The Story of the Glittering Plain

by William Morris

  CHAPTER XIX: HALLBLITHE BUILDS HIM A SKIFF

  After Hallblithe had been housed a little while, and the time was againdrawing nigh to the twelfth moon since he had come to the GlitteringPlain, he went in the wood one day; and, pondering many things withoutfixing on any one, he stood before a very great oak-tree and looked atthe tall straight bole thereof, and there came into his head the words ofan old song which was written round a scroll of the carving over the shut-bed, wherein he was wont to lie when he was at home in the House of theRaven: and thus it said:

  I am the oak-tree, and forsooth Men deal by me with little ruth; My boughs they shred, my life they slay, And speed me o'er the watery way.

  He looked up into that leafy world for a little and then turned backtoward his house; but all day long, whether he were at work or at rest,that posy ran in his head, and he kept on saying it over, aloud or notaloud, till the day was done and he went to sleep.

  Then in his sleep he dreamed that an exceeding fair woman stood by hisbedside, and at first she seemed to him to be an image of the Hostage.But presently her face changed, and her body and her raiment; and, lo! itwas the lovely woman, the King's daughter whom he had seen wasting herheart for the love of him. Then even in his dream shame thereof overtookhim, and because of that shame he awoke, and lay awake a little,hearkening the wind going through the woodland boughs, and the singing ofthe owl who had her dwelling in the hollow oak nigh to his house. Slumberovercame him in a little while, and again the image of the King'sdaughter came to him in his dream, and again when he looked upon her,shame and pity rose so hotly in his heart that he awoke weeping, and laya while hearkening to the noises of the night. The third time he sleptand dreamed; and once more that image came to him. And now he looked,and saw that she had in her hand a book covered outside with gold andgems, even as he saw it in the orchard-close aforetime: and he beheld herface that it was no longer the face of one sick with sorrow; but glad andclear, and most beauteous.

  Now she opened the book and held it before Hallblithe and turned theleaves so that he might see them clearly; and therein were woods andcastles painted, and burning mountains, and the wall of the world, andkings upon their thrones, and fair women and warriors, all most lovely tobehold, even as he had seen it aforetime in the orchard when he laylurking amidst the leaves of the bay-tree.

  So at last she came to the place in the book wherein was paintedHallblithe's own image over against the image of the Hostage; and helooked thereon and longed. But she turned the leaf, and, lo! on one sidethe Hostage again, standing in a fair garden of the spring with thelilies all about her feet, and behind her the walls of a house, grey,ancient, and lovely: and on the other leaf over against her was painted asea rippled by a little wind and a boat thereon sailing swiftly, and oneman alone in the boat sitting and steering with a cheerful countenance;and he, who but Hallblithe himself. Hallblithe looked thereon for awhile and then the King's daughter shut the book, and the dream flowedinto other imaginings of no import.

  In the grey dawn Hallblithe awoke, and called to mind his dream, and heleapt from his bed and washed the night from off him in the stream, andclad himself and went the shortest way through the wood to that House offolk aforesaid: and as he went his face was bright and he sang the secondpart of the carven posy; to wit:

  Along the grass I lie forlorn That when a while of time is worn, I may be filled with war and peace And bridge the sundering of the seas.

  He came out of the wood and hastened over the flowery meads of theGlittering Plain, and came to that same house when it was yet very early.At the door he came across a damsel bearing water from the well, and shespake to him and said: "Welcome, Wood-lover! Seldom art thou seen in ourgarth; and that is a pity of thee. And now I look on thy face I see thatgladness hath come into thine heart, and that thou art most fair andlovely. Here then is a token for thee of the increase of gladness."Therewith she set her buckets on the earth, and stood before him, andtook him by the ears, and drew down his face to hers and kissed himsweetly. He smiled on her and said: "I thank thee, sister, for the kissand the greeting; but I come here having a lack."

  "Tell us," she said, "that we may do thee a pleasure."

  He said: "I would ask the folk to give me timber, both beams and battensand boards; for if I hew in the wood it will take long to season."

  "All this is free for thee to take from our wood-store when thou hastbroken thy fast with us," said the damsel. "Come thou in and rest thee."

  She took him by the hand and they went in together, and she gave him toeat and drink, and went up and down the house, saying to every one: "Hereis come the Wood-lover, and he is glad again; come and see him."

  So the folk gathered about him, and made much of him. And when they hadmade an end of breakfast, the head man of the House said to him: "Thebeasts are in the wain, and the timber abideth thy choosing; come andsee."

  So he brought Hallblithe to the timber-bower, where he chose for himselfall that he needed of oak-timber of the best; and they loaded the waintherewith, and gave him what he would moreover of nails and treenails andother matters; and he thanked them; and they said to him: "Whither nowshall we lead thy timber?"

  "Down to the sea-side," quoth he, "nighest to my dwelling."

  So did they, and more than a score, men and women, went with him, some inthe wain, and some afoot. Thus they came down to the sea-shore, and laidthe timber on the strand just above high-water mark; and straightwayHallblithe fell to work shaping him a boat, for well he knew the wholecraft thereof; and the folk looked on wondering, till the tide had ebbedthe little it was wont to ebb, and left the moist sand firm and smooth;then the women left watching Hallblithe's work, and fell to paddlingbarefoot in the clear water, for there was scarce a ripple on the sea;and the carles came and played with them so that Hallblithe was leftalone a while; for this kind of play was new to that folk, since theyseldom came down to the sea-side. Thereafter they needs must dancetogether, and would have had Hallblithe dance with them; and when henaysaid them because he was fain of his work, in all playfulness theyfell to taking the adze out of his hand, whereat he became somewhatwroth, and they were afraid and went and had their dance out without him.

  By this time the sun was grown very hot, and they came to him again, andlay down about him and watched his work, for they were weary. And one ofthe women, still panting with the dance, spake as she looked on theloveliness of her limbs, which one of the swains was caressing:"Brother," said she, "great strokes thou smitest; when wilt thou havesmitten the last of them, and come to our house again?"

  "Not for many days, fair sister," said he, without looking up.

  "Alas that thou shouldst talk so," said a carle, rising up from the warmsand; "what shall all thy toil win thee?"

  Spake Hallblithe: "Maybe a merry heart, or maybe death."

  At that word they all rose up together, and stood huddled together likesheep that have been driven to the croft-gate, and the shepherd hath leftthem for a little and they know not whither to go. Little by little theygot them to the wain and harnessed their beasts thereto, and departedsilently by the way that they had come; but in a little time Hallblitheheard their laughter and merry speech across the flowery meadows. Heheeded their departure little, but went on working, and worked the sundown, and on till the stars began to twinkle. Then he went home to hishouse in the wood, and slept and dreamed not, and began again on themorrow with a good heart.

  To be short, no day passed that he wrought not his full tale of work, andthe days wore, and his ship-wright's work throve. Often the folk of thathouse, and from otherwhere round about, came down to the strand to watchhim working. Nowise did they wilfully hinder him, but whiles when theycould get no talk from him, they would speak of him to each other,wondering that he should so toil to sail upon the sea; for they loved thesea but little, and it soon became clear to them that he was looking tonought else: though it may not be said that they deemed he would leavethe land for ever. On the oth
er hand, if they hindered him not, neitherdid they help, saving when he prayed them for somewhat which he needed,which they would then give him blithely.

  Of the Sea-eagle and his damsel, Hallblithe saw nought; whereat he waswell content, for he deemed it of no avail to make a second sundering ofit.

  So he worked and kept his heart up, and at last all was ready; he hadmade him a mast and a sail, and oars, and whatso-other gear there wasneed of. So then he thrust his skiff into the sea on an evening whenasthere were but two carles standing by; for there would often be a scoreor two of folk. These two smiled on him and bespake him kindly, butwould not help him when he bade them set shoulder to her bows and shove.Albeit he got the skiff into the water without much ado, and got intoher, and brought her to where a stream running from out of his wood madea little haven for her up from the sea. There he tied her to atree-hole, and busied himself that even with getting the gear into her,and victual and water withal, as much as he deemed he should need: andso, being weary, he went to his house to sleep, thinking that he shouldawake in the grey of the morning and thrust out into the deep sea. Andhe was the more content to abide, because on that eve, as oftenest betid,the wind blew landward from the sea, whereas in the morning it oftenestblew seaward from the land. In any case he thought to be astir so timelythat he should come alone to his keel, and depart with no leave-takings.But, as it fell out, he overslept himself, so that when he came out intothe wood clad in all his armour, with his sword girt to his side, and hisspear over his shoulder, he heard the voices of folk, and presently foundso many gathered about his boat that he had some ado to get aboard.

  The folk had brought many gifts for him of such things as they deemed hemight need for a short voyage, as fruit and wine, and woollen cloths tokeep the cold night from him; he thanked them kindly as he stepped overthe gunwale, and some of the women kissed him: and one said (she it was,who had met him at the stead that morning when he went to fetch timber):"Thou wilt be back this even, wilt thou not, brother? It is yet butearly, and thou shalt have time enough to take all thy pleasure on thesea, and then come back to us to eat thy meat in our house at nightfall."

  She spake, knitting her brows in longing for his return; but he knew thatall those deemed he would come back again soon; else had they deemed hima rebel of the King, and might, as he thought, have stayed him. So hechanged not countenance in any wise, but said only: "farewell, sister,for this day, and farewell to all you till I come back."

  Therewith he unmoored his boat, and sat down and took the oars, and rowedtill he was out of the little haven, and on the green sea, and the keelrose and fell on the waves. Then he stepped the mast and hoisted sail,and sheeted home, for the morning wind was blowing gently from themountains over the meadows of the Glittering Plain, so the sail filled,and the keel leapt forward and sped over the face of the cold sea. Andit is to be said that whether he wotted or not, it was the very daytwelve months since he had come to that shore along with the Sea-eagle.So that folk stood and watched the skiff growing less and less upon thedeep till they could scarce see her. Then they turned about and wentinto the wood to disport them, for the sun was growing hot. Nevertheless,there were some of them (and that damsel was one), who came back to thesea-shore from time to time all day long; and even when the sun was downthey looked seaward under the rising moon, expecting to see Hallblithe'sbark come into the shining path which she drew across the waters roundabout the Glittering Land.