The Wake (20 page)

fucc saes grimcell and i locs at him now for i has nefer hierde him spec with ire lic this. fucc man he saes does thu not cnawan what these frenc has done to thy cynn folc

my cynn folc is here saes the gerefa the frenc has done naht

loc i saes and i saes this now not only to this scucca of a gerefa but to all folcs in the barn who is all gathran round. loc i saes at this yonge man this yonge cilde and here i tacs tofe by the sceoldor. this yonge cilde i saes this yonge anglisc cilde he seen his father and his mothor cwelled before him by the frenc hunds thu gifs thy geld to. they cum in to his ham on great deorc hors one daeg lic this daeg now and they toc this boys mothor and they fuccd her on the ground before him in the straet before all his cynn folc all these frenc hunds they fuccd her in the dirt lic a wiht and then they slit her cunt with frenc style and she bled there before her son

there is gaspan and whispran at this and tofe he mofs lic he wants to spec but i locs at him and he does not

and this yonge boys father i saes well he toc on these frenc hunds with scramasax as any triewe man wolde and sum other men of this ham they done so also and they cwelled many but they was cut down too then they was gelded alyf and hanged before all the folcs of the ham as a warnan to all anglisc folcs of who was their mastors now. well tofe now he locs small but the folcs of this ham they is triewely ired to hiere this

well now gerefa i saes it seems thy folcs is not so in luf with these fuccan ingenga hunds as thu is. colde it be that thu is tacan frenc gold colde it be that lic all gerefas in all hams thu is a fuccan little hund who tacs what he is gifen by his mastors as long as it cums also with gold

well at this there is sum smercan from sum folc behind the gerefa who is locan ired with me mor

tac thy flocc of wud wihts and leaf this ham he saes for by bean here thu is bringan all these folcs to hearm. does thu thinc i does not cnaw this we has all hierde the tales but we is cepan to our ways and doan our worc and gifan our geld and this way all men has wifs and all wifs husbonds and all cildren has fathers and mothors. if thu wolde tac thy one sweord agan all of the frenc then do this but no men of this ham will cum to thu

thu is a hund saes grimcell that is all a hund

it colde be that i is a hund saes the gerefa but my folcs is alyf and free as efer they was

i locs around but no men cums to us well what can we do there is naht else

cum men i saes to my werod there is no free folcs here only thralls

thralls saes tofe and him and grimcell and the gleoman who has saed naht only locd on they cums with me out of the barn in to the light

well when we got baec in to the treows i sat down by the aesc of the fyr and the others sat with me

these men saes grimcell is all esols. i has not seen grimcell ired and specan lic this before and it is good

esols saes tofe yes esols and dumb hunds. my men i thincs they is men now for sure they is men of my fyrd of my werod it is good to see it macs me strong

gleoman i saes thu has saed naht tell us thy thoughts on this

well saes the gleoman they is men and they wolde lif that is all. many hams there is all ofer angland lic this they has been spared spere and fyr why wolde they asc it in

esols saes tofe again

afeart saes the gleoman that is all afeart and hidan from the storm

then the storm will tac us all down i saes

a storm saes the gleoman cums from heofon it cannot be feoht only lifd through

this storm can be feoht

by thu

by us by others

well saes the gleoman there is many who wolde thinc these great words

well this is sum thing

thu

what will thu bring now

bring

what will thu bring to this ham what has moccd thu

they is afeart

thu is afeart

nefer

anglisc folcs who wolde be frenc what is they worth

naht

their barn is full of baerlic and thu eats leafs

they moccd us

moccd the gods

they is not anglisc

all angland sleeps while thy lif is dreaned

men i saes we is goan baec

baec saes tofe

baec to this ham i saes these folcs they moccd us moccd the grene men moccd the holt moccd angland. they is worse than frenc these folcs and if they will not feoht they will gif us geld for our worc

this is good saes tofe

geld saes grimcell

foda i saes foda ealu waepens things we need. if they will not feoht with us they will gif us means to feoht and lif it is only right we feohts for them all

well saes grimcell it colde be

i will stay here i thincs saes the gleoman for this feoht is not mine

it is the feoht of all folcs in angland i saes to him in ire and he bows his heafod sum small way and saes o yes buccmaster this is of course triewe but i is not a feohtan man and so i will stay here and tend this fyr for when thu cums baec

well i does not need this esol with his smercan and his stillness so tofe and grimcell and i we gan baec in to creatas tun where the barn is still loud with song and the sunne is still scinan in the heofon and in to the barn we gan again and as before stillness cums down as we is seen

folcs of creatas tun i saes and i saes it strong. we has ascd thu to cum with us to feoht with us to feoht for angland and all thy folcs and thu has saed naht thu has staed here steppan and singan and drincan while anglisc men lies in their blud rottan in felds and in holts. well if thu is esols and small folcs this is well for we does not want thu feohtan with us but thu can at least feed thy fyrd. we is needan foda and ealu and boots and line and fyr stans and thu can gif these things to us if thu will not gif thy arms and sweords

well for a small time there is no sound but then the gerefa he cums from the folcs and this time not alone this time he has three men with him big men of the ham and he is ired again and he cums to us cwic. well i tacs my sweord from my belt cwic and i mofs it about so that the light of the sunne what cums through slits and through the door of the barn is tacan by the blaed and sent in to the eages of folcs and there is sum gaspan at sean my sweord with runes and wyrms and the carfans of the eald times upon its blaed and this is good this feels good and now i seen it i seen it

this is welands sweord i calls macd for me and my cynn by the eald smith of the beorgs so that we may feoht for angland in deorcest times. the gerefa and his freonds then they stops before us and i seen that tofe and grimcell has scramasaxes in their hands and that these men from the ham they does also

i has telt thu go from here saes the gerefa go

thu will gif us geld i saes for thu is a scucca and angland is in need

thu is not angland i will tell thu again go or we will send thu away

will thu send this sweord away gerefa will thu send weland away

i will asc thu again it is the last time go

gif us geld

well things mofd cwic then and i can not sae now how things was for i was not thincan not doan and weland it seemed weland toc my sweord from me then and done with it what sceolde be done. the men from the ham cum to us with scramasax to mof us from the barn and tofe and grimcell they gan for them and weland he gan for the gerefa and a roar there was in the barn succ as there had nefer been and the gerefa fell with the sweord in his heorte and he did not mac a sound only fell and was still then for efer. and sean this the other men of the ham they ran baec and i seen tofe was hearmd his arm bledan and his nebb hwit but these folcs they was small folcs and when they seen what my great sweord done they was hwit also and they gan baec from us

i telt thu i calls i telt thu what wolde cum of moccan the grene men now thy esol gerefa is cwelled by welands sweord by anglands sweord for thy fear and thy greotan. o they was wepan now and fearan they sceolde haf lystened to us to me

gif us foda i saes gif us loafs and mete gif us boots and fyr stans and line and we will leaf thu to thy singan and thu may thinc on what thu has cum to

well we was baec in the holt with the gleoman soon enough and with us we brought mete and loafs and fyr stans and a line and also sum ealu in flascs and i had been gifen boots what had been this gerefas. two men had tacan us around the ham and gifen us these things in stillness my sweord still out and still wet and we had tacan them and this was right for now we had what we was needan to feoht and feoht we must. tofe he was cut on his arm but the cut was small and we had clened it in water and put cloth on it and now he loccd not hwit but strong with pryde

the gleoman he is only sittan on the ground there is no fyr he is sittan by a treow eages scut

ulf saes grimcell waec mac a fyr we will eat

eat

we has foda ealu many things

we has cwelled the esol gerefa saes tofe proud

cwelled saes the gleoman cwelled why

do not asc why i saes thu did not cum

he fell on buccmasters sweord saes grimcell he wolde not lysten

cwelled saes the gleoman well this is bad is it not

it is good saes tofe for he was a hund

it is bad saes grimcell yes it is bad and he locs at the aesc of the fyr. so many is cwelled in angland and now there is one mor

and this one cwelled by anglisc folcs saes the gleoman not frenc

light the fuccan fyr gleoman i saes thu is with us only through our mildness of heorte thu has done naht for us. this gerefa was ascd for foda and he cum to feoht us well what was we to do but stand if he is cwelled he brought it to him self

well saes the gleoman the frenc will hiere of this and of the grene men in these wuds

then good let them cum to us let them all fuccan cum to us now light the fuccan fyr

well the gleoman lit the fyr and we coccd cycen what we had been gifen and dranc ealu and there was loafs also though i wolde not let us eat all this foda sum we moste tac with us. we had got melu to mac cicels and loafs and swine mete smocd and so we was blithe and was drencan and talcan. we had been hungord and when our guttas was full of coccd cycen and ealu we forgot the gerefa and spac of what we wolde do now strong as we was and growan

for sum time we satt there in the later part of that daeg the sunne ofer the treows warman the wuds where we was. tofe when he has dronc too micel ealu he starts talcan of the aelfs what lifs in the holt and how he is afeart of them and grimcell and ulf they is laughan at him and him saen stop do not mocc aelfs is to be afeart and this sets the gleoman on his tales again

aelfs he saes ah yes they is to be feart for aelfs is the ealdest of eald things does thu cnawan from where they has cum

tofe saes no though i wolde reccen he has hierde this scit before

ah well in eden saes the gleoman when adam and efa was the first folcs of all folcs it is saed that efa had many cildren so many that she was full of sceomu and she hid sum of these cildren from god she hyd them in fenn and holt. but the father he is great and can see all things and he seen these cildren and he saed to efa let them who is hydan from me be hydan from all men and these cildren then they growan to be all the hydan folcs of this world. sum becum aelfs the wud elf and sea elf and ground elf and sum becum dweorgs who lifs in cafs and in deorc places underneath and sum becum pucas who was lic aelfs but who lifs in all wuds and sings in the night to tease men

well gleoman i saes thu does not always spec succ scit as this it colde be that thu is druncen. this is all scit from the preosts i saes it seems to me that i can not go to any place in angland efen to the deopest eald holt where scit from preosts and their bocs has not gan. aelfs i saes is eald folcs lic we is eald folcs and lic the eald gods and all has been on this eorth since all time and all is macd to be in their place. the gods them selfs they has places woden is god of beorgs and duns thunor is of the heofon of the lihtnan and air frigg is of the grene holt ing is of the aeppel treows all has their place. aelfs place is in the wuds and in the grene places far from men dweorgs cums from under the ground ents lifs in the eald tuns of the brocn folcs from long ago before efen the wealsc and man is of the ham and the felds. other things there is too scuccas and deofuls and eorcas and they is of their own deorc places and will cwell men if seen

well this is a tale saes the gleoman

it is the triethwe i saes drencan mor ealu it is thy rot what is a tale the triewth is that all things and all folcs has their place what was set when the world was macd and when they gan from that place to others then erce is ired and the great tree of lif what binds all things to all other things then is mofd by its roots. and when all things is in places where they sceolde not be when aelfs has been drifen from the holts by men and dweorgs is ofer the ground not under it and frenc is in angland and ingenga gods is in our heortes then all is broc. then the treow will cum down in a great storm and all will be gan it will be man what has broc the land for efer

buccmaster saes grimcell who is druncen now too thu tells a good tale it was well cnawan in our ham

what was well cnawan i saes

thy tales he saes the eald gods thy cynn all cnawan of the things thu wolde sae thu and thy grandfather

do not spec of him in this way i saes he was a great man

yes saes grimcell well i did not cnaw him but why man why does thu spec of the eald gods in these times in these times of the crist

the crist sceolde not be here lic the frenc sceolde not be here

the crist has been here since eald times buccmaster there is circes and preosts and folcs is all folcs of the crist now and we all has seen what the crist can do

has not the crist brought us blud for our synns saes tofe this is what is saed angland is in synn and now the crist gifs us to the deoful and these eald gods buccmaster and these aelfs and dweorgs they is deofuls worcan wicce craeft to tac folc from god to the deoful in hel