Hereward, the Last of the English Part 12

"In this Braga-beaker, Brave Ra.n.a.ld I pledge; In good liquor, which lightens Long labor on oar-bench; Good liquor, which sweetens The song of the scald."

"Thy voice is as fine as thy feathers, man. Nay, drink it all. We ourselves drink here by the peg at midday; but a stranger is welcome to fill his inside all hours of the day."

Whereon Hereward finished the horn duly; and at Ra.n.a.ld's bidding, sat him down on the high settle. He did not remark, that as he sat down two handsome youths rose and stood behind him.

"Now then, Sir Priest," quoth the king, "go on with your story."

A priest, Irish by his face and dress, who sat on the high bench, rose, and renewed an oration which Hereward's entrance had interrupted.

"So, O great King, as says Homerus, this wise king called his earls, knights, sea-captains, and housecarles, and said unto them, 'Which of these two kings is in the right, who can tell? But mind you, that this king of the Enchanters lives far away in India, and we never heard of him more than his name; but this king Ulixes and his Greeks live hard by; and which of the two is it wiser to quarrel with, him that lives hard by or him that lives far off? Therefore, King Ra.n.a.ld, says, by the mouth of my humility, the great O'Brodar, Lord of Ivark, 'Take example by Alcinous, the wise king of Fairy, and listen not to the amba.s.sadors of those lying villains, O'Dea Lord of Slievardagh, Maccarthy King of Cashel, and O'Sullivan Lord of Knockraffin, who all three between them could not raise kernes enough to drive off one old widow's cow. Make friends with me, who live upon your borders; and you shall go peaceably through my lands, to conquer and destroy them, who live afar off; as they deserve, the sons of Belial and Judas.'"

And the priest crost himself, and sat down. At which speech Hereward was seen to laugh.

"Why do you laugh, young sir? The priest seems to talk like a wise man, and is my guest and an amba.s.sador."

Then rose up Hereward, and bowed to the king. "King Ra.n.a.ld Sigtrygsson, it was not for rudeness that I laughed, for I learnt good manners long ere I came here, but because I find clerks alike all over the world."

"How?"

"Quick at hiding false counsel under learned speech. I know nothing of Ulixes, king, nor of this...o...b..odar either; and I am but a lad, as you see: but I heard a bird once in my own country who gave a very different counsel from the priest's."

"Speak on, then. This lad is no fool, my merry men all."

"There were three copses, King, in our country, and each copse stood on a hill. In the first there built an eagle, in the second there built a sparhawk, in the third there built a crow.

"Now the sparhawk came to the eagle, and said, 'Go shares with me, and we will kill the crow, and have her wood to ourselves.'

"'Humph!' says the eagle, 'I could kill the crow without your help; however, I will think of it.'

"When the crow heard that, she came to the eagle herself. 'King Eagle,'

says she, 'why do you want to kill me, who live ten miles from you, and never flew across your path in my life? Better kill that little rogue of a sparhawk who lives between us, and is always ready to poach on your marches whenever your back is turned. So you will have her wood as well as your own.'

"'You are a wise crow,' said the eagle; and he went out and killed the sparhawk, and took his wood."

Loud laughed King Ra.n.a.ld and his Vikings all. "Well spoken, young man! We will take the sparhawk, and let the crow bide."

"Nay, but," quoth Hereward, "hear the end of the story. After a while the eagle finds the crow beating about the edge of the sparhawk's wood.

"'Oho!' says he, 'so you can poach as well as that little hooknosed rogue?' and he killed her too.

"'Ah!' says the crow, when she lay a-dying, 'my blood is on my own head.

If I had but left the sparhawk between me and this great tyrant!'

"And so the eagle got all three woods to himself."

At which the Vikings laughed more loudly than ever; and King Ra.n.a.ld, chuckling at the notion of eating up the hapless Irish princes one by one, sent back the priest (not without a present for his church, for Ra.n.a.ld was a pious man) to tell the great O'Brodar, that unless he sent into Waterford by that day week two hundred head of cattle, a hundred pigs, a hundredweight of clear honey, and as much of wax, Ra.n.a.ld would not leave so much as a sucking-pig alive in Ivark.

The cause of quarrel, of course, was too unimportant to be mentioned. Each had robbed and cheated the other half a dozen times in the last twenty years. As for the morality of the transaction, Ra.n.a.ld had this salve for his conscience,--that as he intended to do to O'Brodar, so would O'Brodar have gladly done to him, had he been living peaceably in Norway, and O'Brodar been strong enough to invade and rob him. Indeed, so had O'Brodar done already, ever since he wore beard, to every chieftain of his own race whom he was strong enough to ill-treat. Many a fair herd had he driven off, many a fair farm burnt, many a fair woman carried off a slave, after that inveterate fas.h.i.+on of lawless feuds which makes the history of Celtic Ireland from the earliest, times one dull and aimless catalogue of murder and devastation, followed by famine and disease; and now, as he had done to others, so it was to be done to him.

"And now, young sir, who seem as witty as you are good looking, you may, if you will, tell us your name and your business. As for the name, however, if you wish to keep it to yourself, Ra.n.a.ld Sigtrygsson is not the man to demand it of an honest guest."

Hereward looked round and saw Teague MacMurrough standing close to him, harp in hand. He took it from him courteously enough, put a silver penny into the minstrel's hand, and running his fingers over the strings, rose and began,--

"Outlaw and free thief, Landless and lawless Through the world fare I, Thoughtless of life.

Soft is my beard, but Hard my Brain-biter.

Wake, men me call, whom Warrior or watchman Never caught sleeping, Far in Northumberland Slew I the witch-bear, Cleaving his brain-pan, At one stroke I felled him."

And so forth, chanting all his doughty deeds, with such a voice and spirit joined to that musical talent for which he was afterwards so famous, till the hearts of the wild Nors.e.m.e.n rejoiced, and "Skall to the stranger!

Skall to the young Viking!" rang through the hall.

Then showing proudly the fresh wounds on his bare arms, he sang of his fight with the Cornish ogre, and his adventure with the Princess. But always, though he went into the most minute details, he concealed the name both of her and of her father, while he kept his eyes steadily fixed on Ra.n.a.ld's eldest son, Sigtryg, who sat at his father's right hand.

The young man grew uneasy, red, almost angry; till at last Hereward sang,--

"A gold ring she gave me Right royally dwarf-worked, To none will I pa.s.s it For prayer or for sword-stroke, Save to him who can claim it By love and by troth plight, Let that hero speak If that hero be here."

Young Sigtryg half started from his feet: but when Hereward smiled at him, and laid his finger on his lips, he sat down again. Hereward felt his shoulder touched from behind. One of the youths who had risen when he sat down bent over him, and whispered in his ear,--

"Ah, Hereward, we know you. Do you not know us? We are the twins, the sons of your sister, Siward the White and Siward the Red, the orphans of Asbiorn Siwardsson, who fell at Dunsinane."

Hereward sprang up, struck the harp again, and sang,--

"Outlaw and free thief, My kinsfolk have left me, And no kinsfolk need I Till kinsfolk shall need me.

My sword is my father, My s.h.i.+eld is my mother, My s.h.i.+p is my sister, My horse is my brother."

"Uncle, uncle," whispered one of them, sadly, "listen now or never, for we have bad news for you and us. Your father is dead, and Earl Algar, your brother, here in Ireland, outlawed a second time."

A flood of sorrow pa.s.sed through Hereward's heart. He kept it down, and rising once more, harp in hand,--

"Hereward, king, hight I, Holy Leofric my father, In Westminster wiser None walked with King Edward.

High minsters he builded, Pale monks he maintained.

Dead is he, a bed-death, A leech-death, a priest-death, A straw-death, a cow's death.

Such doom I desire not.

To high heaven, all so softly, The angels uphand him, In meads of May flowers Mild Mary will meet him.

Me, happier, the Valkyrs Shall waft from the war-deck, Shall hail from the holmgang Or helmet-strewn moorland.

And sword-strokes my shrift be, Sharp spears be my leeches, With heroes' hot corpses High heaped for my pillow."

"Skall to the Viking!" shouted the Danes once more, at this outburst of heathendom, common enough among their half-converted race, in times when monasticism made so utter a divorce between the life of the devotee and that of the worldling, that it seemed reasonable enough for either party to have their own heaven and their own h.e.l.l. After all, Hereward was not original in his wish. He had but copied the death-song which his father's friend and compeer, Siward Digre, the victor of Dunsinane, had sung for himself some three years before.

All praised his poetry, and especially the quickness of his alliterations (then a note of the highest art); and the old king filling not this time the horn, but a golden goblet, bid him drain it and keep the goblet for his song.

Young Sigtryg leapt up, and took the cup to Hereward. "Such a scald," he said, "ought to have no meaner cup-bearer than a king's son."

Hereward drank it dry; and then fixing his eyes meaningly on the Prince, dropt the Princess's ring into the cup, and putting it back into Sigtryg's hand, sang,--

"The beaker I reach back More rich than I took it.

No gold will I grasp Of the king's, the ring-giver, Till, by wit or by weapon, I worthily win it.

When brained by my biter O'Brodar lies gory, While over the wolf's meal Fair widows are wailing."