The Well at the World's End: A Tale
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CHAPTER 9
They Go On Their Way Once More
"Look now," she said, "I have held thee so long in talk, that theafternoon is waning; now is it time for us to be on the way again; notbecause I misdoubt me of thy foeman, but because I would take thee to afairer dwelling of the desert, and one where I have erst abided; andmoreover, there thou shalt not altogether die of hunger. See, is itnot as if I had thought to meet thee here?"
"Yea, in good sooth," said he, "I wot that thou canst see the story ofthings before they fall."
She laughed and said: "But all this that hath befallen since I set outto meet thee at the Castle of Abundance I foresaw not, any more than Ican foresee to-morrow. Only I knew that we must needs pass by the placewhereto I shall now lead thee, and I made provision there. Lo! now themarvel slain: and in such wise shall perish other marvels which havebeen told of me; yet not all. Come now, let us to the way."
So they joined hands and left the pleasant place, and were again goingspeedily amidst the close pine woods awhile, where it was smoothunderfoot and silent of noises withal.
Now Ralph said: "Beloved, thou hast told me of many things, but naughtconcerning how thou camest to be wedded to the Knight of the Sun, andof thy dealings with him."
Said she, reddening withal: "I will tell thee no more than this,unless thou compel me: that he would have me wed him, as it wereagainst my will, till I ceased striving against him, and I went withhim to Sunway, which is no great way from the Castle of Abundance, andthere befell that treason of Walter the Black, who loved me and prayedfor my love, and when I gainsaid him, swore by all that was holy,before my lord, that it was I who sought his love, and how I had toldand taught him ways of witchcraft, whereby we might fulfill our love,so that the Baron should keep a wife for another man. And the Knightof the Sun, whose heart had been filled with many tales of my wisdom,true and false, believed his friend whom he loved, and still believethhim, though he burneth for the love of me now; whereas in those firstdays of the treason, he burned with love turned to hatred. So of thiscame that shaming and casting-forth of me. Whereof I will tell theebut this, that the brother of my lord, even the tall champion whom thouhast seen, came upon me presently, when I was cast forth; because hewas coming to see the Knight of the Sun at his home; and he loved me,but not after the fashion of his brother, but was kind and mild withme. So then I went with him to Hampton and the Dry Tree, and great joymade the folk thereof of my coming, whereas they remembered theirasking of aforetime that I would come to be a Queen over them, andthere have I dwelt ever since betwixt Hampton and the Castle ofAbundance; and that tall champion has been ever as a brother unto me."
Said Ralph, "And thou art their Queen there?" "Yea," she said, "in afashion; yet have they another who is mightier than I, and might, ifshe durst, hang me over the battlements of the Scaur, for she is afierce and hard woman, and now no longer young in years."
"Is it not so then," said Ralph, "that some of the ill deeds that aretold of thee are of her doing?"
"It is even so," she said, "and whiles when she has spoken the word Imay not be against her openly, therefore I use my wisdom which I havelearned, to set free luckless wights from her anger and malice. Moreby token the last time I did thus was the very night of the day weparted, after thou hadst escaped from the Burg."
"In what wise was that?" said Ralph. She said: "When I rode away fromthee on that happy day of my deliverance by thee, my heart laughed forjoy of the life thou hadst given me, and of thee the giver, and I sworeto myself that I would set free the first captive or death-doomedcreature that I came across, in honour of my pleasure and delight: nowspeedily I came to Hampton and the Scaur; for it is not very far fromthe want-ways of the wood: and there I heard how four of our folk hadbeen led away by the men of the Burg, therefore it was clear to me thatI must set these men free if I could; besides, it pleased me to thinkthat I could walk about the streets of the foemen safely, who had beenbut just led thitherward to the slaughter. Thou knowest how I spedtherein. But when I came back again to our people, after thou hadstridden away from us with Roger, I heard these tidings, that there wasone new-come into our prison, a woman to wit, who had been haled beforeour old Queen for a spy and doomed by her, and should be taken forthand slain, belike, in a day or two. So I said to myself that I was notfree of my vow as yet, because those friends of mine, I should in anycase have done my best to deliver them: therefore I deemed my oathbound me to set that woman free. So in the night-tide when all wasquiet I went to the prison and brought her forth, and led her past allthe gates and wards, which was an easy thing to me, so much as I hadlearned, and came with her into the fields betwixt the thorp of Hamptonand the wood, when it was more daylight than dawn, so that I could seeher clearly, and no word as yet had we spoken to each other. But thenshe said to me: 'Am I to be slain here or led to a crueller prison?'And I said: 'Neither one thing nor the other: for lo! I have set theefree, and I shall look to it that there shall be no pursuit of theetill thou hast had time to get clear away.' But she said: 'What thankswilt thou have for this? Wherefore hast thou done it?' And I said, 'Itis because of the gladness I have gotten.' Said she, 'And would that Imight get gladness!' So I asked her what was amiss now that she wasfree. She said: 'I have lost one thing that I loved, and found anotherand lost it also.' So I said: 'Mightest thou not seek for the lost?'She said, 'It is in this wood, but when I shall find it I shall nothave it.' 'It is love that thou art seeking,' said I. 'In whatsemblance is he?'
"What wilt thou, my friend? Straightway she fell to making a pictureof thee in words; so that I knew that she had met thee, and belikeafter I had departed from thee, and my heart was sore thereat; for nowI will tell thee the very truth, that she was a young woman andexceeding fair, as if she were of pearl all over, and as sweet aseglantine; and I feared her lest she should meet thee again in thesewildwoods. And so I asked her what would she, and she said that shehad a mind to seek to the Well at the World's End, which quencheth allsorrow; and I rejoiced thereat, thinking that she would be far awayfrom thee, not thinking that thou and I must even meet to seek to italso. So I gave her the chaplet which my witch-mistress took from thedead woman's neck; and went with her into the wildwood, and taught herwisdom of the way and what she was to do. And again I say to thee thatshe was so sweet and yet with a kind of pity in her both of soul andbody, and wise withal and quiet, that I feared her, though I loved her;yea and still do: for I deem her better than me, and meeter for theeand thy love than I be.--Dost thou know her?"
"Yea," said Ralph, "and fair and lovely she is in sooth. Yet hast thounaught to do to fear her. And true it is that I saw her and spake withher after thou hadst ridden away. For she came by the want-ways of theWood Perilous in the dawn of the day after I had delivered thee; and insooth she told me that she looked either for Death, or the Water of theWell to end her sorrow."
Then he smiled and said; "As for that which thou sayest, that she hadbeen meeter for me than thou, I know not this word. For look you,beloved, she came, and passed, and is gone, but thou art there andshalt endure."
She stayed, and turned and faced him at that word; and love so consumedher, that all sportive words failed her; yea and it was as if mirth andlight-heartedness were swallowed up in the fire of her love; and allthought of other folk departed from him as he felt her tears of loveand joy upon his face, and she kissed and embraced him there in thewilderness.