Of Geirbald and Viglund the tale tells that they rode the woodland paths as speedily as they might. They had not gone far, and were winding1 through a path amidst of a thicket3 mingled4 of the hornbeam and holly5, betwixt the openings of which the bracken grew exceeding tall, when Viglund, who was very fine-eared, deemed that he heard a horse coming to meet them: so they lay as close as they might, and drew back their horses behind a great holly-bush lest it should be some one or more of the foes6 who had fled into the wood when the Romans were scattered8 in that first fight. But as the sound drew nearer, and it was clearly the footsteps of a great horse, they deemed it would be some messenger from Thiodolf, as indeed it turned out: for as the new-comer fared on, somewhat unwarily, they saw a bright helm after the fashion of the Goths amidst of the trees, and then presently they knew by his attire10 that he was of the Bearings, and so at last they knew him to be Asbiorn of the said House, a doughty11 man; so they came forth12 to meet him and he drew rein13 when he saw armed men, but presently beholding14 their faces he knew them and laughed on them, and said:
“Hail fellows! what tidings are toward?”
“These,” said Viglund, “that thou art well met, since now shalt thou turn back and bring us to Thiodolf as speedily as may be.”
But Asbiorn laughed and said: “Nay rather turn about with me; or why are ye so grim of countenance15?”
“Our errand is no light one,” said Geirbald, “but thou, why art thou so merry?”
“I have seen the Romans fall,” said he, “and belike shall soon see more of that game: for I am on an errand to Otter16 from Thiodolf: the War-duke, when he had questioned some of those whom we took on the Day of the Ridge17, began to have a deeming that the Romans had beguiled18 us, and will fall on the Mark by the way of the south-east heaths: so now is he hastening to fetch a compass and follow that road either to overtake them or prevent them; and he biddeth Otter tarry not, but ride hard along the water to meet them if he may, or ever they have set their hands to the dwellings19 of my House. And belike when I have done mine errand to Otter I shall ride with him to look on these burners and slayers once more; therefore am I merry. Now for your tidings, fellows.”
Said Geirbald: “Our tidings are that both our errands are prevented, and come to nought20: for Otter hath not tarried, but hath ridden with all his folk toward the stead of thine House. So shalt thou indeed see these burners and slayers if thou ridest hard; since we have tidings that the Romans will by now be in Mid2-mark. And as for our errand, it is to bid Thiodolf do even as he hath done. Hereby may we see how good a pair of War-dukes we have gotten, since each thinketh of the same wisdom. Now take we counsel together as to what we shall do; whether we shall go back to Otter with thee, or thou go back to Thiodolf with us; or else each go the road ordained21 for us.”
Said Asbiorn: “To Otter will I ride as I was bidden, that I may look on the burning of our roof, and avenge22 me of the Romans afterwards; and I bid you, fellows, ride with me, since fewer men there are with Otter, and he must be the first to bide23 the brunt of battle.”
“Nay,” said Geirbald, “as for me ye must even lose a man’s aid; for to Thiodolf was I sent, and to Thiodolf will I go: and bethink thee if this be not best, since Thiodolf hath but a deeming of the ways of the Romans and we wot surely of them. Our coming shall make him the speedier, and the less like to turn back if any alien band shall follow after him. What sayest thou, Viglund?”
Said Viglund: “Even as thou, Geirbald: but for myself I deem I may well turn back with Asbiorn. For I would serve the House in battle as soon as may be; and maybe we shall slaughter24 these kites of the cities, so that Thiodolf shall have no work to do when he cometh.”
Said Asbiorn; “Geirbald, knowest thou right well the ways through the wood and on the other side thereof, to the place where Thiodolf abideth? for ye see that night is at hand.”
“Nay, not over well,” said Geirbald.
Said Asbiorn: “Then I rede thee take Viglund with thee; for he knoweth them yard by yard, and where they be hard and where they be soft. Moreover it were best indeed that ye meet Thiodolf betimes; for I deem not but that he wendeth leisurely25, though always warily9, because he deemeth not that Otter will ride before to-morrow morning. Hearken, Viglund! Thiodolf will rest to-night on the other side of the water, nigh to where the hills break off into the sheer cliffs that are called the Kites’ Nest, and the water runneth under them, coming from the east: and before him lieth the easy ground of the eastern heaths where he is minded to wend to-morrow betimes in the morning: and if ye do your best ye shall be there before he is upon the road, and sure it is that your tidings shall hasten him.”
“Thou sayest sooth,” saith Geirbald, “tarry we no longer; here sunder26 our ways; farewell!”
“Farewell,” said he, “and thou, Viglund, take this word in parting, that belike thou shalt yet see the Romans, and strike a stroke, and maybe be smitten27. For indeed they be most mighty28 warriors29.”
Then made they no delay but rode their ways either side. And Geirbald and Viglund rode over rough and smooth all night, and were out of the thick wood by day-dawn: and whereas they rode hard, and Viglund knew the ways well, they came to Mirkwood-water before the day was old, and saw that the host was stirring, but not yet on the way. And or ever they came to the water’s edge, they were met by Wolfkettle of the Wolfings, and Hiarandi of the Elkings, and three others who were but just come from the place where the hurt men lay down in a dale near the Great Ridge; there had Wolfkettle and Hiarandi been tending Toti of the Beamings, their fellow-in-arms, who had been sorely hurt in the battle, but was doing well, and was like to live. So when they saw the messengers, they came up to them and hailed them, and asked them if the tidings were good or evil.
“That is as it may be,” said Geirbald, “but they are short to tell; the Romans are in Mid-mark, and Otter rideth on the spur to meet them, and sendeth us to bid Thiodolf wend the heaths to fall in on them also. Nor may we tarry one minute ere we have seen Thiodolf.”
Said Wolfkettle, “We will lead you to him; he is on the east side of the water, with all his host, and they are hard on departing.”
So they went down the ford31, which was not very deep; and Wolfkettle rode the ford behind Geirbald, and another man behind Viglund; but Hiarandi went afoot with the others beside the horses, for he was a very tall man.
But as they rode amidst the clear water Wolfkettle lifted up his voice and sang:
“White horse, with what are ye laden32 as ye wade33 the shallows warm,
But with tidings of the battle, and the fear of the fateful storm?
What loureth now behind us, what pileth clouds before,
On either hand what gathereth save the stormy tide of war?
Now grows midsummer mirky, and fallow falls the morn,
And dusketh the Moon’s Sister, and the trees look overworn;
God’s Ash tree shakes and shivers, and the sheer cliff standeth white
As the bones of the giants’ father when the Gods first fared to fight.”
And indeed the morning had grown mirky and grey and threatening, and from far away the thunder growled34, and the face of the Kite’s Nest showed pale and awful against a dark steely cloud; and a few drops of rain pattered into the smooth water before them from a rag of the cloud-flock right over head. They were in mid stream now, for the water was wide there; on the eastern bank were the warriors gathering35, for they had beheld36 the faring of those men, and the voice of Wolfkettle came to them across the water, so they deemed that great tidings were toward, and would fain know on what errand those were come.
Then the waters of the ford deepened till Hiarandi was wading37 more than waist-deep, and the water flowed over Geirbald’s saddle; then Wolfkettle laughed, and turning as he sat, dragged out his sword, and waved it from east to west and sang:
“O sun, pale up in heaven, shrink from us if thou wilt39,
And turn thy face from beholding the shock of guilt40 with guilt!
Stand still, O blood of summer! and let the harvest fade,
Till there be nought but fallow where once was bloom and blade!
O day, give out but a glimmer41 of all thy flood of light,
If it be but enough for our eyen to see the road of fight!
Forget all else and slumber42, if still ye let us wake,
And our mouths shall make the thunder, and our swords shall the lightening make,
And we shall be the storm-wind and drive the ruddy rain,
Till the joy of our hearts in battle bring back the day again.”
As he spake that word they came up through the shallow water dripping on to the bank, and they and the men who abode43 them on the bank shouted together for joy of fellowship, and all tossed aloft their weapons. The man who had ridden behind Viglund slipped off on to the ground; but Wolfkettle abode in his place behind Geirbald.
So the messengers passed on, and the others closed up round about them, and all the throng44 went up to where Thiodolf was sitting on a rock beneath a sole ash-tree, the face of the Kite’s Nest rising behind him on the other side of a bight of the river. There he sat unhelmed with the dwarf-wrought hauberk about him, holding Throng-plough in its sheath across his knees, while he gave word to this and that man concerning the order of the host.
So when they were come thither45, the throng opened that the messengers might come forward; for by this time had many more drawn46 near to hearken what was toward. There they sat on their horses, the white and the grey, and Wolfkettle stood by Geirbald’s bridle47 rein, for he had now lighted down; and a little behind him, his head towering over the others, stood Hiarandi great and gaunt. The ragged38 cloud had drifted down south-east now and the rain fell no more, but the sun was still pale and clouded.
Then Thiodolf looked gravely on them, and spake:
“What do ye sons of the War-shield? what tale is there to tell?
Is the kindred fallen tangled48 in the grasp of the fallow Hell?
Crows the red cock over the homesteads, have we met the foe7 too late?
For meseems your brows are heavy with the shadowing o’er of fate.”
But Geirbald answered:
“Still cold with dew in the morning the Shielding Roof-ridge stands,
Nor yet hath grey Hell bounden the Shielding warriors’ hands;
But lo, the swords, O War-duke, how thick in the wind they shake,
Because we bear the message that the battle-road ye take,
Nor tarry for the thunder or the coming on of rain,
Or the windy cloudy night-tide, lest your battle be but vain.
And this is the word that Otter yestre’en hath set in my mouth;
Seek thou the trail of the Aliens of the Cities of the South,
And thou shalt find it leading o’er the heaths to the beechen-wood,
And thence to the stony49 places where the foxes find their food;
And thence to the tangled thicket where the folkway cleaves50 it through,
To the eastern edge of Mid-mark where the Bearings deal and do.”
Then said Thiodolf in a cold voice, “What then hath befallen Otter?”
Said Geirbald:
“When last I looked upon Otter, all armed he rode the plain,
With his whole host clattering51 round him like the rush of the summer rain;
To the right or the left they looked not but they rode through the dusk and the dark
Beholding nought before them but the dream of the foes in the Mark.
So he went; but his word fled from him and on my horse it rode,
And again it saith, O War-duke seek thou the Bear’s abode,
And tarry never a moment for ought that seems of worth,
For there shall ye find the sword-edge and the flame of the foes of the earth.
“Tarry not, Thiodolf, nor turn aback though a new foe followeth on thine heels. No need to question me more; I have no more to tell, save that a woman brought these tidings to us, whom the Hall-Sun had sent with others to watch the ways: and some of them had seen the Romans, who are a great host and no band stealing forth to lift the herds52.”
Now all those round about him heard his words, for he spake with a loud voice; and they knew what the bidding of the War-duke would be; so they loitered not, but each man went about his business of looking to his war-gear and gathering to the appointed place of his kindred. And even while Geirbald had been speaking, had Hiarandi brought up the man who bore the great horn, who when Thiodolf leapt to his feet to find him, was close at hand. So he bade him blow the war-blast, and all men knew the meaning of that voice of the horn, and every man armed him in haste, and they who had horses (and these were but the Bearings and the Warnings), saddled them, and mounted, and from mouth to mouth went the word that the Romans were gotten into Mid-mark, and were burning the Bearing abodes53. So speedily was the whole host ready for the way, the Wolfings at the head of all. Then came forth Thiodolf from the midst of his kindred, and they raised him upon a great war-shield upheld by many men, and he stood thereon and spake:
“O sons of Tyr, ye have vanquished54, and sore hath been your pain;
But he that smiteth in battle must ever smite55 again;
And thus with you it fareth, and the day abideth yet
When ye shall hold the Aliens as the fishes in the net.
On the Ridge ye slew56 a many; but there came a many more
From their strongholds by the water to their new-built garth of war,
And all these have been led by dastards o’er the way our feet must tread
Through the eastern heaths and the beechwood to the door of the Bearing stead,
Now e’en yesterday I deemed it, but I durst not haste away
Ere the word was borne to Otter and ’tis he bids haste to-day;
So now by day and by night-tide it behoveth us to wend
And wind the reel of battle and weave its web to end.
Had ye deemed my eyes foreseeing, I would tell you of my sight,
How I see the folk delivered and the Aliens turned to flight,
While my own feet wend them onwards to the ancient Father’s Home.
But belike these are but the visions that to many a man shall come
When he goeth adown to the battle, and before him riseth high
The wall of valiant57 foemen to hide all things anigh.
But indeed I know full surely that no work that we may win
To-morrow or the next day shall quench58 the Markmen’s kin30.
On many a day hereafter shall their warriors carry shield;
On many a day their maidens59 shall drive the kine afield,
On many a day their reapers60 bear sickle61 in the wheat
When the golden wind-wrought ripple62 stirs round the feast-hall’s feet.
Lo, now is the day’s work easy — to live and overcome,
Or to die and yet to conquer on the threshold of the Home.”
And therewith he gat him down and went a-foot to the head of the Wolfing band, a great shout going with him, which was mingled with the voice of the war-horn that bade away.
So fell the whole host into due array, and they were somewhat over three thousand warriors, all good and tried men and meet to face the uttermost of battle in the open field; so they went their ways with all the speed that footmen may, and in fair order; and the sky cleared above their heads, but the distant thunder still growled about the world. Geirbald and Viglund joined themselves to the Wolfings and went a-foot along with Wolfkettle; but Hiarandi went with his kindred who were second in the array.
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1
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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mid
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| adj.中央的，中间的 | |
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thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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holly
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| n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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9
warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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11
doughty
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| adj.勇猛的，坚强的 | |
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12
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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14
beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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15
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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16
otter
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| n.水獭 | |
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17
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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18
beguiled
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| v.欺骗( beguile的过去式和过去分词 )；使陶醉；使高兴；消磨（时间等） | |
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19
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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20
nought
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| n.／adj.无，零 | |
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21
ordained
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| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
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22
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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23
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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24
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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25
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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26
sunder
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| v.分开；隔离；n.分离，分开 | |
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27
smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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28
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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29
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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30
kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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31
Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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32
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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33
wade
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| v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉 | |
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34
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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35
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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36
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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37
wading
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 ) | |
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38
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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39
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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40
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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41
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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42
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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43
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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44
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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45
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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46
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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47
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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48
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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49
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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50
cleaves
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| v.劈开，剁开，割开( cleave的第三人称单数 ) | |
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51
clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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52
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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53
abodes
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| 住所( abode的名词复数 )； 公寓； （在某地的）暂住； 逗留 | |
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54
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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55
smite
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| v.重击；彻底击败；n.打；尝试；一点儿 | |
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56
slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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57
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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58
quench
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| vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制 | |
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59
maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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60
reapers
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| n.收割者，收获者( reaper的名词复数 )；收割机 | |
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61
sickle
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| n.镰刀 | |
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62
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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