Arab countries -- Fiction; Crusades -- Fiction; Great Britain -- History -- Medieval period, 1066-1485 -- Fiction
About that field—yes, and in the camp of Saladin, where lay more
dead—his body seemed to wander searching for something, he knew not
what, till it came to him that it was the corpse of Wulf for which he
sought and found it not—nay, nor his own either. Then once more he
heard the spirits pass—a very great company, for to them were gathered
all those dead—heard them pass away, wailing, ever more faintly wailing
for the lost cause of Christ, wailing over Nazareth.
Godwin awoke from his dream trembling, mounted his horse, and rode back
to Wulf. Beneath, as before, lay the sleeping camp, yonder stretched
the brown desert, and there sat Wulf watching both.
“Tell me,” asked Godwin, “how long is it since I left you?”
“Some few minutes—ten perhaps,” answered his brother.
“A short while to have seen so much,” replied Godwin. Then Wulf looked
at him curiously and asked:
“What have you seen?”
“If I told you, Wulf, you would not believe.”
“Tell me, and I will say.”
So Godwin told him all, and at the end asked him, “What think you?”
Wulf considered awhile, and answered:
“Well, brother, you have touched no wine to-day, so you are not drunk,
and you have done nothing foolish, so you are not mad. Therefore it
would seem that the saints have been talking to you, or, at least, so I
should think of any other man whom I knew to be as good as you are. Yet
it is folk like you that see visions, and those visions are not always
true, for sometimes, I believe, the devil is their showman. Our watch
is ended, for I hear the horses of the knights who come to relieve us.
Listen; this is my counsel. In the camp yonder is our friend with whom
we travelled from Jerusalem, Egbert, the bishop of Nazareth, who
marches with the host. Let us go to him and lay this matter before him,
for he is a holy man and learned; no false, self-seeking priest.”
Godwin nodded in assent, and presently, when the other knights were
come and they had made their report to them, they rode off together to
the tent of Egbert, and, leaving their horses in charge of a servant,
entered.
Egbert was an Englishman who had spent more than thirty years of his
life in the East, whereof the suns had tanned his wrinkled face to the
hue of bronze, that seemed the darker in contrast with his blue eyes
and snow-white hair and beard. Entering the tent, they found him at his
prayers before a little image of the Virgin, and stood with bowed heads
until he had finished. Presently he rose, and greeting them with a
blessing, asked them what they needed.
“Your counsel, holy father,” answered Wulf. “Godwin, set out your
tale.”
So, having seen that the tent flap was closed and that none lingered
near, Godwin told him his dream.
The old man listened patiently, nor did he seem surprised at this
strange story, since in those days men saw—or thought they saw—many
such visions, which were accepted by the Church as true.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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