CHAPTER 16
Of the Tales of Swevenham
Old Richard was no worse than his word, and failed not to find oldacquaintance of Swevenham in the Saturday's market: and Ralph sawnaught of him till midweek afterwards. And he was sitting in thechamber of the hostel when Richard came in to him. Forsooth Blaise hadbidden him come dwell in his fair house, but Ralph would not, deemingthat he might be hindered in his quest and be less free to go wheresohe would, if he were dwelling with one who was so great with themagnates as was Blaise.
Now Ralph was reading in a book when Richard came in, but he stood upand greeted him; and Richard said smiling: "What have ye found in thebook, lord?" Said Ralph: "It telleth of the deeds of Alexander." "Isthere aught concerning the Well at the World's End therein?" saidRichard. "I have not found aught thereof as yet," said Ralph; "but thebook tells concerning the Dry Tree, and of kings sitting in theirchairs in the mountains nearby."
"Well then," said Richard, "maybe thou wilt think me the bettertale-teller." "Tell on then," quoth Richard. So they went and sat themdown in a window, and Richard said:
"When I came to Swevenham with two old men that I had known young, thefolk made much of me, and made me good cheer, whereof were over long totell thee; but to speak shortly, I drew the talk round to the matterthat we would wot of: for we spake of the Men of the Dry Tree, and anold man began to say, as master Clement the other day, that this nameof theirs was but a token and an armoury which those champions havetaken from the Tree itself, which Alexander the Champion saw in hiswayfarings; and he said that this tree was on the hither side of themountains called the Wall of the World, and no great way from the lastof the towns whereto Clement will wend; for Clement told me the namethereof, to wit, Goldburg. Then another and an older man, one that Iremember a stout carle ere I left Swevenham, said that this was not so,but that the Tree was on the further side of the Wall of the World, andthat he who could lay his hand on the bole thereof was like enough todrink of the Well at the World's End. Thereafter another spake, andtold a tale of how the champions at Hampton first took the Dry Tree fora token; and he said that the rumour ran, that a woman had brought thetidings thereof to those valiant men, and had fixed the name upon them,though wherefore none knew. So the talk went on.
"But there was a carline sitting in the ingle, and she knew me and Iher. And indeed in days past, when I was restless and longing todepart, she might have held me at Swevenham, for she was one of thefriends that I loved there: a word and a kiss had done it, or maybe thekiss without the word: but if I had the word, I had not the kiss ofher. Well, when the talk began to fall, she spake and said to me:
"'Now it is somewhat strange that the talk must needs fall on thisseeking of that which shall not be found, whereas it was but the monthbefore thou wert last at Swevenham, that Wat Miller and Simon Bowyerset off to seek the Well at the World's End, and took with them Aliceof Queenhough, whom Simon loved as well as might be, and Wat somewhatmore than well. Mindest thou not? There are more than I alive thatremember it.'
"'Yea,' said I, 'I remember it well.'
"For indeed, foster-son, these were the very three of whom I told thee,though I told thee not their names.
"'Well,' said I; 'how sped they? Came they back, or any of them?''Nay,' she said, 'that were scarce to be looked for.' Said I: 'Haveany other to thy knowledge gone on this said quest?'
"'Yea,' she said, 'I will tell thee all about it, and then there willbe an end of the story, for none knoweth better thereof than I. Firstthere was that old man, the wizard, to whom folk from Swevenham andother places about were used to seek for his lore in hidden matters;and some months after those three had departed, folk who went to hisabode amongst the mountains found him not; and soon the word was aboutthat he also, for as feeble as he was, had gone to seek the Well at theWorld's End; though may-happen it was not so. Then the next springafter thy departure, Richard, comes home Arnold Wright from the wars,and asks after Alice; and when he heard what had befallen, he takes ascrip with a little meat for the road, lays his spear on his shoulder,and is gone seeking the lost, and the thing which they found not--that,I deem, was the end of him. Again the year after that, as I deem,three of our carles fell in with two knights riding east from Whitwall,and were questioned of them concerning the road to the said Well, anddoubted not but that they were on that quest. Furthermore (and some ofyou wot this well enough, and more belike know it not) two of our youngmen were faring by night and cloud on some errand, good or bad, itmatters not, on the highway thirty miles east of Whitwall: it was afterharvest, and the stubble-fields lay on either side of the way, and themoon was behind thin clouds, so that it was light on the way, as theytold me; and they saw a woman wending before them afoot, and as theycame up with her, the moon ran out, and they saw that the woman wasfair, and that about her neck was a chaplet of gems that shone in themoon, and they had a longing both for the jewel and the woman: butbefore they laid hand on her they asked her of whence and whither, andshe said: From ruin and wrack to the Well at the World's End, andtherewith turned on them with a naked sword in her hand; so that theyshrank from before her.
"'Hearken once more: the next year came a knight to Swevenham, andguested in this same house, and he sat just where sitteth now yonyellow-headed swain, and the talk went on the same road as it hath goneto-night; and I told him all the tale as I have said it e'en now; andhe asked many questions, but most of the Lady with the pair of beads.And on the morrow he departed and we saw him not again.
"Then she was silent, but the young man at whom she had pointed blushedred and stared at her wide-eyed, but said no word. But I spake: 'Welldame, but have none else gone from Swevenham, or what hath befallenthem?'
"She said: 'Hearken yet! Twenty years agone a great sickness layheavy upon us and the folk of Whitwall, and when it was at its worst,five of our young men, calling to mind all the tales concerning theWell at the World's End, went their ways to seek it, and swore thatback would they never, save they found it and could bear its water tothe folk of Swevenham; and I suppose they kept their oath; for we sawnaught either of the water or of them. Well, I deem that this is thelast that I have to tell thee, Richard, concerning this matter: and nowis come the time for thee to tell tales of thyself.'
"Thus for that time dropped the talk of the Well at the World's End,Lord Ralph, and of the way thither. But I hung about the township yeta while, and yesterday as I stood on their stone bridge, and looked onthe water, up comes that long lad with the yellow hair that the damehad pointed at, and says to me: 'Master Richard, saving thine age andthy dignity and mastery, I can join an end to the tale which thecarline began on Sunday night.' 'Yea, forsooth?' said I, 'and how, mylad?' Said he: 'Thou hast a goodly knife there in thy girdle, give itto me, and I will tell thee.' 'Yea,' quoth I, 'if thy tale beknife-worthy.'
"Well, the end of it was that he told me thus: That by night and moonhe came on one riding the highway, just about where the other woman hadbeen seen, whose tale he had heard of. He deemed at first this riderto be a man, or a lad rather for smallness and slenderness, but comingclose up he found it was a woman, and saw on her neck a chaplet ofgems, and deemed it no great feat to take it of her: but he asked herof whence and whither, and she answered:
"'From unrest to the Well at the World's End.'
"Then when he put out his hand to her, he saw a great anlace gleamingin her hand, wherefore he forbore her; and this was but five days ago.
"So I gave the lad my knife, and deemed there would be little else tohear in Swevenham for this bout; and at least I heard no more tales totell till I came away this morning; so there is my poke turned insideout for thee. But this word further would I say to thee, that I haveseen on thy neck also a pair of beads exceeding goodly. Tell me nowwhence came they."
"From my gossip, dame Katherine," said Ralph; "and it seems to me now,though at the time I heeded the gift little save for its kindness, thatshe thought something great might go with it; and there was a
monk atHigham on the Way, who sorely longed to have it of me." "Well," saidRichard, "that may well come to pass, that it shall lead thee to theWell at the World's End. But as to the tales of Swevenham, whatdeemest thou of them?" Said Ralph: "What are they, save a token thatfolk believe that there is such a thing on earth as the Well? Yet Ihave made up my mind already that I would so do as if I trowed in it.So I am no nearer to it than erst. Now is there naught for it save toabide Master Clement's coming; and when he hath brought me to Goldburg,then shall I see how the quest looks by the daylight of that samecity." He spake so cheerfully that Richard looked at him askance,wondering what was toward with him, and if mayhappen anything layunderneath those words of his.
But in his heart Ralph was thinking of that last tale of the woman whomthe young man had met such a little while ago; and it seemed to himthat she must have been in Whitwall when he first came there; and hescarce knew whether he were sorry or not that he had missed her: forthough it seemed to him that it would be little more than mere griefand pain, nay, that it would be wicked and evil to be led to the Wellat the World's End by any other than her who was to have brought himthere; yet he longed, or thought he longed to speak with her concerningthat love of his heart, so early rewarded, so speedily beggared. Forindeed he doubted not that the said woman was the damsel of BourtonAbbas, whose image had named herself Dorothea to him in that dream.
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