The Well at the World's End: A Tale

by William Morris

  CHAPTER 14

  What Ralph Heard of the Matters of the Burg of the Four Friths

  There was no candle in the hall when he entered, but it was not so darktherein but he might see Roger sitting on a stool near the chimney, andopposite to him on the settle sat two men; one very tall and big, theother small; Roger was looking away from these, and whistling; and itcame into Ralph's mind that he would have him think that he had noughtto do with them, whether that were so or not. But he turned round asRalph came up the hall and rose and came up to him, and fell to talkingwith him and asking him how he liked the Burg; and ever he spake fastand loud, so that again it came on Ralph that he was playing a part.

  Ralph heeded him little, but ever looked through the hall-dusk on thosetwain, who presently arose and went toward the hall door, but when theywere but half-way across the floor a chamberlain came in suddenly,bearing candles in his hands, and the light fell on those guests andflashed back from a salade on the head of the big man, and Ralph sawthat he was clad in a long white gaberdine, and he deemed that he wasthe very man whom he had seen last in the Great Place at Higham, nighthe church, and before that upon the road. As for the smaller manRalph had no knowledge of him, for he could see but little of his face,whereas he was wrapped up in a cloak, for as warm as the evening was,and wore a slouch hat withal; but his eyes seemed great and wondrousbright.

  But when they were gone Ralph asked Roger if he knew aught of them, orif they had told him aught. "Nay," said Roger, "they came in here as Isat alone, and had their meat, and spake nought to me, and little toeach other. I deem them not to be of the Burg. Nay, sooth to say, Idoubt if they be true men."

  As he spake came in a sort of the townsmen somewhat merry and noisy,and called for meat and drink and more lights; so that the board wasbrought and the hall was speedily astir. These men, while supper wasbeing dight, fell to talking to Ralph and Roger, and asking themquestions of whence and whither, but nowise uncourteously: to whomRoger answered with the tale which he had told Ralph, and Ralph toldwhat he would, and that was but little.

  But when the board was dight they bade them sit down with them and eat.Ralph sat down at once, and Roger would have served him, but Ralph badehim do it not, and constrained him to sit by his side, and they two sata little apart from the townsmen.

  So when they had eaten their fill, and wine was brought, and men weredrinking kindly, Ralph began to ask Roger concerning those women whomhe had seen in the street, and the captives whom he had seen brought inby the host, and if they were of one kindred, and generally how it waswith them: and he spake somewhat softly as if he would not break intothe talk of the townsmen: but Roger answered him in a loud voice sothat all could hear:

  "Yea, lord, I will tell thee the tale of them, which setteth forth wellboth the wise policy and the great mercy of the folk of the Burg andtheir rulers."

  Said Ralph: "Are these women also of the Dry Tree? For I perceivethem to be born of the foes of the Burg."

  Now the townsmen had let their talk drop a while to listen to the talkof the aliens; and Roger answered still in a loud voice: "Nay, nay, itis not so. These queens are indeed war-taken thralls, but not fromthem of the Dry Tree, or they would have been slain at once, like asthe carles of those accursed ones. But these are of the folk of theWheat-wearers, even as those whom thou sawest brought to-day amidst theother spoil. And to this folk the Burg showeth mercy, and whenso thehost goeth against them and over-cometh (and that is well-nigh wheneverthey meet) these worthy lords slay no woman of them, but the men only,whether they be old or young or youngest. As for their women they arebrought hither and sold at the market-cross to the highest bidder. Andthis honour they have, that such of them as be fair, and that is themore part of the younger ones, fetch no ill penny. Yet for my part Iwere loth to cheapen such wares: for they make but evil servants,being proud, and not abiding stripes lightly, or toiling the harder forthem; and they be somewhat too handy with the knife if they deemthemselves put upon. Speak I sooth, my masters?" quoth he, turningtoward them of the town.

  Said a burgher somewhat stricken in years, "Nought but sooth; peaceablemen like to me eschew such servants; all the more because of this, thatif one of these queens misbehave with the knife, or strayeth from hermaster's bed, the laws of the Burg meddle not therein. For the wisemen say that such folk are no more within the law than kine be, and maynot for their deeds be brought before leet or assize any more thankine. So that if the master punish her not for her misdoings,unpunished she needs must go; yea even if her deed be mere murder."

  "That is sooth," said a somewhat younger man; "yet whiles it fareth illwith them at the hands of our women. To wit, my father's brother haseven now come from the war to find his thrall all spoilt by his wife:and what remedy may he have against his wife? his money is gone, evenas if she had houghed his horse or his best cow."

  "Yea," said a third, "we were better without such cattle. A thrustwith a sword and all the tale told, were the better way of dealing withthem."

  Said another; "Yet are the queens good websters, and, lacking them,figured cloth of silk would be far-fetched and dear-bought here."

  A young man gaily clad, who had been eyeing the speakers disdainfully,spake next and said: "Fair sirs, ye are speaking like hypocrites, andas if your lawful wives were here to hearken to you; whereas ye knowwell how goodly these thralls be, and that many of them can be kindenough withal; and ye would think yourselves but ill bestead if yemight not cheapen such jewels for your money. Which of you will go tothe Cross next Saturday and there buy him a fairer wife than he can wedout of our lineages? and a wife withal of whose humours he need take nomore account of than the dullness of his hound or the skittish temperof his mare, so long as the thong smarts, and the twigs sting."

  One or two grinned as he spake, but some bent their brows at him, yetscarce in earnest, and the talk thereover dropped, nor did Ralph askany more questions; for he was somewhat down-hearted, calling to mindthe frank and free maidens of Upmead, and their friendly words andhearty kisses. And him seemed the world was worse than he had lookedto find it.

  Howsoever, the oldest and soberest of the guests, seeing that he was astranger and of noble aspect, came unto him and sat by him, and fell totelling him tales of the wars of the men of the Burg with theWheat-wearers; and how in time past, when the town was but littlefenced, the Wheat-wearers had stormed their gates and taken the city,and had made a great slaughter; but yet had spared many of thefighting-men, although they had abided there as the masters of them,and held them enthralled for three generations of men: after which timethe sons' sons of the old Burg-dwellers having grown very many again,and divers of them being trusted in sundry matters by the conquerors,who oppressed them but little, rose up against them as occasion served,in the winter season and the Yule feast, and slew their masters, savefor a few who were hidden away.

  "And thereafter," quoth he, "did we make the Burg strong and hard towin, as ye see it to-day; and we took for our captain the Forest Lord,who ere-while had dwelt in the clearings of the wildwood, and he weddedthe Fair Lady who was the son's daughter of him who had been our lordere the Wheat-wearers overcame us; and we grew safe and free and mightyagain. And the son of the Forest Lord, he whom we call the War-smith,he it was who beheld the Burg too much given to pleasure, anddelighting in the softness of life; and he took order to harden ourhearts, and to cause all freemen to learn the craft of war and battle,and let the women and thralls and aliens see to other craftsmanship andto chaffer; and even so is it done as he would; and ye shall find ushardy of heart enough, though belike not so joyous as might be. Yet atleast we shall not be easy to overcome."

  "So indeed it seemeth," said Ralph. "Yet will I ask of you first onequestion, and then another."

  "Ask on," said the burgher.

  Said Ralph: "How is it that ye, being so strong, should still sufferthem of the Dry Tree, taking a man here and a man there, when ye mightdestroy them utterly?"

  The Burghe
r reddened and cleared his throat and said: "Sir, it must bemade clear to you that these evil beasts are no peril to the Burg ofthe Four Friths; all the harm they may do us, is as when a cur dogbiteth a man in the calf of the leg; whereby the man shall be grievedindeed, but the dog slain. Such grief as that they have done us atwhiles: but the grief is paid for thus, that the hunting and slayingof them keeps our men in good trim, and pleasures them; shortly to sayit, they are the chief deer wherewith our wood is stocked."

  He stopped awhile and then went on again and said: "To say sooth theybe not very handy for crushing as a man crushes a wasp, because sorcerygoes with them, and the wiles of one who is their Queen, the evilestwoman who ever spat upon the blessed Host of the Altar: yet is shestrong, a devouring sea of souls, God help us!" And he blessed himselftherewith.

  Said Ralph: "Yet a word on these Wheat-wearers; it seemeth that yenever fail to overcome them in battle?"

  "But seldom at least," quoth the Burgher.

  Said Ralph: "Then it were no great matter for you to gather a hostoverwhelming, and to take their towns and castles, and forbid themweapons, and make them your thralls to till the land for you which nowthey call theirs; so that ye might have of their gettings all save whatwere needful for them to live as thralls."

  "I deem it were an easy thing," said the burgher.

  Quoth Ralph: "Then why do ye not so?"

  "It were but a poor game to play," said the burgher. "Such of theirwealth as we have a mind to, we can have now at the cost of a battle ortwo, begun one hour and ended the next: were we their masters sittingdown amidst of their hatred, and amidst of their plotting, yea, and inthe very place where that were the hottest and thickest, the battlewould be to begin at every sun's uprising, nor would it be ended at anysunset. Hah! what sayest thou?"

  Said Ralph: "This seemeth to me but the bare truth; yet it is littleafter the manner of such masterful men as ye be. But why then do yeslay all their carles that are taken; whereas ye bear away the womenand make thralls of them at home, that is to say, foes in every house?"

  "It may be," said the Burgher, "that this is not amongst the wisest ofour dealings. Yet may we do no otherwise; for thus we swore to do byall the greatest oaths that we might swear, in the days when we firstcast off their yoke, and yet were not over strong at the first; and nowit hath so grown into a part of our manners, yea, and of our veryhearts and minds, that the slaying of a Wheat-wearer is to us a lightermatter than the smiting of a rabbit or a fowmart. But now, look you,fair sir, my company ariseth from table; so I bid thee a good night.And I give thee a good rede along with the good wish, to wit, that thouask not too many questions in this city concerning its foemen: for hereis the stranger looked upon with doubt, if he neither will take thewages of the Burg for battle, nor hath aught to sell."

  Ralph reddened at his word, and the other looked at him steadily as hespoke, so that Ralph deemed that he mistrusted him: he deemed moreoverthat three or four of the others looked hard at him as they wenttowards the door, while Roger stood somewhat smiling, and humming asnatch of an old song.

  But when the other guests had left the hostelry, Roger left hissinging, and turned to Ralph and said: "Master, meseems that theymistrust us, and now maybe is that peril that I spake of nigher than Ideemed when we came into the Burg this morning. And now I would thatwe were well out of the Burg and in the merry greenwood again, and itrepents me that I brought thee hither."

  "Nay, good fellow," quoth Ralph, "heed it not: besides, it was me, notthee, that they seemed to doubt of. I will depart hence to-morrowmorning no worser than I came, and leave thee to seek thy fortune here;and good luck go with thee."

  Roger looked hard at him and said: "Not so, young lord; if thou goestI will go with thee, for thou hast won my heart, I know not how: and Iwould verily be thy servant, to follow thee whithersoever thou goest;for I think that great deeds will come of thee."

  This word pleased Ralph, for he was young and lightly put faith inmen's words, and loved to be well thought of, and was fain of goodfellowship withal. So he said: "This is a good word of thine, and Ithank thee for it; and look to it that in my adventures, and the rewardof them thou shalt have thy due share. Lo here my hand on it!"

  Roger took his hand, yet therewith his face seemed a little troubled,but he said nought. Then spoke Ralph: "True it is that I am not fainto take the wages of the Burg; for it seems to me that they be hardmen, and cruel and joyless, and that their service shall be ratherchurlish than knightly. Howbeit, let night bring counsel, and we willsee to this to-morrow; for now I am both sleepy and weary." Therewithhe called the chamberlain, who bore a wax light before him to hischamber, and he did off his raiment and cast himself on his bed, andfell asleep straightway, before he knew where Roger was sleeping,whether it were in the hall or some place else.