House of the Wolfings: The William Morris Book that Inspired J. R. R. Tolkiena *s The Lord of the Rings Read Online Free PDF Page B

streamed from the hall, and no
man was left therein save the fair Hall-Sun sitting under the lamp
whose name she bore. But to the highest of the slope they went,
where was a mound made higher by man’s handiwork; thereon stood
Thiodolf and handled the horn, turning his face toward the downward
course of Mirkwood-water; and he set the horn to his lips, and blew
a long blast, and then again, and yet again the third time; and all
the sounds of the gathering night were hushed under the sound of
the roaring of the war-horn of the Wolfings; and the Kin of the
Beamings heard it as they sat in their hall, and they gat them
ready to hearken to the bearer of the tidings who should follow on
the sound of the war-blast.
    But when the last sound of the horn had died
away, then said Thiodolf:

    Now Wolfing children hearken, what the
splintered War-shaft saith,
    The fire scathed blood-stained aspen! we
shall ride for life or death,
    We warriors, a long journey with the herd
and with the wain;
    But unto this our homestead shall we wend us
back again,
    All the gleanings of the battle; and here
for them that live
    Shall stand the Roof of the Wolfings, and
for them shall the meadow thrive,
    And the acres give their increase in the
harvest of the year;
    Now is no long departing since the Hall-Sun
bideth here
    ’Neath the holy Roof of the Fathers, and the
place of the Wolfing kin,
    And the feast of our glad returning shall
yet be held therein
    Hear the bidding of the War-shaft! All men,
both thralls and free,
    ’Twixt twenty winters and sixty, beneath the
shield shall be,
    And the hosting is at the Thing-stead, the
Upper-mark anigh;
    And we wend away to-morrow ere the Sun is
noon-tide high.

    Therewith he stepped down from the mound,
and went his way back to the hall; and manifold talk arose among
the folk; and of the warriors some were already dight for the
journey, but most not, and a many went their ways to see to their
weapons and horses, and the rest back again into the hall.
    By this time night had fallen, and between
then and the dawning would be no darker hour, for the moon was just
rising; a many of the horse-herds had done their business, and were
now making their way back again through the lanes of the wheat,
driving the stallions before them, who played together kicking,
biting and squealing, paying but little heed to the standing corn
on either side. Lights began to glitter now in the cots of the
thralls, and brighter still in the stithies where already you might
hear the hammers clinking on the anvils, as men fell to looking to
their battle gear.
    But the chief men and the women sat under
their Roof on the eve of departure: and the tuns of mead were
broached, and the horns filled and borne round by young maidens,
and men ate and drank and were merry; and from time to time as some
one of the warriors had done with giving heed to his weapons, he
entered into the hall and fell into the company of those whom he
loved most and by whom he was best beloved; and whiles they talked,
and whiles they sang to the harp up and down that long house; and
the moon risen high shone in at the windows, and there was much
laughter and merriment, and talk of deeds of arms of the old days
on the eve of that departure: till little by little weariness fell
on them, and they went their ways to slumber, and the hall was
fallen silent.

Chapter 3
    Thiodolf Talketh with the Wood-Sun

    But yet sat Thiodolf under the Hall-Sun for
a while as one in deep thought; till at last as he stirred, his
sword clattered on him; and then he lifted up his eyes and looked
down the hall and saw no man stirring, so he stood up and settled
his raiment on him, and went forth, and so took his ways through
the hall-door, as one who hath an errand.
    The moonlight lay in a great flood on the
grass without, and the dew was falling in the coldest hour of the
night, and the earth smelled sweetly: the whole habitation was
asleep now, and there was no sound to be known as the sound of