I had liefer that the fish had swallowed me,
Like Jonah, than have known there were such devils.
What’s to be done?
[To his MEN — goes apart with them.
FISHERMAN.
Rolf, what fish did swallow Jonah?
ROLF.
A whale!
FISHERMAN.
Then a whale to a whelk we have swallowed the King of England. I saw him over there. Look thee, Rolf, when I was down in the fever, she was down with the hunger, and thou didst stand by her and give her thy crabs, and set her up again, till now, by the patient Saints, she’s as crabb’d as ever.
ROLF.
And I’ll give her my crabs again, when thou art down again.
FISHERMAN.
I thank thee, Rolf. Run thou to Count Guy; he is hard at hand. Tell him what hath crept into our creel, and he will fee thee as freely as he will wrench this outlander’s ransom out of him — and why not? for what right had he to get himself wrecked on another man’s land?
ROLF.
Thou art the human-heartedest, Christian-charitiest of all crab-catchers. Share and share alike!
[Exit.
HAROLD (to FISHERMAN).
Fellow, dost thou catch crabs?
FISHERMAN.
As few as I may in a wind, and less than I would in a calm. Ay!
HAROLD.
I have a mind that thou shalt catch no more.
FISHERMAN.
How?
HAROLD.
I have a mind to brain thee with mine axe.
FISHERMAN.
Ay, do, do, and our great Count-crab will make his nippers meet in thine heart; he’ll sweat it out of thee, he’ll sweat it out of thee. Look, he’s here! He’ll speak for himself! Hold thine own, if thou canst!
Enter GUY, COUNT OF PONTHIEU.
HAROLD.
Guy, Count of Ponthieu?
GUY.
Harold, Earl of Wessex!
HAROLD.
Thy villains with their lying lights have wreck’d us!
GUY.
Art thou not Earl of Wessex?
HAROLD.
In mine earldom
A man may hang gold bracelets on a bush,
And leave them for a year, and coming back
Find them again.
GUY.
Thou art a mighty man
In thine own earldom!
HAROLD.
Were such murderous liars
In Wessex — if I caught them, they should hang
Cliff-gibbeted for sea-marks; our sea-mew
Winging their only wail!
GUY.
Ay, but my men
Hold that the shipwreckt are accursed of God; —
What hinders me to hold with mine own men?
HAROLD.
The Christian manhood of the man who reigns!
GUY.
Ay, rave thy worst, but in our oubliettes
Thou shalt or rot or ransom. Hale him hence!
[To one of his ATTENDANTS.
Fly thou to William; tell him we have Harold.
Scene II
Bayeux. Palace.
COUNT WILLIAM and WILLIAM MALET.
WILLIAM.
We hold our Saxon woodcock in the springe,
But he begins to flutter. As I think
He was thine host in England when I went
To visit Edward.
MALET.
Yea, and there, my lord,
To make allowance for their rougher fashions,
I found him all a noble host should be.
WILLIAM.
Thou art his friend: thou know’st my claim on England
Thro’ Edward’s promise: we have him in the toils.
And it were well, if thou shouldst let him feel,
How dense a fold of danger nets him round,
So that he bristle himself against my will.
MALET.
What would I do, my lord, if I were you?
WILLIAM.
What wouldst thou do?
MALET.
My lord, he is thy guest.
WILLIAM.
Nay, by the splendour of God, no guest of mine.
He came not to see me, had past me by
To hunt and hawk elsewhere, save for the fate
Which hunted him when that un-Saxon blast,
And bolts of thunder moulded in high heaven
To serve the Norman purpose, drave and crack’d
His boat on Ponthieu beach; where our friend Guy
Had wrung his ransom from him by the rack,
But that I slept between and purchased him,
Translating his captivity from Guy
To mine own hearth at Bayeux, where he sits
My ransom’d prisoner.
MALET.
Well, if not with gold,
With golden deeds and iron strokes that brought
Thy war with Brittany to a goodlier close
Than else had been, he paid his ransom back.
WILLIAM.
So that henceforth they are not like to league
With Harold against me.
MALET.
A marvel, how
He from the liquid sands of Coesnon
Haled thy shore-swallow’d, armour’d Normans up
To fight for thee again!
WILLIAM.
Perchance against
Their saver, save thou save him from himself.
MALET.
But I should let him home again, my lord.
WILLIAM.
Simple! let fly the bird within the hand,
To catch the bird again within the bush!
No.
Smooth thou my way, before he clash with me;
I want his voice in England for the crown,
I want thy voice with him to bring him round;
And being brave he must be subtly cow’d,
And being truthful wrought upon to swear
Vows that he dare not break. England our own
Thro’ Harold’s help, he shall be my dear friend
As well as thine, and thou thyself shalt have
Large lordship there of lands and territory.
MALET.
I knew thy purpose; he and Wulfnoth never
Have met, except in public; shall they meet
In private? I have often talk’d with Wulfnoth,
And stuff’d the boy with fears that these may act
On Harold when they meet.
WILLIAM.
Then let them meet!
MALET.
I can but love this noble, honest Harold.
WILLIAM.
Love him! why not? thine is a loving office,
I have commission’d thee to save the man:
Help the good ship, showing the sunken rock,
Or he is wreckt for ever.
Enter WILLIAM RUFUS.
WILLIAM RUFUS.
Father.
WILLIAM.
Well, boy.
WILLIAM RUFUS.
They have taken away the toy thou gavest me,
The Norman knight.
WILLIAM.
Why, boy?
WILLIAM RUFUS.
Because I broke
The horse’s leg — it was mine own to break;
I like to have my toys, and break them too.
WILLIAM.
Well, thou shalt have another Norman knight!
WILLIAM RUFUS.
And may I break his legs?
WILLIAM.
Yea, — get thee gone!
WILLIAM RUFUS.
I’ll tell them I have had my way with thee.
[Exit.
MALET.
I never knew thee check thy will for ought
Save for the prattling of thy little ones.
WILLIAM.
Who shall be kings of England. I am heir
Of England by the promise of her king.
MALET.
&n
bsp; But there the great Assembly choose their king,
The choice of England is the voice of England.
WILLIAM.
I will be king of England by the laws,
The choice, and voice of England.
MALET.
Can that be?
WILLIAM.
The voice of any people is the sword
That guards them, or the sword that beats them down.
Here comes the would-be what I will be . . . king-like . . .
Tho’ scarce at ease; for, save our meshes break,
More kinglike he than like to prove a king.
Enter HAROLD, musing, with his eyes on the ground.
He sees me not — and yet he dreams of me.
Earl, wilt thou fly my falcons this fair day?
They are of the best, strong-wing’d against the wind.
HAROLD (looking up suddenly, having caught but the last word).
Which way does it blow?
WILLIAM.
Blowing for England, ha?
Not yet. Thou hast not learnt thy quarters here.
The winds so cross and jostle among these towers.
HAROLD.
Count of the Normans, thou hast ransom’d us,
Maintain’d, and entertain’d us royally!
WILLIAM.
And thou for us hast fought as loyally,
Which binds us friendship-fast for ever!
HAROLD.
Good!
But lest we turn the scale of courtesy
By too much pressure on it, I would fain,
Since thou hast promised Wulfnoth home with us,
Be home again with Wulfnoth.
WILLIAM.
Stay — as yet
Thou hast but seen how Norman hands can strike,
But walk’d our Norman field, scarce touch’d or tasted
The splendours of our Court.
HAROLD.
I am in no mood:
I should be as the shadow of a cloud
Crossing your light.
WILLIAM.
Nay, rest a week or two,
And we will fill thee full of Norman sun,
And send thee back among thine island mists
With laughter.
HAROLD.
Count, I thank thee, but had rather
Breathe the free wind from off our Saxon downs,
Tho’ charged with all the wet of all the west.
WILLIAM.
Why if thou wilt, so let it be — thou shalt.
That were a graceless hospitality
To chain the free guest to the banquet-board;
To-morrow we will ride with thee to Harfleur,
And see thee shipt, and pray in thy behalf
For happier homeward winds than that which crack’d
Thy bark at Ponthieu, — yet to us, in faith,
A happy one — whereby we came to know
Thy valour and thy value, noble earl.
Ay, and perchance a happy one for thee,
Provided — I will go with thee to-morrow —
Nay — but there be conditions, easy ones,
So thou, fair friend, will take them easily.
Enter PAGE.
PAGE.
My lord, there is a post from over seas
With news for thee.
[Exit Page.
WILLIAM.
Come, Malet, let us hear!
[Exeunt COUNT WILLIAM and MALET.
HAROLD.
Conditions? What conditions? pay him back
His ransom? ‘easy’ — that were easy — nay —
No money-lover he! What said the King?
‘I pray you do not go to Normandy.’
And fate hath blown me hither, bound me too
With bitter obligation to the Count —
Have I not fought it out? What did he mean?
There lodged a gleaming grimness in his eyes,
Gave his shorn smile the lie. The walls oppress me,
And yon huge keep that hinders half the heaven.
Free air! free field!
[Moves to go out. A Man-at-Arms follows him.
HAROLD (to the MAN-AT-ARMS).
I need thee not. Why dost thou follow me?
MAN-AT-ARMS.
I have the Count’s commands to follow thee.
HAROLD.
What then? Am I in danger in this court?
MAN-AT-ARMS.
I cannot tell. I have the Count’s commands.
HAROLD.
Stand out of earshot then, and keep me still
In eyeshot.
MAN-AT-ARMS.
Yea, lord Harold.
[Withdraws.
HAROLD.
And arm’d men
Ever keep watch beside my chamber door,
And if I walk within the lonely wood,
There is an arm’d man ever glides behind!
Enter MALET.
Why am I follow’d, haunted, harass’d, watch’d?
See yonder! [Pointing to the MAN-AT-ARMS.
MALET.
‘Tis the good Count’s care for thee!
The Normans love thee not, nor thou the Normans,
Or — so they deem.
HAROLD.
But wherefore is the wind,
Which way soever the vane-arrow swing,
Not ever fair for England? Why but now
He said (thou heardst him) that I must not hence
Save on conditions.
MALET.
So in truth he said.
HAROLD.
Malet, thy mother was an Englishwoman;
There somewhere beats an English pulse in thee!
MALET.
Well — for my mother’s sake I love your England,
But for my father I love Normandy.
HAROLD.
Speak for thy mother’s sake, and tell me true.
MALET.
Then for my mother’s sake, and England’s sake
That suffers in the daily want of thee,
Obey the Count’s conditions, my good friend.
HAROLD.
How, Malet, if they be not honourable!
MALET.
Seem to obey them.
HAROLD.
Better die than lie!
MALET.
Choose therefore whether thou wilt have thy conscience
White as a maiden’s hand, or whether England
Be shatter’d into fragments.
HAROLD.
News from England?
MALET.
Morcar and Edwin have stirr’d up the Thanes
Against thy brother Tostig’s governance;
And all the North of Humber is one storm.
HAROLD.
I should be there, Malet, I should be there!
MALET.
And Tostig in his own hall on suspicion
Hath massacred the Thane that was his guest,
Gamel, the son of Orm: and there be more
As villainously slain.
HAROLD.
The wolf! the beast!
Ill news for guests, ha, Malet! More? What more?
What do they say? did Edward know of this?
MALET.
They say, his wife was knowing and abetting.
HAROLD.
They say, his wife! — To marry and have no husband
Makes the wife fool. My God, I should be there.
I’ll hack my way to the sea.
MALET.
Thou canst not, Harold;
Our Duke is all between thee and the sea,
Our Duke is all about thee like a God;
All passes block’d. Obey him, speak him fair,
For he is only debonair to those
That follow where he leads, but stark as death
To those that cross him. — Look thou, here is Wulfnoth!
I leave thee to thy talk with him alone;
How wan, poor lad! how sick and sad for home!
HAROLD (muttering).
Go not to Normandy — go not to Normandy!
Enter WULFNOTH.
Poor brother! still a hostage!
WULFNOTH.
Yea, and I
Shall see the dewy kiss of dawn no more
Make blush the maiden-white of our tall cliffs,
Nor mark the sea-bird rouse himself and hover
Above the windy ripple, and fill the sky
With free sea-laughter — never — save indeed
Thou canst make yield this iron-mooded Duke
To let me go.
HAROLD.
Why, brother, so he will;
But on conditions. Canst thou guess at them?
WULFNOTH.
Draw nearer, — I was in the corridor,
I saw him coming with his brother Odo
The Bayeux bishop, and I hid myself.
HAROLD.
They did thee wrong who made thee hostage; thou
Wast ever fearful.
WULFNOTH.
And he spoke — I heard him —
‘This Harold is not of the royal blood,
Can have no right to the crown,’ and Odo said,
‘Thine is the right, for thine the might; he is here,
And yonder is thy keep.’
HAROLD.
No, Wulfnoth, no.
WULFNOTH.
And William laugh’d and swore that might was right,
Far as he knew in this poor world of ours —
‘Marry, the Saints must go along with us,
And, brother, we will find a way,’ said he —
Yea, yea, he would be king of England.
HAROLD.
Never!
WULFNOTH.
Yea, but thou must not this way answer him.
HAROLD.
Is it not better still to speak the truth?
WULFNOTH.
Not here, or thou wilt never hence nor I:
For in the racing toward this golden goal
He turns not right or left, but tramples flat
Whatever thwarts him; hast thou never heard
His savagery at Alencon, — the town
Hung out raw hides along their walls, and cried
‘Work for the tanner.’
HAROLD.
That had anger’d me
Had I been William.
WULFNOTH.
Nay, but he had prisoners,
He tore their eyes out, sliced their hands away,
And flung them streaming o’er the battlements
Upon the heads of those who walk’d within —
O speak him fair, Harold, for thine own sake.
HAROLD.
Your Welshman says, ‘The Truth against the World,’
Much more the truth against myself.
WULFNOTH.
Thyself?
But for my sake, oh brother! oh! for my sake!
HAROLD.
Poor Wulfnoth! do they not entreat thee well?
WULFNOTH.
I see the blackness of my dungeon loom
Across their lamps of revel, and beyond
The merriest murmurs of their banquet clank
The shackles that will bind me to the wall.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson - Delphi Poets Series Page 150