Havelok The Dane by Charles Whistler (most inspirational books of all time txt) 📕

Tetford valley had never heard the like sounds of rejoicing before.

Near midnight a man came to me and said that a message had come to me from the other side, and I rose from the board and went out, to find Eglaf waiting for me in the moonlight. He was armed, and his face was wan and tired.

"Come apart, friend," he said; "I have a message from the king."

"To me?"

"No, to Havelok. But you must hear it first, and then tell him as you will."

We walked away from the tent and across the hillside for some way, and then he said without more words, "This is the message that Alsi sends to Havelok, whose name was Curan. 'Forgive the things that are past, for many there are that need forgiving. I have no heir, and it is for myself that I have schemed amiss. In Lincoln town lies a great treasure, of which Eglaf and I alone know. Give it, I pray you, to your Danes, that they may harm the land not at all, and so shall I ward off some of the evil that might come through me even yet. I think that, after me, you shall be king.'"

"That is wise of Alsi; but is there no word for Goldberga?"

"Ay, but not by my mouth. I fetched David the priest two hours ago, and he bears those messages."

"Is there yet more to say?" I asked, for it seemed to me that there was.

"There is," he answered. "Alsi is dead."

So there was an end of all his schemings, and I will say no more of them. It was Eglaf's thought that it was not so much his hurts that had killed the king, but a broken heart because of this failure. For the second time now I knew that it is true that "old sin makes new shame."

Now how we told Havelok this, and how Goldberga was somewhat comforted by the words that David the priest brought her from her uncle, there is no need to say. But when the news was known in all the host of Lindsey, there was a great gathering of all in the wide meadow, and we sat in the camp and wondered what end should be to the talk. Ragnar had come; but his host was now no great one, for we had sent word to him of the peace, and there was a great welcome for him and his men.

The Lindsey thanes did not talk long, and presently some half dozen of the best of them came to us, and said that with one accord the gathering would ask that Havelok and Goldberga should reign over them.

"We will answer for all in the land," they said. "If there are other thanes who should have had a word in the matter, they are not here because, knowing more than we, they would not fight for Alsi in this quarrel. If there is any other man to be thought of, he cannot go against the word of the host."

"I have my kingdom in Denmark," said Havelok, "and my wife has hers in Anglia. How should we take this? See, here is Ragnar of Norwich; he is worthy to be king, if any. Here, too, is the Earl of Chester, who led you. It will be well to set these two names before the host."

"The host will have none but Havelok and Goldberga," they said.

So the long-ago visions came to pass, and in a few days more we were feasting in the old hall at Lincoln. But before we left the valley of the battle we laid in mound in all honour those who had fallen. Seven great mounds we made, at which men wonder and will wonder while they stand at Tetford. For well fought the Danes of Goldberga, and well fought the Lindseymen on that day. Yet I think that those who would fain have lived to see the victory had their share in it, as they stood in their grim and silent ranks behind us.

Then was a new crowning of those two, and messages to the overlord of Lindsey, sent by the thanes, to say that all was settled on the old lines of peaceful tribute to be paid; and then, when word and presents came back from him, Goldberga rose up on the high place where she had been so strangely wedded, and looked down at the joyous faces of her nobles at the long tables.

"When I was crowned in Denmark," she said, "there was a promise made me, that when this day came to me in Norfolk I might ask one boon of all who upheld me. I do not know if I may ask it here and now, for the promise was made by my husband's people. Yet it is a matter that is dear to my heart that I shall seek from you all, if I may."

Then all the hall rang with voices that bade her ask what she would; and she bowed and flushed red, and hesitated a little. Then she took heart and spoke.

"It is but this," she said. "Let the poor Christian folk bide in peace; and if teachers come from the south or from the north presently who will speak of that faith, bear with them, I pray you, for they work no harm indeed."

Almost was she weeping as she said this, and her white hands were clasped tightly before her. But she looked bravely at the thanes, and waited for the answer, though I think that she feared what it would be.

But an old thane rose up in his place, smiling, and he answered, "If you had commanded us this, my queen, it would have been done. The Christian folk, if there are any, shall have no hurt. I think that we had forgotten the old days of trouble with them. Yet I hear that in Kent the new faith, as it seems to us, is being taught, and that the king looks on it with favour. It may be that here it will come also. For your sake I will listen if a teacher comes to me."

The thanes thought little of this boon, and they all answered that it was freely granted. But they said that it was no boon to give, and bade her ask somewhat that was better.

"Why then," she said, "if I must ask more, think no more of me as queen save as that I am the wife of the king. Havelok is your ruler in good sooth."

That pleased them all well, and they laughed and wished that all had wives who had no mind to rule.

"Here is word that is going home to my wife," said one to his neighbour. "If the queen sets the fashion of obedience, it behoves all good wives to follow her leading."

"Maybe I would let some other than yourself tell the lady that," answered the other thane with a great laugh, for he knew that household and its ruler.

So Goldberga had her will, and then began the long years of peace and happiness to the kingdoms of which all men know. Wherefore I think that my story is done. What I have told is halting maybe, and rough, but it is true. And Goldberga, my sister, says that it is good. Which is all the praise that I need.

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So far went Radbard, my friend, and then he would tell no more. So it is left to me, Wislac the priest, who have written for him, to finish. He says that everyone knows the rest, and so they do just now. But in the years to come, when this story is read, men will want to know more. So it is fit that I should end the story, telling things that I myself know to be true also.

Sigurd's host went back in the autumn, rich with the treasure of Alsi the king; and from that time forward no Danish host ever sought our shores. Wars enough have been in England here, but they have not harmed us. No host has been suffered to cross the borders of Lindsey or East Anglia, save in peace, and in the wars of Penda of Mercia Havelok has taken no part. Yet he has had to fight to hold his own more than once, but always with victory, for always the prayers of the few Christians have been with him.

They set Earl Ragnar to hold the southern kingdom for Havelok and his wife; and presently, when he was left a widower, he wedded the youngest daughter of Grim, Havelok's foster father. Eglaf was captain of the Lincoln courtmen or housecarls, whichever the right name may be among those who speak of them. One name is Danish and the other English, but they mean the same. As for my good friend Radbard, he was high sheriff before long, and that he is yet. He wedded Ragnar's sister the year that Havelok was crowned in Norwich, which was the next year after the crowning at Lincoln.

Raven went back to the sea, and he will now be in Denmark or else on the Viking path with Sigurd, for that is what he best loves. Arngeir bides at Grimsby, high in honour with all, and the port and town grow greater and more prosperous year by year. Wise was Grim when he chose to stay in the place where he had chanced to come, if it were not more than chance that brought him. I suppose that for all time the ships that are from Grimsby will be free from all dues in the ports that are Havelok's in the Danish land. Witlaf, the good old thane, bides in his place yet, and he rejoices ever that he had a hand in bringing Havelok up. Nor does our king forget that.

Indeed, I think that he forgets naught but ill done toward him. Never is a man who has done one little thing for him overlooked, if he is met by our king after many years, and that is a royal gift indeed.

I would that all married folk were as are this royal couple of ours. Never are they happy apart, and never has a word gone awry between them. If one speaks of Havelok, one must needs think of Goldberga; and if one says a word of the queen, one means the king also. Happy in their people and in their wondrous fair children are they, and that is all that can be wished for them.

There was one thing wanting for long years, that I and Withelm ever longed for for Havelok--a thing for which Goldberga prayed ever. I came to them from Queen Bertha in Kent, when good old David died; and at that time Havelok was not a Christian, but surely the most Christian heathen that ever was. I knew that he must come into the faith at some time; and I, at least, could not find it in my heart to blame him altogether for holding to the Asir whom his fathers worshipped. It was in sheer honesty and singleness of heart that he did so, and I had never skill enough to show him the right. But Withelm, who has long been a priest of the faith, and shall surely be our bishop ere long, had more to do with his conversion than any other.

Yet it did not come until the days when Paulinus came from York and preached with the fire of the missionary to us all. And then we saw the