FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32  
33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   >>   >|  
belong here, you see, and I have been mixed up with people all my days. But most of the others insisted on being Gods, and having temples, and altars, and priests, and sacrifices of their own.' 'People burned in wicker baskets?' said Dan. 'Like Miss Blake tells us about?' 'All sorts of sacrifices,' said Puck. 'If it wasn't men, it was horses, or cattle, or pigs, or metheglin--that's a sticky, sweet sort of beer. _I_ never liked it. They were a stiff-necked, extravagant set of idols, the Old Things. But what was the result? Men don't like being sacrificed at the best of times; they don't even like sacrificing their farm-horses. After a while, men simply left the Old Things alone, and the roofs of their temples fell in, and the Old Things had to scuttle out and pick up a living as they could. Some of them took to hanging about trees, and hiding in graves and groaning o' nights. If they groaned loud enough and long enough they might frighten a poor countryman into sacrificing a hen, or leaving a pound of butter for them. I remember one Goddess called Belisama. She became a common wet water-spirit somewhere in Lancashire. And there were hundreds of other friends of mine. First they were Gods. Then they were People of the Hills, and then they flitted to other places because they couldn't get on with the English for one reason or another. There was only one Old Thing, I remember, who honestly worked for his living after he came down in the world. He was called Weland, and he was a smith to some Gods. I've forgotten their names, but he used to make them swords and spears. I think he claimed kin with Thor of the Scandinavians.' '_Heroes of Asgard_ Thor?' said Una. She had been reading the book. 'Perhaps,' answered Puck. 'None the less, when bad times came, he didn't beg or steal. He worked; and I was lucky enough to be able to do him a good turn.' 'Tell us about it,' said Dan. 'I think I like hearing of Old Things.' They rearranged themselves comfortably, each chewing a grass stem. Puck propped himself on one strong arm and went on: 'Let's think! I met Weland first on a November afternoon in a sleet storm, on Pevensey Level----' 'Pevensey? Over the hill, you mean?' Dan pointed south. 'Yes; but it was all marsh in those days, right up to Horsebridge and Hydeneye. I was on Beacon Hill--they called it Brunanburgh then--when I saw the pale flame that burning thatch makes, and I went down to look. Some pirates--
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32  
33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Things
 

called

 

living

 

Weland

 
horses
 
sacrificing
 

remember

 
temples
 

sacrifices

 

People


worked

 

Pevensey

 
Asgard
 

Heroes

 
Scandinavians
 
English
 

answered

 

reason

 
Perhaps
 

reading


spears

 

honestly

 

pirates

 
forgotten
 

claimed

 
swords
 

afternoon

 

November

 

burning

 

pointed


Hydeneye

 

Horsebridge

 
Beacon
 

strong

 

Brunanburgh

 

hearing

 
thatch
 
propped
 

chewing

 

rearranged


comfortably

 

necked

 

extravagant

 

metheglin

 
sticky
 

result

 
sacrificed
 

cattle

 
insisted
 

people