The Roots of the Mountains<br />Wherein Is Told Somewhat of the Lives of the Men of Burgdale, Their by William Morris (best authors to read txt) 📕

after the overthrow we shall be free to send men back to Burgdale by way of Shadowy Vale.  I deem that herein Folk-might hath the right of it.’

‘Even so say I,’ said the Alderman; ‘besides, we might theft leave more folk behind us for the warding of the Dale.  So, son, the risk whereof thou speakest groweth the lesser the longer it is looked on.’

Then spake the Dale-warden: ‘Yet saving your wisdom, Alderman, the risk is there yet.  For if these felons come into the Dale at all, even if the folk left behind hold the Burg and keep themselves unmurdered, yet may they not hinder the foe from spoiling our homesteads; so that our folk coming back in triumph shall find ruin at home, and spend weary days in hunting their foemen, who shall, many of them, escape into the Wild-wood.’

‘Yea,’ said the Sun-beam, ‘sooth is that; and Face-of-god is wise to think of it and of other matters.  Yet one thing we must bear in mind, that all may not go smoothly in our day’s work in Silver-dale; so we must have force there to fall back on, in case we miss our stroke at first.  Therefore, I say, send we no man to Rose-dale, and leave we no able man-at-arms behind in the Burg, so that we have with us every blade that may be gathered.’

Iron-face smiled and said: ‘Thou art wise, damsel; and I marvel that so fair-fashioned a thing as thou can think so hardly of the meeting of the fallow blades.  But hearken! will not the Dusky Men hear that we have stripped the Dale of fighting-men, and may they not then give our host the go-by and send folk to ruin us?’

There was silence while Face-of-god looked down on the board; but presently he lifted up his face and said:

‘Folk-might was right when he said that all must be risked.  Let us leave Rose-dale till we have overcome them of Silver-dale.  Moreover, my father, thou must not deem of these felons as if they were of like wits to us, to forecast the deeds to come, and weigh the chances nicely, and unravel tangled clews.  Rather they move p. 261like to the stares in autumn, or the winter wild-geese, and will all be thrust forward by some sting that entereth into their imaginations.  Therefore, if they have appointed one moon to wear before they fall upon us, they will not stir till then, and we have time enough to do what must be done.  Wherefore am I now of one mind with the rest of you.  Now meseemeth it were well that these things which we have spoken here, and shall speak, should not be noised abroad openly; nay, at the Folk-mote it would be well that nought be said about the day or the way of our onslaught on Silver-dale, lest the foe take warning and be on their guard.  Though, sooth to say, did I deem that if they had word of our intent they of Rose-dale would join themselves to them of Silver-dale, and that we should thus have all our foes in one net, then were I fain if the word would reach them.  For my soul loathes the hunting that shall befall up and down the wood for the slaying of a man here, and two or three there, and the wearing of the days in wandering up and down with weapons in the hand, and the spinning out of hatred and delaying of peace.’

Then Iron-face reached his hand across the board and took his son’s hand, and said:

‘Hail to thee, son, for thy word!  Herein thou speakest as if from my very soul, and fain am I of such a War-leader.’

And desire drew the eyes of the Sun-beam to Face-of-god, and she beheld him proudly.  But he said:

‘All hath been spoken that the others of us may speak; and now it falleth to the part of Folk-might to order our goings for the tryst for the onslaught, and the trysting-place shall be in Shadowy Vale.  How sayest thou, Chief of the Wolf?’

Said Folk-might: ‘I have little to say; and it is for the War-leader to see to this closely and piecemeal.  I deem, as we all deem, that there should be no delay; yet were it best to wend not all together to Shadowy Vale, but in divers bands, as soon as ye may after the Folk-mote, by the sure and nigh ways that we shall show you.  And when we are gathered there, short is the rede, for all p. 262is ready there to wend by the passes which we know throughly, and whereby it is but two days’ journey to the head of Silver-dale, nigh to the caves of the silver, where the felons dwell the thickest.’

He set his teeth, and his colour came and went: for as constantly as the onslaught had been in his mind, yet whenever he spake of the great day of battle, hope and joy and anger wrought a tumult in his soul; and now that it was so nigh withal, he could not refrain his joy.

But he spake again: ‘Now therefore, War-leader, it is for thee to order the goings of thy folk.  But I will tell thee that they shall not need to take aught with them save their weapons and victual for the way, that is, for thirty hours; because all is ready for them in Shadowy Vale, though it be but a poor place as to victual.  Canst thou tell us, therefore, what thou wilt do?’

Face-of-god had knit his brows and become gloomy of countenance; but now his face cleared, and he set his hand to his pouch, and drew forth a written parchment, and said:

‘This is the order whereof I have bethought me.  Before the Folk-mote I and the Wardens shall speak to the leaders of hundreds, who be mostly here at the Fair, and give them the day and the hour whereon they shall, each hundred, take their weapons and wend to Shadowy Vale, and also the place where they shall meet the men of yours who shall lead them across the Waste.  These hundred-leaders shall then go straightway and give the word to the captains of scores, and the captains of scores to the captains of tens; and if, as is scarce doubtful, the Folk-mote yea-says the onslaught and the fellowship with you of the Wolf, then shall those leaders of tens bring their men to the trysting-place, and so go their ways to Shadowy Vale.  Now here I have the roll of our Weapon-show, and I will look to it that none shall be passed over; and if ye ask me in what order they had best get on the way, my rede is that a two hundred should depart on the very evening of the day of the Folk-mote, and these to be of our p. 263folk of the Upper Dale; and on the morning of the morrow of the Folk-mote another two hundreds from the Dale; and in the evening of the same day the folk of the Shepherds, three hundreds or more, and that will be easy to them; again on the next day two more bands of the Lower Dale, one in the morning, one in the evening.  Lastly, in the earliest dawn of the third day from the Folk-mote shall the Woodlanders wend their ways.  But one hundred of men let us leave behind for the warding of the Burg, even as we agreed before.  As for the place of tryst for the faring over the Waste, let it be the end of the knolls just by the jaws of the pass yonder, where the Weltering Water comes into the Dale from the East.  How say ye?’

They all said, and Folk-might especially, that it was right well devised, and that thus it should be done.

Then turned Face-of-god to the Dale-warden, and said:

‘It were good, brother, that we saw the other wardens as soon as may be, to do them to wit of this order, and what they have to do.’

Therewith he arose and took the Elder of the Dale-wardens away with him, and the twain set about their business straight-way.  Neither did the others abide long in the Hall, but went out into the Burg to see the chapmen and their wares.  There the Alderman bought what he needed of iron and steel and other matters; and Folk-might cheapened him a dagger curiously wrought, and a web of gold and silk for the Sun-beam, for which wares he paid in silver arm-rings, new-wrought and of strange fashion.

But amidst of the chaffer was now a great ring of men; and in the midst of the ring stood Redesman, fiddle and bow in hand, and with him were four damsels wondrously arrayed; for the first was clad in a smock so craftily wrought with threads of green and many colours, that it seemed like a piece of the green field beset with primroses and cowslips and harebells and windflowers, rather than a garment woven and sewn; and in her hand she bore a p. 264naked sword, with golden hilts and gleaming blade.  But the second bore on her roses done in like manner, both blossoms and green leaves, wherewith her body was covered decently, which else had been naked.  The third was clad as though she were wading the wheat-field to the waist, and above was wrapped in the leaves and bunches of the wine-tree.  And the fourth was clad in a scarlet gown flecked with white wool to set forth the winter’s snow, and broidered over with the burning brands of the Holy Hearth; and she bore on her head a garland of mistletoe.  And these four damsels were clearly seen to image the four seasons of the year—Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.  But amidst them stood a fountain or conduit of gilded work cunningly wrought, and full of the best wine of the Dale, and gilded cups and beakers hung about it.

So now Redesman fell to caressing his fiddle with the bow till it began to make sweet music, and therewith the hearts of all danced with it; and presently words come into his mouth, and he fell to singing; and the damsels answered him:

Earth-wielders, that fashion the Dale-dwellers’ treasure,
   Soft are ye by seeming, yet hardy of heart!
No warrior amongst us withstandeth your pleasure;
   No man from his meadow may thrust you apart.

Fresh and fair are your bodies, but far beyond telling
   Are the years of your lives, and the craft ye have stored.
Come give us a word, then, concerning our dwelling,
   And the days to befall us, the fruit of the sword.

Winter saith:

When last in the feast-hall the Yule-fire flickered,
   The foot of no foeman fared over the snow,
And nought but the wind with the ash-branches bickered:
   Next Yule ye may deem it a long time ago.

p. 265Autumn saith:

Loud laughed ye last year in the wheat-field a-smiting;
   And ye laughed as your backs drave the beam of the press.
When the edge of the war-sword the acres are lighting
   Look up to the Banner and laugh ye no less.

Summer saith:

Ye called and I came, and how good was the greeting,
   When ye wrapped me in roses both bosom and side!
Here yet shall I long, and be fain of our meeting,
   As hidden from battle your coming I bide.

Spring saith:

I am here for your comfort, and lo! what I carry;
   The blade with the bright edges bared to the sun.
To the field, to the work then, that e’en I may tarry
   For the end of the tale in my first days begun!

Therewith the throng opened, and a young man stepped lightly into the ring, clad in very fair armour, with a gilded helm on his head; and he took the sword from the hand of the Maiden of Spring, and waved it in the air till the westering sun flashed back from it.  Then each of the four damsels went up to the swain and kissed his mouth; and Redesman drew the bow across the strings, and the four damsels sang together, standing round about the young warrior:

It was but a while since for earth’s sake we trembled,
   Lest the increase our life-days had won for the Dale,
All the wealth that the moons and the years had assembled,
   Should be but a mock for the days of your bale.

But now we behold the sun smite on the token
   In the hand of the Champion, the heart of a man;
p. 266We look down the long years and see them unbroken;
   Forth fareth the Folk by the ways it began.

So bid ye these chapmen