t they sought him with the more surety. They came into
the king's presence and did reverence, with a proud bearing. Vortigern
looked closely upon the brethren. Shapely were they of body, bright of
visage, taller and more comely than any youth he knew. "From what land
have you come," inquired the king, "and on what errand? Tell me now
the place of your birth." The elder and the mightier of the brethren,
called Hengist, made answer in the name of all his fellows. "We be of
a country called Saxony," said he, "there were we born and there we
abode. If thou wilt learn the chance we seek upon the sea, I will
answer truly, if so it be according to thy will." "Say on," said the
king, "and hide nothing. No harm shall come to thee of this." "Fair
king," answered Hengist, "gentle sire, I know not if I can make it
plain. Our race is of a fertile stock, more quick and abounding than
any other you may know, or whereof you have heard speak. Our folk are
marvellously fruitful, and the tale of the children is beyond measure.
Women and men are more in number than the sand, for the greater sorrow
of those amongst us who are here. When our people are so many that the
land may not sustain nor suffice them, then the princes who rule the
realm assemble before them all the young men of the age of fifteen
years and upwards, for such is our use and custom. From out of these
they choose the most valiant and the most strong, and, casting lots,
send them forth from the country, so that they may travel into divers
lands, seeking fiefs and houses of their own. Go out they must, since
the earth cannot contain them; for the children came more thickly than
the beasts which pasture in the fields. Because of the lot that fell
upon us we have bidden farewell to our homes, and putting our trust in
Mercury, the god has led us to your realm." When the king heard the
name of Mercury as the god of their governance, be inquired what
manner of men these were, and of the god in whom they believed. "We
have," answered Hengist, "gods a many, to whom it is our bounden duty
to raise altars. These gods have to name Phoebus and Saturn, Jupiter
and Mercury. Many another god we worship, according to the wont of our
country, and as our fathers have told us. But above all gods we keep
in chiefest honour Mercury, who in our own tongue is called Woden. Our
fathers held this god in such reverence that they devoted the fourth
day of the week to his service. Because of their hope