She was clad like himself in a green kirtle gaily2 embroidered3 and fitting close to her body, and had no gown or cloak over it; she had a golden fillet on her head beset4 with blue mountain stones, and her hair hung loose behind her.
Her beauty was so exceeding, and so far beyond all memory of her that his mind had held, that once more fear of her fell upon Face-of-god, and he stood still with beating heart till she should speak to him. But she came forward swiftly with both her hands held out, smiling and happy-faced, and looking very kindly5 on him, and she took his hands and said to him:
‘Now welcome, Gold-mane, welcome, Face-of-god! and twice welcome art thou and threefold. Lo! this is the day that thou asked for: art thou happy in it?’
He lifted her hands to his lips and kissed them timorously6, but said nought7; and therewithal Sure-foot came running forth8 from the Hall, and fell to bounding round about them, barking noisily after the manner of dogs who have met their masters again; and still she held his hands and beheld9 him kindly. Then she called the hound to her, and patted him on the neck and quieted him, and then turned to Face-of-god and laughed happily and said:
‘I do not bid thee hold thy peace; yet thou sayest nought. Is well with thee?’
‘Yea,’ he said, ‘and more than well.’
‘Thou seemest to me a goodly warrior10,’ she said; ‘hast thou met any foemen yesterday or this morning?’
‘Nay,’ said he, ‘none hindered me; thou hast made the ways easy to me.’
She said soberly, ‘Such as I might do, I did. But we may not wield11 everything, for our foes12 are many, and I feared for thee. But come thou into our house, which is ours, and far more ours than the booth before the pine-wood.’
She took his hand again and led him toward the door, but Face-of-god looked up, and above the lintel he saw carved on the dark stone that image of the Wolf, even as he had seen it carved on Wood-grey’s tie-beam; and therewith such thoughts came into his mind that he stopped to look, pressing the Friend’s hand hard as though bidding her note it. The stone wherein the image was carved was darker than the other building stones, and might be called black; the jaws13 of the wood-beast were open and gaping14, and had been painted with cinnabar, but wind and weather had worn away the most of the colour.
Spake the Friend: ‘So it is: thou beholdest the token of the God and Father of out Fathers, that telleth the tale of so many days, that the days which now pass by us be to them but as the drop in the sea of waters. Thou beholdest the sign of our sorrow, the memory of our wrong; yet is it also the token of our hope. Maybe it shall lead thee far.’
‘Whither?’ said he. But she answered not a great while, and he looked at her as she stood a-gazing on the image, and saw how the tears stole out of her eyes and ran adown her cheeks. Then again came the thought to him of Wood-grey’s hall, and the women of the kindred standing before the Wolf and singing of him; and though there was little comeliness15 in them and she was so exceeding beauteous, he could not but deem that they were akin16 to her.
But after a while she wiped the tears from her face and turned to him and said: ‘My friend, the Wolf shall lead thee no-whither but where I also shall be, whatsoever17 peril18 or grief may beset the road or lurk19 at the ending thereof. Thou shalt be no thrall20, to labour while I look on.’
His heart swelled21 within him as she spoke22, and he was at point to beseech23 her love that moment; but now her face had grown gay and bright again, and she said while he was gathering24 words to speak withal:
‘Come in, Gold-mane, come into our house; for I have many things to say to thee. And moreover thou art so hushed, and so fearsome in thy mail, that I think thou yet deemest me to be a Wight of the Waste, such as Stone-face thy Fosterer told thee tales of, and forewarned thee. So would I eat before thee, and sign the meat with the sign of the Earth-god’s Hammer, to show thee that he is in error concerning me, and that I am a very woman flesh and fell, as my kindred were before me.’
He laughed and was exceeding glad, and said: ‘Tell me now, kind friend, dost thou deem that Stone-face’s tales are mere25 mockery of his dreams, and that he is beguiled26 by empty semblances27 or less? Or are there such Wights in the Waste.’
‘Nay,’ she said, ‘the man is a true man; and of these things are there many ancient tales which we may not doubt. Yet so it is that such wights have I never yet seen, nor aught to scare me save evil men: belike it is that I have been over-much busied in dealing28 with sorrow and ruin to look after them: or it may be that they feared me and the wrath29-breeding grief of the kindred.’
He looked at her earnestly, and the wisdom of her heart seemed to enter into his; but she said: ‘It is of men we must talk, and of me and thee. Come with me, my friend.’
And she stepped lightly over the threshold and drew him in. The Hall was stern and grim and somewhat dusky, for its windows were but small: it was all of stone, both walls and roof. There was no timber-work therein save the benches and chairs, a little about the doors at the lower end that led to the buttery and out-bowers; and this seemed to have been wrought31 of late years; yea, the chairs against the gable on the dais were of stone built into the wall, adorned32 with carving33 somewhat sparingly, the image of the Wolf being done over the midmost of them. He looked up and down the Hall, and deemed it some seventy feet over all from end to end; and he could see in the dimness those same goodly hangings on the wall which he had seen in the woodland booth.
She led him up to the dais, and stood there leaning up against the arm of one of those stone seats silent for a while; then she turned and looked at him, and said:
‘Yea, thou lookest a goodly warrior; yet am I glad that thou camest hither without battle. Tell me, Gold-mane,’ she said, taking one of his spears from his hand, ‘art thou deft34 with the spear?’
‘I have been called so,’ said he.
She looked at him sweetly and said: ‘Canst thou show me the feat35 of spear-throwing in this Hall, or shall we wend outside presently that I may see thee throw?’
‘The Hall sufficeth,’ he said. ‘Shall I set this steel in the lintel of the buttery door yonder?’
‘Yea, if thou canst,’ she said.
He smiled and took the spear from her, and poised36 it and shook it till it quivered again, then suddenly drew back his arm and cast, and the shaft37 sped whistling down the dim hall, and smote38 the aforesaid door-lintel and stuck there quivering: then he sprang down from the dais, and ran down the hall, and put forth his hand and pulled it forth from the wood, and was on the dais again in a trice, and cast again, and the second time set the spear in the same place, and then took his other spear from the board and cast it, and there stood the two staves in the wood side by side; then he went soberly down the hall and drew them both out of the wood and came back to her, while she stood watching him, her cheek flushed, her lips a little parted.
She said: ‘Good spear-casting, forsooth! and far above what our folk can do, who be no great throwers of the spear.’
Gold-mane laughed: ‘Sooth is that,’ said he, ‘or hardly were I here to teach thee spear-throwing.’
‘Wilt thou NEVER be paid for that simple onslaught?’ she said.
‘Have I been paid then?’ said he.
She reddened, for she remembered her word to him on the mountain; and he put his hand on her shoulder and kissed her cheek, but timorously; nor did she withstand him or shrink aback, but said soberly:
‘Good indeed is thy spear-throwing, and meseems my brother will love thee when he hath seen thee strike a stroke or two in wrath. But, fair warrior, there be no foemen here: so get thee to the lower end of the Hall, and in the bower30 beyond shalt thou find fresh water; there wash the waste from off thee, and do off thine helm and hauberk, and come back speedily and eat with me; for I hunger, and so dost thou.’
He did as she bade him, and came back presently bearing in his hand both helm and hauberk, and he looked light-limbed and trim and lissome39, an exceeding goodly man.
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1
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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2
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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3
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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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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6
timorously
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| adv.胆怯地，羞怯地 | |
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7
nought
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| n.／adj.无，零 | |
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8
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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9
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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10
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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11
wield
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| vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等) | |
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12
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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13
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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14
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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15
comeliness
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| n. 清秀, 美丽, 合宜 | |
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16
akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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17
whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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18
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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19
lurk
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| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
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20
thrall
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| n.奴隶；奴隶制 | |
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21
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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22
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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23
beseech
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| v.祈求，恳求 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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25
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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26
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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27
semblances
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| n.外表，外观（semblance的复数形式） | |
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28
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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29
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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30
bower
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| n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽 | |
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31
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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32
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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33
carving
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| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
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34
deft
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| adj.灵巧的，熟练的（a deft hand 能手） | |
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35
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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36
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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37
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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38
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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39
lissome
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| adj.柔软的；敏捷的 | |
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