The Wake (6 page)

micel rowan did my grandfather do through the secg and the lesch below the reed and down streams deorc and windan and nefer did i thinc we wolde find our way baec efer to our hus so far was we in to the fenn. the secg had been cuman in ofer us for a long time and it was locan lic we was in a deop place in the ground but after many hours we cum to a place where it fell baec and there opened before us a great mere hecged around with yeolo secg and singan with the call of coot and hraga

my grandfather then he rowed us slow to the middel of this mere and he stopped rowan and he toc the ars wet and dryppan into the boat and we roccd then with the wind and the water. and my grandfather he saes to me loc into the water cilde loc down

and i loccd then into the deorc water and at first i colde see naht but the blaec and the ael and the writhan caddis and the grene ropes of mos on the water still but my grandfather was specan lic he meant to hiere a good answer from me so i cept locan and then lic sum masc had cum off my nebb sudden i seen the treows

under the boat under the water and not so deop was the stocc of a great blaec treow torn to its root lic a tooth in the mouth of an eald wif. a great treow it was wid and blaec as the fyrs aesc blaec as the deorcness beyond the hall on a night when the mona sleeps and as i was locan i seen another and another and i colde see that under this mere was a great holt a great eald holt of treows bigger than any i had seen efer in holland and ealdor i was sure ealdor efen than my grandfather. and through the waters these treows they seemed to stir though in triewth they was still as the graef and blaeccer

then i specs to my grandfather lic he is sum wicce what is this grandfather i saes what is this holt under the water what world is this. i was thincan many things that afeart me then i was thincan this was the land where aelfs cums from or that ents or dweorgs was here or efen that it was the hall under the mere in what grendel was lifan and that his mothor was cuman for me under my lytel boat. until my grandfather spac i efen thought he was him self an aelf or an eorca in a mans masc cum to tac me to his world of blaec and yfel and me no place to run

my grandfather then he left the ars still in the boat and we was driftan slow on a wind that was so lytel we colde not feel it and naht near but the yeolo secg and naht hierde but fugols and wyrmfleoges and driftan then ofer the great blaec treows he telt me of the holt of the lost gods of angland

he telt me that in the time before the crist angland was ham to a hus of gods what was born of this ground and what lifd in it among the folc. and these gods he saed was not lic the crist they was not ingenga gods bound about in lies and words not gods of fear unseen in the heofon what priccd man sore and bound him with laws and afeart him with fyr but these was gods of the treows and the water lic we is folc of them

the ealdor of these he saes was woden also called grim who walcced the duns and the high hylls woden cyng of the gods of angland from who all triewe anglisc cyngs is cum in blud. and before the crist saes my grandfather and i hierde from others after that this is triewe though then i wolde not belyf him before the crist he telt me it was woden what was hung fyrst on a treow and woden holed with a spere until waters cum from him and woden who fell lic he was cwelled then cum up again and in risan was gifen the wisdom of the world in the runes. and woden then was called upon by anglisc folc in holt and feld and now the preosts they tells us he is the deoful himself though they has tacan his lif for the tale of their own god the hwit crist who nefer cums

woden has a wifman my grandfather saes also and her name is frig and for all wifmen frig is a freond in the birth of cildren and in luf and in all wifly things. and the first son of woden and frig was thunor freond of all wilde places god with a hamor what waepen brought on the lightnan itself. and his brothor was balder whose beuty was greater efen than the beuty of the fenn in winter efen than of my wifman edith. and his brothor also was ing ealdor of the holt who steered the waegn of lif through the grene months who colde becum a boar for feohtan and for specan to the land and all wihts

and these gods saes my grandfather these gods was lic our folc lic my edith to me and thy good mothor to thu before she was tacan. these gods was lifan here in this holt in the daegs before the waters cum and drencced it. this was the holt of the eald gods for they had no hus lic us now they was not weac lic us they was of treow and ground

and ofer all these gods he saes ofer efen great woden was their mothor who is mothor of all who is called erce. erce was this ground itself was angland was the hafoc and the wyrmfleoge and the fenn and the wid sea and the fells of the north and efen the ys lands. and great erce it was who brought the waters to cum ofer the holt of the eald gods and to drenc the treows so they is now lytel stoccs
for she seen that the folc of angland had teorned from them to this crist the lyan god who specs of heofon but cnawan not our own ground. for erce she is the ground herself and until anglisc folcs sees what they has done the holt of the gods will be for efer under the deorc waters of this fenn and the gods will be lost to us.

and the gods he saes the gods them selfs waits still beneath these waters for us to cum baec and when angland is in need if we call them they will cum all of them from the eald holt below this fenn mere and feoht again with anglisc men agan any and heaw them down

the treows in the mere was beorned in to me that daeg and until i is in my deop graef always i will see them. ah my grandfather the crist he saed wolde nefer cum all the strength of preost and biscop he wolde sae all their hold ofer men is in this one lie that the crist will cum to recen with them all but he nefer cums. and my grandfather he had seen this for when he was a yonge man micel of the world was in high thryll for it had been a thousand years since the crist cum saed all the preosts and biscops and for many years it had been saed this was the year he wolde cum again

and for one full year folcs was wepan and biddan and sean signs in the heofon and all preosts and biscops was saen it will be tomergen and then again tomergen. and then when the year was gan at last with a thousand fyrs on a thousand hylls ofer angland and folcs callan up to heofon on them and when it was done and the crist was still not cum then the preosts and the biscops they saed naht mor and it was nefer spoc of again. and then saed my grandfather then their lies was claere and yet dumb men still belyfs them and triewely he saed most men is hunds or esols and not to be loccd up to

well my grandfather was a wise man in many things and of the hunds and esols he spac triewe and of the crist also. but of the lost gods under the mere the eald gods who wolde cum again when angland called well i was callan them i was callan them from fenn and holt and they did not feoht for angland. woden thunor ing they did not cum for harald cyng for dunstan or eadberht or odelyn lic they had not cum for all the men of sanlac. lic they had not cum to stand agan the bastard and send him baec to the sea with the frenc hunds he bring to eat our land lic goats

but i sceolde spec with care for i did call and sum thing

sum thing cum

sum one cum

sum one cum and is still here

but i will spec now while he is still i will spec to thu of the fyrs beginnan as was seen in fugol and in star and in many other signs what the fenn gaf to me.

my sons and my best gebur was tacan from me in high sumor and i did belyf this wolde cwell us. i had to go with asger to the meado and sithe and succ was the grass and succ the month that odelyn also and efen annis moste sithe though this is not wifmans worc their worc bean to reap only. but naht mor colde we do and so annis moste sithe and lay the grass in windrows and then we moste all mac riccs for the hig and dry it and tac it to the barn what was still in need of worc. and later also annis moste help in cuttan and feccan in the waet and the baerlic at haerfest then gleanan and grindan the flour for the loaf for though ecceard had saed my men wolde be baec they was not and on our land the crops grow cwic and the weods long. and the swine too was needan worc also the sceap and oxen and our one hors and the treows and when the aeppels
was
growan annis moste mac of it what she colde for the winter and also do all other wifly things and i moste be worcan on barn and heges and heawan in the holt and tendan to the haerfest and locan at asger that he not cut off his hand with an ax or sum other dumb thing

well ecceard had not gan with the fyrd he bean gerefa and he bean also a man who is gan when hard things cum and many a time i was wantan to go to the ham and tell him how i felt about this but i cnawan in triewth it was not ecceard who was wrong. oft i thought i wolde lic to see harald cyng cum and worc on my barn as he had toc my men but other times i thought that if it was triewe about the landwaster and the frenc duc and the brothor of the cyng and all then harald cyng wolde be needan mor than my gebur and dunstan with his ire and his cildes dreams

and then it was seofon wices after the helmed man cum and from the treows on the path i seen sum one cuman. locan from the waet feld what asger and i was ploughan for the autumn sawan i seen by how he was mofan that i cnawan this man and from the barn odelyn cnawan the same and she was runnan to him cwic for it was eadberht cum baec

eadberht my son she saes my cilde thu is baec and she locs at him all ofer and i gan to him also and seen that he was micel the same

mothor father saes eadberht

where is dunstan saes my wifman then and in her eages there is fear

i does not cnaw saes eadberht for he was sent to other places and i has not seen my brothor in many wices

then did thu feoht the dene i saes or the frenc or the aelfs of the holt for thu is not micel bruised for a feohtan man

there was no feohtan saes eadberht and as efer his nebb is straight he smerccd lytel this one he was a stille man. there was no feohtan naht cum harald cyng he feared the cuman of the frenc duc from the sea to the south for he hierde the duc had many scips on the frenc strands with hors in and many waepend men ready to sail. the duc was cuman it was saed and this harald cyng feared and still fears and so the fyrd he placed along the strands and clifs of the south and the flota all in the ports and there we satt for six wices and from the sea we seen naht but fugols and the wood and weod that cum in on the waefs

it is as i telt thu i saed sittan in felds in wessex locan at the sea when there is haerfest to be gathered in holland

well sum men saes it is not so saes eadberht and i seen that bean in other parts had macd him mor braesen in his own hus. triewe feohtan men he saes and those who has been to other parts saes harald cyng is right to be wary of this for the duc of the frenc belyfs he is triewe cyng of the anglisc. it is saed around fyrs when it is wise to spec that eald edweard who was cyng before harald bean frenc in half his blud gifen the corona of angland to the duc and that harald saed also to this geeyome as he is called that angland was his by right and now the duc geeyome is in a great ire and will cum to tac the corona from harald and his heafod with it

then why is thu baec saes my wifman

he is baec i saes for the cyng may asc six wices fyrd duty from a man and no mor in any year and good it is that he is cum baec though it is six wices too long for the barn is still broc and micel of the waet is forspilled

and the strands of angland is now open to all saes eadberht and if the duc cums now he will tac mor from us than our waet

for three daegs then odelyn fretted and clucced lic a cycen for she was afeart that her dunstan was gan may be tacan by the sea or by out laws or may be the duc had cum in the end and there had been a great feoht and him with no sweord though she was wise not to sae this. me i was wantan dunstan baec and my gebur gamel also for it was sawan time and we was micel behind in worc but gamel he nefer cum baec and where he gan or what wyrd he found i nefer cnawan. gamel had sum lytel land in this ham and a hus both gifen by me and for this he moste worc for me a lytel and gif me sum lytel geld it was a good lif i gif him so why he wolde go i do not cnaw. but sum men secs in other lands what they belyfs they is due though in triewth what they has is better than they thinc

in these three daegs also i saw sum new things in eadberht for though he was still gifan due in his talcan to me he was also waxan mor lic a man and it seemed that in his goan to other lands he had left sum part of him out there still. not efen feohtan but only walcan in other lands can do this to men as i cnawan well. also i seen it triewe when after three daegs dunstan cum baec ofer the felds

it was the efen when he cum deorcness was gathered in and we was in the hus around the fyr with was a crocc of broth of lamb and baerlic and we was all eten this with the good baerlic loaf what odelyn macd well and we was eten with micel lust for the daeg had been long. then it was that sounds was hierde from without and before efen we colde stand dunstan cum through the door with his lytel sacc and a new seax at his belt that had not been his before

odelyn runs to him as wifmen does and eadberht also stands and he grips his brothors sculdor and saes brothor in such a way as i had not seen

dunstan my cilde i saes not standan up sitt with us and eat thy mothors broth for i hiere it has been hard for thu feohtan with sea weods and with the water. this was a joc but dunstan he did not understand jocs and as he had done no feohtan it seemed he wolde do it here. he locs at me then with that fyr in him that i was hopan wolde be cwelled by his goan

father he saes i see things here is as efer they was

yes i saes this is triewe the barn is still broc and the weods is still in the felds

and thu is as efer thu was also he saes. eadberht and odelyn they both locs at him lic he sceolde stop and in triewth he sceolde haf

i is still thy father yes i saes and i is tellan thu now to eat for in the mergen there is worc to be done i has lost one gebur and will not lose mor worc than i moste

thu thincs this is sum joc he saes and he is loccan at me right at me and now i sees it is time to end this he is still a cilde though he may thinc not. i stands