The House of the Wolfings
"I tell you that they are grim; and know it by this token: those captains
of tens, and of hundreds, spare not to smite the warriors with staves
even before all men, when all goeth not as they would; and yet, though
they be free men, and mighty warriors, they endure it and smite not in
turn. They are a most evil folk.
"As to their numbers, they of the burg are hard on three thousand footmen
of the best; and of horsemen five hundred, nowise good; and of bowmen and
slingers six hundred or more: their bows weak; their slingers cunning
beyond measure. And the talk is that when they come upon us they shall
have with them some five hundred warriors of the Over River Goths, and
others of their own folk."
Then he said:
"O men of the Mark, will ye meet them in the meadows and the field,
Or will ye flee before them and have the wood for a shield?
Or will ye wend to their war-burg with weapons cast away,
With your women and your children, a peace of them to pray?
So doing, not all shall perish; but most shall long to die
Ere in the garths of the Southland two moons have loitered by."
Then rose the rumour loud and angry mingled with the rattle of swords and
the clash of spears on shields; but Fox said:
"Needs must ye follow one of these three ways. Nay, what say I? there
are but two ways and not three; for if ye flee they shall follow you to
the confines of the earth. Either these Welsh shall take all, and our
lives to boot, or we shall hold to all that is ours, and live merrily.
The sword doometh; and in three days it may be the courts shall be
hallowed: small is the space between us."
Therewith he also got him down from the Hill, and joined his own house:
and men said that he had spoken well and wisely. But there arose a noise
of men talking together on these tidings; and amidst it an old warrior of
the Nether-mark strode forth and up to the Hill-top. Gaunt and stark he
was to look on; and all men knew him and he was well-beloved, so all held
their peace as he said:
"I am Otter of the Laxings: now needeth but few words till the War-duke
is chosen, and we get ready to wend our ways in arms. Here have ye heard
three good men and true tell of our foes, and this last, Fox the Red,
hath seen them and hath more to tell when we are on the way; nor is the
way hard to find. It were scarce well to fall upon these men in their
garth and war-burg; for hard is a wall to slay. Better it were to meet
them in the Wild-wood, which may well be a friend to us and a wall, but
to them a net. O Agni of the Daylings, thou warder of the Thing-stead,
bid men choose a War-duke if none gainsay it."
And without more words he clattered down the Hill, and went and stood
with the Laxing band. But the old Dayling arose and blew the horn, and
there was at once a great silence, amidst which he said:
"Children of Slains-father, doth the Folk go to the war?"
There was no voice but shouted "yea," and the white swords sprang aloft,
and the westering sun swept along a half of them as they tossed to and
fro, and the others showed dead-white and fireless against the dark wood.
Then again spake Agni:
"Will ye choose the War-duke now and once, or shall it be in a while,
after others have spoken?"
And the voice of the Folk went up, "Choose! Choose!"
Said Agni: "Sayeth any aught against it?" But no voice of a gainsayer
was heard, and Agni said:
"Children of Tyr, what man will ye have for a leader and a duke of war?"
Then a great shout sprang up from amidst the swords: "We will have
Thiodolf; Thiodolf the Wolfing!"
Said Agni: "I hear no other name; are ye of one mind? hath any aught to
say against it? If that be so, let him speak now, and not forbear to
follow in the wheatfield of the spears. Speak, ye that will not follow
Thiodolf!"
No voice gainsaid him: then said the Dayling: "Come forth thou War-duke
of the Markmen! take up the gold ring from the horns of the altar, set it
on thine arm and come up hither!"
Then came forth Thiodolf into the sun, and took up the gold ring from
where it lay, and did it on his arm. And this was the ring of the leader
of the folk whenso one should be chosen: it was ancient and daintily
wrought, but not very heavy: so ancient it was that men said it had been
wrought by the dwarfs.
So Thiodolf went up on to the hill, and all men cried out on him for joy,
for they knew his wisdom in war. Many wondered to see him unhelmed, but
they had a deeming that he must have made oath to the Gods thereof and
their hearts were glad of it. They took note of the dwarf-wrought
hauberk, and even from a good way off they could see what a treasure of
smith's work it was, and they deemed it like enough that spells had been
sung over it to make it sure against point and edge: for they knew that
Thiodolf was well beloved of the Gods.
But when Thiodolf was on the Hill of Speech, he said:
"Men of the kindreds, I am your War-duke to-day; but it is oftenest the
custom when ye go to war to choose you two dukes, and I would it were so
now. No child's play is the work that lies before us; and if one leader
chance to fall let there be another to take his place without stop or
stay. Thou Agni of the Daylings, bid the Folk choose them another duke
if so they will."
Said Agni: "Good is this which our War-duke hath spoken; say then, men of
the Mark, who shall stand with Thiodolf to lead you against the aliens?"
Then was there a noise and a crying of names, and more than two names
seemed to be cried out; but by far the greater part named either Otter of
the Laxings, or Heriulf of the Wolfings. True it is that Otter was a
very wise warrior, and well known to all the men of the Mark; yet so dear
was Heriulf to them, that none would have named Otter had it not been
mostly their custom not to choose both War-dukes from one House.
Now spake Agni: "Children of Tyr, I hear you name more than one name: now
let each man cry out clearly the name he nameth."
So the Folk cried the names once more, but this time it was clear that
none was named save Otter and Heriulf; so the Dayling was at point to
speak again, but or ever a word left his lips, Heriulf the mighty, the
ancient of days, stood forth: and when men saw that he would take up the
word there was a great silence. So he spake:
"Hearken, children! I am old and war-wise; but my wisdom is the wisdom
of the sword of the mighty warrior, that knoweth which way it should
wend, and hath no thought of turning back till it lieth broken in the
field. Such wisdom is good against Folks that we have met heretofore; as
when we have fought with the Huns, who would sweep us away from the face
of the earth, or with the Franks or the Burgundians, who would quell us
into being something worser than they be. But here is a new foe, and new
wisdom, and that right shifty, do we need to meet them. One wise duke
have ye gotten, Thiodolf to wit; and he is young beside me and beside
Otter of the Laxings. And now if ye must needs have an older man to
stand beside him, (and that is not ill) take ye Otter; for old though his
body be, the thought within him is keen and supple like the best of Welsh-
wrought blades, and it liveth in the days that now are: whereas for me,
meseemeth, my thoughts are in the days bygone. Yet look to it, that I
shall not fail to lead as the sword of the valiant leadeth, or the shaft
shot by the cunning archer. Choose ye Otter; I have spoken over long."
Then spoke Agni the Dayling, and laughed withal: "One man of the Folk
hath spoken for Otter and against Heriulf--now let others speak if they
will!"
So the cry came forth, "Otter let it be, we will have Otter!"
"Speaketh any against Otter?" said Agni. But there was no voice raised
against him.
Then Agni said: "Come forth, Otter of the Laxings, and hold the ring with
Thiodolf."
Then Otter went up on to the hill and stood by Thiodolf, and they held
the ring together; and then each thrust his hand and arm through the ring
and clasped hands together, and stood thus awhile, and all the Folk
shouted together.
Then spake Agni: "Now shall we hew the horses and give the gifts to the
Gods."
Therewith he and the two War-dukes came down from the hill; and stood
before the altar; and the nine warriors of the Daylings stood forth with
axes to hew the horses and with copper bowls wherein to catch the blood
of them, and each hewed down his horse to the Gods, but the two War-dukes
slew the tenth and fairest: and the blood was caught in the bowls, and
Agni took a sprinkler and went round about the ring of men, and cast the
blood of the Gods'-gifts over the Folk, as was the custom of those days.
Then they cut up the carcases and burned on the altar the share of the
Gods, and Agni and the War-dukes tasted thereof, and the rest they bore
off to the Daylings' abode for the feast to be holden that night.
Then Otter and Thiodolf spake apart together for awhile, and presently
went up again on to the Speech-Hill, and Thiodolf said:
"O kindreds of the Markmen; to-morrow with the day
We shall wend up Mirkwood-water to bar our foes the way;
And there shall we make our wain-burg on the edges of the wood,
Where in the days past over at last the aliens stood,
The Slaughter Tofts ye call it. There tidings shall we get
If the curse of the world is awakened, and the serpent crawleth yet
Amidst the Mirkwood thicket; and when the sooth we know,
Then bearing battle with us through the thicket shall we go,
The ancient Wood-wolf's children, and the People of the Shield,
And the Spear-kin and the Horse-kin, while the others keep the field
About the warded wain-burg; for not many need we there
Where amidst of the thickets' tangle and the woodland net they fare,
And the hearts of the aliens falter and they curse the fight ne'er
done,
And wonder who is fighting and which way is the sun."
Thus he spoke; then Agni took up the war-horn again, and blew a blast,
and then he cried out:
"Now sunder we the Folk-mote! and the feast is for to-night,
And to-morrow the Wayfaring; But unnamed is the day of the fight;
O warriors, look ye to it that not long we need abide
'Twixt the hour of the word we have spoken, and our fair-fame's
blooming tide!
For then 'midst the toil and the turmoil shall we sow the seeds of
peace,
And the Kindreds' long endurance, and the Goth-folk's great increase."
Then arose the last great shout, and soberly and in due order, kindred by
kindred, they turned and departed from the Thing-stead and went their way
through the wood to the abode of the Daylings.
CHAPTER IX--THE ANCIENT MAN OF THE DAYLINGS
There still hung the more part of the stay-at-homes round about the Roof.
But on the plain beneath the tofts were all the wains of the host drawn
up round about a square like the streets about a market-place; all these
now had their tilts rigged over them, some white, some black, some red,
some tawny of hue; and some, which were of the Beamings, green like the
leafy tree.
The warriors of the host went down into this wain-town, which they had
not fenced in any way, since they in no wise looked for any onset there;
and there were their thralls dighting the feast for them, and a many of
the Dayling kindred, both men and women, went with them; but some men did
the Daylings bring into their Roof, for there was room for a good many
besides their own folk. So they went over the Bridge of turf into the
garth and into the Great Roof of the Daylings; and amongst these were the
two War-dukes.
So when they came to the dais it was as fair all round about there as
might well be; and there sat elders and ancient warriors to welcome the