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--I think they must have been Peofn's men--were burning a village on
the Levels, and Weland's image--a big, black wooden thing with amber beads
round its neck--lay in the bows of a black thirty-two-oar galley that they
had just beached. Bitter cold it was! There were icicles hanging from her
deck, and the oars were glazed over with ice, and there was ice on
Weland's lips. When he saw me he began a long chant in his own tongue,
telling me how he was going to rule England, and how I should smell the
smoke of his altars from Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight. _I_ didn't
care! I'd seen too many Gods charging into Old England to be upset about
it. I let him sing himself out while his men were burning the village, and
then I said (I don't know what put it into my head), "Smith of the Gods,"
I said, "the time comes when I shall meet you plying your trade for hire
by the wayside."'

'What did Weland say?' said Una. 'Was he angry?'

'He called me names and rolled his eyes, and I went away to wake up the
people inland. But the pirates conquered the country, and for centuries
Weland was a most important God. He had temples everywhere--from
Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight, as he said--and his sacrifices were
simply scandalous. To do him justice, he preferred horses to men; but men
_or_ horses, I knew that presently he'd have to come down in the
world--like the other Old Things. I gave him lots of time--I gave him about
a thousand years--and at the end of 'em I wen