The Well at the World's End: A Tale

by William Morris

  CHAPTER 5

  Bull Telleth of His Winning of the Lordship of Utterbol

  "When thou rannest away from me, and left me alone at Goldburg, I wasgrieved; then Clement Chapman offered to take me back with him to hisown country, which, he did me to wit, lieth hard by thine: but I wouldnot go with him, since I had an inkling that I should find the slayerof my brother and be avenged on him. So the Chapmen departed fromGoldburg after that Clement had dealt generously by me for thy sake;and when they were gone I bethought me what to do, and thou knowest Ican some skill with the fiddle and song, so I betook myself to thatcraft, both to earn somewhat and that I might gather tidings and belittle heeded, till within awhile folk got to know me well, and wouldoften send for me to their merry-makings, where they gave me fiddler'swages, to wit, meat, drink, and money. So what with one thing whatwith another I was rich enough to leave Goldburg and fall to my journeyunto Utterbol; since I misdoubted me from the first that the caytiffwho had slain my brother was the Lord thereof.

  "But one day when I went into the market-place I found a great stir andclutter there; some folk, both men and women screeching and fleeing,and some running to bows and other weapons. So I caught hold of one ofthe fleers, and asked him what was toward; and he cried out, 'Loose me!let me go! he is loose, he is loose!'

  "'Who is loose, fool?' quoth I. 'The lion,' said he, and therewith inthe extremity of his terror tore himself away from me and fled. Bythis time the others also had got some distance away from me, and I wasleft pretty much alone. So I went forth on a little, looking about me,and sure enough under one of the pillars of the cloister beneath themarket-house (the great green pillar, if thou mindest it), lay croucheda huge yellow lion, on the carcase of a goat, which he had knockeddown, but would not fall to eating of amidst all that cry and hubbub.

  "Now belike one thing of me thou wottest not, to wit, that I have agift that wild things love and will do my bidding. The house-mice willrun over me as I lie awake looking on them; the small birds will perchon my shoulders without fear; the squirrels and hares will gambol aboutquite close to me as if I were but a tree; and, withal, the fiercesthound or mastiff is tame before me. Therefore I feared not this lion,and, moreover, I looked to it that if I might tame him thoroughly, hewould both help me to live as a jongleur, and would be a sure ward tome.

  "So I walked up towards him quietly, till he saw me and half rose upgrowling; but I went on still, and said to him in a peaceable voice:'How now, yellow mane! what aileth thee? down with thee, and eat thymeat.' So he sat down to his quarry again, but growled still, and Iwent up close to him, and said to him: 'Eat in peace and safety, am Inot here?' And therewith I held out my bare hand unclenched to him, andhe smelt to it, and straightway began to be peaceable, and fell totearing the goat, and devouring it, while I stood by speaking to himfriendly.

  "But presently I saw weapons glitter on the other side of the squareplace, and men with bended bows. The yellow king saw them also, androse up again and stood growling; then I strove to quiet him, and said,'These shall not harm thee.'

  "Therewith the men cried out to me to come away, for they would shoot:But I called out; 'Shoot not yet! but tell me, does any man own thisbeast?' 'Yea,' said one, 'I own him, and happy am I that he doth notown me.' Said I, 'Wilt thou sell him?' 'Yea' said he, 'if thou livestanother hour to tell down the money.' Said I, 'I am a tamer of wildbeasts, and if thou wilt sell this one at such a price, I will rid theeof him.' The man yeasaid this, but kept well aloof with his fellows,who looked on, handling their weapons.

  "Then I turned to my new-bought thrall and bade him come with me, andhe followed me like a dog to his cage, which was hard by; and I shuthim in there, and laid down the money to his owner; and folk came roundabout, and wondered, and praised me. But I said: 'My masters, have yenaught of gifts for the tamer of beasts, and the deliverer of men?'Thereat they laughed: but they brought me money and other goods, till Ihad gotten far more than I had given for the lion.

  "Howbeit the next day the officers of the Porte came and bade me avoidthe town of Goldburg, but gave me more money withal. I was not loththereto, but departed, riding a little horse that I had, and leading mylion by a chain, though when I was by he needed little chaining.

  "So that without more ado I took the road to Utterbol, and wheresoeverI came, I had what was to be had that I would; neither did any man fallon me, or on my lion. For though they might have shot him or slain himwith many spear-thrusts, yet besides that they feared him sorely, theyfeared me still more; deeming me some mighty sending from their Gods.

  "Thus came I to Utterness, and found it poor and wretched, (asforsooth, it yet is, but shall not be so for long). But the House ofUtterbol is exceeding fair and stately (as thou mightest have learnedfrom others, my master,) and its gardens, and orchards, and acres, andmeadows as goodly as may be. Yea, a very paradise; yet the dwellerstherein as if it were hell, as I saw openly with mine own eyes.

  "To be short, the fame of me and my beast had somehow gone before me,and when I came to the House, I was dealt with fairly, and had goodentertainment: and this all the more, as the Lord was away for a while,and the life of folk not so hard by a great way as it had been if hehad been there: but the Lady was there in the house, and on the morrowof my coming by her command, I brought my lion before her window andmade him come and go, and fetch and carry at my bidding, and when I haddone my play she bade me up into her bower, and bade me sit and had meserved with wine, while she asked me many questions as to my countryand friends, and whence and whither I was; and I answered her with thevery sooth, so far as the sooth was handy; and there was with her butone of her women, even thy friend Agatha, fair sir.

  "Methought both that this Queen was a fair woman, and that she lookedkindly upon me, and at last she said, sighing, that she were well atease if her baron were even such a man as I, whereas the said Lord wasfierce and cruel, and yet a dastard withal. But the said Agatha turnedon her, and chided her, as one might with a child, and said: 'Hold thypeace of thy loves and thy hates before a very stranger! Or must Ileave yet more of my blood on the pavement of the White Pillar, for thepleasure of thy loose tongue? Come out now, mountain-carle!'

  "And she took me by the hand and led me out, and when we had passed thedoor and it was shut, she turned to me and said: 'Thou, if I hear anyword abroad of what my Lady has just spoken, I shall know that thouhast told it, and though I be but a thrall, yea, and of late amishandled one, yet am I of might enough in Utterbol to compass thydestruction.'

  "I laughed in her face and went my ways: and thereafter I saw manyfolk and showed them my beast, and soon learned two things clearly.

  "And first that the Lord and the Lady were now utterly at variance.For a little before he had come home, and found a lack in hishousehold--to wit, how a certain fair woman whom he had but just gothold of, and whom he lusted after sorely, was fled away. And he laidthe wyte thereof on his Lady, and threatened her with death: and whenhe considered that he durst not slay her, or torment her (for he wasverily but a dastard), he made thy friend Agatha pay for her underpretence of wringing a true tale out of her.

  "Now when I heard this story I said to myself that I should hear thatother one of the slaying of my brother, and even so it befell. For Icame across a man who told me when and how the Lord came by the saiddamsel (whom I knew at once could be none other than thou, Lady,) andhow he had slain my brother to get her, even as doubtless thou knowest,Lord Ralph.

  "But the second thing which I learned was that all folk at Utterbol,men and women, dreaded the home-coming of this tyrant; and that therewas no man but would have deemed it a good deed to slay him. But,dastard as he was, use and wont, and the fear that withholdeth rebels,and the doubt that draweth back slaves, saved him; and they dreaded himmoreover as a devil rather than a man. Forsooth one of the men there,who looked upon me friendly, who had had tidings of this evil beastdrawing near, spake to me a word of warning, and said: 'Friendlion-master, take heed to thyself! For I fear
for thee when the Lordcometh home and findeth thee here; lest he let poison thy lion and slaythee miserably afterward.'

  "Well, in three days from that word home cometh the Lord with a rout ofhis spearmen, and some dozen of captives, whom he had taken. And themorrow of his coming, he, having heard of me, sent and bade me showingthe wonder of the Man and the Lion; therefore in the bright morning Iplayed with the lion under his window as I had done by the Queen. Andafter I had played some while, and he looking out of the window, hecalled to me and said: 'Canst thou lull thy lion to sleep, so thatthou mayst leave him for a little? For I would fain have thee up here.'

  "I yeasaid that, and chid the beast, and then sang to him till he laydown and slept like a hound weary with hunting. And then I went upinto the Lord's chamber; and as it happed, all the while of my playingI had had my short-sword naked in my hand, and thus, I deem withoutnoting it, yet as weird would, I came before the tyrant, where he satwith none anigh him save this Otter and another man-at-arms. But when Isaw him, all the blood within me that was come of one mother with mybrother's blood stirred within me, and I set my foot on the foot-paceof this murderer's chair, and hove up my short-sword, and clave hisskull, in front and with mine own hand: not as he wrought, not as hewrought with my brother.

  "Then I turned about to Otter (who had his sword in his fist when itwas too late) till he should speak. Hah Otter, what didst thou say?"

  Otter laughed: Quoth he, "I said: thus endeth the worst man in theworld. Well done, lion-tamer! thou art no ill guest, and hast paid onthe nail for meat, drink and lodging. But what shall we do now? Thenthou saidst; 'Well, I suppose thou wilt be for slaying me.' 'Nay,' saidI, 'We will not slay thee; at least not for this, nor now, nor withoutterms.' Thou saidst: 'Perchance then thou wilt let me go free, sincethis man was ill-beloved: yea, and he owed me a life.' 'Nay, nay,' saidI, 'not so fast, good beast-lord.' 'Why not?' saidst thou, 'I can seeof thee that thou art a valiant man, and whereas thou hast been captainof the host, and the men-at-arms will lightly do thy bidding, whyshouldest thou not sit in the place of this man, and be Lord ofUtterbol?'

  "'Nay nay,' said I, 'it will not do, hearken thou rather: For here Igive thee the choice of two things, either that thou be Lord ofUtterbol, or that we slay thee here and now. For we be two menall-armed.'

  "Thou didst seem to ponder it a while, and then saidst at last: 'Well,I set not out on this journey with any such-like intent; yet will I notwrestle with weird. Only I forewarn thee that I shall change the daysof Utterbol.'

  "'It will not be for the worst then,' quoth I. 'So now go wake up thylion, and lead him away to his den: and we will presently send himthis carrion for a reward of his jonglery.' 'Gramercy, butcher,' saidstthou, 'I am not for thy flesh-meat to-day. I was forewarned that thepoor beast should be poisoned at this man's home-coming, and so will hebe if he eat of this dastard; he will not outlive such a dinner.'Thereat we all laughed heartily."

  "Yea," said Bull, "So I went to lead away the lion when thou hadstbidden me return in an hours' wearing, when all should be ready for myLordship. And thou wert not worse than thy word, for when I came intothat court again, there were all the men-at-arms assembled, and thefree carles, and the thralls; and the men-at-arms raised me on ashield, set a crowned helm on my head, and thrust a great sword into myhand, and hailed me by the name of the Bull of Utterbol, Lord of theWaste and the Wildwood, and the Mountain-side: and then thou, Otter,wert so simple as to kneel before me and name thyself my man, and takethe girding on of sword at my hand. Then even as I was I went in to myLady and told her the end of my tale, and in three minutes she lay inmy arms, and in three days in my bed as my wedded wife. As to Agatha,when I had a little jeered her, I gave her rich gifts and good lands,and freedom, to boot her for her many stripes. And lo there, King'sSon and Sweet Lady, the end of all my tale."

  "Yea," quoth Otter, "saving this, that even already thou has raised upUtterbol from Hell to Earth, and yet meseemeth thou hast good-will toraise it higher."

  Bull reddened at his word, and said: "Tush, man! praise the day whenthe sun has set." Then he turned to Ralph, and said: "Yet couldst thouat whiles put in a good word for me here and there amongst the folksthat thou shalt pass through on thy ways home, I were fain to know thatI had a well-speaking friend abroad." "We shall do no less," saidRalph; and Ursula spake in like wise.

  So they talked together merrily a while longer, till night began togrow old, and then went to their chambers in all content andgood-liking.