CHAPTER 31
Ralph Brings Ursula Home to the High House
Ralph speedily came to Richard's house and entered the chamber, andfound Ursula alone therein, clad in the daintiest of her woman's gearof the web of Goldburg. She rose up to meet him, and he took her inhis arms, and said: "Now is come the very ending of our journey that weso often longed for; and all will be ready by then we come to the HighHouse."
"Ah," she said, as she clung to him, "but they were happy days the daysof our journey; and to-morrow begins a new life."
"Nay," he said, "but rather this even; shall it be loathly to thee,lady?"
She said: "There will be many people whom I knew not yesterday.""There will be but me," he said, "when the night hath been dark for alittle."
She kissed him and said nought. And therewithal came some of Richard'sfolk, for it was his house, and led with them a white palfrey forUrsula's riding, dight all gay and goodly.
"Come then," said Ralph, "thou needest not to fear the ancient house,for it is kind and lovely, and my father and my mother thou hast seenalready, and they love thee. Come then, lest the hall be grown toodusk for men to see thy fairness." "Yea, yea," she said, "but firsthere is a garland I made for thee, and one also for me, while I wasabiding thee after the battle, and my love and my hope is woven intoit." And she set it on his head, and said, "O thou art fair, and I didwell to meet thee in the dark wood." Then he kissed her dearly on themouth and led her forth, and none went with them, and they mounted andwent their ways.
But Ralph said: "I deem that we should ride the meadow to the bridge,because that way lies the great door of the hall, and if I know myfather and Nicholas they will look for us that way. Dost thou yet fearthese dead men, sweetheart, whom our folk slew this morning?" "Nay,"she said, "it has been a long time since the morning, and they, andtheir fieriness which has so burned out, are now to me as a tale thathath been told. It is the living that I am going to, and I hope to dowell by them."
Came they then to the bridge-end and there was no man there, nought butthe kine that were wandering about over the dewy grass of eventide.Then they rode over the bridge and through the orchard, and still therewas no man, and all gates were open wide. So they came into thebase-court of the house, and it also was empty of folk; and they cameto the great doors of the hall and they were open wide, and they couldsee through them that the hall was full of folk, and therein by thelight of the low sun that streamed in at the shot-window at the otherend they saw the faces of men and the gleam of steel and gold.
So they lighted down from their horses, and took hand in hand andentered bright-faced and calm, and goodly beyond the goodliness of men;then indeed all that folk burst forth into glad cries, and tossed uptheir weapons, and many wept for joy.
As they went slowly up the long hall (and it was thirty fathom oflength) Ralph looked cheerfully and friendly from side to side, andbeheld the faces of the Shepherds and the Champions, and the men ofWulstead, and his own folk; and all they cried hail to him and thelovely and valiant Lady. Then he looked up to the high-seat, and sawthat his father's throne was empty, and his mother's also; but behindthe throne stood a knight all armed in bright armour holding the bannerof Upmeads; but his father and mother stood on the edge of the dais tomeet him and Ursula; and when they came up thither these old folkembraced them and kissed them and led them up to the table. Then Ralphbade Ursula sit by his mother, and made him ready to sit by his fatherin all love and duty. But King Peter stayed him and said: "Nay, dearson, not there, but here shalt thou sit, thou saviour of Upmeads andconqueror of the hearts of men; this is a little land, but thereinshall be none above thee." And therewith he set Ralph down in thethrone, and Ralph, turning to his left hand, saw that it was Ursula,and not his mother, who sat beside him. But at the sight of these twoin the throne the glad cries and shouts shook the very timbers of theroof, and the sun sank under while yet they cried hail to the King ofUpmeads.
Then were the lights brought and the supper, and all men fell to feast,and plenteous was the wine in the hall; and sure since first men met toeat together none have been merrier than they.
But now when men had well eaten, and the great cup called the River ofUpmeads was brought in, the cupbearers, being so bidden before, broughtit last of all to King Peter, and he stood up with the River in hishand and spoke aloud, and said: "Lords and warriors, and good peopleall, here I do you to wit, that it is not because my son Ralph has comehome to-day and wrought us a great deliverance, and that my love hathovercome me; it is not for this cause that I have set him in my thronethis even; but because I see and perceive that of all the kindred he ismeetest to sit therein so long as he liveth; unless perchance thislovely and valiant woman should bear him a son even better thanhimself--and so may it be. Therefore I do you all to wit that thisman is the King of Upmeads, and this woman is his Lady and Queen; andso deem I of his prowess, and his wisdom, and kindliness, that I trowhe shall be lord and servant of other lands than Upmeads, and shalldraw the good towns and the kindreds and worthy good lords into peaceand might and well-being, such as they have not known heretofore. Nowwithin three days shall mass be sung in the choir of St. Laurence, andthen shall King Ralph swear on the gospels such oaths as ye wot of, toguard his people, and help the needy, and oppress no man, even as Ihave sworn it. And I say to you, that if I have kept the oath to mypower, yet shall he keep it better, as he is mightier than I.
"Furthermore, when he hath sworn, then shall the vassals swear to himaccording to ancient custom, to be true to him and hardy in all dueservice. But so please you I will not abide till then, but will kneelto him and to his Lady and Queen here and now."
Even so he did, and took Ralph's hand in his and swore service to himsuch as was due; and he knelt to Ursula also, and bade her all thanksfor what she had done in the helping of his son; and they raised him upand made much of him and of Ralph's mother; and great was the joy ofall folk in the hall.
So the feast went on a while till the night grew old, and folk mustfare bedward. Then King Peter and his wife brought Ralph and Ursula tothe chamber of the solar, the kingly chamber, which was well and goodlydight with hangings and a fair and glorious bed, and was newly deckedwith such fair flowers as the summer might furnish; and at thethreshold King Peter stayed them and said: "Kinsman, and thou, dearfriend, this is become your due chamber and resting-place while ye livein the world, and this night of all others it shall be a chamber oflove; for ye are, as it were, new wedded, since now first ye are comeamongst the kindred as lover and beloved; and thou, Ursula, art now atlast the bride of this ancient house; now tell me, doth it not lookfriendly and kindly on thee?"
"O yea, yea," she said. "Come thou, my man and my darling and let usbe alone in the master-chamber of this ancient House."
Then Ralph drew her unto him; and the old man blessed them and prayedfor goodly offspring for them, that the House of Upmeads might longendure.
And thus were they two left alone amidst the love and hope of thekindred, as erst they lay alone in the desert.
CHAPTER 32
Yet a Few Words Concerning Ralph of Upmeads
Certain it is that Ralph failed not of his promise to the good Prior ofSt. Austin's at Wulstead, but went to see him speedily, and told himall the tale of his wanderings as closely as he might, and hid naughtfrom him; which, as ye may wot, was more than one day's work or two orthree. And ever when Ralph thus spoke was a brother of the Housesitting with the Prior, which brother was a learned and wise man andvery speedy and deft with his pen. Wherefore it has been deemed notunlike that from this monk's writing has come the more part of the taleabove told. And if it be so, it is well.
Furthermore, it is told of Ralph of Upmeads that he ruled over hislands in right and might, and suffered no oppression within them, anddelivered other lands and good towns when they fell under tyrants andoppressors; and for as kind a man as he was in hall and at hearth, inthe field he was a warrior so wise and dreadful, that oft forsooth thevery
sound of his name and rumour of his coming stayed the march ofhosts and the ravage of fair lands; and no lord was ever more beloved.Till his deathday he held the Castle of the Scaur, and cleansed theWood Perilous of all strong-thieves and reivers, so that no high-streetof a good town was safer than its glades and its byways. The new folkof the Burg of the Four Friths made him their lord and captain, and theChampions of the Dry Tree obeyed him in all honour so long as any ofthem lasted. He rode to Higham and offered himself as captain to theabbot thereof, and drave out the tyrants and oppressors thence, andgave back peace to the Frank of Higham. Ever was he true captain andbrother to the Shepherd-folk, and in many battles they followed him;and were there any scarcity or ill hap amongst them, he helped them tothe uttermost of his power. The Wood Debateable also he cleared offoul robbers and reivers, and rooted out the last of the Burg-devils,and delivered three good towns beyond the wood from the cruelty of theoppressor.
Once in every year he and Ursula his wife visited the Land ofAbundance, and he went into the castle there as into a holy place, andworshipped the memory of the Lady whom he had loved so dearly. Withall the friends of his quest he was kind and well-beloved.
In about two years from the day when he rode home, came to him the LordBull of Utterbol with a chosen band, of whom were both Otter andRedhead. That very day they came he was about putting his foot in thestirrup to ride against the foemen; so Bull and his men would not gointo the High House to eat, but drank a cup where they stood, andturned and rode with him straightway, and did him right manly servicein battle; and went back with him afterwards to Upmeads, and abode withhim there in feasting and joyance for two months' wearing. And thricein the years that followed, when his lands at home seemed safest andmost at peace, Ralph took a chosen band, and Ursula with them, andClement withal, and journeyed through the wastes and the mountains toUtterbol, and passed joyous days with his old thrall of war, Bull Nosy,now become a very mighty man and the warder of the peace of theUttermost lands.
Clement and Katherine came oft to the High House, and Katherineexceeding often; and she loved and cherished Ursula and lived long inhealth of body and peace of mind.
All the days that Ralph of Upmeads lived, he was the goodliest of men,and no man to look on him had known it when he grew old; and when hechanged his life, an exceeding ancient man, he was to all men's eyes inthe very blossom of his age.
As to Ursula his wife, she was ever as valiant and true as when theymet in the dark night amidst of the Eastland wood. Eight goodlychildren she bore him, and saw four generations of her kindred wax up;but even as it was with Ralph, never was she less goodly of body, nayrather, but fairer than when first she came to Upmeads; and the daywhereon any man saw her was a day of joyful feast to him, a day to beremembered for ever. On one day they two died and were laid togetherin one tomb in the choir of St. Laurence of Upmeads. AND HERE ENDS THETALE OF THE WELL AT THE WORLD'S END.
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