Nicanor - Teller of Tales

Nicanor - Teller of Tales, by C. Bryson Taylor

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Nicanor - Teller of Tales, by C. Bryson Taylor This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Nicanor - Teller of Tales A Story of Roman Britain
Author: C. Bryson Taylor
Illustrator: Troy Kinney Margaret West Kinney
Release Date: August 13, 2007 [EBook #22304]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NICANOR - TELLER OF TALES ***

Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

NICANOR TELLER OF TALES
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration: "In a physical ecstasy he spoke out that which clamored at his lips." (Page 44)]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NICANOR TELLER OF TALES
A Story Of Roman Britain
By C. BRYSON TAYLOR
Author Of "In The Dwellings Of The Wilderness"
Having Pictures and Designs by Troy and Margaret West Kinney
Chicago A. C. Mcclurg & Co. 1906
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1906 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England All rights reserved
Published April 28, 1906
Typography by The University Press, Cambridge, U.S.A. Presswork by The Lakeside Press, Chicago, U.S.A.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
C. H. B.
To you, whose love did come And oft did sing to me, When I was working in the furrows.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
BOOK I PAGE
THE MANTLE OF MELCHIOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
BOOK II
THE GARDEN OF DREAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
BOOK III
PAWNS AND PLAYERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
BOOK IV
THE LORD'S DAUGHTER AND THE ONE WHO WENT IN CHAINS . . . . . . . 207
BOOK V
THE NIGHT AND THE DAWNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ILLUSTRATIONS Page
"In a physical ecstasy he spoke out that which clamored on his lips" [Page 44] Frontispiece
"'Were I that woman, I should have wanted to love him'" [Page 85] 72
"'You sent for me, Lady Varia?'" [Page 152] 176
"Half a dozen young beauties had taken possession,--girls of the haughtiest blood in Britain" [Page 240] 254
"The sight burst upon him in all its hideousness--where had been the stately mansion of his lord" [Page 344] 364
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CHARACTERS
EUDEMIUS, a Roman lord living in Britain
VARIA, his daughter
LIVINIUS, a Roman citizen, a boyhood friend of Eudemius
MARIUS, his son, of the Roman legions in Gaul
MARCUS SILENUS POMPONIUS, Count of the Saxon Shore } AURELIUS MENOTUS, duumvir of Anderida } Guests of FELIX, his son } Eudemius CAIUS JULIUS VALENS, a Roman citizen }
JULIA } NIGIDIA } Roman girls, daughters of the PAULA } guests of Eudemius GRATIA }
NERISSA, nurse to Varia
HITO, master of the household of Eudemius
CHLORIS, of all nations, living upon Thorney
SADA, a Saxon } inmates of her house EUNICE, a Greek }
ELDRIS, a Briton, a convert to Christianity
WARDO, a Saxon, a slave in the house of Eudemius
VALERIUS, a Roman, a soldier of fortune
TOBIAS, a Hebrew, a worker in ivory
RATHUMUS, a British peasant, bound to the soil
SUSANNA, a Hebrew woman, his wife
NICANOR, a story-teller, their son
WULF, the Red, a Saxon free-lance
CEAWLIN, a Saxon chieftain
FATHER AMBROSE, of the Christian church
NICODEMUS, the One-Eyed, a British freedman
MYLEIA, his wife
MARCUS, a slave in the house of Eudemius
BALBUS, a convict
JUNCINA, a fish-wife on Thorney
SOSIA, her daughter
A flower-girl, a Saxon singer, slaves, trades-folk, soldiers of the military police; guards and overseers of the mines, and miners; Roman nobles and patrician women; Saxon men-at-arms, and men of the outland nations
Scene: Britain in the last days of Roman power Time: between A.D. 410 and 446
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
LIST OF TOWNS AND RIVERS
WITH THEIR MODERN SITES AND NAMES
Abus Flumen Humber River. Ad Fines Broughing, Hertfordshire. Anderida Pevensey. Aqu? Solis Bath. Bibracte Unknown. Caledonia Scotland. Calleva Silchester. Corinium Cirencester. Cunetio Folly Farm, near Marlborough. Deva Chester. Dubr? Dover. Eboracum York. Gobannium Abergavenny. Glevum Gloucester. Isca Silurum Carleon. Leucarum Llychwr, county of Glamorgan. Londinium London. Noviomagus Holwood Hill, parish of Bromley. Pontes Staines Portus Magnus Porchester. Rat? Leicester. Regnum Chichester. Rutupi? Richborough Sabrina Flumen Severn River. Serica China. Tamesis Flumen Thames River. Tripontium Near Lilburne. Uriconium Wroxeter. Urus Flumen Ouse River.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
THE MANTLE OF MELCHIOR
BOOK I
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NICANOR: TELLER OF TALES
Book I
THE MANTLE OF MELCHIOR
I
Nicanor the story-teller was the son of Rathumus the wood-cutter, who was the son of Razis the worker in bronze, who was the son of Melchior the story-teller. So that Nicanor came honestly by his gift, and would even believe that his great-grandsire had handed it down to him by special act of bequest.
Now Rathumus the wood-cutter, tall and gaunt and fierce-eyed, coming home with his fagots on