University of Virginia Library

SCENE II

[Alfred and Edgiva are led in, and placed, side by side, on a high settle near the opening of the tent, opposite Guthrum and Oskytel.]
OSKYTEL.
Give him to quaff, out of this cup of mine.
He'll troll the lustier if first warmed with ale.

GUTHRUM!
Now for brave singing!

ALFRED.

GUTHRUM.
How lustily he trolls! A glee like this
Would stave off bane and death.

OSKYTEL.
Look on him now!
He gleams as though to-day and yesterday
Had with to-morrow trysted in his gaze.
A Seer! A Seer! Jarls! Drink unto the Seer!

JARLS.
Aye, and to his fair daughter must we quaff!

ALFRED.
But onward and forward,
In far days fairer,
I see this England
Made one and mighty:
Mighty and master
Of all within it.
Mighty and master
Of men high-seated,
Of free-necked labour,
Lowland and upland,
And corn and cattle,
And ploughland peaceful,
Of happy homesteads
That warmly nestle
In holt and hollow.
This is the England,
In fair days forward,
I see and sing of.

GUTHRUM.
And who shall have this England?

JARLS.
Aye, who shall have this England?

ALFRED.
Then, mighty and master of all within her,
Of Celt and Briton,
Angle and Frisian,
Saxon and Norseman,
Shall England plough, like the whale and walrus,
The roaring ridges
Of foam-necked water,
With long-oared warships
And keels high-beakëd;
And never a foeman,
Eastward or westward,
Shall dare to raven
Her salt-sea inlets,
Her grim gray nesses,
But, swift at the sight of her rearing cradles,
Shall scud and scatter,
Like wild geese fleeing
'Twixt wave and welkin,
Away from the dread of the shrilling weapons
Of foam-fenced England!

OSKYTEL.
But who shall have this England?

GUTHRUM.
Aye, who shall have this England?

[A horn sounds, and shouts are heard without. Alfred throws off his disguise, stands erect in kingly garb, and, drawing his sword, exclaims:]
ALFRED.
Alfred shall have this England!
Lord Christ shall have this England!

[Edward, Ethelred, Ethelnoth, and a body of the King's Thanes, rush in. Alfred disarms Guthrum, who has struck at him with his battle-axe. Edward fells and disarms Oskytel, and the Jarls that do not yield are slain.]
EDWARD.
The Golden Dragon floats o'er Ethandune.
We broke upon the Army in its sleep,
And bound the weaponless. Those that awoke
With battle-axe in grip, the ruffled vulture,
The swarthy raven, and the sallow kite,
Are rawly tattering with their tawny nibs;
And wealden wolves will batten on the rest.

ALFRED
(to Guthrum).
Now yet again the Lord of War hath placed
Your life within my hands. Forfeited once,
I gave it back to you, when first you swore,
Upon our sacred tokens and your own,
To dwell in peace with me and mine for aye.
Your hostages I held: I hold you now.
Why should the sword not fall upon your neck?
But, since Lord Christ hath won this fight for me,
And He is pitiful, I fain would spare
And leave you free within East Anglia,
But owning me for King and Overlord,
If you can tend me tighter pledge than that
Forsworn and broken.

GUTHRUM.
Bind me, an you will,
To Christ your King, who henceforth shall be mine.
For He is mightier than our Gods, as you
Are mightier than our Vikings!

ALFRED.
Henceforth then,
Live, like to us, at peace within this land,
Our brothers, not our bane; our were-gild yours,
Our foe your foe, our feud your feud, and you,
No less than we, English in name and heart.
Up from the mouth of Thames along the Lea
To where the Ouse leads on to Watling Street
Hold you the land, but at my bidding still
If need should rise. Beyond, is Mercia;
Which Ethelred, my sister's trusty lord,
Under my rod will rule. You, Ethelnoth,
Rebuild and strengthen London, and make good
Our name along the twistings of the Thames;
While Werefrith, helped by Plegmund, shall renew
God's House at Winchester. Thanes, Freemen, Friends,
Let each one strive to quit him worthily.
For me, I have no other wish on earth,
Save to leave long remembrance after me
Of something done for England!

OSKYTEL
(gazing hard on Edgiva, who is standing by Edward).
What is this token, wound about your wrist?
Are you Sweyne's daughter? my dead comrade's child,
Whom we left, motherless, within the fork
Of a high wychelm, thinking soon to fetch
Her safely from that cradle, on the day
That Ethelwulf and Wulfheard, Saxon Thanes,
Beset our Jarls, and over the White Horse
Drove us in headlong rout across the stream.

EDWARD.
Noble I knew her!

ALFRED.
Nobly wed her then!
And when God calls me to Himself, for men
Know not how long or little they will stay,
May offspring worthy of your fair love and you,
Saxon with Dane, hand down the English Throne!

ETHELRED
(bursting into the tent).
Great news, my Lord! The ships you bade us build
Full nigh on twice the length of pagan esks,
At Swanage on the robber swan-necks rode,
And wedged them through the waves. Their splintered planks
Are weltering with the seaweed; their snapped oars,
Like to their carcases, the gurgling ooze
Sucks down, then belches forth again, to rot
Upon the brackish furrows of the brine.

ALFRED.
Now praised be God! for this is news indeed,
And Swanage crowns us more than Ethandune.
In this strong Isle sequestered by the sea
From tread outlandish, victory upon ground
Our own to keep or lose, is half defeat;
For why on English soil should foe's foot stand?
The battlemented Sea will beat him off,
So we but man it, and our bounding prows
Scatter him flying deathward o'er the foam,
Like loose leaves harried by autumnal wind.
Aye, and in those bright bodings that high Heaven
Vouchsafes at times to man, my ken foresees
That, once this land inviolably free
From threat without, its billow-suckled breed,
Yearning beyond the narrow bonds of birth,
Wherever shine the stars or rolls the tide,
Will lay their lordship on the waves, and be
Rulers and rovers of the widening world.

ALL.
Long live Alfred!
Long rule Alfred!
England's Comfort,
England's Shepherd,
England's Oarsman,
England's Darling!