The Roots of the Mountains: Wherein Is Told Somewhat of the Lives of the Men of Burgdale, Their Friends, Their Neighbours, Their Foemen, and Their Fellows in ArmsMorris, William
Science
The Roots of the Mountains: Wherein Is Told Somewhat of the Lives of the Men of Burgdale, Their Friends, Their Neighbours, Their Foemen, and Their Fellows in Arms
Morris, William
Fantasy fiction
‘Herewith I bid thee good-night, O Dalesman; and this other word I have
to thee: heed not what befalleth in the night, but sleep thy best, for
nought shall be to thy scathe. And when thou wakest in the morning, if
we are yet here, it is well; but if we are not, then abide us no long
while, but break thy fast on the victual thou wilt find upon the board,
and so depart and go thy ways home. And yet thou mayst look to it to see
us again before thou diest.’
Therewith she held out her hand to him, and he took it and kissed it; and
she went to her chamber-aloft at the lower end of the hall. And when she
was gone, once more he had a deeming of her that she was of the kindred
of the Gods. At her departure him-seemed that the hall grew dull and
small and smoky, and the night seemed long to him and doubtful the coming
of the day.
CHAPTER VII. FACE-OF-GOD TALKETH WITH THE FRIEND ON THE MOUNTAIN.
SO now went all men to bed; and Face-to-god’s shut-bed was over against
the outer door and toward the lower end of the hall, and on the panel
about it hung the weapons and shields of men. Fair was that chamber and
roomy, and the man was weary despite his eagerness, so that he went to
sleep as soon as his head touched the pillow; but within a while (he
deemed about two hours after midnight) he was awaked by the clattering of
the weapons against the panel, and the sound of men’s hands taking them
down; and when he was fully awake, he heard withal men going up and down
the house as if on errands: but he called to mind what the Friend had
said to him, and he did not so much as turn himself toward the hall; for
he said: ‘Belike these men are outlaws and Wolves of the Holy Places, yet
by seeming they are good fellows and nought churlish, nor have I to do
with taking up the feud against them. I will abide the morning. Yet
meseemeth that she drew me hither: for what cause?’
Therewith he fell asleep again, and dreamed no more. But when he awoke
the sun was shining broad upon the hall-floor, and he sat up and
listened, but could hear no sound save the moaning of the wind in the
pine-boughs and the chatter of the starlings about the gables of the
house; and the place seemed so exceeding lonely to him that he was in a
manner feared by that loneliness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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