The Wake (26 page)

there is hylls to the south with great scips under them and in efry scip a great cyng

to go to the crist to be sent to ingengas after all he had gifen

in efry scip a cyng

i cnawan what i moste do and i felt it in me and strong i was stronger than efer i haf been. it was the night of the same daeg my grandfather died there was a half mona and many clouds in the heofon. i gan up from the hus in stillness for my father and my sistor aelfgifu was slepan. i gan out then to the feld and i stood and i loccd all about me. i was thincan of what my grandfather telt me about the eald gods about erce and woden and i was thincan they may cum then they may cum to tac him baec but none cum

an ule called in the holt and i gan down on my cneows in the feld. it was cold and the grass was wet and i gan to my cneows and locd up at the mona mofan across the heofon and i cnawan

i gan to the fenn i gan through the felds and holt and in to the secg i gan in to the water up to my cneows. i was felan about it was so deorc the mona was behind clouds and i was wet my arms my scancs locan in the reods for it. i hierde sounds in the water dabchiccs or otrs or nightgengas i colde not tell and i was afeart. then i found the boat my grandfathers eald boat and i toc it to the ecg

it was a small boat and not hefig and soon i had it out of the water and i dragged it up and out of the fenn through the feld and the small holt and to the hus. then i was afeart triewe for as i cum near i seen sum one standan still before the hus and loccan down at me. i thought it was my grandfather and then my father and then a deorc aelf i stopped and then i seen

it was aelfgifu standan locan at me cuman up through the feld draggan the boat and she mofd towards me now and the mona cum out and she in her hwit night scirt lic the swan wif of weland she was scinan in the light

do not do this brothor she saes to me

there is hylls with scips in them i saes

she tacs my arm then and stills me she colde always still me

brothor she saes this will bring a deorcness

it is right it is the eald way

thu is sic his goan has macd thu mad

i gan to her then and i toc her in my hands rough for i was ired at this i toc her by the arms she fell the grass was wet she fell to the ground and i with her she beneath me abuf lic a man and his wif

on the ground we did not spec for a sceort time we breathd i loccd down at her her eages was wide ah she was a beuty i held her

well i gan up and i lifted her and she stood and i loccd at her and for a time we saed naht only locan and then i spoc still

i is not sic sistor this is my wyrd

father will harm thu

he is no man

he is a man and thu is a cilde

this night i will be man

well what colde she do i was a man and she a wifman a maeden she colde not stand before me she colde not stop me. i toc the boat to the hus and i laid it by the door and in to the hus i gan. i toc my grandfathers sweord from the beam where it was still. i toc also a belt what was his i toc a scramasax and his treen what he ate foda from. i toc sum of the blosms and herbs what the wifmen had put on him. in the deorc of the hus his great hwit bodig was dim i felt lic it wolde rise and cum to me

i toc these things together from the hus to the boat and i laid them in it

brothor what will thu do saes aelfgifu who is standan there locan and frettan. will thu mac a hyll lic in the eald times thu can not brothor stop this is wrong

i can not mac a hyll i saes i has no freonds in this i is alone. we will put his bodig in the boat sistor and we will tac him to the fenn. we will fyr the boat and it will go away on the mere to the world of the dead at the root of the great treow of lif

well aelfgifu is locan at me lic she locs sum times at the swine what will be ate soon for mete. i cnawan it was my wyrd i cnawan what i was called to do and naht she colde sae wolde stop this in the heofon in the ground i colde feel it was tacan its path

sistor i saes i can not tac him alone

no

he is hefig thu moste

no i will not

i gan to her and i locd at her and toc her hands then and she loccd at me

for him i saes for grandfather

she macs a sound lic she is sic but still holdan her hands i tacs her in to the hus where he lies. my father is fnaetteran i hieres him loud. we gan slow to my grandfathers bodig and we is both afeart

tac his feet i saes help me and i gan then to his sculdors and i stands for a time locan and then i breathes deop. he is cold so cold i breathes again deop and i saes still i saes grandfather this is for the eald hus and i tacs him then by the sculdors and i worcs to tac him from the bier and on to the ground

oh he is hefig mor hefig than it seemed i can not hold him he begins to mof and i can not cepe him in my arms. aelfgifu sees what is cuman and she leaps baec and she cries loud and i tries to hold him but i can not. the bier and the blosms and the herbs and my grandfathers bodig cums down hard to the ground and it seems the sound they macs can be hierde in all the fenns in the scir

it seems cwiccer than the hafoc that my father is upon us cuman out of the deorc in his hwit clothes and here here is the nightgenga not in the fenn not in the holt but in the hus. aelfgifu is wepan now wepan loud she locs up at him he strics her hard only one time across the nebb and she falls baec callan and wepan she falls in to the door and to the ground but it is me he has cum for. my father cums to me lic fenris wulf at the end of all things he cums down and he does not stop he is hittan me now in the nebb now in the guttas he saes naht he does not loc at me only beats and beats me in the guttas ofer ofer

this lifs with me now and will lif when all other things is gan. if he had spac called roared all this i colde haf ridden but he saed naht only came beatan and beatan lic there was naht to sae no mor lic he moste wear himself down on the stan before he colde efen spec. nefer had i seen this in him nefer had i cnawan it was within him and i his son his son

aelfgifu and i was on the ground wepan and callan and the bodig of my grandfather on the ground also twisted his scirt half off his eages open locan at the ground his tunge cuman from his mouth. my father he wears down and he stops he breathes micel and fast and then at last he locs at me and i seen his hwit eages in the deorc of his eald hus

out deoful he saes out out out

i cnawan it then i cnawan it always why had i forgot. when my yfel father cum at me i cnawan it when ecceard cum for my boys i cnawan it when my wifman my own fuccan wifman gan agan me i cnawan it always i cnawan it well now i cnawan it triewe and deop lic it was carfan in my flaesc. weland spac it all of the wilde world spac it when i wolde lysten

trust none

it is hard to tell now of what my father done of what i done it macs me feel small to loc baec it macs me feel sceomu. i wolde not tell thu of this but i wolde haf folcs cnaw of the yfel what has been done to our land and of the yfel what cums on them who worcs to right it. all my lif i has worced to right yfel i has worced to waecen men to mac them see and all my lif i has been beat in the guttas for it. trust none but the treows the meres the ground trust none but the dead

we sat the rest of the daeg in the holt we did not efen light a fyr we satt and loccd. i saed lytel all loccd at me to be ealdor to be ring gifer but they colde see i was thincan was thincan of what to do to sae. oft i gan in to the treows to thinc to sec my wyrd from the wihts and from weland and my men colde see this and loccd up at me for it

tofe for a long time was wepan for this osbern who was gan under the frenc hors. he did not sae micel only wept and sum times stopped and loccd around lic he colde see through all things.

tofe cilde saes grimcell do not weep do not weep

frenc gold saes aelfgar who is locan blaec and aemty frenc gold who will it not buy

i cnawan ulf for many years saes grimcell he was a good man but it bought him

it will not buy me saes tofe nefer

this gleoman saes siward he cum to our ham for years he always seemed good

there is no good men now i saes none

we is good men saes siward bound in blud

well i saes naht to this i did not cnaw this man well why wolde i trust him. the frenc has toc our anglisc gold and uses it to buy anglisc folcs

for sum time we satt there but as night cum i stood and i spoc to my men and i spoc strong

men i saes we has been sold none can be trusted now none. we has gifen our selfs too free to others. there is no triewth beyond this holt no triewth in men. triewth is in the ground in the treows i has lystned too micel to men. well i is ealdor of this werod and i will lysten no mor we will gan baec to the hus we macd so long ago in this wud and we will mac this place a castel of our own. no frenc will be safe from us no mor no man will be safe from us. if thu is strong cum if thu is weac stay

i teorned then and though the deorc was cuman i gan in to the holt and i cept walcan and after sum time i hierde behind me the steps of fife men

so this is thy castel

strong as the treows

and thu will lif here lic wifmen

we will mac war

war

thu will see

i sees naht

no mor specan now

then what

feohtan cwellan

lic great hereweard

lic the gods

hereweard hereweard oh still we hierde of him all this year. hereweard has cwelled mor frenc hereweard has beorned a tun hereweard has tacan a castel. hereweard has one hundred men he has gan to an ealond in the fenns there he macs a great torr and not efen the bastard can tac him. the denes is cuman the denes cums in scips they will cum to the ealond and with hereweard will tac lundun and cwell the frenc and angland will be ours again

this is what was saed at this time by esols all ofer the fenns and around. esols will belyf any thing what is telt them this hereweard none had efen seen him. none had fuccan seen him but he was a great cyng in their heafods. they wolde see me they wolde see us they wolde see

there was six of us now six in our place in the holt. this place it was my castel for the hus we had macd we now macd strong. we dug dicces around this place and we macd waepns and cept them in treows and under the ground. with lines we macd ladders up the treows and we locd out on to the land and colde see and hiere any folcs cuman. if any frenc cum here we wolde haf many ways to tac them and if anglisc cum we wolde see them cwic

i wolde let no man cum in to this place who we did not cnaw no mor gleomen wolde cum to us nor beorners nor no other men. i sent this siward out in to the holt to hiere what men saed of us and of the land and of angland. he wolde go out sum times for a daeg or mor and he wolde cum baec to tell us how things was and this way i wolde thinc of how we colde best do what now we moste do

siward had tales for us soon enough. it was only one wice or a lytel mor after stan ford that we hierde we had a new cwen in angland. the bastards wifman who was named matilda had cum ofer from the frenc lands and in lundun had been macd cwen of angland. it was saed that the bastard now felt safe in angland now felt this land was his and colde bring her here to see her new gems. well we wolde do to her what weland did to the cwen of nithad and he was thincan the same then and i colde feel it

it colde haf bene the cuman of the cwen that macd them rise but it was not long after this that siward cum to us with tales of men all ofer angland cuman together for war. in the northern parts of angland it was saed men was still free for the bastard had not gan so far and wolde not. in the south parts he had toc all things and macd his castels and sent out his cnihts to cwell and beorn but in the north the lands and the folcs was wilde still. nefer has i been to these north lands but then in the holt i wolde oft thinc of them and thinc that maybe these was places lic my grandfather had spac of where anglisc men and anglisc ground is still wilde and free

there was two eorls of the north lands they was called edwin and morcar they was the only anglisc eorls now all others had been cwelled and their lands toc by frenc hunds. many things was saed about these eorls it was saed that aetheling edgar who had been macd cyng after harold was cwelled though only a cilde it was saed he was in the north with these eorls and it was saed also that malcolm cyng of the scots was with them. efen the wealsc i hierde at this time efen the wilde wealsc whose cyngs was lic deofuls wilder than the fenns efen the wealsc now was specan to the northern eorls of standan agan the bastard for the scots and the wealsc colde see what this deoful was and that he wolde want them as he wanted us

that fuccan gleoman that fuccan lyan gleoman micel scit had he spac to us but in this it seemed he had telt sum small triewth for edwin and morcar now they spac of bringan anglisc folcs together in a fyrd. they was specan saed siward to the cyng of the denes who is called sweyn ascan him to cum in scips and feoht with them. in the north of angland there has been denes for many years the folcs there is half ingenga it is saed and this is why i wolde not trust them. well there is many folcs who is dene and half dene in the north and they saed to this sweyn cum and feoht with us agan the bastard and the corona of angland will be thine. this is where angland had cum to this poor fuccd land to asc one ingenga to cwell another ingenga to cepe it safe fuccd we was fuccd and beorned

well sum thing was cuman it colde be seen. by the sumor of that year siward cum to us with tidans efry daeg from the hams and the tuns and the straets around the brunnesweald. he wanted to bring folcs he had met on the paths who wolde spec to us and he saed wolde be part of my werod but i wolde not haf this no mor i saed we can not trust none no mor. but sum thing was cuman for sure for these eorls they had put out a call all ofer angland to grene men and triewe men be ready they had saed be ready to rise when thu hieres of what we will do

and when will thu rise