The Wood Beyond the World

and was a head wind for sailing toward the country of Langton. So then the master said that, since they were bewildered, and the wind so ill to deal with, it were best to go sti

e weather kept on mending, and the wind fell till it

st cried out that he saw land ahead; and so did they all before the sun

toward the land fair and softly; for it was early s

rtheless as day wore and they drew nigher, first they saw how the mountains fell away from the sea, and were behind a long wall of sheer cl

earth after all the tossing and unrest of the sea, and whereas also they doubted not to find at the least good and fresh water, and belike other ba

p and clear, running between smooth grassy land like to meadows. Also on their left board they saw presently three head of neat cattle going, as if in a meadow of a homestead in their own land, and a few sheep; and thereafter, about a bow-draught from the river, they saw a little house of wood and straw-thatch under a wooded mound, and wi

nd down to the river to meet them; and they soon saw that he was tall and

the sele of the day in a kindly and pleasant voice. The shipmaster greeted h

a long while," said he; "and at least the

e here then?"

field and the wood, and the creeping things, and fo

here be the other h

the land and not only alone in this stead. There is no house save this betwixt the sea

and be the bears of thy country so manl

s only in name; they be a nation of half wild men; for I have been told by them that there be many more than that tribe whose folk I have seen, and that they spread wide abou

: "Trow they in

ave so much as a false God; though I have it from them

ir, and how knowest thou that?

her peltries; for now I am old, I can but little of the hunting hereabout. Whiles, also, they bring little lumps of pure copper, and would give me gold also, but it is of little use in this lonely land. Sooth to say, to me they are not masterful or rough-handed; but glad a

with us in chaffer? For whereas we are come from long travel, we hanker afte

have them, I may not say you nay: but I pray you if ye may do without them, not to take my milch-beasts or their engenderers; for, as ye have heard me say, the Bear-folk have been here but of late, and they have had of me all I might spare: but now let me tell you, if ye long after flesh-meat, that there is venison of hart and hind, yea, and of buck and doe, to be had on this plain, and about the little woods at the feet of the rock-wall yonder: neither are they exceeding wild; for since I

be no lifters or sea-thieves to take thy livelihood from thee. So to-morrow, if thou wilt, we will go with thee and uprai

hed the ship and abode their turn. They went well-weaponed, for both the master and Walter deemed wariness wisdom, lest all might not be so good as it seemed. They took of their sail-cloths ashore and tilted them in on the