CHAPTER 4
The Lady Tells of Her Deliverance
"Now I had outgrown my old fear, and not much befell to quicken it: andever I was as much out of the house as I could be. But about this timemy mistress, from being kinder to me than before, began to grow harder,and ofttimes used me cruelly: but of her deeds to me, my friend, thoushalt ask me no more than I tell thee. On a day of May-tide I faredabroad with my goats, and went far with them, further from the housethan I had been as yet. The day was the fairest of the year, and Irejoiced in it, and felt as if some exceeding great good were about tobefall me; and the burden of fears seemed to have fallen from me. So Iwent till I came to a little flowery dell, beset with blossomingwhitethorns and with a fair stream running through it; a place somewhatlike to this, save that the stream there was bigger. And the sun washot about noontide, so I did off my raiment, which was rough and poor,and more meet for winter than May-tide, and I entered a pool of theclear water, and bathed me and sported therein, smelling the sweetscent of the whitethorns and hearkening to the song of the many birds;and when I came forth from the water, the air was so soft and sweet tome, and the flowery grass so kind to my feet, and the May-blooms fellupon my shoulders, that I was loth to do on my rough raiment hastily,and withal I looked to see no child of man in that wilderness: so Isported myself there a long while, and milked a goat and drank of themilk, and crowned myself with white-thorn and hare-bells; and held theblossoms in my hand, and felt that I also had some might in me, andthat I should not be a thrall of that sorceress for ever. And thatday, my friend, belike was the spring-tide of the life and the lovethat thou holdest in thy kind arms.
"But as I abode thus in that fair place, and had just taken my rock andspindle in hand that I might go on with my task and give as littleoccasion as I might for my mistress to chastise me, I looked up and sawa child of man coming down the side of the little dale towards me, so Isprang up, and ran to my raiment and cast them on me hastily, for I wasashamed; and when I saw that it was a woman, I thought at first that itwas my mistress coming to seek me; and I thought within myself that ifshe smote me I would bear it no more, but let it be seen which of thetwain was the mightier. But I looked again and saw that it was not shebut a woman smaller and older. So I stood where I was and abode hercoming, smiling and unafraid, and half-clad.
"She drew near and I saw that it was an old woman grey haired, uncomelyof raiment, but with shining bright eyes in her wrinkled face. And shemade an obeisance to me and said: 'I was passing through this lonelywilderness and I looked down into the little valley and saw these goatsthere and the lovely lady lying naked amongst them, and I said I am tooold to be afraid of aught; for if she be a goddess come back again fromyore agone, she can but make an end of a poor old carline, a gangrelbody, who hath no joy of her life now. And if she be of the daughtersof men, she will belike methink her of her mother, and be kind to mefor her sake, and give me a piece of bread and a draught of her goats'milk.'
"I spake hastily, for I was ashamed of her words, though I only halfunderstood them: 'I hear thee and deem that thou mockest me: I havenever known a mother; I am but a poor thrall, a goatherd dwelling witha mistress in a nook of this wildwood: I have never a piece of bread;but as to the goats' milk, that thou shalt have at once.' So I calledone of my goats to me, for I knew them all, and milked her into awooden bowl that I carried slung about me, and gave the old woman todrink: and she kissed my hand and drank and spake again, but no longerin a whining voice, like a beggar bidding alms in the street, but frankand free.
"'Damsel,' she said, 'now I see that thy soul goes with thy body, andthat thou art kind and proud at once. And whatever thou art, it is nomock to say of thee, that thou art as fair as the fairest; and I thinkthat this will follow thee, that henceforth no man who seeth thee oncewill forget thee ever, or cease to long for thee: of a surety this isthy weird. Now I see that thou knowest no more of the world and itsways than one of the hinds that run in these woods. So if thou wilt, Iwill sit down by thee and tell thee much that shall avail thee; andthou in thy turn shalt tell me all the tale concerning thy dwelling andthy service, and the like.'
"I said, 'I may not, I durst not; I serve a mighty mistress, and shewould slay me if she knew that I had spoken to thee; and woe's me! Ifear that even now she will not fail to know it. Depart in peace.'
"'Nay,' she said, 'thou needest not tell me, for I have an inkling ofher and her ways: but I will give thee wisdom, and not sell it thee ata price. Sit down then, fair child, on this flowery grass, and I willsit beside thee and tell thee of many things worth thine heeding.' Sothere we sat awhile, and in good sooth she told me much of the worldwhich I had not yet seen, of its fairness and its foulness; of life anddeath, and desire and disappointment, and despair; so that when she haddone, if I were wiser than erst, I was perchance little more joyous;and yet I said to myself that come what would I would be a part of allthat.
"But at last she said: 'Lo the day is waning, and thou hast two thingsto do; either to go home to thy mistress at once, or flee away from herby the way that I shall show thee; and if thou wilt be ruled by me, andcanst bear thy thralldom yet a little while thou wilt not flee at once,but abide till thou hast seen me again. And since it is here that thouhast met me, here mayst thou meet me again; for the days are long now,and thou mayst easily win thy way hither before noon on any day.'
"So I tied my goatskin shoes to my feet, and drave my goats together,and we went up together out of the dale, and were in the wide-spreadingplain of the waste; and the carline said: 'Dost thou know the quartersof the heaven by the sun?' 'Yea,' said I. 'Then,' quoth she, 'whensothou desirest to depart and come into the world of folk that I havetold thee of, set thy face a little north of west, and thou shalt fallin with something or somebody before long; but be speedy on that day asthou art light-footed, and make all the way thou canst before thymistress comes to know of thy departure; for not lightly will any onelet loose such a thrall as thou.'
"I thanked her, and she went her ways over the waste, I wotted notwhither, and I drave my goats home as speedily as I might; the mistressmeddled not with me by word or deed, though I was short of my due taleof yarn. The next day I longed sore to go to the dale and meet thecarline but durst not, and the next day I fared in likeways; but thethird day I longed so to go, that my feet must needs take me there,whatsoever might befall. And when I had been in the dale a little,thither came the carline, and sat down by me and fell to teaching mewisdom, and showed me letters and told me what they were, and I learnedlike a little lad in the chorister's school.
"Thereafter I mastered my fear of my mistress and went to that dale dayby day, and learned of the carline; though at whiles I wondered when mymistress would let loose her fury upon me; for I called to mind thethreat she had made to me on the day when she offered up my white goat.And I made up my mind to this, that if she fell upon me with deadlyintent I would do my best to slay her before she should slay me. Butso it was, that now again she held her hand from my body, and scarcecast a word at me ever, but gloomed at me, and fared as if hatred of mehad grown great in her heart.
"So the days went by, and my feet had worn a path through thewilderness to the Dale of Lore, and May had melted into June, and thelatter days of June were come. And on Midsummer Day I went my ways tothe dale according to my wont, when, as I as driving on my goatshastily I saw a bright thing coming over the heath toward me, and Iwent on my way to meet it, for I had no fear now, except what fear ofmy mistress lingered in my heart; nay, I looked that everything I sawof new should add some joy to my heart. So presently I saw that it wasa weaponed man riding a white horse, and anon he had come up to me anddrawn rein before me. I wondered exceedingly at beholding him and theheart leaped within me at his beauty; for though the carline had toldme of the loveliness of the sons of men, that was but words and I knewnot what they meant; and the others that I had seen were not young menor goodly, and those last, as I told thee, I could scarce see theirfaces.
> "And this one was even fairer than the dead woman that I had buried,whose face was worn with toil and trouble, as now I called to mind. Hewas clad in bright shining armour with a gay surcoat of green,embroidered with flowers over it; he had a light sallet on his head,and the yellow locks of his hair flowed down from under, and fell onhis shoulders: his face was as beardless as thine, dear friend, butnot clear brown like to thine but white and red like a blossom."
Ralph spake and said: "Belike it was a woman;" and his voice soundedloud in the quiet place. She smiled on him and kissed his cheek, andsaid: "Nay, nay, dear Champion, it is not so. God rest his soul! manya year he has been dead."
Said Ralph: "Many a year! what meanest thou?" "Ah!" she said, "fearnot! as I am now, so shall I be for thee many a year. Was not thy fearthat I should vanish away or change into something unsightly andgruesome? Fear not, I say; am I not a woman, and thine own?" And againshe flushed bright red, and her grey eyes lightened, and she looked athim all confused and shamefaced.
He took her face between his hands and kissed her over and over; thenhe let her go, and said: "I have no fear: go on with thy tale, for thewords thereof are as thy kisses to me, and the embracing of thine handsand thy body: tell on, I pray thee." She took his hand in hers andspake, telling her tale as before.
"Friend, well-beloved for ever! This fair young knight looked on me,and as he looked, his face flushed as red as mine did even now. And Itell thee that my heart danced with joy as I looked on him, and hespake not for a little while, and then he said: 'Fair maiden, canstthou tell me of any who will tell me a word of the way to the Well atthe World's End?' I said to him, 'Nay, I have heard the word once andno more, I know not the way: and I am sorry that I cannot do for theethat which thou wouldest.' And then I spake again, and told him that heshould by no means stop at our house, and I told him what it was like,so that he might give it the go by. I said, 'Even if thou hast to turnback again, and fail to find the thing thou seekest, yet I beseech theeride not into that trap.'
"He sat still on his saddle a while, staring at me and I at him; andthen he thanked me, but with so bad a grace, that I wondered of him ifhe were angry; and then he shook his rein, and rode off briskly, and Ilooked after him a while, and then went on my way; but I had gone but ashort while, when I heard horse-hoofs behind me, and I turned andlooked, and lo! it was the knight coming back again. So I stayed andabided him; and when he came up to me, he leapt from his horse andstood before me and said: 'I must needs see thee once again.'
"I stood and trembled before him, and longed to touch him. And againhe spake, breathlessly, as one who has been running: 'I must depart,for I have a thing to do that I must do; but I long sorely to touchthee, and kiss thee; yet unless thou freely willest it, I will refrainme.' Then I looked at him and said, 'I will it freely.' Then he cameclose up to me, and put his hand on my shoulder and kissed my cheek;but I kissed his lips, and then he took me in his arms, and kissed meand embraced me; and there in that place, and in a little while, weloved each other sorely.
"But in a while he said to me: 'I must depart, for I am as one whomthe Avenger of Blood followeth; and now I will give thee this, not somuch as a gift, but as a token that we have met in the wilderness, thouand I.' Therewith he put his hand to his neck, and took from it thisnecklace which thou seest here, and I saw that it was like that whichmy mistress took from the neck of the dead woman. And no less is itlike to the one that thou wearest, Ralph.
"I took it in my hand and wept that I might not help him. And he said:'It is little likely that we shall meet again; but by the token of thiscollar thou mayest wot that I ever long for thee till I die: forthough I am a king's son, this is the dearest of my possessions.' Isaid: 'Thou art young, and I am young; mayhappen we shall meet again:but thou shalt know that I am but a thrall, a goatherd.' For I knew bywhat the old woman told me of somewhat of the mightiness of the kingsof the world. 'Yea,' he said, and smiled most sweetly, 'that is easyto be seen: yet if I live, as I think not to do, thou shalt sit wheregreat men shall kneel to thee; not as I kneel now for love, and that Imay kiss thy knees and thy feet, but because they needs must worshipthee.'
"Therewith he arose to his feet and leapt on his horse, and rode hisways speedily: and I went upon my way with my goats, and came downinto the Dale of Lore, and found the old woman abiding me; and she cameto me, and took me by the hands, and touched the collar (for I had doneit about my neck), and said:
"'Dear child, thou needest not to tell me thy tale, for I have seenhim. But if thou must needs wear this necklace, I must give thee agift to go with it. But first sit down by the old carline awhile andtalk with her; for meseemeth it will be but a few days ere thou shaltdepart from this uttermost wilderness, and the woods before themountains.'
"So I sat down by her, and in spite of her word I told her all that hadbefallen betwixt me and the king's son: for my heart was too full thatI might refrain me. She nodded her head from time to time, but saidnaught, till I had made an end: and then fell to telling me of manymatters for my avail; but yet arose earlier than her wont was; and whenwe were about sundering on the path which I had trodden above the Dale,she said: 'Now must I give thee that gift to go along with the gift ofthe lover, the King's son; and I think thou wilt find it of availbefore many days are gone by.' Therewith she took from her pouch astrong sharp knife, and drew it from the sheath, and flashed it in theafternoon sun, and gave it to me; and I took it and laid it in my bosomand thanked her; for I thought that I understood her meaning, and howit would avail me. Then I went driving my goats home speedily, so thatthe sun was barely set when I came to the garth; and a great horrorrather than a fear of my mistress was on me; and lo! she stood in thedoor of the house gazing down the garth and the woodland beyond, asthough she were looking for my coming: and when her eyes lighted on me,she scowled, and drew her lips back from her teeth and clenched herhands with fury, though there was nought in them; and she was a talland strong woman, though now growing somewhat old: but as for me, I hadunsheathed the carline's gift before I came to the garth, and now Iheld it behind my back in my left hand.
"I had stayed my feet some six paces from the threshold, and my heartbeat quick, but the sick fear and cowering had left me, though thehorror of her grew in my heart. My goats had all gone off quietly totheir house, and there was nothing betwixt me and her. In clearingfrom my sleeve the arm of me which held the knife, the rough claspwhich fastened my raiment together at the shoulder had given way, andthe cloth had fallen and left my bosom bare, so that I knew that thecollar was clearly to be seen. So we stood a moment, and I had nowords, but she spake at last in a hard, snarling voice, such as sheoftenest used to me, but worse.
"'Now at last the time has come when thou art of no more use to me; forI can see thee what thou hast got for thyself. But know now that thouhast not yet drunk of the Well at the World's End, and that it will notavail thee to flee out of this wood; for as long as I live thou wiltnot be able to get out of reach of my hand; and I shall live long: Ishall live long. Come, then, and give thyself up to me, that I maydeal with thee as I threatened when I slew thy friend the white goat;for, indeed, I knew then that it would come to this.'
"She had but twice or thrice spoken to me so many words together asthis; but I answered never a word, but stood watching her warily. Andof a sudden she gave forth a dreadful screaming roar, wherewith all thewood rang again, and rushed at me; but my hand came from behind myback, and how it was I know not, but she touched me not till the bladehad sunk into her breast, and she fell across my feet, her right handclutching my raiment. So I loosed her fingers from the cloth,shuddering with horror the while, and drew myself away from her andstood a little aloof, wondering what should happen next. And indeed Iscarce believed but she would presently rise up from the ground andclutch me in her hands, and begin the tormenting of me. But she movedno more, and the grass all about her was reddened with her blood; andat last I gathered heart to kneel down beside her, and found that
sheno more breathed than one of those conies or partridges which I hadbeen used to slay for her.
"Then I stood and considered what I should do, and indeed I had beenpondering this all the way from the Dale thereto, in case I shouldescape my mistress. So I soon made up my mind that I would not dwellin that house even for one night; lest my mistress should come to methough dead, and torment me. I went into the house while it was yetlight, and looked about the chamber, and saw three great books therelaid on the lectern, but durst not have taken them even had I been ableto carry them; nor durst I even to look into them, for fear that somespell might get to work in them if they were opened; but I found a ryeloaf whereof I had eaten somewhat in the morning, and anotheruntouched, and hanging to a horn of the lectern I found the necklacewhich my mistress had taken from the dead woman. These I put into myscrip, and as to the necklace, I will tell thee how I bestowed it lateron. Then I stepped out into the twilight which was fair and golden,and full fain I was of it. Then I drove the goats out of their houseand went my way towards the Dale of Lore, and said to myself that thecarline would teach me what further to do, and I came there before thesummer dark had quite prevailed, and slept sweetly and softly amongstmy goats after I had tethered them in the best of the pasture."