On the morrow he went thither3 again, and the morn was wild and stormy with drift of rain, and low clouds hurrying over the earth, though for the sunrise they lifted a little in the east, and the sun came up over the passes, amidst the red and angry rack of clouds. This morn also gave him no tidings of the token, and he was wroth and perturbed4 in spirit: but towards evening he said:
‘It is well: ten days she gave me, so that she might be able to send without fail on one of them; she will not fail me.’
So again on the morrow he was there betimes, and the morn was windy as on the day before, but the clouds higher and of better promise for the day. Face-of-god walked to and fro on the Maiden Ward, and as he turned toward Burgstead for the tenth time, he heard, as he deemed, a bow-string twang afar off, and even therewith came a shaft5 flying heavily like a winged bird, which smote6 a great standing7 stone on the other side of the way, where of old some chieftain had been buried, and fell to earth at its foot. He went up to it and handled it, and saw that there was a piece of thin parchment wrapped about it, which indeed he was eager to unwrap at once, but forebore; because he was on the highway, and people were already astir, and even then passed by him a goodman of the Dale with a man of his going afield together, and they gave him the sele of the day. So he went along the highway a little till he came to a place where was a footbridge over into the meadow. He crossed thereby8 and went swiftly till he reached a rising ground grown over with hazel-trees; there he sat down among the rabbit-holes, the primrose9 and wild-garlic blooming about him, and three blackbirds answering one another from the edges of the coppice. Straightway when he had looked and seen none coming he broke the threads that were wound about the scroll10 and the arrow, and unrolled the parchment; and there was writing thereon in black ink of small letters, but very fair, and this is what he read therein:
Come thou to the Mountain Hall by the path which thou knowest of, on the morrow of the day whereon thou readest this. Rise betimes and come armed, for there are other men than we in the wood; to whom thy death should be a gain. When thou art come to the Hall, thou shalt find no man therein; but a great hound only, tied to a bench nigh the dais. Call him by his name, Sure-foot to wit, and give him to eat from the meat upon the board, and give him water to drink. If the day is then far spent, as it is like to be, abide11 thou with the hound in the hall through the night, and eat of what thou shalt find there; but see that the hound fares not abroad till the morrow’s morn: then lead him out and bring him to the north-east corner of the Hall, and he shall lift the slot for thee that leadeth to the Shadowy Yale. Follow him and all good go with thee.
Now when he had read this, earth seemed fair indeed about him, and he scarce knew whither to turn or what to do to make the most of his joy. He presently went back to Burgstead and into the House of the Face, where all men were astir now, and the day was clearing. He hid the shaft under his kirtle, for he would not that any should see it; so he went to his shut-bed and laid it up in his chest, wherein he kept his chiefest treasures; but the writing on the scroll he set in his bosom12 and so hid it. He went joyfully13 and proudly, as one who knoweth more tidings and better than those around him. But Stone-face beheld15 him, and said ‘Foster-son, thou art happy. Is it that the spring-tide is in thy blood, and maketh thee blithe16 with all things, or hast thou some new tidings? Nay17, I would not have an answer out of thee; but here is good rede: when next thou goest into the wood, it were nought18 so ill for thee to have a valiant19 old carle by thy side; one that loveth thee, and would die for thee if need were; one who might watch when thou wert seeking. Or else beware! for there are evil things abroad in the Wood, and moreover the brethren of those two felons20 who were slain21 at Carlstead.’
Then Gold-mane constrained22 himself to answer the old carle softly; and he thanked him kindly23 for his offer, and said that so it should be before long. So the talk between them fell, and Stone-face went away somewhat well-pleased.
And now was Face-of-god become wary24; and he would not draw men’s eyes and speech on him; so he went afield with Hall-face to deal with the lambs and the ewes, and did like other men. No less wary was he in the hall that even, and neither spake much nor little; and when his father spake to him concerning the Bride, and made game of him as a somewhat sluggish25 groom26, he did not change countenance27, but answered lightly what came to hand.
On the morrow ere the earliest dawn he was afoot, and he clad himself and did on his hauberk, his father’s work, which was fine-wrought and a stout28 defence, and reached down to his knees; and over that he did on a goodly green kirtle well embroidered29: he girt his war-sword to his side, and it was the work of his father’s father, and a very good sword: its name was Dale-warden. He did a good helm on his head, and slung30 a targe at his back, and took two spears in his hand, short but strong-shafted and well-steeled. Thus arrayed he left Burgstead before the dawn, and came to Wildlake’s Way and betook him to the Woodland. He made no stop or stay on the path, but ate his meat standing by an oak-tree close by the half-blind track. When he came to the little wood-lawn, where was the toft of the ancient house, he looked all round about him, for he deemed that a likely place for those ugly wood-wights to set on him; but nought befell him, though he stooped and drank of the woodland rill warily31 enough. So he passed on; and there were other places also where he fared warily, because they seemed like to hold lurking32 felons; though forsooth the whole wood might well serve their turn. But no evil befell him, and at last, when it yet lacked an hour to sunset, he came to the wood-lawn where Wild-wearer had made his onset33 that other eve.
He went straight up to the house, his heart beating, and he scarce believing but that he should find the Friend abiding34 him there: but when he pushed the door it gave way before him at once, and he entered and found no man therein, and the walls stripped bare and no shield or weapon hanging on the panels. But the hound he saw tied to a bench nigh the dais, and the bristles35 on the beast’s neck arose, and he snarled36 on Face-of-god, and strained on his leathern leash37. Then Face-of-god went up to him and called him by his name, Sure-foot, and gave him his hand to lick, and he brought him water, and fed him with flesh from the meat on the board; so the beast became friendly and wagged his tail and whined38 and slobbered his hand.
Then he went all about the house, and saw and heard no living thing therein save the mice in the panels and Sure-foot. So he came back to the dais, and sat him down at the board and ate his fill, and thought concerning his case. And it came into his mind that the Woman of the Mountain had some deed for him to do which would try his manliness39 and exalt40 his fame; and his heart rose high and he was glad, and he saw himself sitting beside her on the dais of a very fair hall beloved and honoured of all the folk, and none had aught to say against him or owed him any grudge41. Thus he pleased himself in thinking of the good days to come, sitting there till the hall grew dusk and dark and the night-wind moaned about it.
Then after a while he arose and raked together the brands on the hearth42, and made light in the hall and looked to the door. And he found there were bolts and bars thereto, so he shot the bolts and drew the bars into their places and made all as sure as might be. Then he brought Sure-foot down from the dais, and tied him up so that he might lie down athwart the door, and then lay down his hauberk with his naked sword ready to his hand, and slept long while.
When he awoke it was darker than when he had lain him for the moon had set; yet he deemed that the day was at point of breaking. So he fetched water and washed the night off him, and saw a little glimmer43 of the dawn. Then he ate somewhat of the meat on the board, and did on his helm and his other gear, and unbarred the door, and led Sure-foot without, and brought him to the north-east corner of the house, and in a little while he lifted the slot and they departed, the man and the hound, just as broke dawn from over the mountains.
Sure-foot led right into the heart of the pine-wood, and it was dark enough therein, with nought but a feeble glimmer for some while, and long was the way therethrough; but in two hours’ space was there something of a break, and they came to the shore of a dark deep tarn44 on whose windless and green waters the daylight shone fully14. The hound skirted the water, and led on unchecked till the trees began to grow smaller and the air colder for all that the sun was higher; for they had been going up and up all the way.
So at last after a six hours’ journey they came clean out of the pine-wood, and before them lay the black wilderness45 of the bare mountains, and beyond them, looking quite near now, the great ice-peaks, the wall of the world. It was but an hour short of noon by this time, and the high sun shone down on a barren boggy46 moss47 which lay betwixt them and the rocky waste. Sure-foot made no stay, but threaded the ways that went betwixt the quagmires48, and in another hour led Face-of-god into a winding50 valley blinded by great rocks, and everywhere stony51 and rough, with a trickle52 of water running amidst of it. The hound fared on up the dale to where the water was bridged by a great fallen stone, and so over it and up a steep bent53 on the further side, on to a marvellously rough mountain-neck, whiles mere54 black sand cumbered with scattered55 rocks and stones, whiles beset56 with mires49 grown over with the cottony mire-grass; here and there a little scanty57 grass growing; otherwhere nought but dwarf59 willow60 ever dying ever growing, mingled61 with moss or red-blossomed sengreen; and all blending together into mere desolation.
Few living things they saw there; up on the neck a few sheep were grazing the scanty grass, but there was none to tend them; yet Face-of-god deemed the sight of them good, for there must be men anigh who owned them. For the rest, the whimbrel laughed across the mires; high up in heaven a great eagle was hanging; once and again a grey fox leapt up before them, and the heath-fowl whirred up from under Face-of-god’s feet. A raven62 who was sitting croaking63 on a rock in that first dale stirred uneasily on his perch64 as he saw them, and when they were passed flapped his wings and flew after them croaking still.
Now they fared over that neck somewhat east, making but slow way because the ground was so broken and rocky; and in another hour’s space Sure-foot led down-hill due east to where the stony neck sank into another desolate65 miry heath still falling toward the east, but whose further side was walled by a rampart of crags cleft66 at their tops into marvellous-shapes, coal-black, ungrassed and unmossed. Thitherward the hound led straight, and Gold-mane followed wondering: as he drew near them he saw that they were not very high, the tallest peak scant58 fifty feet from the face of the heath.
They made their way through the scattered rocks at the foot of these crags, till, just where the rock-wall seemed the closest, the way through the stones turned into a path going through it skew-wise; and it was now so clear a path that belike it had been bettered by men’s hands. Down thereby Face-of-god followed the hound, deeming that he was come to the gates of the Shadowy Vale, and the path went down steeply and swiftly. But when he had gone down a while, the rocks on his right hand sank lower for a space, so that he could look over and see what lay beneath.
There lay below him a long narrow vale quite plain at the bottom, walled on the further side as on the hither by sheer rocks of black stone. The plain was grown over with grass, but he could see no tree therein: a deep river, dark and green, ran through the vale, sometimes through its midmost, sometimes lapping the further rock-wall: and he thought indeed that on many a day in the year the sun would never shine on that valley.
Thus much he saw, and then the rocks rose again and shut it from his sight; and at last they drew so close together over head that he was in a way going through a cave with little daylight coming from above, and in the end he was in a cave indeed and mere darkness: but with the last feeble glimmer of light he thought he saw carved on a smooth space of the living rock at his left hand the image of a wolf.
This cave lasted but a little way, and soon the hound and the man were going once more between sheer black rocks, and the path grew steeper yet and was cut into steps. At last there was a sharp turn, and they stood on the top of a long stony scree, down which Sure-foot bounded eagerly, giving tongue as he went; but Face-of-god stood still and looked, for now the whole Dale lay open before him.
That river ran from north to south, and at the south end the cliffs drew so close to it that looking thence no outgate could be seen; but at the north end there was as it were a dreary67 street of rocks, the river flowing amidmost and leaving little foothold on either side, somewhat as it was with the pass leading from the mountains into Burgdale.
Amidmost of the Dale a little toward the north end he saw a doom-ring of black stones, and hard by it an ancient hall builded of the same black stone both wall and roof, and thitherward was Sure-foot now running. Face-of-god looked up and down the Dale and could see no break in the wall of sheer rock: toward the southern end he saw a few booths and cots built roughly of stone and thatched with turf; thereabout he saw a few folk moving about, the most of whom seemed to be women and children; there were some sheep and lambs near these cots, and a herd68 of fifty or so of somewhat goodly mountain-kine were feeding higher up the valley. He could look down into the river from where he stood, and he saw that it ran between rocky banks going straight down from the face of the meadow, which was rather high above the water, so that it seemed little likely that the water should rise over its banks, either in summer or winter; and in summer was it like to be highest, because the vale was so near to the high mountains and their snows.
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1
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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2
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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3
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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4
perturbed
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| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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6
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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7
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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8
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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primrose
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| n.樱草，最佳部分， | |
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10
scroll
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| n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡 | |
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11
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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12
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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13
joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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14
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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15
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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16
blithe
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| adj.快乐的，无忧无虑的 | |
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17
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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18
nought
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| n.／adj.无，零 | |
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19
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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20
felons
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| n.重罪犯( felon的名词复数 )；瘭疽；甲沟炎；指头脓炎 | |
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21
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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22
constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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23
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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24
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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25
sluggish
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| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
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26
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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27
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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29
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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30
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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31
warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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32
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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33
onset
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| n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始 | |
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34
abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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35
bristles
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| 短而硬的毛发，刷子毛( bristle的名词复数 ) | |
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36
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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37
leash
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| n.牵狗的皮带，束缚；v.用皮带系住 | |
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38
whined
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| v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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39
manliness
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| 刚毅 | |
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40
exalt
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| v.赞扬，歌颂，晋升，提升 | |
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41
grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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42
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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43
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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44
tarn
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| n.山中的小湖或小潭 | |
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45
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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46
boggy
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| adj.沼泽多的 | |
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47
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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48
quagmires
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| n.沼泽地，泥潭( quagmire的名词复数 ) | |
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49
mires
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| n.泥潭( mire的名词复数 ) | |
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50
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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51
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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52
trickle
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| vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散 | |
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53
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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54
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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55
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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56
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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57
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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58
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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59
dwarf
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| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
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60
willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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61
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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62
raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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63
croaking
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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64
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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65
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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66
cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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67
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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68
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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