English poetry; Puck (Legendary character) -- Fiction; Short stories, English
'It was dusk then. He slipped down to St. Pancras' Church, and laid the
babe at the cold chapel door. I breathed on the back of his stooping
neck--and--I've _heard_ he never could be warm at any fire afterwards. I
should have been surprised if he could! Then I whipped up the babe, and
came flying home here like a bat to his belfry.
'On the dewy break of morning of Thor's own day--just such a day as
this--I laid the babe outside the Hill here, and the People flocked up
and wondered at the sight.
'"You've brought him, then?" Sir Huon said, staring like any mortal man.
'"Yes, and he's brought his mouth with him too," I said. The babe was
crying loud for his breakfast.
'"What is he?" says Sir Huon, when the womenfolk had drawn him under to
feed him.
'"Full Moon and Morning Star may know," I says. "_I_ don't. By what I
could make out of him in the moonlight, he's without brand or blemish.
I'll answer for it that he's born on the far side of Cold Iron, for he
was born under a shaw on Terrible Down, and I've wronged neither man,
woman, nor child in taking him, for he is the son of a dead slave
woman."
'"All to the good, Robin," Sir Huon said. "He'll be the less anxious to
leave us. Oh, we'll give him a splendid fortune, and he shall act and
influence on folk in housen as we have always craved." His Lady came up
then, and drew him under to watch the babe's wonderful doings.'
'Who was his Lady?' said Dan.
'The Lady Esclairmonde. She had been a woman once, till she followed
Sir Huon across the fern, as we say. Babies are no special treat to
me--I've watched too many of them--so I stayed on the Hill. Presently I
heard hammering down at the Forge there,' Puck pointed towards Hobden's
cottage. 'It was too early for any workmen, but it passed through my
mind that the breaking day was Thor's own day. A slow North-East wind
blew up and set the oaks sawing and fretting in a way I remembered; so I
slipped over to see what I could see.'
'And what did you see?'
'A smith forging something or other out of Cold Iron. When it was
finished, he weighed it in his hand (his back was towards me), and
tossed it from him a longish quoit-throw down the valley. I saw Cold
Iron flash in the sun, but I couldn't quite make out where it fell.
_That_ didn't trouble me. I knew it would be found sooner or later by
some one.'
'How did you know?' Dan went on.
'Because I knew the Smith that made it,' said Puck quietly.
'Wayland Smith?'[2] Una suggested.
[2] See 'Weland's Sword' in _Puck of Pook's Hill_.
'No. I should have passed the time o' day with Wayland Smith, of course.
This other was different. So'--Puck made a queer crescent in the air
with his finger--'I counted the blades of grass under my nose till the
wind dropped and he had gone--he and his Hammer.'
'Was it Thor then?' Una murmured under her breath.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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