A Selection From The Poems Of William Morris Part 17

--Long years agone was it builded, and where are its wonders now?

"Now the men of G.o.d-home marvelled, and gazed through the golden glow, And a man like a covetous king amidst of the hall they saw; And his chair was the tooth of the whale, wrought smooth with never a flaw; And his gown was the sea-born purple, and he bore a crown on his head, But never a sword was before him: kind-seeming words he said, And bade rest to the weary feet that had worn the wild so long.

So they sat, and were men by seeming; and there rose up music and song, And they ate and drank and were merry: but amidst the glee of the cup They felt themselves tangled and caught, as when the net cometh up Before the folk of the 'firth, and the main sea lieth far off; And the laughter of lips they hearkened, and that hall-abider's scoff, As his face and his mocking eyes anigh to their faces drew, And their G.o.dhead was caught in the net, and no s.h.i.+ft of creation they knew To escape from their man-like bodies; so great that day was the Earth.

"Then spake the hall-abider: 'Where then is thy guileful mirth, And thy hall-glee gone, O Loki? Come, Haenir, fas.h.i.+on now My heart for love and for hope, that the fear in my body may grow, That I may grieve and be sorry, that the ruth may arise in me, As thou dealtst with the first of men-folk, when a master-smith thou wouldst be.

And thou, Allfather Odin, hast thou come on a b.a.s.t.a.r.d brood?

Or hadst thou belike a brother, thy twin for evil and good, That waked amidst thy slumber, and slumbered midst thy work?

Nay, Wise-one, art thou silent as a child amidst the mirk?

Ah, I know ye are called the G.o.ds, and are mighty men at home, But now with a guilt on your heads to no feeble folk are ye come, To a folk that need you nothing: time was when we knew you not: Yet e'en then fresh was the winter, and the summer sun was hot, And the wood-meats stayed our hunger, and the water quenched our thirst, Ere the good and the evil wedded and begat the best and the worst.

And how if to-day I undo it, that work of your fas.h.i.+oning, If the web of the world run backward, and the high heavens lack a King?

--Woe's me! for your ancient mastery shall help you at your need: If ye fill up the gulf of my longing and my empty heart of greed, And slake the flame ye have quickened, then may ye go your ways And get ye back to your kings.h.i.+p and the driving on of the days To the day of the gathered war-hosts, and the tide of your Fateful Gloom.

Now nought may ye gainsay it that my mouth must speak the doom, For ye wot well I am Reidmar, and that there ye lie red-hand From the slaughtering of my offspring, and the spoiling of my land; For his death of my wold hath bereft me and every highway wet.

--Nay, Loki, naught avails it, well-fas.h.i.+oned is the net.

Come forth, my son, my war-G.o.d, and show the G.o.ds their work, And thou who mightst learn e'en Loki, if need were to lie or lurk!'

"And there was I, I Regin, the smithier of the snare, And high up Fafnir towered with the brow that knew no fear, With the wrathful and pitiless heart that was born of my father's will, And the greed that the G.o.ds had fas.h.i.+oned the fate of the earth to fulfill.

"Then spake the Father of Men: 'We have wrought thee wrong indeed, And, wouldst thou amend it with wrong, thine errand must we speed; For I know of thine heart's desire, and the gold thou shalt nowise lack, --Nor all the works of the gold. But best were thy word drawn back, If indeed the doom of the Norns be not utterly now gone forth.'

"Then Reidmar laughed and answered: 'So much is thy word of worth!

And they call thee Odin for this, and stretch forth hands in vain, And pray for the gifts of a G.o.d who giveth and taketh again!

It was better in times past over, when we prayed for nought at all, When no love taught us beseeching, and we had no troth to recall.

Ye have changed the world, and it bindeth with the right and the wrong ye have made, Nor may ye be G.o.ds henceforward save the rightful ransom be paid.

But perchance ye are weary of kings.h.i.+p, and will deal no more with the earth?

Then curse the world, and depart, and sit in your changeless mirth; And there shall be no more kings, and battle and murder shall fail, And the world shall laugh and long not, nor weep, nor fas.h.i.+on the tale.'

"So spake Reidmar the Wise; but the wrath burned through his word, And wasted his heart of wisdom; and there was Fafnir the Lord, And there was Regin the Wright, and they raged at their father's back: And all these cried out together with the voice of the sea-storm's wrack; 'O hearken, G.o.ds of the Goths! ye shall die, and we shall be G.o.ds, And rule your men beloved with bitter-heavy rods, And make them beasts beneath us, save to-day ye do our will, And pay us the ransom of blood, and our hearts with the gold fulfill.'

"But Odin spake in answer, and his voice was awful and cold: 'Give righteous doom, O Reidmar! say what ye will of the Gold!'

"Then Reidmar laughed in his heart, and his wrath and his wisdom fled, And nought but his greed abided; and he spake from his throne and said:

"'Now hearken the doom I shall speak! Ye stranger-folk shall be free When ye give me the Flame of the Waters, the gathered Gold of the Sea, That Andvari hideth rejoicing in the wan realm pale as the grave; And the Master of Sleight shall fetch it, and the hand that never gave, And the heart that begrudgeth for ever shall gather and give and rue.

--Lo! this is the doom of the wise, and no doom shall be spoken anew.'

"Then Odin spake: 'It is well; the Curser shall seek for the curse; And the Greedy shall cherish the evil--and the seed of the Great they shall nurse.'

"No word spake Reidmar the great, for the eyes of his heart were turned To the edge of the outer desert, so sore for the gold he yearned.

But Loki I loosed from the toils, and he goeth his ways abroad; And the heart of Odin he knoweth, and where he shall seek the h.o.a.rd.

"There is a desert of dread in the uttermost part of the world, Where over a wall of mountains is a mighty water hurled, Whose hidden head none knoweth, nor where it meeteth the sea; And that force is the Force of Andvari, and an Elf of the Dark is he.

In the cloud and the desert he dwelleth amid that land alone; And his work is the storing of treasure within his house of stone.

Time was when he knew of wisdom, and had many a tale to tell Of the days before the Dwarf-age, and of what in that world befell: And he knew of the stars and the sun, and the worlds that come and go On the nether rim of heaven, and whence the wind doth blow, And how the sea hangs balanced betwixt the curving lands, And how all drew together for the first G.o.ds' fas.h.i.+oning hands.

But now is all gone from him, save the craft of gathering gold, And he heedeth nought of the summer, nor knoweth the winter cold, Nor looks to the sun nor the snowfall, nor ever dreams of the sea, Nor hath heard of the making of men-folk, nor of where the high G.o.ds be: But ever he gripeth and gathereth, and he toileth hour by hour Nor knoweth the noon from the midnight as he looks on his stony bower, And saith: 'It is short, it is narrow for all I shall gather and get; For the world is but newly fas.h.i.+oned, and long shall its years be yet.'

"There Loki fareth, and seeth in a land of nothing good, Far off o'er the empty desert, the reek of the falling flood Go up to the floor of heaven, and thither turn his feet As he weaveth the unseen meshes and the snare of strong deceit; So he cometh his ways to the water, where the glittering foam-bow glows, And the huge flood leaps the rock-wall and a green arch over it throws.

There under the roof of water he treads the quivering floor, And the hush of the desert is felt amid the water's roar, And the bleak sun lighteth the wave-vault, and tells of the fruitless plain, And the showers that nourish nothing, and the summer come in vain.

"There did the great Guile-master his toils and his tangles set, And as wide as was the water, so wide was woven the net; And as dim as the Elf's remembrance did the meshes of it show; And he had no thought of sorrow, nor spared to come and go On his errands of griping and getting till he felt himself tangled and caught: Then back to his blinded soul was his ancient wisdom brought, And he saw his fall and his ruin, as a man by the lightning's flame Sees the garth all flooded by foemen; and again he remembered his name; And e'en as a book well written the tale of the G.o.ds he knew, And the tale of the making of men, and much of the deeds they should do.

"But Loki took his man-shape, and laughed aloud and cried: 'What fish of the ends of the earth is so strong and so feeble-eyed, That he draweth the pouch of my net on his road to the dwelling of h.e.l.l?

What Elf that hath heard the gold growing, but hath heard not the light winds tell That the G.o.ds with the world have been dealing and have fas.h.i.+oned men for the earth?

Where is he that hath ridden the cloud-horse and measured the ocean's girth, But seen nought of the building of G.o.d-home nor the forging of the sword: Where then is the maker of nothing, the earless and eyeless lord?

In the pouch of my net he lieth, with his head on the threshold of h.e.l.l!'

"Then the Elf lamented, and said: 'Thou knowst of my name full well: Andvari begotten of Oinn, whom the Dwarf-kind called the Wise, By the worst of the G.o.ds is taken, the forge and the father of lies.'

"Said Loki: 'How of the Elf-kind, do they love their latter life, When their weal is all departed, and they lie alow in the strife?'

"Then Andvari groaned and answered: 'I know what thou wouldst have, The wealth mine own hands gathered, the gold that no man gave.'

"'Come forth,' said Loki, 'and give it, and dwell in peace henceforth-- Or die in the toils if thou listest, if thy life be nothing worth.'

"Full sore the Elf lamented, but he came before the G.o.d And the twain went into the rock-house and on fine gold they trod, And the walls shone bright, and brighter than the sun of the upper air.

How great was that treasure of treasures: and the Helm of Dread was there; The world but in dreams had seen it; and there was the hauberk of gold; None other is in the heavens, nor has earth of its fellow told.

"Then Loki bade the Elf-king bring all to the upper day, And he dight himself with his G.o.dhead to bear the treasure away: So there in the dim grey desert, before the G.o.d of Guile, Great heaps of the hid-world's treasure the weary Elf must pile, And Loki looked on laughing: but, when it all was done, And the Elf was hurrying homeward, his finger gleamed in the sun: Then Loki cried: 'Thou art guileful: thou hast not learned the tale Of the wisdom that G.o.ds have gotten and their might of all avail.

Hither to me! that I learn thee of a many things to come; Or despite of all wilt thou journey to the dead man's deedless home.

Come hither again to thy master, and give the ring to me; For meseems it is Loki's portion, and the Bale of Men shall it be.'

"Then the Elf drew off the gold-ring and stood with empty hand E'en where the flood fell over 'twixt the water and the land, And he gazed on the great Guile-master, and huge and grim he grew; And his anguish swelled within him, and the word of the Norns he knew; How that gold was the seed of gold to the wise and the shapers of things, The h.o.a.rders of hidden treasure, and the unseen glory of rings; But the seed of woe to the world and the foolish wasters of men, And grief to the generations that die and spring again: Then he cried: 'There farest thou, Loki, and might I load thee worse Than with what thine ill heart beareth, then shouldst thou bear my curse: But for men a curse thou bearest: entangled in my gold, Amid my woe abideth another woe untold.

Two brethren and a father, eight kings my grief shall slay; And the hearts of queens shall be broken, and their eyes shall loathe the day.

Lo, how the wilderness blossoms! Lo, how the lonely lands Are waving with the harvest that fell from my gathering hands!'

"But Loki laughed in silence, and swift in G.o.dhead went, To the golden hall of Reidmar and the house of our content.

But when that world of treasure was laid within our hall 'Twas as if the sun were minded to live 'twixt wall and wall, And all we stood by and panted. Then Odin spake and said:

"'O Kings, O folk of the Dwarf-kind, lo, the ransom duly paid!

Will ye have this sun of the ocean, and reap the fruitful field, And garner up the harvest that earth therefrom shall yield?'

"So he spake; but a little season nought answered Reidmar the wise But turned his face from the Treasure, and peered with eager eyes Endlong the hall and athwart it, as a man may chase about A ray of the sun of the morning that a naked sword throws out; And lo! from Loki's right-hand came the flash of the fruitful ring, And at last spake Reidmar scowling: 'Ye wait for my yea-saying That your feet may go free on the earth, and the fear of my toils may be done; That then ye may say in your laughter: The fools of the time agone!

The purblind eyes of the Dwarf-kind! they have gotten the garnered sheaf And have let their Masters depart with the Seed of Gold and of Grief: O Loki, friend of Allfather, cast down Andvari's Ring, Or the world shall yet turn backward and the high heavens lack a king.'

"Then Loki drew off the Elf-ring and cast it down on the heap, And forth as the gold met gold did the light of its glory leap: But he spake: 'It rejoiceth my heart that no whit of all ye shall lack, Lest the curse of the Elf-king cleave not, and ye 'scape the utter wrack.'

"Then laughed and answered Reidmar: 'I shall have it while I live, And that shall be long, meseemeth: for who is there may strive With my sword, the war-wise Fafnir, and my s.h.i.+eld that is Regin the Smith?

But if indeed I should die, then let men-folk deal therewith, And ride to the golden glitter through evil deeds and good.

I will have my heart's desire, and do as the high G.o.ds would.'

"Then I loosed the G.o.ds from their shackles, and great they grew on the floor And into the night they gat them; but Odin turned by the door, And we looked not, little we heeded, for we grudged his mastery; Then he spake, and his voice was waxen as the voice of the winter sea:

"'O Kings, O folk of the Dwarfs, why then will ye covet and rue?

I have seen your fathers' fathers and the dust wherefrom they grew; But who hath heard of my father or the land where first I sprung?

Who knoweth my day of repentance, or the year when I was young?

Who hath learned the names of the Wise-one or measured out his will?

Who hath gone before to teach him, and the doom of days fulfill?

Lo, I look on the Curse of the Gold, and wrong amended by wrong, And love by love confounded, and the strong abased by the strong; And I order it all and amend it, and the deeds that are done I see, And none other beholdeth or knoweth; and who shall be wise unto me?

For myself to myself I offered, that all wisdom I might know, And fruitful I waxed of works, and good and fair did they grow; And I knew, and I wrought and fore-ordered; and evil sat by my side, And myself by myself hath been doomed, and I look for the fateful tide; And I deal with the generations, and the men mine hand hath made, And myself by myself shall be grieved, lest the world and its fas.h.i.+oning fade.'