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The Collected Works of William Morris

With Introductions by his Daughter May Morris
Morris, William (1834-1896)

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VOLUME I THE DEFENCE OF GUENEVERE AND OTHER POEMS
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VOLUME II THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JASON
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VOLUME III, IV, V, VI THE EARTHLY PARADISE
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VOLUME VII THE STORY OF GRETTIR THE STRONG. THE STORY OF THE VOLSUNGS AND NIBLUNGS
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VOLUME IX LOVE IS ENOUGH. POEMS BY THE WAY
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VOLUME X THREE NORTHERN LOVE STORIES. THE TALE OF BEOWULF
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VOLUME XII THE STORY OF SIGURD THE VOLSUNG AND THE FALL OF THE NIBLUNGS
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VOLUME XIV THE HOUSE OF THE WOLFINGS. THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN
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A TALE OF THE HOUSE OF THE WOLFINGS AND ALL THE KINDREDS OF THE MARK WRITTEN IN PROSE AND IN VERSE BY WILLIAM MORRIS
  
[WHILES IN THE EARLY WINTER EVE]
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CHAPTER II. THE FLITTING OF THE WAR-ARROW.
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CHAPTER III. THIODOLF TALKETH WITH THE WOOD-SUN.
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CHAPTER IV. THE HOUSE FARETH TO THE WAR.
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CHAPTER V. CONCERNING THE HALL-SUN.
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CHAPTER VI. THEY TALK ON THE WAY TO THE FOLK-THING.
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CHAPTER VIII. THE FOLK-MOTE OF THE MARKMEN.
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CHAPTER IX. THE ANCIENT MAN OF THE DAYLINGS.
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CHAPTER XI. THE HALL-SUN SPEAKETH.
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CHAPTER XIII. THE HALL-SUN SAITH ANOTHER WORD.
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CHAPTER XV. THEY HEAR TELL OF THE BATTLE ON THE RIDGE.
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CHAPTER XVI. HOW THE DWARF-WROUGHT HAUBERK WAS BROUGHT AWAY FROM THE HALL OF THE DAYLINGS.
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CHAPTER XVII. THE WOOD-SUN SPEAKETH WITH THIODOLF.
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CHAPTER XIX. THOSE MESSENGERS COME TO THIODOLF.
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CHAPTER XX. OTTER AND HIS FOLK COME INTO MID-MARK.
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CHAPTER XXII. OTTER FALLS ON AGAINST HIS WILL.
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CHAPTER XXVI. THIODOLF TALKETH WITH THE WOOD-SUN.
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CHAPTER XXVII. THEY WEND TO THE MORNING BATTLE.
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CHAPTER XXVIII. OF THE STORM OF DAWNING.
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CHAPTER XXIX. OF THIODOLF'S STORM.
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CHAPTER XXX. THIODOLF IS BORNE OUT OF THE HALL AND OTTER IS LAID BESIDE HIM.
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CHAPTER XXXI. OLD ASMUND SPEAKETH OVER THE WAR-DUKES: THE DEAD ARE LAID IN MOUND.
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THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN OR THE LAND OF LIVING MEN
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VOLUME XV THE ROOTS OF THE MOUNTAINS
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VOLUME XVI NEWS FROM NOWHERE. A DREAM OF JOHN BALL. A KING'S LESSON
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VOLUME XVII THE WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD. CHILD CHRISTOPHER. OLD FRENCH ROMANCES
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VOLUME XXI THE SUNDERING FLOOD. UNFINISHED ROMANCES
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VOLUME XXIV SCENES FROM THE FALL OF TROY AND OTHER POEMS AND FRAGMENTS

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CHAPTER XV. MURDER AMONGST THE FOLK OF THE WOODLANDERS.

[Songs extracted from the prose narrative.]

[The Song of the Weaving of the Banner.]

Why sit ye bare in the spinning-room?
Why weave ye naked at the loom?
Bare and white as the moon we be,
That the Earth and the drifting night may see.
Now what is the worst of all your work?
What curse amidst the web shall lurk?
The worst of the work our hands shall win
Is rack and ruin round the kin.
Shall the woollen yarn and the flaxen thread
Be gear for living men or dead?
The woollen yarn and the flaxen thread
Shall flare 'twixt living men and dead.
O what is the ending of your day?
When shall ye rise and wend away?
Our day shall end to-morrow morn,
When we hear the voice of the battle-horn.
Where first shall eyes of men behold
This weaving of the moonlight cold?
There where the alien host abides
The gathering on the Mountain-sides.
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How long aloft shall the fair web fly
When the bows are bent and the spears draw nigh?
From eve to morn and morn till eve
Aloft shall fly the work we weave.
What then is this, the web ye win?
What wood-beast waxeth stark therein?
We weave the Wolf and the gift of war
From the men that were to the men that are.
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