The Story of the Glittering Plain<br />Which Has Been Also Called the Land of Living Men or the Acre by William Morris (free ebook reader .TXT) 📖

him as if he had been so appointed.  They laid the old man adown on the poop under a tilt of precious web, and so went aback by the way that they had come; and Hallblithe went and sat down beside the Long-hoary, who spake to him and said: “Seest thou, son, how easy it is for us twain to be shipped for the land whither we would go?  But as easy as it is for thee to go thither whereas we are going, just so hard had it been for thee to go elsewhere.  Moreover I must tell thee that though many an one of the Isle of Ransom desireth to go this voyage, there shall none else go, till the world is a year older, and he who shall go then shall be likest to me in all ways, both in eld and in feebleness, and in gibing speech, and all else; and now that I am gone, his name shall be the same as that whereby ye may call me to-day, and that is Grandfather.  Art thou glad or sorry, Hallblithe?”

“Grandfather,” said Hallblithe, “I can scarce tell thee: I move as one who hath no will to wend one way or other.  Meseems I am drawn to go thither whereas we are going; therefore I deem that I shall find my beloved on the Glittering Plain: and whatever befalleth afterward, let it be as it will!”

“Tell me, my son,” said the Grandfather, “how many women are there in the world?”

“How may I tell thee?” said Hallblithe.

“Well, then,” said the elder, “how many exceeding fair women are there?”

Said Hallblithe, “Indeed I wot not.”

“How many of such hast thou seen?” said the Grandfather.

“Many,” said Hallblithe; “the daughters of my folk are fair, and there will be many other such amongst the aliens.”

Then laughed the elder, and said: “Yet, my son, he who had been thy fellow since thy sundering from thy beloved, would have said that in thy deeming there is but one woman in the world; or at least one fair woman: is it not so?”

Then Hallblithe reddened at first, as though he were angry; then he said: “Yea, it is so.”

Said the Grandfather in a musing way: “I wonder if before long I shall think of it as thou dost.”

Then Hallblithe gazed at him marvelling, and studied to see wherein lay the gibe against himself; and the Grandfather beheld him, and laughed as well as he might, and said: “Son, son; didst thou not wish me youth?”

“Yea,” said Hallblithe, “but what ails thee to laugh so?  What is it I have said or done?”

“Nought, nought,” said the elder, laughing still more, “only thou lookest so mazed.  And who knoweth what thy wish may bring forth?”

Thereat was Hallblithe sore puzzled; but while he set himself to consider what the old carle might mean, uprose the hale and how of the mariners; they cast off the hawsers from the shore, ran out the sweeps, and drave the ship through the haven-gates.  It was a bright sunny day; within, the green water was oily-smooth, without the rippling waves danced merrily under a light breeze, and Hallblithe deemed the wind to be fair; for the mariners shouted joyously and made all sail on the ship; and she lay over and sped through the waves, casting off the seas from her black bows.  Soon were they clear of those swart cliffs, and it was but a little afterwards that the Isle of Ransom was grown deep blue behind them and far away.

CHAPTER IX: THEY COME TO THE LAND OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN

As in the hall, so in the ship, Hallblithe noted that the folk were merry and of many words one with another, while to him no man cast a word save the Grandfather.  As to Hallblithe, though he wondered much what all this betokened, and what the land was whereto he was wending, he was no man to fear an unboded peril; and he said to himself that whatever else betid, he should meet the Hostage on the Glittering Plain; so his heart rose and he was of good cheer, and as the Grandfather had foretold, he was a merry faring-fellow to him.  Many a gibe the old man cast at him, and whiles Hallblithe gave him back as good as he took, and whiles he laughed as the stroke went home and silenced him; and whiles he understood nought of what the elder said.  So wore the day and still the wind held fair, though it was light; and the sun set in a sky nigh cloudless, and there was nowhere any forecast of peril.  But when night was come, Hallblithe lay down on a fair bed, which was dight for him in the poop, and he soon fell asleep and dreamed not save such dreams as are but made up of bygone memories, and betoken nought, and are not remembered.

When he awoke, day lay broad on the sea, and the waves were little, the sky had but few clouds, the sun shone bright, and the air was warm and sweet-breathed.

He looked aside and saw the old man sitting up in his bed, as ghastly as a dead man dug up again: his bushy eyebrows were wrinkled over his bleared old eyes, the long white hair dangled forlorn from his gaunt head: yet was his face smiling and he looked as happy as the soul within him could make the half-dead body.  He turned now to Hallblithe and said:

“Thou art late awake: hadst thou been waking earlier, the sooner had thine heart been gladdened.  Go forward now, and gaze thy fill and come and tell me thereof.”

“Thou art happy, Grandfather,” said Hallblithe, “what good tidings hath morn brought us?”

“The Land! the Land!” said the Long-hoary; “there are no longer tears in this old body, else should I be weeping for joy.”

Said Hallblithe: “Art thou going to meet some one who shall make thee glad before thou diest, old man?”

“Some one?” said the elder; “what one?  Are they not all gone? burned, and drowned, and slain and died abed?  Some one, young man?  Yea, forsooth some one indeed!  Yea, the great warrior of the Wasters of the Shore; the Sea-eagle who bore the sword and the torch and the terror of the Ravagers over the coal-blue sea.  It is myself, Myself that I shall find on the Land of the Glittering Plain, O young lover!”

Hallblithe looked on him wondering as he raised his wasted arms towards the bows of the ship pitching down the slope of the sunlit sea, or climbing up it.  Then again the old man fell back on his bed and muttered: “What fool’s work is this! that thou wilt draw me on to talk loud, and waste my body with lack of patience.  I will talk with thee no more, lest my heart swell and break, and quench the little spark of life within me.”

Then Hallblithe arose to his feet, and stood looking at him, wondering so much at his words, that for a while he forgat the land which they were nearing, though he had caught glimpses of it, as the bows of the round-ship fell downward into the hollow of the sea.  The wind was but light, as hath been said, and the waves little under it, but there was still a smooth swell of the sea which came of breezes now dead, and the ship wallowed thereon and sailed but slowly.

In a while the old man opened his eyes again, and said in a low peevish voice: “Why standest thou staring at me? why hast thou not gone forward to look upon the land?  True it is that ye Ravens are short of wits.”

Said Hallblithe: “Be not wrath, chieftain; I was wondering at thy words, which are exceeding marvellous; tell me more of this land of the Glittering Plain.”

Said the Grandfather: “Why should I tell it thee? ask of the mariners.  They all know more than thou dost.”

“Thou knowest,” said Hallblithe, “that these men speak not to me, and take no more heed of me than if I were an image which they were carrying to sell to the next mighty man they may hap on.  Or tell me, thou old man,” said he fiercely, “is it perchance a thrall-market whereto they are bringing me?  Have they sold her there, and will they sell me also in the same place, but into other hands.”

“Tush!” said the Grandfather somewhat feebly, “this last word of thine is folly; there is no buying or selling in the land whereto we are bound.  As to thine other word, that these men have no fellowship with thee, it is true: thou art my fellow and the fellow of none else aboard.  Therefore if I feel might in me, maybe I will tell thee somewhat.”

Then he raised his head a little and said: “The sun grows hot, the wind faileth us, and slow and slow are we sailing.”

Even as he spoke there was a stir amidships, and Hallblithe looked and beheld the mariners handling the sweeps, and settling themselves on the rowing-benches.  Said the elder: “There is noise amidships, what are they doing?”

The old man raised himself a little again, and cried out in his shrill voice: “Good lads! brave lads!  Thus would we do in the old time when we drew anear some shore, and the beacons were sending up smoke by day, and flame benights; and the shore-abiders did on their helms and trembled.  Thrust her through, lads!  Thrust her along!”  Then he fell back again, and said in a weak voice: “Make no more delay, guest, but go forward and look upon the land, and come back and tell me thereof, and then the tale may flow from me.  Haste, haste!”  So Hallblithe went down from the poop, and in to the waist, where now the rowers were bending to their oars, and crying out fiercely as they tugged at the quivering ash; and he clomb on to the forecastle and went forward right to the dragon-head, and gazed long upon the land, while the dashing of the oar-blades made the semblance of a gale about the ship’s black sides.  Then he came back again to the Sea-eagle, who said to him: “Son, what hast thou seen?”

“Right ahead lieth the land, and it is still a good way off.  High rise the mountains there, but by seeming there is no snow on them; and though they be blue they are not blue like the mountains of the Isle of Ransom.  Also it seemed to me as if fair slopes of woodland and meadow come down to the edge of the sea.  But it is yet far away.”

“Yea,” said the elder, “is it so?  Then will I not wear myself with making words for thee.  I will rest rather, and gather might.  Come again when an hour hath worn, and tell me what thou seest; and may happen then thou shalt have my tale!”  And he laid him down therewith and seemed to be asleep at once.  And Hallblithe might not amend it; so he waited patiently till the hour had worn, and then went forward again, and looked long and carefully, and came back and said to the Sea-eagle, “The hour is worn.”

The old chieftain turned himself about and said “What hast thou seen?”

Said Hallblithe: “The mountains are pale and high, and below them are hills dark with wood, and betwixt them and the sea is a fair space of meadowland, and methought it was wide.”

Said the old man: “Sawest thou a rocky skerry rising high out of the sea anigh the shore?”

“Nay,” said Hallblithe, “if there be, it is all blended with the meadows and the hills.”

Said the Sea-eagle: “Abide the wearing of another hour, and come and tell me again, and then I may have a gainful word for thee.”  And he fell asleep again.  But Hallblithe abided, and when the hour was worn, he went forward and stood on the forecastle.  And this was the third shift of the rowers, and the stoutest men in the ship now held the oars in their hands, and the ship shook through all her length and breadth as they drave her over the waters.

So Hallblithe came aft to the old man and found him asleep; so he took him by the shoulder, and shook him and said: “Awake, faring-fellow, for the land is a-nigh.”

So the old man sat up and said: “What hast thou seen?”

Said Hallblithe: “I have seen the peaks and cliffs of the far-off mountains; and below them are hills green with grass and dark with woods, and thence stretch soft green meadows down to the sea-strand, which is fair and smooth, and yellow.”

“Sawest thou the skerry?” said the Sea-eagle.

“Yea, I saw it,” said Hallblithe, “and it rises sheer from out the sea about a mile from the yellow strand; but its rocks are black, like the rocks of the Isle of Ransom.”

“Son,” said the elder, “give me thine hands and