A Dream of John Ball; and, A King's Lesson

by William Morris

  CHAPTER IV

  THE VOICE OF JOHN BALL

  SO now I heard John Ball; how he lifted up his voice and said:

  "Ho, all ye good people! I am a priest of God, and in my day's work itcometh that I should tell you what ye should do, and what ye shouldforbear doing, and to that end I am come hither: yet first, if I myselfhave wronged any man here, let him say wherein my wrongdoing lieth,that I may ask his pardon and his pity."

  A great hum of good-will ran through the crowd as he spoke; then hesmiled as in a kind of pride, and again he spoke:

  "Wherefore did ye take me out of the archbishop's prison but three daysagone, when ye lighted the archbishop's house for the candle ofCanterbury, but that I might speak to you and pray you: therefore Iwill not keep silence, whether I have done ill, or whether I have donewell. And herein, good fellows and my very brethren, I would have youto follow me; and if there be such here, as I know full well there besome, and may be a good many, who have been robbers of their neighbours('And who is my neighbour?' quoth the rich man), or lechers, ordespiteful haters, or talebearers, or fawners on rich men for the hurtof the poor (and that is the worst of all)--Ah, my poor brethren whohave gone astray, I say not to you, go home and repent lest you mar ourgreat deeds, but rather come afield and there repent. Many a day haveye been fools, but hearken unto me and I shall make you wise above thewisdom of the earth; and if ye die in your wisdom, as God wot ye wellmay, since the fields ye wend to bear swords for daisies, and spearsfor bents, then shall ye be, though men call you dead, a part andparcel of the living wisdom of all things, very stones of the pillarsthat uphold the joyful earth.

  "Forsooth, ye have heard it said that ye shall do well in this worldthat in the world to come ye may live happily for ever; do ye wellthen, and have your reward both on earth and in heaven; for I say toyou that earth and heaven are not two but one; and this one is thatwhich ye know, and are each one of you a part of, to wit, the HolyChurch, and in each one of you dwelleth the life of the Church, unlessye slay it. Forsooth, brethren, will ye murder the Church any one ofyou, and go forth a wandering man and lonely, even as Cain did who slewhis brother? Ah, my brothers, what an evil doom is this, to be anoutcast from the Church, to have none to love you and to speak withyou, to be without fellowship! Forsooth, brothers, fellowship isheaven, and lack of fellowship is hell: fellowship is life, and lack offellowship is death: and the deeds that ye do upon the earth, it is forfellowship's sake that ye do them, and the life that is in it, thatshall live on and on for ever, and each one of you part of it, whilemany a man's life upon the earth from the earth shall wane.

  "Therefore, I bid you not dwell in hell but in heaven, or while yemust, upon earth, which is a part of heaven, and forsooth no foul part.

  "Forsooth, he that waketh in hell and feeleth his heart fail him, shallhave memory of the merry days of earth, and how that when his heartfailed him there, he cried on his fellow, were it his wife or his sonor his brother or his gossip or his brother sworn in arms, and how thathis fellow heard him and came and they mourned together under the sun,till again they laughed together and were but half sorry between them.This shall he think on in hell, and cry on his fellow to help him, andshall find that therein is no help because there is no fellowship, butevery man for himself. Therefore, I tell you that the proud,despiteous rich man, though he knoweth it not, is in hell already,because he hath no fellow; and he that hath so hardy a heart that insorrow he thinketh of fellowship, his sorrow is soon but a story ofsorrow--a little change in the life that knows not ill."

  He left off for a little; and indeed for some time his voice hadfallen, but it was so clear and the summer evening so soft and still,and the silence of the folk so complete, that every word told. Hiseyes fell down to the crowd as he stopped speaking, since for somelittle while they had been looking far away into the blue distance ofsummer; and the kind eyes of the man had a curious sight before him inthat crowd, for amongst them were many who by this time were notdry-eyed, and some wept outright in spite of their black beards, whileall had that look as if they were ashamed of themselves, and did notwant others to see how deeply they were moved, after the fashion oftheir race when they are strongly stirred. I looked at Will Greenbeside me: his right hand clutched his bow so tight, that the knuckleswhitened; he was staring straight before him, and the tears wererunning out of his eyes and down his big nose as though without hiswill, for his face was stolid and unmoved all the time till he caughtmy eye, and then he screwed up the strangest face, of scowling brow,weeping eyes, and smiling mouth, while he dealt me a sounding thump inthe ribs with his left elbow, which, though it would have knocked medown but for the crowd, I took as an esquire does the accolade whichmakes a knight of him.

  But while I pondered all these things, and how men fight and lose thebattle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite oftheir defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant,and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name--while I pondered all this, John Ball began to speak again in the samesoft and dear voice with which he had left off.

  "Good fellows, it was your fellowship and your kindness that took meout of the archbishop's prison three days agone, though God wot ye hadnought to gain by it save outlawry and the gallows; yet lacked I notyour fellowship before ye drew near me in the body, and when between meand Canterbury street was yet a strong wall, and the turnkeys andsergeants and bailiffs.

  "For hearken, my friends and helpers; many days ago, when April was yetyoung, I lay there, and the heart that I had strung up to bear allthings because of the fellowship of men and the blessed saints and theangels and those that are, and those that are to be, this heart, that Ihad strung up like a strong bow, fell into feebleness, so that I laythere a-longing for the green fields and the white-thorn bushes and thelark singing over the corn, and the talk of good fellows round theale-house bench, and the babble of the little children, and the team onthe road and the beasts afield, and all the life of earth; and I aloneall the while, near my foes and afar from my friends, mocked andflouted and starved with cold and hunger; and so weak was my heart thatthough I longed for all these things yet I saw them not, nor knew thembut as names; and I longed so sore to be gone that I chided myself thatI had once done well; and I said to myself:

  "Forsooth, hadst thou kept thy tongue between thy teeth thou mightesthave been something, if it had been but a parson of a town, andcomfortable to many a poor man; and then mightest thou have clad hereand there the naked back, and filled the empty belly, and holpen many,and men would have spoken well of thee, and of thyself thou hadstthought well; and all this hast thou lost for lack of a word here andthere to some great man, and a little winking of the eyes amidst murderand wrong and unruth; and now thou art nought and helpless, and thehemp for thee is sown and grown and heckled and spun, and lo there, therope for thy gallows-tree!--all for nought, for nought.

  "Forsooth, my friends, thus I thought and sorrowed in my feeblenessthat I had not been a traitor to the Fellowship of the Church, for e'enso evil was my foolish imagination.

  "Yet, forsooth, as I fell a-pondering over all the comfort and helpthat I might have been and that I might have had, if I had been but alittle of a trembling cur to creep and crawl before abbot and bishopand baron and bailiff, came the thought over me of the evil of theworld wherewith I, John Ball, the rascal hedge-priest, had fought andstriven in the Fellowship of the saints in heaven and poor men uponearth.

  "Yea, forsooth, once again I saw as of old, the great treading down thelittle, and the strong beating down the weak, and cruel men fearingnot, and kind men daring not, and wise men caring not; and the saintsin heaven forbearing and yet bidding me not to forbear; forsooth, Iknew once more that he who doeth well in fellowship, and because offellowship, shall not fail though he seem to fail to-day, but in dayshereafter shall he and his work yet be alive, and men be holpen by themto strive again and yet again; and yet indeed even that was little,since, forsooth, to strive was my pleasure and
my life.

  "So I became a man once more, and I rose up to my feet and went up anddown my prison what I could for my hopples, and into my mouth camewords of good cheer, even such as we to-day have sung, and stoutly Isang them, even as we now have sung them; and then did I rest me, andonce more thought of those pleasant fields where I would be, and allthe life of man and beast about them, and I said to myself that Ishould see them once more before I died, if but once it were.

  "Forsooth, this was strange, that whereas before I longed for them andyet saw them not, now that my longing was slaked my vision was cleared,and I saw them as though the prison walls opened to me and I was out ofCanterbury street and amidst the green meadows of April; andtherewithal along with me folk that I have known and who are dead, andfolk that are living; yea, and all those of the Fellowship on earth andin heaven; yea, and all that are here this day. Overlong were the taleto tell of them, and of the time that is gone.

  "So thenceforward I wore through the days with no such faint heart,until one day the prison opened verily and in the daylight, and therewere ye, my fellows, in the door--your faces glad, your hearts lightwith hope, and your hands heavy with wrath; then I saw and understoodwhat was to do. Now, therefore, do ye understand it!"

  His voice was changed, and grew louder than loud now, as he cast hishands abroad towards that company with those last words of his; and Icould feel that all shame and fear was falling from those men, and thatmere fiery manhood was shining through their wonted English shamefaststubbornness, and that they were moved indeed and saw the road beforethem. Yet no man spoke, rather the silence of the men-folk deepened,as the sun's rays grew more level and more golden, and the swiftswheeled about shriller and louder than before.

  Then again John Ball spoke and said, "In good sooth, I deem ye wot noworse than I do what is to do--and first that somewhat we shall do--since it is for him that is lonely or in prison to dream of fellowship,but for him that is of a fellowship to do and not to dream.

  "And next, ye know who is the foeman, and that is the proud man, theoppressor, who scorneth fellowship, and himself is a world to himselfand needeth no helper nor helpeth any, but, heeding no law, layeth lawon other men because he is rich; and surely every one that is rich issuch an one, nor may be other.

  "Forsooth, in the belly of every rich man dwelleth a devil of hell, andwhen the man would give his goods to the poor, the devil within himgainsayeth it, and saith, 'Wilt thou then be of the poor, and suffercold and hunger and mocking as they suffer, then give thou thy goods tothem, and keep them not.' And when he would be compassionate, againsaith the devil to him, 'If thou heed these losels and turn on them aface like to their faces, and deem of them as men, then shall theyscorn thee, and evil shall come of it, and even one day they shall fallon thee to slay thee when they have learned that thou art but as theybe.'

  "Ah, woe worth the while! too oft he sayeth sooth, as the wont of thedevil is, that lies may be born of the barren truth; and sooth it isthat the poor deemeth the rich to be other than he, and meet to be hismaster, as though, forsooth, the poor were come of Adam, and the richof him that made Adam, that is God; and thus the poor man oppresseththe poor man, because he feareth the oppressor. Nought such are ye, mybrethren; or else why are ye gathered here in harness to bid all bearwitness of you that ye are the sons of one man and one mother, begottenof the earth?"

  As he said the words there came a stir among the weapons of the throng,and they pressed closer round the cross, yet with held the shout as yetwhich seemed gathering in their bosoms.

  And again he said:

  "Forsooth, too many rich men there are in this realm; and yet if therewere but one, there would be one too many, for all should be histhralls. Hearken, then, ye men of Kent. For overlong belike have Iheld you with words; but the love of you constrained me, and the joythat a man hath to babble to his friends and his fellows whom he hathnot seen for a long season.

  "Now, hearken, I bid you: To the rich men that eat up a realm therecometh a time when they whom they eat up, that is the poor, seem poorerthan of wont, and their complaint goeth up louder to the heavens; yetit is no riddle to say that oft at such times the fellowship of thepoor is waxing stronger, else would no man have heard his cry. Also atsuch times is the rich man become fearful, and so waxeth in cruelty,and of that cruelty do people misdeem that it is power and mightwaxing. Forsooth, ye are stronger than your fathers, because ye aremore grieved than they, and ye should have been less grieved than theyhad ye been horses and swine; and then, forsooth, would ye have beenstronger to bear; but ye, ye are not strong to bear, but to do.

  "And wot ye why we are come to you this fair eve of holiday? and wot yewhy I have been telling of fellowship to you? Yea, forsooth, I deem yewot well, that it is for this cause, that ye might bethink you of yourfellowship with the men of Essex."

  His last word let loose the shout that had been long on all men's lips,and great and fierce it was as it rang shattering through the quietupland village. But John Ball held up his hand, and the shout was oneand no more.

  Then he spoke again:

  "Men of Kent, I wot well that ye are not so hard bested as those ofother shires, by the token of the day when behind the screen of leafyboughs ye met Duke William with bill and bow as he wended Londonwardfrom that woeful field of Senlac; but I have told of fellowship, and yehave hearkened and understood what the Holy Church is, whereby ye knowthat ye are fellows of the saints in heaven and the poor men of Essex;and as one day the saints shall call you to the heavenly feast, so nowdo the poor men call you to the battle.

  "Men of Kent, ye dwell fairly here, and your houses are framed of stoutoak beams, and your own lands ye till; unless some accursed lawyer withhis false lying sheepskin and forged custom of the Devil's Manor hathstolen it from you; but in Essex slaves they be and villeins, and worsethey shall be, and the lords swear that ere a year be over ox and horseshall go free in Essex, and man and woman shall draw the team and theplough; and north away in the east countries dwell men in poor halls ofwattled reeds and mud, and the north-east wind from off the fenwhistles through them; and poor they be to the letter; and there himwhom the lord spareth, the bailiff squeezeth, and him whom the bailiffforgetteth, the Easterling Chapman sheareth; yet be these stout men andvaliant, and your very brethren.

  "And yet if there be any man here so base as to think that a smallmatter, let him look to it that if these necks abide under the yoke,Kent shall sweat for it ere it be long; and ye shall lose acre andclose and woodland, and be servants in your own houses, and your sonsshall be the lords' lads, and your daughters their lemans, and ye shallbuy a bold word with many stripes, and an honest deed with a leap fromthe gallows-tree.

  "Bethink ye, too, that ye have no longer to deal with Duke William,who, if he were a thief and a cruel lord, was yet a prudent man and awise warrior; but cruel are these, and headstrong, yea, thieves andfools in one--and ye shall lay their heads in the dust."

  A shout would have arisen again, but his eager voice rising higher yet,restrained it as he said:

  "And how shall it be then when these are gone? What else shall ye lackwhen ye lack masters? Ye shall not lack for the fields ye have tilled,nor the houses ye have built, nor the cloth ye have woven; all theseshall be yours, and whatso ye will of all that the earth beareth; thenshall no man mow the deep grass for another, while his own kine lackcow-meat; and he that soweth shall reap, and the reaper shall eat infellowship the harvest that in fellowship he hath won; and he thatbuildeth a house shall dwell in it with those that he biddeth of hisfree will; and the tithe barn shall garner the wheat for all men to eatof when the seasons are untoward, and the rain-drift hideth the sheavesin August; and all shall be without money and without price.Faithfully and merrily then shall all men keep the holidays of theChurch in peace of body and joy of heart. And man shall help man, andthe saints in heaven shall be glad, because men no more fear eachother; and the churl shall be ashamed, and shall hide his churlishnesstill it be gone, and he be no m
ore a churl; and fellowship shall beestablished in heaven and on the earth."