The House of the Wolfings | Page 8

Gods of thy kindred, and a Chooser of the Slain! Yea, and that upon the eve of battle and the dawn of thy departure to the stricken field!"
"O Wood-Sun," he said "thou art the treasure of life that I found when I was young, and the love of life that I hold, now that my beard is grizzling. Since when did I fear thee, Wood-Sun? Did I fear thee when first I saw thee, and we stood amidst the hazelled field, we twain living amongst the slain? But my sword was red with the blood of the foe, and my raiment with mine own blood; and I was a-weary with the day's work, and sick with many strokes, and methought I was fainting into death. And there thou wert before me, full of life and ruddy and smiling both lips and eyes; thy raiment clean and clear, thine hands stained with blood: then didst thou take me by my bloody and weary hand, and didst kiss my lips grown ashen pale, and thou saidst 'Come with me.' And I strove to go, and might not; so many and sore were my hurts. Then amidst my sickness and my weariness was I merry; for I said to myself, This is the death of the warrior, and it is exceeding sweet. What meaneth it? Folk said of me; he is over young to meet the foeman; yet am I not over young to die?"
Therewith he laughed out amid the wild-wood, and his speech became song, and he said:
"We wrought in the ring of the hazels, and the wine of war we drank: From the tide when the sun stood highest to the hour wherein she sank: And three kings came against me, the mightiest of the Huns, The evil-eyed in battle, the swift-foot wily ones; And they gnashed their teeth against me, and they gnawed on the shield- rims there, On that afternoon of summer, in the high-tide of the year. Keen-eyed I gazed about me, and I saw the clouds draw up Till the heavens were dark as the hollow of a wine-stained iron cup, And the wild-deer lay unfeeding on the grass of the forest glades, And all earth was scared with the thunder above our clashing blades.
"Then sank a King before me, and on fell the other twain, And I tossed up the reddened sword-blade in the gathered rush of the rain And the blood and the water blended, and fragrant grew the earth.
"There long I turned and twisted within the battle-girth Before those bears of onset: while out from the grey world streamed The broad red lash of the lightening and in our byrnies gleamed. And long I leapt and laboured in that garland of the fight 'Mid the blue blades and the lightening; but ere the sky grew light The second of the Hun-kings on the rain-drenched daisies lay; And we twain with the battle blinded a little while made stay, And leaning on our sword-hilts each on the other gazed.
"Then the rain grew less, and one corner of the veil of clouds was raised, And as from the broidered covering gleams out the shoulder white Of the bed-mate of the warrior when on his wedding night He layeth his hand to the linen; so, down there in the west Gleamed out the naked heaven: but the wrath rose up in my breast, And the sword in my hand rose with it, and I leaped and hewed at the Hun; And from him too flared the war-flame, and the blades danced bright in the sun Come back to the earth for a little before the ending of day.
"There then with all that was in him did the Hun play out the play, Till he fell, and left me tottering, and I turned my feet to wend To the place of the mound of the mighty, the gate of the way without end. And there thou wert. How was it, thou Chooser of the Slain, Did I die in thine arms, and thereafter did thy mouth-kiss wake me again?"
Ere the last sound of his voice was done she turned and kissed him; and then she said; "Never hadst thou a fear and thine heart is full of hardihood."
Then he said:
"'Tis the hardy heart, beloved, that keepeth me alive, As the king-leek in the garden by the rain and the sun doth thrive, So I thrive by the praise of the people; it is blent with my drink and my meat; As I slumber in the night-tide it laps me soft and sweet; And through the chamber window when I waken in the morn With the wind of the sun's arising from the meadow is it borne And biddeth me remember that yet I live on earth: Then I