Chapter VII. The Pixies' Dance.
I do not know that there is anything more pleasant after long weeksat sea than to have a good horse under one, and to be riding in thefresh winds of early autumn over new country that is beautiful insunlight. So when at last every Danish chief had made submission,and the whole host had marched back to what they held as their ownland in Mercia, going to Gloucester, as was said, with Odda andEthered the ealdormen hanging on their rear with a great levy, Irode with King Alfred to find Neot his cousin gaily enough. Thordstayed with the ships, but the scald and Kolgrim were with me, andthe king mounted us well. Ethelnoth of Somerset came also, and someforty men of the king's household; and all went armed, for thecountry we had to cross was of the wildest, though we went by thegreat road that runs from west to east of England, made even beforethe Romans came. But it crossed the edge of Dartmoor, the mostdesolate place in all the land, where outlaws and masterless menfound fastnesses whence none could drive them.
One could not wish for a more pleasant companion than Alfred, andthe miles went easily. We had both hawks and hounds with us, forthere was game in plenty, and the king said that with the ending ofthe war, and the beginning of new hopes for his fleet, he wouldcast care aside for a little. So he was joyous and free in speech,and at times he would sing in lightness of heart, and would bidHarek sing also, so that it was pleasant to hear them. Ever doesHarek say that no man sings better than Alfred of England.
In late afternoon we came to the wild fringe of Dartmoor, and herethe king had a guest house in a little village which he was wont touse on these journeys to see Neot. We should rest there, and socross the wastes in full daylight. So he went in, maybe fearing hissickness, which was indeed a sore burden to him, though he was wontto make light of it; but Ethelnoth asked me if we should not spendthe hours of evening light in coursing a bustard or two, for manywere about the moorland close at hand. They would be welcome at theking's table, he said; and I, fresh from the sea and camp, askedfor nothing better than a good gallop over the wide-stretchinghillsides.
So we took fresh horses from those that were led for us, and rodeaway. We took hawks--the king had given me a good one when westarted, for a Saxon noble ever rides with hawk on wrist--and twoleash of greyhounds.
I was for putting my arms aside, but the ealdorman said it wasbetter not to do so, by reason of the moor folk, who were wildenough to fall on a small party at times. It was of little moment,however; for we rode in the lighter buff jerkins instead of heavymail, and were not going far.
Ethelnoth took two men with him, and my two comrades were withme--Kolgrim leading the hounds in leash beside his horse. We wentacross the first hillside, and from its top looked northward andwestward as far as one could see over the strange grey wastes ofthe moorland.
Then from the heather almost under our feet rose a great bustardthat ran down wind with outstretched wings before us, seeking thelonelier country. Kolgrim whooped, and slipped the leash, and thehounds sprang after it, and we followed cheering. It was good tofeel the rush of hillside air in our faces, and the spring andstretch of the horses under us, and to see the long-reached houndsstraining after the great bird that might well be able to escapethem.
I suppose that Ethelnoth started a second bird. I did not lookbehind me to see what any man was doing, but followed the chaseround the spur of a granite-topped hillside, and forgot him. Forwhen the bustard took wing for a heavy flight, and lit and ranagain, and again flew with wings that failed each time more andmore, while the strong legs were the stronger for the short rest,and when the good hounds were straining after it, one could notexpect me to care for aught but that.
It had been strange if I thought of anything but the sport. I knewthere were two horsemen close by, a little wide on either flank,but behind me. So we took the bird after a good chase, and then Iknew that we had in some way shaken off the Saxons, and that wethree vikings were together. It did not trouble us, for one looksfor such partings, and Ethelnoth had his own bounds. So we went on,and found another bustard, and took it.
"Now we must go back," I said; "one must have a thought for theking's horses."
So we turned, and then a heron rose from a boggy stream below us,and that was a quarry not to be let go. I unhooded the falcon andcast her off, and straightway forgot everything but the mostwonderful sight that the field and forest can give us--the dizzyupward climbing circles of hawk and heron, who strive to gain thehighest place cloudwards, one for attack, the other for safety.
The evening sunlight flashed red from the bright under feathers ofthe strong wings as the birds swung into it from the shadow of thewestward hill, and still they soared, drifting westward with thewind over our heads. Then with a great rushing sound the heron gaveup, and fell, stone-like, from the falcon that had won to air abovehim at last. At once the long wings of his enemy closed halfway,and she swooped after him.
Then back and up, like a sword drawn at need, went the heron'ssharp beak; and the falcon saw it, and swerved and shot past hernearly-taken prey. Again the heron began to tower up and up with aharsh croak that seemed like a cry of mockery; then the wondrousswing and sweep of the long, tireless wings of the passage hawk,and the cry of another heron far off, scared by its fellow's note;and again for us a canter over the moorland, eye and hand and kneetogether wary for both hawk above and good horse below, till thefalcon bound to the heron, and both came to the ground, and therewas an end in the grey shadow of the Dartmoor tors. Ay, but KingAlfred's hawk was a good one!
"Now, where shall we seek Ethelnoth?" I said.
"No good seeking him," said Harek. "We had better make our way backto the village."
We coupled up the greyhounds again and hooded the falcon, and rodeleisurely back over our tracks for some way. The sun set about thattime into a purple bank of mist beyond the farther hills. One doesnot note how the miles go when one finds sport such as this, andpresently we began to be sure that we had ridden farther than wehad thought. We knew, as we thought, the direction from which wehad come, and steered, sailor-wise, by the sunset. But we couldtake no straight course because of the hills, and we were as oftenoff the line as on.
Then crept up the mist from the valleys, and we had nought to steerby, for the wind dropped. Then I said:
"Let the horses take us home; they know better than we."
So we rode on slowly until darkness came, but never saw so much asa light that might guide us. And presently we let the dogs loose,thinking that they would go homewards. But a greyhound is not likea mastiff, and they hung round us, careless, or helpless, in themists and darkness.
Presently we came to a place where the horses stopped of their ownaccord. There was a sheer rock on one side, and the hill was steepbelow us, and a stream brawled somewhere before us.
"Well," I said, "here we stay for the night. It is of no usewandering any longer, and the night is warm."
We thought nothing of this, for any hunter knows that such a chancemay befall him in a strange and wild country. So we laughedtogether and off-saddled and hobbled the horses, and so sat downsupperless to wait for morning under the rock. The mist was clammyround us, thinning and then thickening again as the breaths of windtook it; but the moon would rise soon, and then maybe it would go.
We had no means of making a fire, and no cloaks; so sleep camehardly, and we talked long. Then the dogs grew uneasy, andpresently wandered away into the fog and darkness. I thought thatperhaps they heard some game stirring, and did not wonder at them.
Now I was just sleeping, when I heard the sharp yelp of a dog inpain, and sat up suddenly. Then came a second, and after that thedistant sound of voices that rose for a moment and hushed again.
"We must be close to the village after all," I said, for mycomrades were listening also; "but why did the hounds yell likethat?"
"Some old dame has taken the broomstick to them," said Kolgrim."They are hungry, and have put their noses into her milk pails."
"It is too late for open doors," I said; "unless t
hey have foundour own lodging, where some are waiting for us. But there theywould not be beaten."
"Ho!" said Kolgrim, in another minute or so, "yonder is a fire."
The wind had come round the hillside and swept the mist away for amoment, and below us in the valley was a speck of red light thatmade a wide glow in the denser fog that hung there. One couldhardly say how far off it was, for fog of any sort confusesdistance; but the brook seemed to run in the direction of the fire,and it was likely that any house stood near its banks.
"Let us follow the brook and see what we can find," I saidtherefore. "These mists are chill, and I will confess that I amhungry. We cannot lose our way if we keep to the water, and thehorses will be safe enough."
Anything was better, as it seemed to us, than trying to think thatwe slept comfortably here, and so we rose up and went down thebanks of the stream at once; and the way proved to be easy enough,if rocky. The bank on this side was higher, and dry therefore, sothat we had no bogs to fear. We knew enough of them in the Orkneysand on the Sutherland coast.
The white mist grew very thick, but the firelight glow grew redderas we went on, and at last we came near enough to hear many voicesplainly; but presently, when one shouted, we found that the tonguewas not known to us.
"Now it is plain whom we have come across," I said. "This is a campof the Cornish tin traders, of whom the king told us. They arehonest folk enough, and will put us on the great road. They must beclose to it."
That seemed so likely that we left the brook and began to drawnearer to the fire, the voices growing plainer every moment, thoughwe could see no man as yet.
Now, all of a sudden, every voice was silent, and we stopped,thinking we were heard perhaps; though it did seem strange to methat no dogs were about a camp of traders. I was just about to callout that we were friends, when there began a low, even beating, asof a drum of some sort, and then suddenly a wild howl that soundedlike a war cry of maddened men, and after that a measured trampingof feet that went swiftly and in time to a chant, the like of whichI had never heard before, and which made me grasp Harek by the arm.
"What, in Odin's name, is this?" r said, whispering.
"Somewhat uncanny," answered the scald. "Let us get back to thehorses and leave this place."
Then we turned back, and Kolgrim's foot lit on a stone that rolledfrom under it, and he fell heavily with a clatter of weapons on thescattered rocks of the stream bank.
There was a howl from the firelight, and the chanting stopped, andvoices cried in the uncouth tongue angrily, and there came apattering of unshod feet round us in the thickness, with a word ortwo that seemed as if of command, and then silence, but forstealthy footfalls drawing nearer to us. And I liked it not.
We pulled Kolgrim up, and went on upstream, drawing our swords,though I yet thought of nothing but tin merchants whom we haddisturbed in some strange play of their own. Doubtless they wouldtake us for outlaws.
Now through the fog, dark against the flickering glow of the fire,and only seen against it, came creeping figures; and I suppose thatsome dull glitter of steel from helms or sword hilts betrayed us tothem, for word was muttered among them, and the rattle of stonesshifted by bare feet seemed to be all round us. I thought it timeto speak to them.
"We are friends, good people," I said. "We mean no harm, and havebut lost our way."
There was a whistle, and in a moment the leaping shadows were onus. Kolgrim went down under a heavy blow on his helm, and laymotionless; and Harek was whirled by a dozen pairs of hands off hisfeet, and fell heavily with his foes upon him. I slew one, orthought I slew him, and I stood over Kolgrim and kept them backwith long sword sweeps, crying to them to hold, for we werefriends--King Alfred's guests.
Now they were yelling to one another, and one threw a long-noosedline over me from behind. It fell over my arms, and at once theydrew it tight, jerking me off my feet. As I went down, a howlingcrowd fell on me and took the good sword from me, and bound me handand foot, having overpowered me by sheer numbers.
Then they looked at Kolgrim, and laughed, and left him. I was surehe was dead then, and I fell into a great dumb rage that seemedlike to choke me.
They dragged the scald and me to the fire, and I saw into whathands we had fallen, and I will say that I was fairly afraid. Forthese were no thrifty Cornish folk, but wild-looking men, blackhaired and bearded, clad in skins of wolf, and badger, and deer,and sheep, with savage-eyed faces, and rough weapons of rusted ironand bronze and stone. So strange were their looks and terrible inthe red light of the great fire, that I cried to Harek:
"These be trolls, scald! Sing the verses that have power to scarethem."
Now it says much for Harek's courage that at once he lifted up notrembling voice and sang lustily, roaring verses old as Odinhimself, such as no troll can abide within hearing of, so thatthose who bore him fell back amazed, and stared at him. Then I sawthat on the arms and necks of one or two of these weird folk weregolden rings flashing, and I saw, too, that our poor greyhounds laydead near where I was, and I feared the more for ourselves.
But they did not melt away or fly before the spells that Harekhurled at them.
"These be mortal men," he said at last, "else had they fled erenow."
By this time they had left me, helpless as a log, and were standinground us in a sort of ring, talking together of slaying us, as Ithought. I mind that the flint-tipped spears seemed cruel weapons.At last one of them said somewhat that pleased the rest, for theybroke into a great laugh and clapped their hands.
"Here is a word I can understand," said Harek, "and that is'pixies.'"
But I was looking to see where our swords were, and I saw a mantake them beyond the fire and set them on what seemed a bank, someyards from it. Then they went to the scald and began to loosen hisbonds, laughing the while.
"Have a care, Harek," I cried. "Make a rush for the swords beyondthe fire so soon as you are free."
"I am likely to be hove into the said fire," said the scald, verycoolly. "Howbeit I see the place where they are."
Then he gave a great bound and shout: but the numbers round himwere too great, and they had him down again, and yet he struggled.This was sport to these savages, and those who were not wrestlingwith him leaped and yelled with delight to see it. And I wrestledand tore at my bonds; but they were of rawhide, and I could donothing.
Then Harek said, breathing heavily:
"No good; their arms are like steel about me."
Then some came and dragged me back a little, and set me up sittingagainst a great stone, so I could see all that went on. Now Icounted fifty men, and there were no women that I could seeanywhere. Half of these were making a great ring with joined handsround the fire, and some piled more fuel on it--turf and branchesof dwarf oak trees--and others sat round, watching the dozen or sothat minded Harek. One sat cross-legged near me, with a great potcovered tightly with skin held between his knees.
Next they set Harek on his feet, and led him to the ring round thefire. Two of the men--and they were among the strongest ofall--loosened their hands, and each gripped the scald by the wristand yelled aloud, and at once the man beat on the great pot's coverdrum-wise, and the ring of men whirled away round the fire in thewild dance whose foot beats we had heard as we came. Then those whosat round raised the chant we heard also.
I saw Harek struggle and try to break away; but at that theywhirled yet more quickly, and he lost his footing, and fell, andwas dragged up; and then he too must dance, or be haled along theground. My eyes grew dizzy with watching, while the drum and thechant dulled into a humming in my brain.
"This cannot go on for long," I thought.
But then, from among those who sat round and chanted, I saw now oneand now another dart to the ring and take the place of a dancer whoseemed to tire; and so at last one came and gripped Harek's wristand swung into the place of his first holder before he knew thatany change was coming, and so with the one on the other side ofhim.
Then it was plain th
at my comrade must needs fall worn out beforelong, and I knew what I was looking on at. It was the dance of thepixies, in truth--the dance that ends but with the death of him whohas broken in on their revels--and I would that I and Harek hadbeen slain rather with Kolgrim by the stream yonder.
At last the scald fell, and then with a great howl they let him go,flinging him out of the circle like a stone, and he lay in a heapwhere they tossed him, and was quite still.
Then the dancers raised a shout, and came and sat down, and somebrought earthen vessels of drink to refresh them, while they beganto turn their eyes to me, whose turn came next.
Whereon a thought came into my mind, and I almost laughed, for ahope seemed to lie in a simple trick enough. That I would trypresently.
Now I looked, and hoped to see Harek come to himself; but he didnot stir. He lay near the swords, and for the first time now,because of some thinning of the mist, I saw what was on the bankwhere these had been placed. There was a great stone dolmen, asthey call it--a giant house, as it were, made of three flat stonesfor walls, and a fourth for a roof, so heavy that none know howsuch are raised nowadays. They might have served for a table, ormaybe a stool, for a Jotun. The two side walls came together fromthe back, so that the doorway was narrow; and a man might stand andkeep it against a dozen, for it was ten feet high, and there wasroom for sword play. One minds all these things when they are of nouse to him, and only the wish that they could be used is left.Nevertheless, as I say, I had one little hope.
It was not long before the savage folk were ready for my dance, andthey made the ring again, refreshed. The drum was taken up oncemore, and a dozen men came and unbound me. I also struggled asHarek had struggled, unavailingly. When I was quiet they led me tothe circle, and I watched for my plan to work.
When I was within reach of the two who should hold me, I held outmy hands to grasp theirs, without waiting for them to seize me. Theman on my right took my wrist in a grasp like steel; but the otherwas tricked, and took my hand naturally enough. Whereat my heartleaped.
"Now will one know what a grip on the mainsheet is like!" Ithought; and even as the hand closed there came the yell, and thethud of the earthen drum, and I was whirled away.
Now I kept going, for my great fear was that I should grow dizzyquickly. I was taller than any man in the ring, and once I foundout the measure of the chant I went on easily, keeping my eyes onthe man ahead of me. That was the one to my right; for they wentagainst the sun, which is an unlucky thing to do at any time.
Once we went round, and I saw the great dolmen and the gleam ofsword Helmbiter beneath it. Then it was across the fire, and againI passed it. I could not choose my place, as it seemed, andsuddenly with all my force I gripped the hand I held and around thehones of it together, so that no answering grip could come. In amoment the man let go of his fellow with the other hand, andscreamed aloud, and cast himself on the ground, staying the dance,so that those after him fell over us. I let go, and swung round andsmote my other holder across the face; and he too let go, and I wasfree, and in the uproar the dancers knew not what had happened.Smiting and kicking, I got clear of them, and saw that the dolmentowered across the fire, and straightway I knew that through thesmoke was the only way. I leaped at it, and cleared it fairly,felling a man on the other side as I did so.
Then I had Helmbiter in my hand, and I shouted, and stepped back tothe narrow door of the dolmen, and there stood, while the wild mengathered in a ring and howled at me. One ran and brought the longline that had noosed me before, but the stone doorway protected mefrom that; and one or two hurled spears at me, clumsily enough forme to ward them off.
So we stood and watched each other, and I thought they would make arush on me. Harek lay within sweep of my sword, and his weapon wasnearer them than me, and one of them picked it up and went toplunge it in him.
Then I stepped out and cut that man down, and the rest huddled backa little at my onslaught. Whereon I drew my comrade back to myfeet, lest they should bring me out again and noose me.
As I did that, the one who seemed to be the chief leaped at me,club in air; but I was watching for him, and he too fell, and Ishouted, to scare back the rest.
There was an answering shout, and Kolgrim, with the Berserker furyon him, was among the wild crowd from out of the darkness, and hisgreat sword was cutting a way to my side.
Then they did not stay for my sword to be upon them also, but theyfled yelling and terror stricken, seeming to melt into the mist. Intwo minutes the firelit circle was quiet and deserted, save forthose who had fallen; and my comrade and I stared in each other'sfaces in the firelight.
"Comrade," I cried in gladness, "I thought you were slain."
"The good helm saved me," he answered; "but I came round in time.What are these whom we have fought?"
I suppose the fury kept him up so far, for now I saw that his facewas ashy pale, and his knees shook under him.
"Are you badly hurt?" I asked.
"My head swims yet--that is all. Where is the scald?"
I turned to him and pointed. Kolgrim sat down beside him and bentover him, leaning against the stone of the great dolmen.
"I do not think he is dead, master," he said. "Let us draw himinside this house, and then he will be safe till daylight--unlessthe trolls come back and we cannot hold this doorway till the sunrises."
"They are men, not trolls," I said, pointing to the slain who laybetween us and the fire in a lane where Kolgrim had charged throughthem, "else had we not slain them thus."
"One knows not what Sigurd's sword will not bite," he said.
"Why, most of that is your doing," I said, laughing a little.
But he looked puzzled, and shook his head.
"I mind leaping among them, but not that I slew any."
Now I thought that he would be the better for food. There had beenplenty of both food and drink going among these wild people,whatever they were, and they had not waited to take anything. So Isaid I would walk round the fire and see what I could find, andwent before he could stay me.
I had not far to go either, for there were plentiful remains of aroasted sheep or two set aside with the skins, and alongside them apot of heather ale; so that we had a good meal, sitting in the doorof the dolmen, while the moon rose. But first we tried to makeHarek drink of the strong ale. He was beginning to breathe heavilynow, and I thought he would come round presently. Whether he hadbeen hurt by the whirling of the dance or by the fall when theycast him aside, I could not tell, and we could do no more for him.
"Sleep, master," said Kolgrim, when we had supped well; "I willwatch for a time."
And he would have it so, and I, seeing that he was refreshed, wasglad to lie down and sleep inside the dolmen, bidding him wake mein two hours and rest in turn.
But he did not. It was daylight when I woke, and the first ray ofthe sun came straight into the narrow doorway and woke me. And itwaked Harek also. Kolgrim sat yet in the door with his sword acrosshis knees.
"Ho, scald!" I said, "you have had a great sleep."
"Ay, and a bad dream also," he answered, "if dream it was."
For now he saw before us the burnt-out fire, and the slain, and thestrangely-trampled circle of the dance.
"No dream, therefore," he said. "Is it true that I was made todance round yon fire till I was nigh dead?"
"True enough. I danced also in turn," I said.
And then I told him how things had gone after his fall.
"Kolgrim has fought, therefore, a matter of fifty trolls," I said;"which is more than most folk can say for themselves."
Whereat he growled from the doorway:
"Maybe I was too much feared to know what I was doing."
We laughed at him, but he would have it so; and then we ate anddrank, and spoke of going to where we had left the horses, beingnone so sure that we should find them at all.
Now the sun drank up the mists, and they cleared suddenly; and whenthe last wreaths fled up the hillsides and passed, we saw th
at thehorses yet fed quietly where we had left them, full half a mileaway up the steep rise down which the stream came.
And it was strange to see what manner of place this was indaylight, for until the mist lifted we could not tell in the least,and it was confused to us. Now all the hillsides glowed purple withheather in a great cup round us, and we were on a little rise inthe midst of them whereon stood the dolmen, and the same handsdoubtless that raised it had set up a wide circle of standingstones round about it, such as I have seen in the Orkneys. It wasnot a place where one would choose to spend the night.
There was no sign of the wild folk anywhere outside the stonecircle. They had gone, and there seemed no cover for them anywhere,unless they dwelt in clefts and caves of the bare tors around us.So we feared no longer lest there should be any ambush set for us,and went about to see what they had left.
There were the long line that had noosed me, the earthen drum withits dry skin head, the raw hide thongs we had been bound with, andthe food and drink; and that was all save what weapons lay roundthe slain, and the bodies of the two good greyhounds.
"These are but men, and not trolls as one might well think," Isaid, looking on those who lay before us.
One whom I had slain had a heavy gold torque round his neck, andtwisted gold armlets, being the chief, as I think. Kolgrim tookthese off and gave them to me, and then he went to the drum anddashed it on a stone and broke it, saying nothing.
"Let us be going," I said. "These folk will come back and see totheir dead."
But Kolgrim looked at the drumhead and took it, and then coiled thelong line on his arm.
"Trust a sailor for never losing a chance of getting a new bit ofrigging," said Harek, laughing; for he seemed none the worse forthe things of last night, which indeed began to seem ghostly anddreamlike to us all. "But what good is the bit of skin?"
"Here be strange charms wrought into it," Kolgrim said. "It willmake a sword scabbard that will avail somewhat against such likefolk if ever we meet them again."
Truly there were marks as of branded signs on the bit of skin, andso he kept it; and I hung the gold trophies in my belt, and Harektook some of the remains of our supper: and so we went to thehorses, seeing nothing of the wild men anywhere.
Very glad were the good steeds to see us come, and the falcon, whostill sat on the saddle where I had perched her, spread her wingsand ruffled her feathers to hear us. I unhooded and fed her; and wewashed in the stream, and set out gaily enough, making southward,for so we thought we should strike the great road. And at last,when we saw its white line far off from a steep hillside, I wasglad enough.
I cannot tell how we had reached our halting place through thehills in the dark, nor could I find it again directly. It wasmidday before we reached the road, riding easily; so that, whatwith the swift gallop of the hunting and the long hours of ridingin mist and darkness, we had covered many miles. We saw no housetill we were close to the road, and then lit on one made of stonesand turf hard by it, where an old woman told us that no party hadbeen by since daylight.
So we turned eastward and rode to meet the king, and did so beforelong. He had left men at his village to wait for us in case we cameback there; but he laughed at us for losing ourselves, though hesaid he had no fear for sailors adrift in the wilds when Ethelnothcame in without us.
But when, as we rode on, I told him what had befallen us, helistened gravely, and at last said:
"I have heard the like of this before. Men say that the pixiesdwell in the moorland, and will dance to death those who disturbthem. What think you of those you have seen?"
I said that, having slain them, one could not doubt that they weremen, if strange ones.
"That is what I think," he answered. "They are men who would bethought pixies. Maybe they are the pixies. I believe they are thelast of the old Welsh folk who have dwelt in these wilds since thecoming of the Romans or before. There were the like in the greatfens of East Anglia and Mercia when Guthlac the Holy went there,and he thought them devils. None can reach these men or know wherethey dwell. Maybe they are heathen, and their dance in that stonering was some unholy rite that you have seen. But you have beenvery far into the wastes, and I have never seen those stones."
And when he handled the gold rings, he showed me that they werevery old; but when he handled the drumhead and looked at the marksthereon, he laughed.
"Here is the magic of an honest franklin's cattle brand. I haveseen it on beasts about the hills before now. The pixies have madea raid on the farmer's herds at some time."
Now I think that King Alfred was right, and that we had fallen intothe hands of wild Welsh or Cornish moor folk. But one should hearKolgrim's tale of the matter as he shows his sword sheath that hemade of the drumhead; for nothing would persuade him that it wasnot of more than mortal work.
"Had the good king been in that place with us, he would have told adifferent tale altogether," he says.
So we went on our journey quietly, and ever as we went and spokewith Alfred, I began to be sure that this pale and troubled kingwas the most wondrous man that I had ever seen. And now, as I lookback and remember, I know that in many ways he was showing me thatthe faith he held shaped his life to that which seemed best in himto my eyes.
I know this, that had he scoffed at the Asir, I had listened toNeot not at all. But when we came to his place, I was ready, andmore than ready, to hear what he had to tell me.