The Story of the Glittering Plain
Page 14
CHAPTER XIV: HALLBLITHE HAS SPEECH WITH THE KING AGAIN
He stood up when he had made an end, as a man ready for the road; butthey lay there downcast and abashed, and had no words to answer him. Forthe Sea-eagle was sorry that his faring-fellow was hapless, and was sorrythat he was sorry; and as for the damsel, she had not known but that shewas leading the goodly Spearman to the fulfilment of his heart's desire.Albeit after a while she spake again and said:
"Dear friends, day is gone and night is at hand; now to-night it were illlodging at yonder house; and the next house on our backward road is overfar for wayworn folk. But hard by through the thicket is a fair littlewood-lawn, by the lip of a pool in the stream wherein we may bathe us to-morrow morning; and it is grassy and flowery and sheltered from all windsthat blow, and I have victual enough in my wallet. Let us sup and restthere under the bare heaven, as oft is the wont of us in this land; andon the morrow early we will arise and get us back again to Wood-end,where yet the King abideth, and there shalt thou talk to him again, OSpearman."
Said Hallblithe: "Take me whither ye will; but now nought availeth. I ama captive in a land of lies, and here most like shall I live betrayed anddie hapless."
"Hold thy peace, dear friend, of such words as those last," said she, "orI must needs flee from thee, for they hurt me sorely. Come now to thispleasant place."
She took him by the hand and looked kindly on him, and the Sea-eaglefollowed him, murmuring an old song of the harvest-field, and they wenttogether by a path through a thicket of white-thorn till they came unto agrassy place. There then they sat them down, and ate and drank what theywould, sitting by the lip of the pool till a waning moon was bright overtheir heads. And Hallblithe made no semblance of content; but the Sea-eagle and his damsel were grown merry again, and talked and sang togetherlike autumn stares, with the kissing and caressing of lovers.
So at last those twain lay down amongst the flowers, and slept in eachother's arms; but Hallblithe betook him to the brake a little aloof, andlay down, but slept not till morning was at hand, when slumber andconfused dreams overtook him.
He was awaked from his sleep by the damsel, who came pushing through thethicket all fresh and rosy from the river, and roused him, and said:
"Awake now, Spearman, that we may take our pleasure in the sun; for he ishigh in the heavens now, and all the land laughs beneath him."
Her eyes glittered as she spoke, and her limbs moved under her raiment asthough she would presently fall to dancing for very joy. But Hallblithearose wearily, and gave her back no smile in answer, but thrust throughthe thicket to the water, and washed the night from off him, and so cameback to the twain as they sat dallying together over their breakfast. Hewould not sit down by them, but ate a morsel of bread as he stood, andsaid: "Tell me how I can soonest find the King: I bid you not lead methither, but let me go my ways alone. For with me time presses, and withyou meseemeth time is nought. Neither am I a meet fellow for the happy."
But the Sea-eagle sprang up, and swore with a great oath that he wouldnowise leave his shipmate in the lurch. And the damsel said: "Fair man,I had best go with thee; I shall not hinder thee, but further theerather, so that thou shalt make one day's journey of two."
And she put forth her hand to him, and caressed him smiling, and fawnedupon him, and he heeded it little, but hung not aback from them sincethey were ready for the road: so they set forth all three together.
They made such diligence on the backward road that the sun was not set bythen they came to Wood-end; and there was the King sitting in the door ofhis pavilion. Thither went Hallblithe straight, and thrust through thethrong, and stood before the King; who greeted him kindly, and was noless sweet of face than on that other day.
Hallblithe hailed him not, but said: "King, look on my anguish, and ifthou art other than a king of dreams and lies, play no longer with me,but tell me straight out if thou knowest of my troth-plight maiden,whether she is in this land or not."
Then the King smiled on him and said: "True it is that I know of her; yetknow I not whether she is in this land or not."
"King," said Hallblithe, "wilt thou bring us together and stay my heart'sbleeding?"
Said the King: "I cannot, since I know not where she is."
"Why didst thou lie to me the other day?" said Hallblithe.
"I lied not," said the King; "I bade bring thee to the woman that lovedthee, and whom thou shouldst love; and that is my daughter. And lookthou! Even as I may not bring thee to thine earthly love, so couldstthou not make thyself manifest before my daughter, and become herdeathless love. Is it not enough?"
He spake sternly for all that he smiled, and Hallblithe said: "O King,have pity on me!"
"Yea," said the King; "pity thee I do: but I will live despite thysorrow; my pity of thee shall not slay me, or make thee happy. Even insuch wise didst thou pity my daughter."
Said Hallblithe: "Thou art mighty, O King, and maybe the mightiest. Wiltthou not help me?"
"How can I help thee?" said the King, "thou who wilt not help thyself.Thou hast seen what thou shouldst do: do it then and be holpen."
Then said Hallblithe: "Wilt thou not slay me, O King, since thou wilt notdo aught else?"
"Nay," said the King, "thy slaying wilt not serve me nor mine: I willneither help nor hinder. Thou art free to seek thy love wheresoever thouwilt in this my realm. Depart in peace!"
Hallblithe saw that the King was angry, though he smiled upon him; yet socoldly, that the face of him froze the very marrow of Hallblithe's bones:and he said within himself: "This King of lies shall not slay me, thoughmine anguish be hard to bear: for I am alive, and it may be that my loveis in this land, and I may find her here, and how to reach another land Iknow not."
So he turned from before the face of the King as the sun was setting, andhe went down the land southward betwixt the mountains and the sea, notheeding whether it were night or day; and he went on till it was longpast midnight, and then for mere weariness laid him down under a tree,not knowing where he was, and fell asleep.
And in the morning he woke up to the bright sun, and found folk standinground about him, both men and women, and their sheep were anigh them, forthey were shepherd folk. So when they saw that he was awake, theygreeted him, and were blithe with him and made much of him: and they tookhim home to their house, and gave him to eat and to drink, and asked himwhat he would that they might serve him. And they seemed to him to bekind and simple folk, and though he loathed to speak the words, so sickat heart he was, yet he told them how he was seeking his troth-plightmaiden, his earthly love, and asked them to say if they had seen anywoman like her.
They heard him kindly and pitied him, and told him how they had heard ofa woman in the land, who sought her beloved even as he sought his. Andwhen he heard that, his heart leapt up, and he asked them to tell himmore concerning this woman. Then they said that she dwelt in the hill-country in a goodly house, and had set her heart on a lovely man, whoseimage she had seen in a book, and that no man but this one would contenther; and this, they said, was a sad and sorry matter, such as was unheardof hitherto in the land.
So when Hallblithe heard this, as heavily as his heart fell again, hechanged not countenance, but thanked the kind folk and departed, and wenton down the land betwixt the mountains and the sea, and before nightfallhe had been into three more houses of folk, and asked there of all comersconcerning a woman who was sundered from her beloved; and at none of themgat he any answer to make him less sorry than yesterday. At the last ofthe three he slept, and on the morrow early there was the work to beginagain; and the next day was the same as the last, and the day afterdiffered not from it. Thus he went on seeking his beloved betwixt themountains and the plain, till the great rock-wall came down to the sideof the sea and made an end of the Glittering Plain on that side. Then heturned about and went back by the way he had come, and up the countrybetwixt the mountains and the plain northward, until he had been intoevery house of folk in those p
arts and asked his question.
Then he went up into that fair country of the dales, and even anigh towhere dwelt the King's Daughter, and otherwhere in the land andeverywhere, quartering the realm of the Glittering Plain as the heronquarters the flooded meadow when the waters draw aback into the river. Sothat now all people knew him when he came, and they wondered at him; butwhen he came to any house for the third or fourth time, they wearied ofhim, and were glad when he departed.
Ever it was one of two answers that he had: either folk said to him,"There is no such woman; this land is happy, and nought but happy peopledwell herein;" or else they told him of the woman who lived in sorrow,and was ever looking on a book, that she might bring to her the man whomshe desired.
Whiles he wearied and longed for death, but would not die until there wasno corner of the land unsearched. Whiles he shook off weariness, andwent about his quest as a craftsman sets about his work in the morning.Whiles it irked him to see the soft and merry folk of the land, who hadno skill to help him, and he longed for the house of his fathers and themen of the spear and the plough; and thought, "Oh, if I might but get meback, if it were but for an hour and to die there, to the meadows of theRaven, and the acres beneath the mountains of Cleveland by the Sea. Thenat least should I learn some tale of what is or what hath been, howsoeverevil the tidings were, and not be bandied about by lies for ever."