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Then he made a sword—a dark grey, wavy-lined sword—and I blew the fire while he hammered. By Oak, Ash, and Thorn, I tell you, Weland was a Smith of the Gods! He cooled that sword in running water twice, and the third time he cooled it in the evening dew, and he laid it out in the moonlight and said Runes (that’s charms) over it, and he carved Runes of Prophecy on the blade. |
This is from “Weland’s Sword“, the first of the Puck stories. He tells the children how Hugh, a young Saxon, does a service for Weland, one of the Old Gods. In return, Weland makes him a fine sword, which plays a part in several later tales. Iron, from which the steel of the sword is made, is also a powerful magical theme in several stories of Old England. |
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“The virtue of the Ring is only that he must go among folk in housen henceforward, doing what they want done, or what he knows they need, all Old England over. Never will he be his own master, nor yet ever any man’s. He will get half he gives, and give twice what he gets, till his life’s last breath; and if he lays aside his load before he draws that last breath, all his work will go for naught.” |
This is from “Cold Iron” in Puck of Pook’s Hill Sir Huon and his Lady have a Boy for whom they have great hopes. But they know that his destiny will be decided the first time he touches Iron. He has just found a slave ring, made by Thor, and put it round his neck. |
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Back behind of her there’s steeples settin’ beside churches, an’ wise women settin’ beside their doors, an’ the sea settin’ above the land, an’ ducks herdin’ wild in the diks’ (he meant ditches). ‘The Marsh is just about riddled with diks an’ sluices, an’ tidegates an’ water-lets. You can hear ’em bubblin’ an’ grummelin’ when the tide works in ’em, an’ then you hear the sea rangin’ left and right-handed all up along the Wall. |
This is from “Dymchurch Flit” in Puck of Pook’s Hill The reign of Henry the Eighth and his successors was a time of religious conflict, of image-breaking, and burnings and persecution. The People of the Hills cannot bear to stay in Old England, and they have come to the strange eerie landscape of Romney Marsh, to find a boat to take them away to France. The story tells how they seek the help of the Widow Whitgift, a wise woman, who lends them her sons, one blind and the other dumb, to take them over and never tell the tale.
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