again free for feohtan lic my grandfather had meant it to be

we macd a fyr then and we satt and we ate sum of the last of tofes swine what we had cwelled and smocd sum time before and also we ate sum swamms what by now was growan in the holt. after this we wolde be needan mor foda and we moste thinc on this if we was not to be eatan bits of fugol and fox and the leaf from the treow

well when thu sits a gleoman by a fyr and gifs him foda he starts to spiw out raedels and soon enough this ulf he was doan so. tofe and grimcell they was laughan and grimcell well i had not seen him laughan efer

a yonge man saes the gleoman macs for the ecg of the hus where he sees the thing he wants and with his hands he lifts up her gyrdel and under it he throsts sum thing long and hard. well this yonge man he worcs his will and the both of them they shacs then this man he cwicns and then is tyred. he falls baec but his worc is done and under the gyrdel sum thing is growan what this yonge man will be blithe to see in times to cum

tofe and grimcell they is both laughan now and the gleoman this time he is smercan for real. i does not cnaw of what he is specan

buccmaster calls the gleoman tell us what was this yonge man doan

no gleoman i saes i does not do games

tofe cilde saes the gleoman thu can tell us can thu not for thu is a great man of this world. tofe then he is gan red lic a berie and only laughs

ulf saes grimcell thy raedels runs out this one i has hierde before the man is ceornan buttere

buttere saes tofe and he almost falls ofer laughan. nefer has i seen why men pleges lic this when they sceolde be strong. i is sat around this fyr for the heat but i is clenan my sweord not plegen. well at this time i was needan a piss so i left my sweord and i gan in to the holt and when thu gan from a fyr in to the deorc of the holt the deorc seems deoper than at any other time and hard it is to see any thing. as i gan in to the holt sum small way i hierde a sound near me and i was thincan i sceolde not haf left my sweord by the fyr that again i has let weland thinc small of me for always he is locan on

but the sound was small it was not the sound of a man i locd down as my eages began to see in to the blaec and i seen a fox mofan away from me in to the holt. i thincs naht of this only that he had seen our swine mete and now had seen me and was runnan but as i cum to a treow and begun to piss i seen this fox stop walcan. this fox he stopped walcan and he teorned and he locd at me and in his eages there was sum mad thing. this fox his eages was not the eages of a wiht they was the eages of a man and it was a man i had cnawan but what man i colde not sae. this fox he stood and locd at me for sum time it was lic he cnawan me lic he was locan for me lic he wolde spec to me but then he teorned and he mofd in to the blaec holt and was gan