The Well at the World's End: A Tale

  CHAPTER 16

  They Come to the Castle of Abundance Once More

  When they rode on next morning Ralph was few-spoken, and seemed to heedlittle so long as they made good speed on the way: most of the talk wasbetwixt Richard and the Sage, Ralph but putting in a word when it wouldhave seemed churlish to forbear.

  So they went their ways through the wood till by then the sun was wellwestering they came out at the Water of the Oak, and Richard drew reinthere, and spake: "Here is a fair place for a summer night's lodging,and I would warrant both good knight and fair lady have lain hereaforetime, and wished the dark longer: shall we not rest here?"

  Ralph stared at him astonished, and then anger grew in his face for alittle, because, forsooth, as Richard and the Sage both wotted of theplace of the slaying of the Lady, and he himself had every yard of theway in his mind as they went, it seemed but due that they should haveknown of this place also, what betid there: but it was not so, and theplace was to Richard like any other lawn of the woodland.

  But thought came back to Ralph in a moment, and he smiled at his ownfolly, howbeit he could not do to lie another night on that lawn withother folk than erst. So he said quietly: "Nay, friend, were we notbetter to make the most of this daylight? Seest thou it wants yet anhour of sunset?"

  Richard nodded a yeasay, and the Sage said no word more; but Ursulacast her anxious look on Ralph as though she understood what was movingin him; and therewith those others rode away lightly, but Ralph turnedslowly from the oak-tree, and might not forbear looking on to the shortsward round about, as if he hoped to see some token left behind. Thenhe lifted up his face as one awaking, shook his rein, and rode afterthe others down the long water.

  So they turned from the water anon, and rode the woodland ways, and laythat night by a stream that ran west.

  They arose betimes on the morrow, and whereas the Sage knew thewoodland ways well, they made but a short journey of it to the Castleof Abundance, and came into the little plain but two hours after noon,where saving that the scythe had not yet wended the tall mowing grassin the crofts which the beasts and sheep were not pasturing, all was ason that other tide. The folk were at work in their gardens, or herdingtheir cattle in the meads, and as aforetime they were merry ofcountenance and well-clad, fair and gentle to look on.

  There were their pleasant cots, and the little white church, and thefair walls of the castle on its low mound, and the day bright andsunny, all as aforetime, and Ralph looked on it all, and made nocountenance of being moved beyond his wont.

  So they came out of the wood, and rode to the ford of the river, andthe carles and queans came streaming from their garths and meads tomeet them, and stood round wondering at them; but an old carle camefrom out the throng and went up to Ralph, and hailed him, and said:"Oh, Knight! and hast thou come back to us? and has thou brought ustidings of our Lady? Who is this fair woman that rideth with thee? Isit she?"

  Spake Ralph: "Nay; go look on her closely, and tell me thy deeming ofher."

  So the carle went up to Ursula, and peered closely into her face, andtook her hand and looked on it, and knelt down and took her foot out ofthe stirrup, and kissed it, and then came back to Ralph, and said:"Fair Sir, I wot not but it may be her sister; for yonder old wise manI have seen here erst with our heavenly Lady. But though this fairwoman may be her sister, it is not she. So tell me what is become ofher, for it is long since we have seen her; and what thou tellest us,that same shall we trow, even as if thou wert her angel. For I spakewith thee, it is nigh two years agone, when thou wert abiding thecoming of our Lady in the castle yonder But now I see of thee that thouart brighter-faced, and mightier of aspect than aforetime, and it is inmy mind that the Lady of Abundance must have loved thee and holpenthee, and blessed thee with some great blessing."

  Said Ralph: "Old man, canst thou feel sorrow, and canst thou bear it?"The carle shook his head. "I wot not," said he, "I fear thy words."Said Ralph: "It were naught to say less than the truth; and this isthe very truth, that thou shalt never see thy Lady any more. I was thelast living man that ever saw her alive."

  Then he spake in a loud voice and said: "Lament, ye people! for theLady of Abundance is dead; yet sure I am that she sendeth this messageto you, Live in peace, and love ye the works of the earth."

  But when they heard him, the old man covered up his face with the foldsof his gown, and all that folk brake forth into weeping, and cryingout: "Woe for us! the Lady of Abundance is dead!" and some of theyounger men cast themselves down on to the earth, and wallowed, weepingand wailing: and there was no man there that seemed as if he knew whichway to turn, or what to do; and their faces were foolish with sorrow.Yet forsooth it was rather the carles than the queans who made all thislamentation.

  At last the old man spake: "Fair sir, ye have brought us heavytidings, and we know not how to ask you to tell us more of the tale.Yet if thou might'st but tell us how the Lady died? Woe's me for theword!"

  Said Ralph: "She was slain with the sword."

  The old man drew himself up stiff and stark, the eyes of him glitteredunder his white hair, and wrath changed his face, and the othermen-folk thronged them to hearken what more should be said.

  But the elder spake again: "Tell me who it was that slew her, forsurely shall I slay him, or die in the pain else."

  Said Ralph: "Be content, thou mayst not slay him; he was a great andmighty man, a baron who bore a golden sun on a blue field. Thou maystnot slay him." "Yea," said the old man, "but I will, or he me."

  "Live in peace," said Ralph, "for I slew him then and there."

  The old man held his peace a while, and then he said: "I know the man,for he hath been here aforetime, and not so long ago. But if he bedead, he hath a brother yet, an exceeding mighty man: he will be cominghere to vex us and minish us."

  Said Ralph: "He will not stir from where he lies till Earth's bones bebroken, for my sword lay in his body yesterday."

  The old man stood silent again, and the other carles thronged him; butthe woman stood aloof staring on Ralph. Then the elder came up toRalph and knelt before him and kissed his feet; then he turned andcalled to him three of the others who were of the stoutest and moststalwarth, and he spake with them awhile, and then he came to Ralphagain, and again knelt before him and said: "Lord, ye have come to us,and found us void of comfort, since we have lost our Lady. But we seein thee, that she hath loved thee and blessed thee, and thou hast slainher slayer and his kindred. And we see of thee also that thou art agood lord. O the comfort to us, therefore, if thou wouldest be ourLord! We will serve thee truly so far as we may: yea, even if thou bebeset by foes, we will take bow and bill from the wall, and stand roundabout thee and fight for thee. Only thou must not ask us to go hencefrom this place: for we know naught but the Plain of Abundance, and theedges of the wood, and the Brethren of the House of the Thorn, who arenot far hence. Now we pray thee by thy fathers not to naysay us, sosore as thou hast made our hearts. Also we see about thy neck thesame-like pair of beads which our Lady was wont to bear, and we deemthat ye were in one tale together."

  Then was Ralph silent awhile, but the Sage spake to the elder: "Oldman, how great is the loss of the Lady to you?" "Heavy loss, wise oldman," said the carle, "as thou thyself mayst know, having known her."

  "And what did she for you?" said the Sage. Said the elder: "We knowthat she was gracious to us; never did she lay tax or tale on us, andwhiles she would give us of her store, and that often, and abundantly.We deem also that every time when she came to us our increase becamemore plenteous, which is well seen by this, that since she hath ceasedto come, the seasons have been niggard unto us."

  The Sage smiled somewhat, and the old man went on: "But chiefly theblessing was to see her when she came to us: for verily it seemed thatwhere she set her feet the grass grew greener, and that the flowersblossomed fairer where the shadow of her body fell." And therewith theold man fell a-weeping again.

  The Sage held his peace, and Ralph
still kept silence; and now of thesemen all the younger ones had their eyes upon Ursula.

  After a while Ralph spake and said: "O elder, and ye folk of thePeople of Abundance, true it is that your Lady who is dead loved me,and it is through her that I am become a Friend of the Well. Nowmeseemeth though ye have lost your Lady, whom ye so loved andworshipped, God wot not without cause, yet I wot not why ye now cry outfor a master, since ye dwell here in peace and quiet and all wealth,and the Fathers of the Thorn are here to do good to you. Yet, if yewill it in sooth, I will be called your Lord, in memory of your Ladywhom ye shall not see again. And as time wears I will come and look onyou and hearken to your needs: and if ye come to fear that any shouldfall upon you with the strong hand, then send ye a message to me, Ralphof Upmeads, down by the water, and I will come to you with suchfollowing as need be. And as for service, this only I lay upon you,that ye look to the Castle and keep it in good order, and ward itagainst thieves and runagates, and give guesting therein to anywandering knight or pilgrim, or honest goodman, who shall come to you.Now is all said, my masters, and I pray you let us depart in peace; fortime presses."

  Then all they (and this time women as well as men) cried out joyfully:"Hail to our lord! and long life to our helper." And the women withaldrew nearer to him, and some came close up to him, as if they wouldtouch him or kiss his hand, but by seeming durst not, but stoodblushing before him, and he looked on them, smiling kindly.

  But the old man laid his hand on his knee and said: "Lord, wouldst thounot light down and enter thy Castle; for none hath more right there nowthan thou. The Prior of the Thorn hath told us that there is nolineage of the Lady left to claim it; and none other might ever haveclaimed it save the Baron of Sunway, whom thou hast slain. And elsewould we have slain him, since he slew our Lady."

  Ralph shook his head and said: "Nay, old friend, and new vassal, thiswe may not do: we must on speedily, for belike there is work for us todo nearer home."

  "Yea, Lord," said the carle, "but at least light down and sit for awhile under this fair oak-tree in the heat of the day, and eat a morselwith us, and drink a cup, that thy luck may abide with us when thou artgone."

  Ralph would not naysay him; so he and all of them got off their horses,and sat down on the green grass under the oak: and that people gatheredabout and sat down by them, save that a many of the women went to theirhouses to fetch out the victual. Meanwhile the carles fell to speechfreely with the wayfarers, and told them much concerning their littleland, were it hearsay, or stark sooth: such as tales of the wightsthat dwelt in the wood, wodehouses, and elf-women, and dwarfs, and suchlike, and how fearful it were to deal with such creatures. Amongstother matters they told how a hermit, a holy man, had come to dwell inthe wood, in a clearing but a little way thence toward the north-west.But when Ralph asked if he dwelt on the way to the ford of the SwellingFlood, they knew not what he meant; for the wood was to them as a wall.

  Hereon the Sage held one of the younger men in talk, and taught himwhat he might of the way to the Burg of the Four Friths, so that theymight verily send a messenger to Upmeads if need were. But the countryyouth said there was no need to think thereof, as no man of theirswould dare the journey through the wood, and that if they had need of amessenger, one of the Fathers of the Thorn would do their errand,whereas they were holy men, and knew the face of the world full well.

  Now in this while the folk seemed to have gotten their courage again,and to be cheery, and to have lost their grief for the Lady: and of themaidens left about the oak were more than two or three very fair, whostood gazing at Ralph as if they were exceeding fain of him.

  But amidst these things came back the women with the victual; to witbread in baskets, and cheeses both fresh and old, and honey, andwood-strawberries, and eggs cooked diversely, and skewers of white woodwith gobbets of roasted lamb's flesh, and salad good plenty. All thesethey bore first to Ralph and Ursula, and their two fellows, and thendealt them to their own folk: and they feasted and were merry indespite of that tale of evil tidings. They brought also bowls andpitchers of wine that was good and strong, and cider of their orchards,and called many a health to the new Lord and his kindred.

  Thus then they abode a-feasting till the sun was westering and theshadows waxed about them, and then at last Ralph rose up and called tohorse, and the other wayfarers arose also, and the horses were led upto them. Then the maidens, made bold by the joy of the feast, andbeing stirred to the heart by much beholding of this beloved Lord, castoff their shamefacedness and crowded about him, and kissed his raimentand his hands: some even, though trembling, and more for love thanfear, prayed him for kisses, and he, nothing loath, laughed merrily andlaid his hands on their shoulders or took them by the chins, and sethis lips to the sweetness of their cheeks and their lips, of those thatasked and those that refrained; so that their hearts failed them forlove of him, and when he was gone, they knew not how to go back totheir houses, or the places that were familiar to them. Therewith heand his got into their saddles and rode away slowly, because of thethronging about them of that folk, who followed them to the edge of thewood, and even entered a little thereinto; and then stood gazing onRalph and his fellows after they had spurred on and were riding down aglade of the woodland.