intly king, Norman
prelate, and studious monks too loudly, and thereby shocked the weakly
devout Edward, who thought piety the whole duty of man. But his
wildness touched the king more nearly still; for in his sturdy
patriotism he hated the Norman favourites and courtiers who surrounded
the Confessor, and again and again his marvellous strength was shown
in the personal injuries he inflicted on the Normans in mere boyish
brawls, until at last his father could endure the disgrace no longer.

Hereward's Exile

Begging an audience of the king, Leofric formally asked for a writ of
outlawry against his own son. The Confessor, surprised, but not
displeased, felt some compunction as he saw the father's affection
overborne by the judge's severity. Earl Godwin, Leofric's greatest
rival, was present in the council, and his pleading for the noble lad,
whose faults were only those of youth, was sufficient to make Leofric
more urgent in his petition. The curse of family feud, which
afterwards laid England prostrate at the foot of the Conqueror, was
already felt, and felt so strongly that Hereward resented Godwin's
intercession more than his father's sternness.

Hereward's Farewell

"What!" he cried, "shall a son of Leofric, the noblest man in England,
accept intercession from Godwin or any of his family? No. I may be
unworthy of my wise father and my saintly mother, but I am not yet
sunk so low as to ask a favour from a Godwin. Father, I thank you. For
years I have fretted against the peace of the land, and thus have
incurred your displeasure; but in exile I may range abroad and win my
fortune at the sword's point." "Win thy fortune, foolish boy!" said
his father. "And whither wilt thou fare?" "Wherever fate and my
fortune lead me," he replied recklessly. "Perhaps to join Harald
Hardrada at Constantinople and become one of the Emperor's Varangian
Guard; perhaps to follow old Beowa out into the West, at the end of
some day of glorious battle; perhaps to fight giants and dragons and
all kinds of monsters. All these things I may do, but never shall
Mercia see me again till England calls me home. Farewell, father;
farewell, Earl Godwin; farewell, reverend king. I go. And pray ye that
ye may never need my arm, for it may hap that ye will call me and I
will not come." Then Hereward rode away, followed into exile by one
man only, Martin Lightfoot, who left the father's service for that of
his outlawed son. It was when attending th