Various - "Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 100, May 30, 1891"

Frank Jewett Mather - "The Collectors"

Various - "Scientific American Supplement, No. 787, January 31, 1891"

Various - "Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XII, No. 29. August, 1873."

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Havelok The Dane written by Charles Whistler

C >> Charles Whistler >> Havelok The Dane




"If you can do that, you are even as your name calls you. Take them and
welcome, Curan, and then come here and do what work you will," Berthun
said in haste.

"Tasks you must set me, or I shall grow idle. That is the failing of
over-big men," Havelok said; and he took the loaves and left the palace
with the two market men at his heels.

I saw him come back, and at once the crowd of idlers made for him, but
in a respectful way enough. I knew, however, how easily these folks took
to throwing mud and stones in their own quarrels, and I was a little
anxious, for to interfere with the ways of the market is a high offence
among them.

But Havelok knew naught of that, and went his way with his loaves to the
bridge end, and there sat on the rail and looked at the men before him.
And /lo!/ back to my mind came old days in Denmark, and how I once saw
Gunnar the king sitting in open court to do justice, and then I knew for
certain that I was looking on his son. And when Havelok spoke it was in
the voice of Gunnar that I had long forgotten, but which came back to me
clear and plain, as if it were yesterday that I had heard it. Never does
a boy forget his first sight of the king.

"Friends," said Havelok, "if I do two men's work I get two men's pay, or
else I might want to know the reason why. But I am only one man, all the
same, and it seems right to me that none should be the loser. Wherefore
I have a mind to share my pay fairly."

There was a sort of shout at that and Havelok set his four loaves in a
row on the rail beside him. But then some of the rougher men went to
make a rush at them, and he took the foremost two and shook them, so
that others laughed and bade the rest beware.

"So that is just where the trouble comes in," said Havelok coolly; "the
strong get the first chance, as I did this morning, by reason of there
being none to see fair play."

"Bide in the market, master, and we will make you judge among us," cried
a small man from the edge of the crowd.

"Fair and softly," Havelok answered. "I am not going to bide here longer
than I can help. Come hither, grandfer," and he beckoned to the old man
who had bidden them wait his return, "tell me the names of the men who
have been longest without any work."

The old man pointed out three, and then Havelok stopped him.

"One of these loaves is my own wage," he said; "but you three shall have
the others, and that will be the easiest day's work you ever did. But
think not that I am going to do the like every day, for Lincoln hill is
no easy climb, and the loaf is well earned at the top. Moreover, it is
not good to encourage the idle by working for them."

So the three men had their loaves, and Havelok began to eat his own
slowly, swinging his legs on the bridge rail while the men watched him.

"Master," said the small man from behind, pushing forward a little, now
that the crowd was looser, "make a law for the market, I pray you, that
all may have a chance."

"Who am I to make laws?" said my brother slowly, and, as he said this,
his hand went up to his brows as it had gone last night when the palace
had wearied him.

"The strong make laws for the weak," the old man said to him in a low
voice. "If the strong is honest, for the weak it is well. Things are
hard for the weak here; and therefore say somewhat, for it may be of use."

"It can be none, unless the strong is at hand to see that the law is kept."

"Sometimes the market will see that a rule is not broken, for itself.
There is no rule for this matter."

Again Havelok passed his hand over his eyes, and he was long in
answering. The loaf lay at his side now. Presently he looked straight
before him, and, as if he saw far beyond Lincoln Hill and away to the
north, he said, "This is my will, therefore, that from this time forward
it shall be the law that men shall have one among them who may fairly
and without favour so order this matter that all shall come to Berthun
the steward in turns that shall be kept, and so also with the carrying
for any other man. There shall be a company of porters, therefore, which
a man must join before he shall do this work, save that every stranger
who comes shall be suffered to take a burden once, and then shall be
told of this company, and the custom that is to be. And I will that this
old man shall see to this matter."

And then he stopped suddenly, and seemed to start as a great shout went
up from the men, a shout as of praise; and his eyes looked again on
them, and that wonderingly.

"They will keep this law," said the old man. "Well have you spoken."

"I have said a lot of foolishness, maybe," answered Havelok. "For the
life of me I could not say it again."

"There is not one of us that could not do so," said his adviser. "But
bide you here, master, in the town?"

"I am in service at the palace."

Then the old man turned round to the others and said, "This is good that
we have heard, and it is nothing fresh, for all trades have their
companies, and why should not we? Is this stranger's word to be kept?"

Maybe there were one or two of the rougher men who held their peace, for
they had had more than their share of work, but from the rest came a
shout of "Ay!" as it were at the Witan.

"Well, then," said Havelok suddenly, getting down from his seat and
giving his loaf to the old man, "see you to it; and if any give trouble
hereafter, I shall hear from the cook, and, by Odin, I will even come
down and knock their heads together for them. So farewell."

He smiled round pleasantly, yet in that way which has a meaning at the
back of it; and at that every cap went off and the men did him reverence
as to a thane at least, and he nodded to them and came across to me.

"Come out into the fields, brother, for I shall weep if I bide here longer."

So he said; and we went away quickly, while the men gathered round the
old leader who was to be, and talked earnestly.

"This famine plays strange tricks with me," he said when we were away
from every one. "Did you hear all that I said?"

"I heard all, and you have spoken the best thing that could have been
said. Eight years have I been to this market, and a porters' guild is
just what is needed. And it will come about now."

"It was more dreaming, and so I must be a wise man in my dream. Even as
in the palace yesterday it came on me, and I seemed to be at the gate of
a great hall, and it was someone else that was speaking, and yet myself.
It is in my mind that I told these knaves what my lordly will was,
forsooth; and the words came to me in our old Danish tongue, so that it
was hard not to use it. But it seems to me that long ago I did these
things, or saw them, I know not which, somewhere. Tell me, did the king
live in our town across the sea?"

"No, but in another some way off. My father took me there once or twice."

"Can you mind that he took me also?"

I shook my head, and longed for Withelm. Surely I would send for him, or
for Arngeir, if this went on. Arngeir for choice, for I could tell him
what I thought; and that would only puzzle Withelm, who knew less than I.

"We will ask Arngeir some day," I said; "he can remember."

"I suppose he did take me," mused Havelok; "and I suppose that I want
more sleep or more food or somewhat. Now we will go and tell the old
dame of my luck, for she has lost her lodger."

Then he told me of his fortune with the steward.

"Half afraid of me he seems, for he will have me do just what I will.
That will be no hard place therefore."

But I thought that if I knew anything of Havelok my brother, he would be
likely to make it hard by doing every one's work for him, and that
Berthun saw this; or else that, as I had thought last night, the shrewd
courtier saw the prince behind the fisher's garb.

So we parted presently at the gate of the palace wall, and I went back
to the widow to wait for my arms, while he went to his master. And I may
as well tell the end of Havelok's lawmaking.

Berthun went down to the market next day, and came back with a wonder to
be told. And it was to Havelok that he went first to tell it, as he was
drawing bucket after bucket of water from the deep old Roman well in the
courtyard to fill the great tub which he considered a fair load to carry
at once.

"There is something strange happening in the market," he said, "and I
think that you have a hand in it. The decency of the place is wonderful,
and you said that you thought I might have less trouble with the men
than I was wont if you went down with the loaves. What did you? For I
went to the baker's stalls and bought, and looked round for the tail
that is after me always; and I was alone, and all the market folk were
agape to see what was to be done. I thought that I had offended the
market by yesterday's business, as they had called out on me, and I
thought that I should have to come and fetch your--that is, if it
pleased you. But first I called, as is my wont, for porters. Now all
that rabble sat in a row along a wall, and, by Baldur, when I looked,
they had cleaned themselves! Whereupon an old gaffer, who has carried
things once or twice for me when there has been no crowd and he has been
able to come forward, lifted up his voice and asked how many men I
wanted, so please me.

"'Two,'I said, wondering, and at that two got up and came to me, and I
sent them off. It was the same at the next booth, and the next, for he
told off men as I wanted them; and here am I back a full half-hour
earlier than ever before, and no mud splashes from the crowd either. It
is said that they have made a porters' guild; and who has put that sense
into their heads unless your--that is, unless you have done so, I
cannot say."

Havelok laughed.

"Well, I did tell them that they should take turns, or somewhat like
that; and I also told them that if you complained of them I would see to
it."

"Did you say that you would pay them, may I ask--that is, of course,
if they were orderly? For if so, I thank--"

"I told them that if you complained I would knock their heads together,"
said Havelok.

And that was the beginning of the Lincoln porters' guild; and in after
days Havelok was wont to say that he would that all lawmaking was as
easy as that first trial of his. Certainly from that day forward there
was no man in all the market who would not have done aught for my
brother, and many a dispute was he called on to settle. It is not always
that a law, however good it may be, finds not a single one to set
himself against it. But then Havelok was a strong man.

Now there is naught to tell of either Havelok or myself for a little
while, for we went on in our new places comfortably enough. One heard
much of Havelok, though, for word of him and his strength and
goodliness, and of his kindness moreover, went through the town, with
tales of what he had done. But I never heard that any dared to ask him
to make a show of himself by doing feats of strength. Only when he came
down to the guardroom sometimes with me would he take part in the weapon
play that he loved, and the housecarls, who were all tried and good
warriors, said that he was their master in the use of every weapon, and
it puzzled them to know where he had learned so well, for he yet wore
his fisher's garb. They sent his arms with mine from Grimsby, thinking
that he also needed them; but he left them with the widow.

Havelok used to laugh if they asked him this, and tell them that it came
by nature, and in that saying there was more than a little truth. So the
housecarls, when they heard how Berthun was wont to treat him, thought
also that he was some great man in hiding, and that the steward knew who
he was. They did not know but that my close friendship with him had
sprung up since he came, and that was well, and Eglaf and he and I were
soon much together. The captain wanted him to leave the cook and be one
of his men, but we thought that he had better bide where he was, rather
than let Alsi the king have him always about him. For now and then that
strange feeling, as of the old days, came over him when he was in the
great hall, and he had to go away and brood over it for a while until he
would set himself some mighty task and forget it.

But one day he came to me and said that he was sure he knew the ways of
a king too well for it all to be a dream, adding that Berthun saw that
also, and was curious about him.

"Tell me, brother, whence came I? /Was/ I truly brought up in a court?"

"I have never heard," I answered. "All that I know for certain is that
you fled with us from Hodulf, the new king, and that for reasons which
my father never told me."

Then said Havelok, "There was naught worth telling, therefore. I suppose
I was the child of some steward like Berthun; but yet--"

So he went away, and I wondered long if it were not time that Arngeir
should tell all that he knew. It was of no good for me to say that in
voice and ways and deed he had brought back to me the Gunnar whom I had
not seen for so many long years, for that was as likely as not to be a
fancy of mine, or if not a fancy, he might be only a sister's son or the
like. But in all that he said there was no word of his mother, and by
that I knew that his remembrance must be but a shadow, if a growing one.

But there was no head in all the wide street that was not turned to look
after him; and now he went his way from me with two children, whom he
had caught up from somewhere, perched on either shoulder, and another in
his arms, and they crowed with delight as he made believe to be some
giant who was to eat them forthwith, and ran up the hill with them. No
such playmate had the Lincoln children before Havelok came.


CHAPTER X. KING ALSI OF LINDSEY.

Three weeks after we came the Witan[8] began to gather,
and that was a fine sight as the great nobles of Lindsey, and of the
North folk of East Anglia, came day by day into the town with their
followings, taking up their quarters either in the better houses of the
place or else pitching bright-coloured tents and pavilions on the
hillside meadows beyond the stockades. Many brought their ladies with
them, and all day long was feasting and mirth at one place or another,
as friend met with friend. Never had I seen such a gay sight as the
marketplace was at midday, when the young thanes and their men met there
and matched their followers at all sorts of sports. The English nobles
are far more fond of gay dress and jewels than our Danish folk, though I
must say that when the few Danes of Ethelwald's household came it would
seem that they had taken kindly to the fashion of their home.

Our housecarls grumbled a bit for a while, for with all the newcomers
dressed span new for the gathering, we had had nothing fresh for it from
the king, as was the custom, and I for one was ashamed of myself, for
under my mail was naught but the fisher's coat, which is good enough for
hard wear, but not for show. But one day we were fitted out fresh by the
king's bounty in blue and scarlet jerkins and hose, and we swaggered
after that with the best, as one may suppose.

Berthun had the ordering of that business, and he came and sat with
Eglaf in the gatehouse and talked of it.

"Pity that you do not put your man Curan into decent gear," the captain
said. "That old sailcloth rig does not do either him or you or the court
credit."

"That is what I would do," said the steward, "but he will not take aught
but the food that he calls his hire. He is a strange man altogether, and
I think that he is not what he seems."

"So you have told me many times, and I think with you. He will be some
crack-brained Welsh princeling who has been crossed in love, and so has
taken some vow on him, as the King Arthur that they prate of taught them
to do. Well, if he is such, it is an easy matter to make him clothe
himself decently. It is only to tell him that the clothes are from the
king, and no man who has been well brought up may refuse such a gift."

"But suppose that he thanks the king for the gift. Both he and the king
will be wroth with me."

"Not Curan, when he has once got the things on; and as for Alsi, he will
take the thanks to himself, and chuckle to think that the mistake has
gained him credit for a good deed that he never did."

"Hush, comrade, hush!" said Berthun quickly; "naught but good of the king!"

"I said naught ill. But if Woden or Frey, or whoever looks after good
deeds, scores the mistake to Alsi as well, it will be the first on the
count of charity that--"

But at this Berthun rose up in stately wise.

"I may not listen to this. To think that here in the guardroom I should
hear such--"

"Sit down, comrade," said Eglaf, laughing, and pulling the steward into
his seat again. "Well you know that I would be cut to pieces for the
king tomorrow if need were, and so I earn free speech of him I guard. If
I may not say what I think of him to a man who knows as much of him as
I, who may?"

"I have no doubt that the king would clothe Curan if I asked him," said
Berthun stiffly, but noways loth to take his seat again.

"But it is as much as your place is worth to do it. I know what you
would say."

Berthun laughed.

"I will do it myself, and if Alsi does get the credit, what matter?"

Wherefore it came to pass that as I was on guard at the gate leading to
the town next day I saw a most noble-looking man coming towards me, and
I looked a second time, for I thought him one of the noblest of all the
thanes who had yet come, and the second look told me that it was Havelok
in this new array. I will say that honest Berthun had done his part
well; and if the king was supposed to be the giver, he had nothing to
complain of. Eglaf had told me of the way in which the dressing of
Havelok was to be done.

"Ho!" said I, "I thought you some newcomer."

"I hardly know myself," he answered, "and I am not going to grumble at
the change, seeing that this is holiday time. Berthun came to me last
evening, and called me aside, and said that it was the king's wont to
dress his folk anew at the time of the Witan, and then wanted to know if
my vow prevented me from wearing aught but fisher's clothes. And when I
said that if new clothes went as wage for service about the place I was
glad to hear it, he was pleased, as if it had been likely that I would
refuse a good offer. So the tailor went to work on me, and hence this
finery. But you are as fine, and this is more than we counted on when we
left Grimsby. I suppose it is all in honour of the lady of the North
folk, Goldberga."

"Maybe, for I have heard that she is to come."

"To be fetched rather, if one is to believe all that one hears. They say
that Alsi has kept her almost as a captive in Dover, having given her
into the charge of some friend of his there, that she may be far from
her own kingdom and people. Now the Norfolk Witan has made him bring her
here. Berthun seems to think there will be trouble."

"Only because Alsi will not want to let the kingdom go from his hand to
her. But that will not matter. He is bound by the old promise to her
father."

Now we were talking to one another in broad Danish, there being none
near to hear us. We had always used it among ourselves at Grimsby, for
my father loved his old tongue. But at that moment there rode up to the
gate a splendid horseman, young and handsome, and with great gold
bracelets on his arms, one or two of which caught my eye at once, for
they were of the old Danish patterns, and just such as Jarl Sigurd used
to wear. But if I was quick to notice these tokens of the old land, he
had been yet quicker, for he reined up before I stayed him, as was my
duty if he would pass through this gate to the palace, so that I might
know his authority.

"If I am not mistaken," he said in our own tongue, "I heard you two
talking in the way I love best. Skoal, therefore, to the first Northman
I have met between here and London town, for it is good to hear a
friendly voice."

"Skoal to the jarl!" I answered, and I gave the salute of Sigurd's
courtmen, which came into my mind on the moment with the familiar
greeting of long years ago. And "Skoal," said Havelok.

"Jarl! How know you that I am that?"

"By the jarl's bracelet that you wear, surely."

"So you are a real Dane--not an English-bred one like myself. That is
good. You and I will have many a talk together. Odin, how good it is to
meet a housecarl who speaks as man to man and does not cringe to me! Who
are you?"

"Radbard Grimsson of Grimsby, housecarl just now to this King of Lindsey."

"And your comrade?"

I was about to tell this friendly countryman Havelok's name without
thought, but stopped in time. Of all the things I had been brought up to
dread most for him, that an English Dane should find him out was the
worst, so I said, "He is called Curan, and he is a Lindsey marshman."

"Who can talk Danish though his name is Welsh. That is strange. Well,
you are right about me. I am Ragnar of Norwich, the earl, as the English
for jarl goes. Now I want to see Alsi the king straightway."

"That is a matter for the captain," I said, and I called for him.

Eglaf came out and made a deep reverence when he saw the earl, knowing
at once who he was, and as this was just what the earl had said that he
did not like, he looked quaintly at me across Eglaf's broad bent back,
so that I had to grin perforce.

All unknowing of which the captain heard the earl's business, and then
told me to see him to the palace gates, and take his horse to the
stables when he had dismounted and was in the hands of Berthun.

So I went, and Havelok turned away and went on some errand down the
steep street.

This Ragnar was one of whom I had often heard, for he was the governor
of all the North folk for Alsi until the Lady Goldberga should take her
place. He was her cousin, being the son of Ethelwald's sister, who was
of course a Dane. Danish, and from the old country, was his father also,
being one of the men who had come over to the court of East Anglia when
Ethelwald was made king.

All the way to the door we talked of Denmark, but it was not far. There
Berthun came out and greeted the earl in court fashion, and I thought
that I was done with, because the grooms had run to take the great bay
horse as they heard the trampling. But, as it happened, I was wanted.

Ragnar went in, saying to me that he would find me out again presently;
and I saw him walk across the great hall to the hearth, and stand there
while Berthun went to the king's presence to tell him of the new
arrival. Then I stood for a minute to look at the horse, for the grooms
had had no orders to take him away; and mindful of Eglaf's word to me, I
was going to tell them to do so, and to see it done, when Berthun came
hurriedly and called me.

"Master Housecarl," he said rather breathlessly, "by the king's order
you are to come within the hall and guard the doorway."

I shouldered my spear and followed him, and as we were out of hearing of
the grooms I said that the captain had ordered me to take the horse to
the stables.

"I will see to that," he said. "Now you are to bide at the door while
the king speaks with Earl Ragnar, for there will be none else present.
Let no one pass in without the king's leave."

We passed through the great door as he said that, and he closed it after
him. Ragnar was yet standing near the high seat, and turned as he heard
the sound, and smiled when he saw me. Berthun went quickly away through
a side entrance, and the hail was empty save for us two. The midday meal
was over an hour since, and the long tables had been cleared away, so
that the place seemed desolate to me, as I had only seen it before when
I sat with the other men at the cross tables for meals. It was not so
good a hall as was Jarl Sigurd's in Denmark, for it was not rich with
carving and colour as was his, and the arms on the wall were few, and
the hangings might have been brighter and better in a king's place.

"Our king does not seem to keep much state," Ragnar said, looking round
as I was looking, and we both laughed.

Then the door on the high place opened, and the king came in, soberly
dressed, and with a smile on his face which seemed to me to have been
made on purpose for this greeting, for he mostly looked sour enough. Nor
did it seem that his eyes had any pleasure in them.

"Welcome, kinsman," he said, seeming hearty enough, however; "I had
looked for you before this. What news from our good town of Norwich?"

He held out his hand to Ragnar, who took it frankly, and his strong grip
twisted the king's set smile into a grin of pain for a moment.

"All was well there three weeks ago when I left there to go to London.
Now, I have ridden on to say that the Lady Goldberga is not far hence,
so that her coming may be prepared for."

Now, as the earl said this, the king's smile went from his face, and
black enough he looked for a moment. The look passed quickly, and the
smile came back, but it seemed hard to keep it up.

"Why, that is well," he said; "so you fell in with her on the way."

"I have attended her from London," answered the earl, looking
steadfastly at Alsi, "and it was as well that I did so, as it happened."