The Wake (33 page)

there is no gods saes grimcell but in thy deorc heorte man

my men will stand

we is not thy men no mor saes godric we is goan with grimcell we is goan to hereweard. enough of this buccmaster now enough

well here it was here now was the weacness and the smallness of angland. these man is standan locan at me their cyng their great ealdor the man who had macd their werod all in helm and with sweord the man who had led them to sige and in the eald times all wolde haf gan with a man lic this and done his will but now all was weac lic wifmen. i locs around me at these men what had been mine at this land what had been angland. all was standan by the fyr locan at me annis was standan locan at me also and she saed naht lic the fuccan biscop still on his cneows locan on saen naht but with sum lytel fuccan smerc on his ingenga nebb

all is gan

i locs then at the cilde tofe who had cum to us with his swine wantan to feoht thincan us great. tofe who i had tacan to the hus of the eald gods who i had telt of the greatness of them who i had macd in to a man by my own strength. he is locan at the fyr he is not locan at me

tofe cilde i saes will thu help in this thing

tofe does not loc up but cepes locan down at the fyr what now is beornan low. he is still for sum time and when he specs it is low also

i thinc he saes that i will go to hereweard

hereweard

well there is naht else to do then but tac my sweord and use it as great weland had telt me to cwell them what has torn down all that we is in angland. this time grimcell is not fast enough he is not locan not thincan i wolde tac him on and no other cums betweon him and welands sweord. it gan cwic into him with a sound lic the cuttan of mete undor his sculdor and he calls out and locs at the blaed what has gan right through and cum out his baec and he wolde sae sum thing but his muth is all blud. i locs in his eages what is not agan me now not agan me no mor and i pulls out the blaed hard and he calls then lic a cilde and falls hard on to the fyr and for a sceorte moment he writhes lic an ael on the glaif and then he mofs no mor

well then there is all callan and runnan and roaran and annis mofs lic she wolde go to him but i tacs welands great sweord what is all ofer with his blud and i saes thu

hore

thu also is the enemi of this land and of all men and of my wif what thu cwelled and

the eald gods

i mofs to go to her but she is fast and though she is scorte and fatt she is gan

in to the treows

before i can get by the men who is cepan her from me and callan to me buccmaster buccmaster this moste stop and gettan out their scramasaxes and annis is gan then gan in to the treows and

the gods is callan

i is callan and then from the treows on the path what we had cum down with the hors and the biscop we hieres a great sound what is not the sound of one wifman but is the sound of many hors and then the biscop is worcan to stand and he is callan callan in his fuccan frenc ingenga tunge and then we seen in the treows cuman ofer to us men on hors in style with

sweords

the frenc the frenc calls aelfgar and he tacs his scramasax

hoi hoi calls turold biscop or sum succ ingenga words hoi hoi

they ran they will die

thu men i calls thu fuccan esol scuccas thu has cwelled angland thu has cwelled the eald gods. but my men does not lysten for they is standan now by the cwelled bodig of grimcell and they is grippan scramasaxes and axes and bows. tofe aelfgar gamel and siward they is standan and now cuman through the treows on all sides is frenc cnihts on hors and they cums first for the biscop and cuts his line and puts him on a hors what they has brought for him and he calls to them and then he calls to us in the holt lic he is sum mad wiht and he cepes callan thu will cum in to the light thu will cum in to the light

cum in to the light

and did they thinc i wolde stand did they thinc i wolde stand and die with them these esols these cwellers of angland these wifmen who has not been triewe to me

their cyng by right

did they thinc this why wolde tofe loc at me lic i sceolde not run run through the holt in to the yeolo secg by the path that only i cnawan before the frenc colde see me before they colde tac me why did he call

buccmaster buccmaster

why wolde he thinc i wolde be with him now in his death in the death of my small

weac werod

well he was a cilde a cilde only and i an ealdor of this land and angland beornan now and these ingengas these men of style well they was triewe men strong men and we was weac and eald and the biscop is callan callan thu will cum in to the light and my men is callan also lic catts lic cildren and there is sounds of style and i is mofan mofan down the path

baec to the eald hus

to the eald ways i will not stay with this i will not gif my self to this i is

buccmaster of holland

what colde i do what sceolde i do naht naht none stood with me

they wolde not lysten wolde not see

i will gif them naht none is triewe

wolde not lysten wolde not cum

brothor she saes no brothor

what man can stand ofer me

brothor leaf me

trust none

all saes no all is agan me

beorn the hus beorn the land

beorn them all

cepe it cepe it

out deoful

all of the world is blud

thu is my brothor no

buccmaster

deop in the ground deop

they calls they calls lic cildren they calls

where is he he has gan

i will not cum i will not cum

the hafoc has tacan the crow

none is triewe none is triewe

spec to the land cilde spec to the land

she wolde not do what she sceolde

beorn then beorn

a hwit wulf a boar a fox

beorn sistor beorn father

this sweord i has gifen thu

beorn my weac werod beorn

out deoful out

it is deorc it is late

none cums when called

out

late late

none lystens none sees

deoful

deoful

deoful

beorn angland

beorn

ABBODRICE – monastery

AC – oak

ALOR – alder

BLOTMONTH – November (lit. ‘blood month’,

when livestock were killed for winter)

BLUD EARN – (lit. ‘blood eagle.’) Mythical Viking

sacrifice in which the victim’s lungs were cut from his body and pulled up through his back to resemble the wings of an eagle. Historians still argue about whether it was ever used outside the sagas

CARUCATE – measurement of land;
8
oxgangs

make up a carucate

CEAP – market

CENEP – moustache

CICEL – cake

CISERAEPPEL – dried fig

COTTAR – free tenant farmer owing obligation to a

thegn. At least one step below a sokeman on the social ladder

CROCC – cauldron

DANELAUGH – Danelaw; area of northern and

eastern England under Danish settlement and law from the
9
th to
11
th century

EA – river

EARN – eagle

ECED – vinegar

ELE – oil

ENT – giant

EORCA – demon or evil spirit

EOSTURMONTH – April (Easter month)

ESOL – ass

FLOTA – fleet

FNAERETTAN – snoring

FORHEAWAN – cut down

FUGOL – bird

FYRD – conscript army

GAR – lance

GEBUR – landless peasant farmer who owed labour

services to a thegn or sokeman

GELD – taxes

GEOLA – December (Yule)

GEREFA – local official, later known as a reeve,

representing the king or thegn at village level

GLAIF – three-pronged fishing tool used in the fens

GLEOMAN – travelling storyteller, poet and news-

bringer

GREOTAN – crying

HAERIC STAR – ‘hairy star’, comet

HARA – hare

HAFOC – hawk

HEAFODPANNE – skull (lit. ‘headpan’)

HRAGA – heron

HRETHMONTH – February

HRIFTEUNG – stomach ache

HUSCARL – royal bodyguard and elite fighting force

INGENGA – foreigner

LEA – meadow, open field

LEAC – onion

LESCH – reeds

LITHA – May and June

MELU – flour

MICEL – much

NEBB – face

NIGHTGENGA – demon of the night (lit. ‘night-

traveller’)

NITHING – outcast, villain

OXGANG – measurement of land, equivalent to

around
20
acres, said to be the amount a single ox could plough in a season

PETERSILIE – parsley

SCEOMU – shame

SCOPMAN – similar to Gleoman, travelling news-

bringer, storyteller. Also shortened to ‘scop’

SCRAMASAX – dagger

SCUCCA – demon

SENEP – mustard

SIGE – victory

SIGIL – brooch

SLEGE – slaughter

SOCMAN – free tenant farmer. Sokemen were found

only in the eastern counties of the Danelaw. They owed alleigance to the king rather than the thegn, owned their land, and seem to have been a high class of independent landed farmer

SOLMONTH – January

STOCC – trunk

STRAEL – arrow

STUNT – stupid or stubborn person

SWAMM – mushroom

SWEALWE – swallow

THEGN – lord, squire

THRALL – slave

THRIMILCI – April (when cows were milked three

times)

TREEN – woodenware

WAPENTAC – Wapentake, the Danelaw’s equivalent of

a shire court, the basis of local justice in England

WEALSC – the Old English word for both foreigner and

slave was applied to the pre-English (‘Bryttisc’) population. It became the modern word ‘Welsh’

WELIG – willow

WEODMONTH – July (month of weeds)

WERGILD – blood price. A monetary measure of a

life, the wergild was a price put on someone’s head. If you killed them, you had to pay it. A king cost a lot more than a cottar

WEROD – war band

WIHT – living being, creature, animal

WITAN – gathering of the highest men in the land –

earls, powerful thegns and bishops. Before the Normans introduced automatic hereditary monarchy, English kings were elected by the Witan

WITHIG – wreath

WYRD – fate, destiny

WYRMFLEOGE – dragonfly

WYRT – herb