The Roots of the Mountains

by William Morris

  CHAPTER XXXVIII. OF THE GREAT FOLK-MOTE: ATONEMENTS GIVEN, AND MEN MADESACKLESS.

  AMIDST the clamour uprose the Alderman; for it was clear to all men thatthe Folk-mote should be holden at once, and the matters of the War, andthe Fellowship, and the choosing of the War-leader, speedily dealt with.So the Alderman fell to hallowing in the Folk-mote: he went up to theAltar of the Gods, and took the Gold-ring off it, and did it on his arm;then he drew his sword and waved it toward the four aírts, and spake; andthe noise and shouting fell, and there was silence but for him:

  ‘Herewith I hallow in this Folk-mote of the Men of the Dale and theSheepcotes and the Woodland, in the name of the Warrior and the Earth-godand the Fathers of the kindreds. Now let not the peace of the Mote bebroken. Let not man rise against man, or bear blade or hand, or stick orstone against any. If any man break the Peace of the Holy Mote, let himbe a man accursed, a wild-beast in the Holy Places; an outcast from homeand hearth, from bed and board, from mead and acre; not to be holpen withbread, nor flesh, nor wine; nor flax, nor wool, nor any cloth; nor withsword, nor shield, nor axe, nor plough-share; nor with horse, nor ox, norass; with no saddle-beast nor draught-beast; nor with wain, nor boat, norway-leading; nor with fire nor water; nor with any world’s wealth. Thuslet him who hath cast out man be cast out by man. Now is hallowed-in theFolk-mote of the Men of the Dale and the Sheepcotes and the Woodlands.’

  Therewith he waved his sword again toward the four aírts, and went andsat down in his place. But presently he arose again, and said:

  ‘Now if man hath aught to say against man, and claimeth boot of any, orwould lay guilt on any man’s head, let him come forth and declare it; andthe judges shall be named, and the case shall be tried this afternoon orto-morrow. Yet first I shall tell you that I, the Alderman of theDalesmen, doomed one Iron-face of the House of the Face to pay a doublefine, for that he drew a sword at the Gate-thing of Burgstead with theintent to break the peace thereof. Thou, Green-sleeve, bring forth thepeace-breaker’s fine, that Iron-face may lay the same on the Altar.’

  Then came forth a man from the men of the Face bearing a bag, and hebrought it to Iron-face, who went up to the Altar and poured forthweighed gold from the bag thereon, and said:

  ‘Warden of the Dale, come thou and weigh it!’

  ‘Nay,’ quoth the Warden, ‘it needeth not, no man here doubteth thee,Alderman Iron-face.’

  A murmur of yeasay went up, and none had a word to say against theAlderman, but they praised him rather: also men were eager to hear of thewar, and the fellowship, and to be done with these petty matters. Thenthe Alderman rose again and said:

  ‘Hath any man a grief against any other of the Kindreds of the Dale, orthe Sheepcotes, or the Woodlands?’

  None answered or stirred; so after he had waited a while, he said:

  ‘Is there any who hath any guilt to lay against a Stranger, an Outlander,being such a man as he deems we can come at?’

  Thereat was a stir amongst the Men of the Fleece of the Shepherds, andtheir ranks opened, and there came forth an ill-favoured lean old man,long-nebbed, blear-eyed, and bent, girt with a rusty old sword, but nototherwise armed. And all men knew Penny-thumb, who had been ransackedlast autumn. As he came forth, it seemed as if his neighbours had beentrying to hold him back; but a stout, broad-shouldered man, black-hairedand red-bearded, made way for the old man, and led him out of the throng,and stood by him; and this man was well armed at all points, and looked adoughty carle. He stood side by side with Penny-thumb, right in front ofthe men of his house, and looked about him at first somewhat uneasily, asthough he were ashamed of his fellow; but though many smiled, nonelaughed aloud; and they forbore, partly because they knew the man to be agood man, partly because of the solemn tide of the Folk-mote, and partlyin sooth because they wished all this to be over, and were as men who hadno time for empty mirth.

  Then said the Alderman: ‘What wouldest thou, Penny-thumb, and thou,Bristler, son of Brightling?’

  Then Penny-thumb began to speak in a high squeaky voice: ‘Alderman, andLord of the Folk!’ But therewithal Bristle, pulled him back, and said:

  ‘I am the man who hath taken this quarrel upon me, and have sworn uponthe Holy Boar to carry this feud through; and we deem, Alderman, that ifthey who slew Rusty and ransacked Penny-thumb be not known now, yet theysoon may be.’

  As he spake, came forth those three men of the Shepherds and the twoDalesmen who had sworn with him on the Holy Boar. Then up stoodFolk-might, and came forth into the field, and said:

  ‘Bristler, son of Brightling, and ye other good men and true, it is butsooth that the ransackers and the slayer may soon be known; and here Ideclare them unto you: I it was and none other who slew Rusty; and I wasthe leader of those who ransacked Penny-thumb, and cowed Harts-bane ofGreentofts. As for the slaying of Rusty, I slew him because he chasedme, and would not forbear, so that I must either slay or be slain, ashath befallen me erewhile, and will befall again, methinks. As for theransacking of Penny-thumb, I needed the goods that I took, and he neededthem not, since he neither used them, nor gave them away, and, they beinggone, he hath lived no worser than aforetime. Now I say, that if ye willtake the outlawry off me, which, as I hear, ye laid upon me, not knowingme, then will I handsel self-doom to thee, Bristler, if thou wilt bearthy grief to purse, and I will pay thee what thou wilt out of hand; or ifperchance thou wilt call me to Holm, thither will I go, if thou and Icome unslain out of this war. As to the ransacking and cowing ofHarts-bane, I say that I am sackless therein, because the man is but aruffler and a man of violence, and hath cowed many men of the Dale; andif he gainsay me, then do I call him to the Holm after this war is over;either him or any man who will take his place before my sword.’

  Then he held his peace, and man spake to man, and a murmur arose, as theysaid for the more part that it was a fair and manly offer. But Bristlercalled his fellows and Penny-thumb to him, and they spake together; andsometimes Penny-thumb’s shrill squeak was heard above the deep-voicedtalk of the others; for he was a man that harboured malice. But at lastBristler spake out and said:

  ‘Tall man, we know that thou art a chieftain and of good will to the menof the Dale and their friends, and that want drave thee to theransacking, and need to the manslaying, and neither the living nor thedead to whom thou art guilty are to be called good men; therefore will Ibring the matter to purse, if thou wilt handsel me self-doom.’

  ‘Yea, even so let it be,’ quoth Folk-might; and stepped forward and tookBristler by the hand, and handselled him self-doom. Then said Bristler:

  ‘Though Rusty was no good man, and though he followed thee to slay thee,yet was he in his right therein, since he was following up his goodman’sgear; therefore shalt thou pay a full blood-wite for him, that is to say,the worth of three hundreds in weed-stuff in whatso goods thou wilt. Asfor the ransacking of Penny-thumb, he shall deem himself well paid ifthou give him our hundreds in weed-stuff for that which thou didst borrowof him.’

  Then Penny-thumb set up his squeak again, but no man hearkened to him,and each man said to his neighbour that it was well doomed of Bristler,and neither too much nor too little. But Folk-might bade Wood-wont tobring thither to him that which he had borne to the Mote; and he broughtforth a big sack, and Folk-might emptied it on the earth, and lo! thesilver rings of the slain felons, and they lay in a heap on the greenfield, and they were the best of silver. Then the Elder of theDale-wardens weighed out from the heap the blood-wite for Rusty,according to the due measure of the hundred in weed-stuff, and deliveredit unto Bristler. And Folk-might said:

  ‘Draw nigh now, Penny-thumb, and take what thou wilt of this gear, whichI need not, and grudge not at me henceforward.’

  But Penny-thumb was afraid, and abode where he was; and Bristler laughed,and said: ‘Take it, goodman, take it; spare not other men’s goods as thoudost thine own.’

  And Folk-might stood by, smiling faintly: so Penny-thumb plucked up aheart, and drew nigh trembling, an
d took what he durst from that heap;and all that stood by said that he had gotten a full double of what hadbeen awarded to him. But as for him, he went his ways straight from theMote-stead, and made no stay till he had gotten him home, and laid thesilver up in a strong coffer; and thereafter he bewailed him sorely thathe had not taken the double of that which he took, since none would havesaid him nay.

  When he was gone, the Alderman arose and said:

  ‘Now, since the fines have been paid duly and freely, according to thedooming of Bristler, take we off the outlawry from Folk-might and hisfellows, and account them to be sackless before us.’

  Then he called for other cases; but no man had aught more to bringforward against any man, either of the kindreds or the Strangers.