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A Tale of the House of the Wolfings and All the Kindreds of the Mark, in Prose and Verse
A Tale of the House of the Wolfings and All the Kindreds of the Mark in Prose and Verse Author:William Morris General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1889 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: CHAPTER IV. THE HOUSE FARETH TO THE WAR. rOW when Thiodolf came back to the habitations of the kindred the whole House was astir, both thrall-men and women, and free women hurrying from cot to stithy, and from stithy to hall bearing the last of the war-gear or raiment for the fighting-men. But they for their part were some standing about anigh the Man's-door, some sitting gravely within the hall, some watching the hurry of the thralls and women from the midmost of the open space amidst of the habitations, whereon there stood yet certain wains which were belated : for the most of the wains were now standing with the oxen already yoked to them down in the meadow past the acres, encircled by a confused throng of kine and horses and thrall-folk, for thither had all the beasts for the slaughter, and the horses for the warriors been brought; and there were the horses tethered or held by the thralls ; some indeed were already saddled and bridled, and on others were the thralls doing the harness. But as for the wains of the Markmen, they were stoutly framed of ash- tree with panels of aspen, and they were broad-wheeled so that they might go over rough and smooth. They had high tilts over them well framed of willow-poles covered over with squares of black felt over-lapping like shingles ; which felt they made of the rough of their fleeces, for they had many sheep. And these wains were to them for houses upon the way if need were, and therein as now were stored their meal and their war-store : and after fight they would flit their wounded men in them, such as were too sorely hurt to back a horse: nor must it ...« less