The Wake: Man Booker Prize 2014 Longlist Edition

by Paul Kingsnorth

  my grandfather wolde sae men does not lysten to the wise for what the wise has to sae is not what they wants to hiere for what they wants to hiere is that their lifs is right as they is and that they is good folc and does not need to do naht. and most times saes my grandfather this is not the triewth most men is dumb and they lifs lic hunds and they does not see beyond their hus into the night or efen the daeg they does not hiere the fenn specan to them they does not see the eald gods under the mere they is blithe in their hus fuccan and drinccan while all in the wilde world falls away. those who is wise he saed those who is wise moste lead men moste show them what they can not see lic the swine moste lead us to the trufa or the hund to the hara

  well there was no men for me to lead then and for many daegs i done naht though it now brings sceomu to thinc of this but i done naht for i colde not see why. i had no men to saw the winter waet and no men to spread the scit on the felds for winter and no men to cum with me to the fenn for secg for thaeccan the hus for when the cold months cum. it seemed to me then that there was naht to do but drinc ealu and eat what odelyn was macan eat hunig cicels and pies and loafs and sitt in the hus stay warm stay in with my wif and my grandfathers sweord what sum times i wolde tac from the beam and scine and hold while i was sitttan for out in the world there was naht for me all was agan me. and for many daegs this was my world and odelyn and annis they both cared for me but naht was saed for this was my hus and they both cnawan what the world had done to me and fed me while i was in my seat at the fyr

  then after sum daegs the preost cum. i cnawan it from ecceard for he cum to my hus to tell me for he felt sceomu for what he had done and all he had tacan from me. the daeg was high with the sunne but i was in the hus in deorc and smoc with odelyn and ecceard he cum in then and seen me in my seat by the fyr with my ealu and he locs at me lic this is his worc

  buccmaster of holland he saes odelyn wif i greets thu well in thy great hus i has cum to sae that eadweard preost of bacstune circe is cum to the ham and that thu sceolde cum hiere him spec

  well i laughs at this i laughs with ealu still in my mouth and half of it gan on to the fyr

  buccmaster saes ecceard before thu specs i cnawan thy thoughts on preosts of course and synnful thoughts they is and thu will be sorry for them after thy daegs here is done but this preost he brings word not from the crist but from the fyrd

  of course odelyn hearan this had to go she wolde not stay in the hus if there was word of her sons so she wolde go to the ham with ecceard and i moste go also for i wolde not haf ecceard alone with my wifman on the grene paths around these parts things was saed about him and all cnawan what they was

  down in the ham we seen the preost at the gathran place at the cros roads with folc all around him. most was wifmen with so many men gan to the fyrd but hwit haerd ealdors was there also and yonge cildren and those lic ecceard and me who was great men in the ham men of parts. the preost is in all his fuccan gold and he has out his altar of wud what he tacs to all the lytel hams where he lies to the folcs and he has his great boc on it what is all gold and in sum ingenga tunge the better to awe the dumb folc. he sees us cum then and he locs at me lic i sceolde not be there for this eadweard he is an eald man and cnawan my grandfather at the end of his daegs and cnawan as all did his thoughts on the crist

  eadweard preost saes ecceard eadweard preost thu is well cum here in the name of the crist and his holy sancts and we bids their gladness on the poor folcs of our ham. eadweard of bacstune tell us what word is thu bringan from angland

  well saes eadweard in his deop tunge i has telt these folc as thu can see there is gladness now in their heortes by the crists mildheortness but i will tell it again for none is too late to cum in to the word of god. he is locan at me then i sceolde beat him but i is not an esol he is the preost

  i brings tidans from eorfic saes eadweard preost i brings word of a great sige what has been gifen to harald cyng of angland through the hand of thy great triewe god these three daegs past. harald of the denes who is called landwaster who cum here with a thousand long scips to cwell angland has himself been cwelled through the will of the crist by the fyrd of our harald cyng. it is saed that our cyng gan north cwiccor than any man efer has done and he cum upon hardrada who is called landwaster near eorfic. this great dene had cwelled the fyrd of the eorls of the north sum daegs before and was thincan to tac eorfic and then tac angland but our harald cyng cum upon him when the denes was eatan and fuccan and drincan lic heathens will do who has not the triewe light of the crist upon them or within them. he was loccan at me then again i wolde beat him if there was any triewth but always there is mens laws stoppan triewth

  and harald cyng gan on this preost in stillness for all folc locs up at him open muthd though they has hierde this already harald cyng he cum down on the landwaster at a place that is called stam ford by eorfic and on him he dealt a great death and under his sign of the blaec raefn the great landwaster was cwelled the crist guidan an anglisc strael in to his throta and the denes was drifan baec to the sea what ran red with the blud of denes to where sea becums heofon. and of the thousand scips what brought them to angland ten only was needed to tac them baec to the ys lands

  there is a great roar then from the dumb folcs and efen from odelyn and ecceard and in triewth these tidans was good that ingengas had been sent baec in blud though to me it seemed that a preost who tells us that the crist saed thu sceolde not cwell lufs too micel this tale of blud and straels and the cwellan of ingengas but this is preosts

  what of the fyrd now calls odelyn what tidans of the men of this ham

  i can not in triewth tell thu saes the preost and all wifmen locs sad but the crist he gan with all men who is of his flocc. sum will cum baec and sum not but all who feoht for the crist will be tacan in to his heofon and all who gifs their lifs for crist and cyng will see their god

  when is my son cuman baec cries sum wifman

  wifman saes eadweard and he locs ired lic he has had enough dumb folc and as a preost he has seen many wifmen and also fuccd them for this is preosts. their words is of the boc and the crist but their thoughts is of wifmen and ealu lic any man

  i can not cnaw these things he saes we moste all trust in god and bid efry daeg that those who is cuman will cum soon baec to thu

  well this is no good for odelyn this has only macd her fret mor for now she cnawan there has been a great feoht and her sons colde haf been in it. i tries to tell her this is good that dunstan wolde feoht and now he has done and that ingengas has been cwelled all ofer and will not cum again and that now we will haf our men baec and lif will go on. but she wolde not haf this naht wolde be right for her till her sons cum baec and in triewth though the folc of the ham was glad for the tidans and though ecceard saes this is what the haeric star cum to tell us of the great wyrd of harald cyng in triewth i did not belyf all was done. i still felt sum thing was cuman and i was right and in my heafod as the preost begun to spec of josef and his fuccan brothors again lic efry wice for he cnawan or can not read no other tale in my heafod was still the tunge of my dream saen name me buccmaster name me and i cnawan all was not still

  i stands on a long seolfor strand it is night all is deorcness but the mona thynne lic a sithe blaed the sea is cuman in and risan and fallan on the strand lic the beatan of a heorte but the heorte of a man who is roaran lic a wiht in blud. efry waef roars the strand roars behind is clifs high and hwit and there is no light on the strand no light on the clifs all is deorcness all around but for the mona

  but for the mona and for one light out on the sea now so far out that it is only seen when locan away. out where no light sceolde be far off on the waefs one fyr beorns small and it mofs with the water and it nefer gan out and slow slow slow it can be seen cuman nearer to me nearer to the clifs nearer to the strand while the waefs beat blaec on the land lic no man was efer born

  moste i tell of what cum then moste i sae it i does not want to sae it all cnawan it now all in all lands cnawan it. in the frenc lands the
y talcs of what they thincs is their great sige but in the other lands also in the ys lands of the denes in the land of the biscop of the crist who gaf his flag to the bastard who set his god agan us in friesland in bohemia perhaps in hel itself they cnawan what angland has becum and their preosts uses it to tell dumb folc what befalls a great land what teorns away from their word

  but he cnawan before what was cuman and in sleep i was sean succ things as has nefer been seen and it was only later that i cnawan what i was sean and why i was ceosan to see it. but i always cnawan i was not lic other men my grandfather wolde sae that lic he i was abuf the esols in the ham and this i colde see and not only my grandfather seen it. so when i was ascan why he cum to me efen that first night in the felds name me name me he was saen efen then sum part of me cnawan that if there was to be a man in holland ceosan for greatness then of course it wolde haf been buccmaster

  ofer the next daegs it was lic waitan for the regn it was lic we was wifmen with the first cilde all will be new thu cnawan this but until it cums it does not seem lic naht will efer be other than it is and has been. i had saed it to all sum thing is cuman i had saed but efen i did not not cnaw then what this meant in triewth not until it cum not until it was here. it may be that he cum to tac away the mist from off the water for me to see the deop triewe how deorc it was

  so odelyn loccd out for her sons and efry daeg they did not cum was a daeg when sum of her heorte was gan. after sum time i left the hus and the fyr and the deorc and done sum small things i tried to worc on my land but it was gan now and late and so i teorned from it. i wolde haf sat again in the hus but we colde not lif on naht so i toc to fedan us by goan in my boat for aels. i gan to the parts my grandfather toc me to and tacan his eald glaif i brought baec aels though there was not so many as when i was a cilde. when i was not in my boat i was in other places for i colde not loc at my land now so broc was it

  all them brocn daegs seemed a year or mor but in triewth it was only wices and then we was with cilde no mor the leafs cum from the treows and snow cum from the heofon and the waters cum up and we was drencced. it was in the mergen on a daeg of cold winter sunne when the gleoman cum again to us and this time he was not sum raedeler with the folc in his hand but he was lic sum cilde what has seen many folc drencced and is runnan to tell his mothor and his father runnan for where it is warm

  the cyng is dead he saes the cyng is dead

  all is broc he saes all is gan

  we was down in the ham me and odelyn she was specan to other wifmen of sons gan to the fyrd of why they had not cum bacc after the denes was cwelled. odelyn had cum to buy sum things and i had cum to cepe her safe from others and also to see the lie of things to see that others also was also small and broc as i. we did not see the gleoman cum he cum from the fenn but we hierde the wifmen gan fast to him and when we teorned from the gaet where we stood we seen him

  when we had seen this man before he had been proud he had been strong in his raedels and tales. an old man yes but he had the strength what all men moste haf if they is to hold others to them. but this strength now it was gan and this man he seemed lic sum thing had scufd him away easy and with out efen locan. he cum then to the cros straet and he spac but it toc him sum time it seemed lic he did not want to sae what he had cum to sae for saen it wolde mac it triewe

  geeyome has cum he saes straight there is no jocs with him now. geeyome duc of the frenc who is called by his own folc the bastard for his mothor was sum hund and his father a thegn of great yfel whose own folc was in thrall to him. geeyome has cum in scips from the frenc lands and all is gan

  who is gan cries the wifmen what is gan

  harald cyng saes the gleoman thu has hierde of his great sige ofer the denes well he and his fyrd and his huscarls they had not time to breathe when they hierde that the scips of the bastard had cum to the scors of the south near haestingas and landed and none there to meet them with what they sceolde haf been met with. well harald cyng he toc to the road again and gan south as fast as he had gan north but with half the fyrd dead from the denes and the other half broc and with the bastard fresc and with the flag of the biscop of rome

  what fuccan flag i saes

  the papa of rome he blest the bastards war on angland saes the gleoman he gaf him the flag of the crist to feoht under and when anglisc men seen this they was afeart and harald cyng though he was a great anglisc man though he was our greatest cyng since efer i was born and triewe well

  he stops here and all is still in the ham lic i has nefer seen it

  in a place called sanlac on the hyll of the graeg aeppel treow harald cyng drew up his men few and weary and this bastard with his flag and with the relicts of sancts around his foul throta and with men from all lands and none feohtan not for luf but all for gold he cum down on harald cyng and he cum down on him and he did not stop. and all daeg saes this gleoman all daeg our cyng held his line and wolde haf held it until deorcness and then sent the bastard to his scips again sent him baec with blud into the water but then sum thing cum

  what thing i saes what thing

  none cnawan he saes none seen it who still lifs but the bastards men cnihts as they is cnawan feohtan on hors they broc through the huscarls and toc the cyngs flag and they cut the cyng down cut him down on anglisc ground after efry thing he done for us and his blud is still there at sanlac and will not dry and the bodigs of his huscarls and of his brothors eorl leofwine and eorl gyrth all is gan all anglisc men is cut down and angland now with no sweords naht to stop the bastard from tacan all things in this land

  then what will cum saes sum wifman

  they gelded him saes the gleoman who is still at sanlac they gelded our harald cyng they cut off his beallucs these frenc men cut off his beallucs for the gold of the bastard and gold is not all he will tac now for he is cuman and he has not begun efen

  there is a great moan at this a great fear mofan round all in the ham and i felt it also

  i has cum to tell thu this saes the gleoman i is tellan all hams i cnawan and it it is all i can tell thu. harald cyng is dead the eorls is dead the fyrd is broc and the bastard is cuman down on lundun with sweord and fyr. he means to be cyng of angland and who will stop him now none i saes none will stop him. the roman biscop and his sancts has tacan down a great anglisc man and a bastard will be our cyng and angland will weep for a thousand years

  the feld is grene it is high sumor the long grass runs ofer to a bright ea and from across the water rises roccs great and deorc and high they rises high and on them is a great stan torr and in this torr a wifman yonge and with cilde. deop in the frenc lands in this torr this wifman she is to bring forth a grendel a cweller of cyngs a fyr deoful but now she cnawan naht but that she has been had by the greatest man in the land though she is not his wif and now is bound to him

  and in this torr this blaec torr risan abuf the grene felds now this wifman dreams. from her guttas where this deoful is brewan she sees growan a great treow and this treow it cums up high abuf the felds abuf efen this great torr abuf all the lands of the frenc and it does not stop there it grows higher. and the sceado of this treow she sees spreadan and mofan out and out until all of this ducdom is deorc and then across the sea the sceado mofs and the treow still growan and the sceado cums upon an other strand and still it spreads until all this other land is in sceado also and when she wacans this yonge afeart girl all is deorc as the deorc stan what cepes her in

  hard it was to get odelyn to go efen baec to our hus that daeg after the gleoman cum hard to stop her wepan and cryan and wantan to go to the south to sanlac to dig on the hyll of blud for the bodigs of her sons what was cwelled there she saes cwelled for the cyng lic what dunstan had always wanted. i telt her none cnawan if this was triewe none cnawan naht her boys colde still cum baec they colde be hurt only or they colde be in lundun or sum other far place but no she cnawan she saed she cnawan they was gan she was their mothor she cnawan and her heorte now was broc she saed and naht to lif for

  well i was right wh
en i saed none cnawan for none did but still i thought she was right that our sons was gan under the hors of ingengas or cut down by sweords or shot with straels on sum cold dun and for what for men feohtan ofer the right to tac our land and our rights and mac us gif geld to them and fall on our cneows if efer they cum by for fear of the line and the treow o our mastorful ealdors how we gifs thancs for our cyngs

  well i got her to the hus and sleep she did in the end though it was late before she wolde and when she did it was a broc sleep. i cnawan i wolde not sleep not for the tidans alone but for what i was again hearan for what was bean spoc to me seemed louder now efen than that first night sum wices ago and now i cnawan why he had cum. sum thing is cuman i had saed and sum thing now had cum. i seen the fugol i cnawan what the haeric star cum to sae now i was hearan sum great thing from lands other men can not see and i colde see now why i was ceosan

  that night i did not sleep for i did not try to. i did not go to our bed i went down the path across the fenn and i went as night was on all the land and deop in the eald holt of what my grandfather spac them years bacc the holt of hafoc and craw. this holt it was the same as efer it was efen though all other things was cuman down on us and the craws then was still for night was long begun. i has gan to this holt many times since i was a cilde and satt always on one eald ac treow what cum down and is now foda for all in the holt. when i was a cilde when i satt in this holt as night cum i was afeart of eorcas and aelfs and scuccas but not now for now i was grown now there was naht to fear but him