The Well at the World's End: A Tale

  CHAPTER 17

  They Fall in With That Hermit

  So much had they tarried over this greeting and feasting, that thoughthey had hoped to have come to the hermit's house that night, he ofwhom that folk had told them, it fell not so, whereas the day had agedso much ere they left the Plain of Abundance that it began to duskbefore they had gone far, and they must needs stay and await the dawnthere; so they dight their lodging as well as they might, and lay downand slept under the thick boughs.

  Ralph woke about sunrise, and looking up saw a man standing over him,and deemed at first that it would be Richard or the Sage; but as hisvision cleared, he saw that it was neither of them, but a new comer; astout carle clad in russet, with a great staff in his hand and ashort-sword girt to his side. Ralph sprang up, still not utterlyawake, and cried out, "Who art thou, carle?" The man laughed, andsaid: "Yea, thou art still the same brisk lad, only filled out tosomething more warrior-like than of old. But it is unmeet to forgetold friends. Why dost thou not hail me?"

  "Because I know thee not, good fellow," said Ralph. But even as hespoke, he looked into the man's face again, and cried out: "By St.Nicholas! but it is Roger of the Ropewalk. But look you, fellow, if Ihave somewhat filled out, thou, who wast always black-muzzled, art nowbecome as hairy as a wodehouse. What dost thou in the wilds?" SaidRoger: "Did they not tell thee of a hermit new come to these shaws?""Yea," said Ralph. "I am that holy man," quoth Roger, grinning; "notthat I am so much of that, either. I have not come hither to pray orfast overmuch, but to rest my soul and be out of the way of men. Forall things have changed since my Lady passed away."

  He looked about, and saw Ursula just rising up from the ground and theSage stirring, while Richard yet hugged his bracken bed, snoring. Sohe said: "And who be these, and why hast thou taken to the wildwood?Yea lad, I see of thee, that thou hast gotten another Lady; and if mineeyes do not fail me she is fair enough. But there be others as fair;while the like to our Lady that was, there is none such."

  He fell silent a while, and Ralph turned about to the others, for bythis time Richard also was awake, and said: "This man is the hermit ofwhom we were told."

  Roger said: "Yea, I am the hermit and the holy man; and withal I havea thing to hear and a thing to tell. Ye were best to come with me, allof you, to my house in the woods; a poor one, forsooth, but there issomewhat of victual here, and we can tell and hearken therein wellsheltered and at peace. So to horse, fair folk."

  They would not be bidden twice, but mounted and went along with him,who led them by a thicket path about a mile, till they came to a lawnwhere-through ran a stream; and there was a little house in it, simpleenough, of one hall, built with rough tree-limbs and reed thatch. Hebrought them in, and bade them sit on such stools or bundles of stuffas were there. But withal he brought out victual nowise ill, though itwere but simple also, of venison of the wildwood, with some little dealof cakes baked on the hearth, and he poured for them also both milk andwine.

  They were well content with the banquet, and when they were full, Rogersaid: "Now, my Lord, like as oft befalleth minstrels, ye have had yourwages before your work. Fall to, then, and pay me the scot by tellingme all that hath befallen you since (woe worth the while!) my Ladydied,--I must needs say, for thy sake."

  "'All' is a big word," said Ralph, "but I will tell thee somewhat. YetI bid thee take note that I and this ancient wise one, and my Ladywithal, deem that I am drawn by my kindred to come to their help, andthat time presses."

  Roger scowled somewhat on Ursula; but he said: "Lord and master, letnot that fly trouble thy lip. For so I deem of it, that whatsoevertime ye may lose by falling in with me, ye may gain twice as much againby hearkening my tale and the rede that shall go with it. And I dothee to wit that the telling of thy tale shall unfreeze mine; so tarrynot, if ye be in haste to be gone, but let thy tongue wag."

  Ralph smiled, and without more ado told him all that had befallen him;and of Swevenham and Utterbol, and of his captivity and flight; and ofthe meeting in the wood, and of the Sage (who there was), and of thejourney to the Well, and what betid there and since, and of the deathof the Champion of the Dry Tree.

  But when he had made an end, Roger said: "There it is, then, as I saidwhen she first spake to me of thee and bade me bring about that meetingwith her, drawing thee first to the Burg and after to the Castle ofAbundance, I have forgotten mostly by what lies; but I said to her thatshe had set her heart on a man over lucky, and that thou wouldst takeher luck from her and make it thine. But now I will let all that pass,and will bid thee ask what thou wilt; and I promise thee that I willhelp thee to come thy ways to thy kindred, that thou mayst put forththy luck in their behalf."

  Said Ralph: "First of all, tell me what shall I do to pass unhinderedthrough the Burg of the Four Friths?" Said Roger: "Thou shalt go in atone gate and out at the other, and none shall hinder thee."

  Said Ralph: "And shall I have any hindrance from them of the Dry Tree?"

  Roger made as if he were swallowing down something, and answered: "Nay,none."

  "And the folk of Higham by the Way, and the Brethren and their Abbot?"said Ralph.

  "I know but little of them," quoth Roger, "but I deem that they willmake a push to have thee for captain; because they have had war ontheir hands of late. But this shall be at thine own will to say yea ornay to them. But for the rest on this side of the shepherds' countryye will pass by peaceful folk."

  "Yea," said Ralph, "what then hath become of the pride and cruelty ofthe Burg of the Four Friths, and the eagerness and fierceness of theDry Tree?"

  Quoth Roger: "This is the tale of it: After the champions of the DryTree had lost their queen and beloved, the Lady of Abundance, they wereboth restless and fierce, for the days of sorrow hung heavy on theirhands. So on a time a great company of them had ado with the Burgerssomewhat recklessly and came to the worse; wherefore some drew backinto their fastness of the Scaur and the others still rode on, andfurther west than their wont had been; but warily when they had theWood Perilous behind them, for they had learned wisdom again. Thusriding they had tidings of an host of the Burg of the Four Friths whowere resting in a valley hard by with a great train of captives andbeasts and other spoil: for they had been raising the fray against theWheat-wearers, and had slain many carles there, and were bringing hometo the Burg many young women and women-children, after their custom.So they of the Dry Tree advised them of these tidings, and deemed thatit would ease the sorrow of their hearts for their Lady if they coulddeal with these sons of whores and make a mark upon the Burg: so theylay hid while the daylight lasted, and by night and cloud fell uponthese faineants of the Burg, and won them good cheap, as was like tobe, though the Burg-dwellers were many the more. Whereof a many wereslain, but many escaped and gat home to the Burg, even as will lightlyhappen even in the worst of overthrows, that not all, or even the morepart be slain.

  "Well, there were the champions and their prey, which was very great,and especially of women, of whom the more part were young and fair: forthe women of the Wheat-wearers be goodly, and these had been picked outby the rutters of the Burg for their youth and strength and beauty.And whereas the men of the Dry Tree were scant of women at home, andsore-hearted because of our Lady, they forbore not these women, butfell to talking with them and loving them; howbeit in courteous andmanly fashion, so that the women deemed themselves in heaven and wereready to do anything to please their lovers. So the end of it was thatthe Champions sent messengers to Hampton and the Castle of the Scaur totell what had betid, and they themselves took the road to the land ofthe Wheat-wearers, having those women with them not as captives but asfree damsels.

  "Now the road to the Wheat-wearing country was long, and on the way thedamsels told their new men many things of their land and their unhappywars with them of the Burg and the griefs and torments which theyendured of them. And this amongst other things, that wherever theycame, they slew all the males even to the sucking babe, but spared thewomen
, even when they bore them not into captivity.

  "'Whereof,' said these poor damsels, 'it cometh that our land isill-furnished of carles, so that we women, high and low, go afield anddo many things, as crafts and the like, which in other lands are doneby carles.' In sooth it seemed of them that they were both of stouterfashion, and defter than women are wont to be. So the champions, partin jest, part in earnest, bade them do on the armour of the slainBurgers, and take their weapons, and fell to teaching them how tohandle staff and sword and bow; and the women took heart from thevaliant countenance of their new lovers, and deemed it all bitterearnest enough, and learned their part speedily; and yet none too soon.For when the fleers of the Burg came home the Porte lost no time, butsent out another host to follow after the Champions and their spoil;for they had learned that those men had not turned about to Hamptonafter their victory, but had gone on to the Wheat-wearers.

  "So it befell that the host of the Burg came up with the Champions onthe eve of a summer day when there were yet three hours of daylight.But whereas they had looked to have an easy bargain of their foemen,since they knew the Champions to be but a few, lo! there was thehillside covered with a goodly array of spears and glaives and shininghelms. They marvelled; but now for very shame, and because they scarcecould help it, they fell on, and before sunset were scattered to thewinds again, and the fleers had to bear back the tale that the morepart of their foes were women of the Wheat-wearers; but this time fewwere those that came back alive to the Burg of the Four Friths; for thefreed captives were hot and eager in the chase, casting aside theirshields and hauberks that they might speed the better, and valuingtheir lives at naught if they might but slay a man or two of thetyrants before they died.

  "Thus was the Burg wounded with its own sword: but the matter stoppednot there: for when that victorious host of men and women came intothe land of the Wheat-wearers, all men fled away in terror at first,thinking that it was a new onset of the men of the Burg; and that allthe more, as so many of them bore their weapons and armour. But whenthey found out how matters had gone, then, as ye may deem, was thegreatest joy and exultation, and carles and queans both ran to arms andbade their deliverers learn them all that belonged to war, and saidthat one thing should not be lacking, to wit, the gift of their bodies,that should either lie dead in the fields, or bear about henceforth thesouls of free men. Nothing lothe, the Champions became their doctorsand teachers of battle, and a great host was drawn together; andmeanwhile the Champions had sent messengers again to Hampton tellingthem what was befallen, and asking for more men if they might be had.But the Burg-abiders were not like to sit down under their foil.Another host they sent against the Wheat-wearers, not so huge, as wellarrayed and wise in war. The Champions espied its goings, and knewwell that they had to deal with the best men of the Burg, and they metthem in like wise; for they chose the very best of the men and thewomen, and pitched on a place whence they might ward them well, andabode the foemen there; who failed not to come upon them, stout andstern and cold, and well-learned in all feats of war.

  "Long and bitter was the battle, and the Burgers were fierce withouthead-strong folly, and the Wheat-wearers deemed that if they blenchednow, they had something worse than death to look to. But in the endwhen both sides were grown weary and worn out, and yet neither wouldflee, on a sudden came into the field the help from the Dry Tree, avaliant company of riders to whom battle was but game and play. Thenindeed the men of the Burg gave back and drew out of the battle as bestthey might: yet were they little chased, save by the new-comers of theDry Tree, for the others were over weary, and moreover the leaders hadno mind to let the new-made warriors leave their vantage-ground lestthe old and tried men-at-arms of the Burg should turn upon them and putthem to the worse.

  "Men looked for battle again the next day; but it fell not out so; forthe host of the Burg saw that there was more to lose than to gain, sothey drew back towards their own place. Neither did they waste theland much; for the riders of the Dry Tree followed hard at heel, andcut off all who tarried, or strayed from the main battle.

  "When they were gone, then at last did the Wheat-wearers givethemselves up to the joy of their deliverance and the pleasure of theirnew lives: and one of their old men that I have spoken with told methis; that before when they were little better than the thralls of theBurg, and durst scarce raise a hand against the foemen, the carles werebut slow to love, and the queans, for all their fairness, cold and butlittle kind. However, now in the fields of the wheat-wearersthemselves all this was changed, and men and maids took to arrayingthemselves gaily as occasion served, and there was singing and dancingon every green, and straying of couples amongst the greenery of thesummer night; and in short the god of love was busy in the land, andmade the eyes seem bright, and the lips sweet, and the bosom fair, andthe arms sleek and the feet trim: so that every hour was full ofallurement; and ever the nigher that war and peril was, the moredelight had man and maid of each other's bodies.

  "Well, within a while the Wheat-wearers were grown so full of hope thatthey bade the men of the Dry Tree lead them against the Burg of theFour Friths, and the Champions were ready thereto; because they wottedwell, that, Hampton being disgarnished of men, the men of the Burgmight fall on it; and even if they took it not, they would beset allways and make riding a hard matter for their fellowship. So they fellto, wisely and deliberately, and led an host of the best of the carleswith them, and bade the women keep their land surely, so that theirhost was not a great many. But so wisely they led them that they camebefore the Burg well-nigh unawares; and though it seemed little likelythat they should take so strong a place, yet nought less befell. Forthe Burg-dwellers beset with cruelty and bitter anger cried out thatnow at last they would make an end of this cursed people, and thewhoreson strong-thieves their friends: so they went out a-gates a greatmultitude, but in worser order than their wont was; and there befellthat marvel which sometimes befalleth even to very valiant men, thatnow at the pinch all their valour flowed from them, and they fledbefore the spears had met, and in such evil order that the gates couldnot be shut, and their foemen entered with them slaying and slayingeven as they would. So that in an hour's space the pride and theestate of the Burg of the Four Friths was utterly fallen. Huge was theslaughter; for the Wheat-wearers deemed they had many a grief whereofto avenge them; nor were the men of the Dry Tree either sluggards orsaints to be careless of their foemen, or to be merciful in the battle:but at last the murder was stayed: and then the men of theWheat-wearers went from house to house in the town to find the women oftheir folk who had been made thralls by the Burgers. There then wasmany a joyful meeting betwixt those poor women and the men of theirkindred: all was forgotten now of the days of their thralldom, theirtoil and mocking and stripes; and within certain days all the sort ofthem came before the host clad in green raiment, and garlanded withflowers for the joy of their deliverance; and great feast was made tothem.

  "As for them of the Burg, the battle and chase over, no more wereslain, save that certain of the great ones were made shorter by thehead. But the Champions and the Wheat-wearers both, said that none ofthat bitter and cruel folk should abide any longer in the town; so thatafter a delay long enough for them to provide stuff for theirwayfaring, they were all thrust out a-gates, rich and poor, old andyoung, man, woman and child. Proudly and with a stout countenance theywent, for now was their valour come again to them. And it is like thatwe shall hear of them oft again; for though they had but a few weaponsamongst them when they were driven out of their old home, and neitherhauberk nor shield nor helm, yet so learned in war be they and somarvellous great of pride, that they will somehow get them weapons; andeven armed but with headless staves, and cudgels of the thicket, woebetide the peaceful folk whom they shall first fall on. Yea, fair sir,the day shall come meseemeth when folk shall call on thee to lead thehunt after these famished wolves, and when thou dost so, call on me totell thee tales of their doings which shall make thine heart hard, andthine hand heavy a
gainst them."

  "Meantime," said Ralph, "what has betid to the Fellowship of the DryTree? for I see that thou hast some grief on thy mind because of them."

  Roger kept silence a little and then he said: "I grieve becauseHampton is no more a strong place of warriors; two or three carles anda dozen of women dwell now in the halls and chambers of the Scaur.Here on earth, all endeth. God send us to find the world without end!"

  "What then," said Ralph, "have they then had another great overthrow,worse than that other?" "Nay," said Roger doggedly, "it is not so.""But where is the Fellowship?" said Ralph. "It is scattered abroad,"quoth Roger. "For some of the Dry Tree had no heart to leave the womenwhom they had wooed in the Wheat-wearer's land: and some, and a greatmany, have taken their dears to dwell in the Burg of the Four Friths,whereas a many of the Wheat-wearers have gone to beget children on theold bondwomen of the Burgers; of whom there were some two thousandalive after the Burg was taken; besides that many women also came withthe carles from their own land.

  "So that now a mixed folk are dwelling in the Burg, partly of thosewomen-thralls, partly of carles and queans come newly from theWheat-wearers, partly of men of our Fellowship the more part of whomare wedded to queans of the Wheat-wearers, and partly of men, chapmenand craftsmen and others who have drifted into the town, having heardthat there is no lack of wealth there, and many fair women unmated."

  "Yea," said Ralph, "and is all this so ill?" Said Roger, "Meseems itis ill enough that there is no longer, rightly said, a Fellowship ofthe Dry Tree, though the men be alive who were once of thatfellowship." "Nay," said Ralph, "and why should they not make a newfellowship in the Burg, whereas they may well be peaceful, since theyhave come to their above of their foemen?"

  "Yea," said Roger slowly, "that is sooth; and so is this, that there inthe Burg they are a strong band, with a captain of their own, and muchworshipped of the peaceful folk; and moreover, though they be not cruelto torment helpless folk, or hard to make an end of all joy to-day,lest they lose their joy to-morrow, they now array all men in goodorder within the Burg, so that it shall be no easier for a foeman towin that erst it was."

  "What, man!" said Ralph, "then be of better cheer, and come thou withus, and may be the old steel of the champions may look on the sun downin Upmeads. Come thou with me, I say, and show me and my luck to someof thy fellows who are dwelling in the Burg, and it may be when thouhast told my tale to them, that some of them shall be content to leavetheir beds cold for a while, that they may come help a Friend of theWell in his need."

  Roger sat silent as if he were pondering the matter, while Richard andthe Sage, both of them, took up the word one after the other, and urgedhim to it.

  At last he said: "Well, so be it for this adventure. Only I say notthat I shall give up this hermitage and my holiness for ever. Comethou aside, wise man of Swevenham, and I shall tell thee wherefore.""Yea," said Ralph, laughing, "and when he hath told thee, tell me notagain; for sure I am that he is right to go with us, and belike shallbe wrong in his reason therefore."

  Roger looked a little askance at him, and he went without doors withthe Sage, and when they were out of earshot, he said to him: "Hearken,I would have gone with my lord at the first word, and have been fainthereof; but there is this woman that followeth him. At every turn sheshall mind me of our Lady that was; and I shall loath her, and herfairness and the allurements of her body, because I see of her, thatshe it is that hath gotten my Lady's luck, and that but for her my Ladymight yet have been alive."

  Said the Sage: "Well quoth my lord that thou wouldst give me a fool'sreason! What! dost not thou know, thou that knowest so much of theLady of Abundance, that she it was who ordained this Ursula to beRalph's bedmate, when she herself should be gone from him, were shedead or alive, and that she also should be a Friend of the Well, sothat he might not lack a fellow his life long? But this thou sayest,not knowing the mind of our Lady, and how she loved him in her inmostheart."

  Roger hung his head and spake not for a while, and then he said: "Well,wise man, I have said that I will go on this adventure, and I willsmooth my tongue for this while at least, and for what may comehereafter, let it be. And now we were best get to horse; for what withmeat and minstrelsy, we have worn away the day till it wants but alittle of noon. Go tell thy lord that I am ready. Farewell peace, andwelcome war and grudging!"

  So the Sage went within, and came out with the others, and they mountedtheir horses anon, and Roger went ahead on foot, and led them throughthe thicket-ways without fumbling; and they lay down that night on thefarther side of the Swelling Flood.