Chapter 10 : 
They Hold Converse With Folk Of The Glittering Plain
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Author : William Morris

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Now the rowers lifted the ash-blades, and fell to rowing towards shore: 
and almost with the first of their strokes, the Sea-eagle moaned out: 

"Would we were there, oh, would we were there!  Cold groweth eld about my
heart.  Raven's Son, thou art standing up; tell me if thou canst see what
these folk of the land are doing, and if any others have come thither?" 

Said Hallblithe:  "There are none others come, but kine and horses are
feeding down the meadows.  As to what those four are doing, the women are
putting off their shoon, and girding up their raiment, as if they would
wade the water toward us; and the carle, who was barefoot before, wendeth
straight towards the sea, and there he standeth, for very little are the
waves become." 

The old man answered nothing, and did but groan for lack of patience; but
presently when the water was yet waist deep the rowers stayed the skiff,
and two of them slipped over the gunwale into the sea, and between them all
they took up the chieftain on his bed and got him forth from the boat and
went toward the strand with him; and the landsfolk met them where the water
was shallower, and took him from their hands and bore him forth on to the
yellow sand, and laid him down out of reach of the creeping ripple of the
tide.  Hallblithe withal slipped lightly out of the boat and waded the
water after them.  But the shipmen rowed back again to their ship, and
presently Hallblithe heard the hale and how, as they got up their anchor. 

But when Hallblithe was come ashore, and was drawn near the folk of the
land, the women looked at him askance, and they laughed and said: "Welcome
to thee also, O young man!"  And he beheld them, and saw that they were of
the stature of the maidens of his own land; they were exceeding fair of
skin and shapely of fashion, so that the nakedness of their limbs under
their girded gowns, and all glistening with the sea, was most lovely and
dainty to behold.  But Hallblithe knelt by the Sea-eagle to note how he
fared, and said:  "How is it with thee, O chieftain?" 

The old man answered not a word, and he seemed to be asleep, and Hallblithe
deemed that his cheeks were ruddier and his skin less wasted and wrinkled
than aforetime.  Then spake one of those women: "Fear not, young man; he is
well and will soon be better."  Her voice was as sweet as a spring bird in
the morning; she was white-skinned and dark-haired, and full sweetly
fashioned; and she laughed on Hallblithe, but not mockingly; and her
fellows also laughed, as though it was strange for him to be there.  Then
they did on their shoon again, and with the carle laid their hands to the
bed whereon the old man lay, and lifted him up, and bore him forth on to
the grass, turning their faces toward the flowery wood aforesaid; and they
went a little way and then laid him down again and rested; and so on little
by little, till they had brought him to the edge of the wood, and still he
seemed to be asleep.  Then the damsel who had spoken before, she with the
dark hair, said to Hallblithe, "Although we have gazed on thee as if with
wonder, this is not because we did not look to meet thee, but because thou
art so fair and goodly a man: so abide thou here till we come back to thee
from out of the wood." 

Therewith she stroked his hand, and with her fellows lifted the old man
once more, and they bore him out of sight into the thicket. 

But Hallblithe went to and fro a dozen paces from the wood, and looked
across the flowery meads and deemed he had never seen any so fair.  And
afar off toward the hills he saw a great roof arising, and thought he could
see men also; and nigher to him were kine pasturing, and horses also,
whereof some drew anear him and stretched out their necks and gazed at him;
and they were goodly after their kind; and a fair stream of water came
round the corner out of the wood and down the meadows to the sea; and
Hallblithe went thereto and could see that there was but little ebb and
flow of the tide on that shore; for the water of the stream was clear as
glass, and the grass and flowers grew right down to its water; so he put
off his helm and drank of the stream and washed his face and his hands
therein, and then did on his helm again and turned back again toward the
wood, feeling very strong and merry; and he looked out seaward and saw the
Ship of the Isle of Ransom lessening fast; for a little land wind had
arisen and they had spread their sails to it; and he laid down on the grass
till the four folk of the country came out of the wood again, after they
had been gone somewhat less than an hour, but the Sea-eagle was not with
them: and Hallblithe rose up and turned to them, and the carle saluted him
and departed, going straight toward that far-away roof he had seen; and the
women were left with Hallblithe, and they looked at him and he at them as
he stood leaning on his spear. 

Then said the black-haired damsel:  "True it is, O Spearman, that if we did
not know of thee, our wonder would be great that a man so young and
lucky-looking should have sought hither." 

"I wot not why thou shouldest wonder," said Hallblithe; "I will tell thee
presently wherefore I come hither.  But tell me, is this the Land of the
Glittering Plain?" 

"Even so," said the damsel, "dost thou not see how the sun shineth on it? 
Just so it shineth in the season that other folks call winter." 

"Some such marvel I thought to hear of," said he; "for I have been told
that the land is marvelous; and fair though these meadows be, they are not
marvelous to look on now:  they are like other lands, though it maybe,
fairer." 

"That may be," she said; "we have naught but hearsay of other lands. If we
ever knew them we have forgotten them." 

Said Hallblithe, "Is this land called also the Acer of the Undying?" 

As he spake the words the smile faded from the damsel's face; she and her
fellows grew pale, and she said:  "Hold thy peace of such words! They are
not lawful for any man to utter here.  Yet mayst thou call it the Land of
the Living." 

He said:  "I crave pardon for the rash word." 

Then they smiled again, and drew near to him, and caressed him with their
hands, and looked on him lovingly; but he drew a little aback from them and
said:  "I have come hither seeking something which I have lost, the lack
whereof grieveth me." 

Quoth the damsel, drawing nearer to him again, "Mayst thou find it, thou
lovely man, and whatsoever else thou desirest." 

Then he said:  "Hath a woman named the Hostage been brought hither of late
days?  A fair woman, bright-haired and gray-eyed, kind of countenance, soft
of speech, yet outspoken and naught timorous; tall according to our
stature, but very goodly of fashion; a woman of the House of the Rose, and
my troth-plight maiden." 

They looked on each other and shook their heads, and the black-haired
damsel spake:  "We know of no such a woman, nor of the kindred which thou
namest." 

Then his countenance fell, and became piteous with desire and grief, and he
bent his brows upon them, for they seemed to him light-minded and careless,
though they were lovely. 

But they shrank from him trembling, and drew aback; for they had all been
standing close to him, beholding him with love, and she who had spoken most
had been holding his left hand fondly.  But now she said: "Nay, look not on
us so bitterly!  If the woman be not in the land, this cometh not of our
malice.  Yet maybe she is here.  For such as come hither keep not their old
names, and soon forget them what they were.  Thou shalt go with us to the
King, and he shall do for thee what thou wilt; for he is exceeding mighty."


Then was Hallblithe appeased somewhat; and he said:  "Are there many women
in the land?" 

"Yea, many," said that damsel. 

"And many that are as fair as ye be?" said he.  Then they laughed and were
glad, and drew near to him again and took his hands and kissed them; and
the black-haired damsel said:  "Yea, yea, there be many as fair as we be,
and some fairer," and she laughed. 

"And that King of yours," said he, "how do ye name him?" 

"He is the King," said the damsel. 

"Hath he no other name?" said Hallblithe. 

"We may not utter it," she said; "but thou shalt see him soon, that there
is naught but good in him and mightiness." 


     From : Marxists.org

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     Chapter 10 -- Added : February 25, 2021

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