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The Collected Works of William Morris

With Introductions by his Daughter May Morris

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CHAPTER XVII. THE SLAYING OF HARDCASTLE.
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65

CHAPTER XVII. THE SLAYING OF HARDCASTLE.

[Songs extracted from the prose narrative.]


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[Came sword and shield]

[Osberne.]
Came sword and shield
To the hazelled field
Where the fey man fell
At Wethermel:
The grey blade grew glad
In the hands of a lad,
And the tall man and stark
Leapt into the dark.
For the cleaver of war-boards came forth from his door
And guided the hand of the lacking in lore.
But now is the blade
In the dark sheath laid,
And the peace-strings lull
His heart o'erfull.
Up dale and down
The hall-roofs brown
Hang over the peace
Of the year's increase.
No fear rendeth midnight, and dieth the day
With no foe save the winter that weareth away.