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A Tale of the House of the Wolfings and All the Kindreds of the Mark, in Prose and in Verse. Pocket Ed
A Tale of the House of the Wolfings and All the Kindreds of the Mark in Prose and in Verse Pocket Ed Author:William Morris General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1913 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: ' :V- '. I, ' CHAPTER VII , / - ,- THEY GATHER TO THE FOLK-MOTE i ,'V £'! When it was the morning, all the host of the Markmen was astir on either side of the water, and when they had broken their fast, they got speedily into array, and were presently on the road again ; and the host was now strung out longer yet, for the space between water and wood once more diminished till at last it was no wider than ten men might go abreast, and looking ahead it was as if the wild-wood swallowed up both river and road. But the fighting-men hastened on merrily with their hearts raised high, since they knew that they would soon be falling in with more of their people, and the coming fight was growing a clearer picture to their eyes ; so from side to side of the river they shouted out the cries of their Houses, or friend called to friend across the eddies of Mirkwood-water, and there was game and glee enough. So they fared till the wood gave way before them, and lo, the beginning of another plain, somewhat like the Mid-mark. There also the water widened out before them, and there were eyots in it with stony shores crowned with willow or with alder, and aspens rising from the midst of them. But as for the plain, it was thus much different from Mid- mark, that the wood which begirt it rose on the south into low hills, and away beyond them were other hills blue in the distance, for the most bare of wood, and not right high, the pastures of the wild-bull and the bison, whereas now dwelt a folk somewhat scattered and feeble ; hunters and herdsmen, with little tillage about their abodes, a folk akin to the Mar...« less