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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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VOLUME XV THE ROOTS OF THE MOUNTAINS
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INTRODUCTION
  
THE ROOTS OF THE MOUNTAINS WHEREIN IS TOLD SOMEWHAT OF THE LIVES OF THE MEN OF BURGDALE, THEIR FRIENDS THEIR NEIGHBOURS THEIR FOEMEN AND THEIR FELLOWS IN ARMS BY WILLIAM MORRIS
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CHAPTER III. THEY TALK OF DIVERS MATTERS IN THE HALL.
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CHAPTER VI. OF FACE-OF-GOD AND THOSE MOUNTAIN DWELLERS.
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CHAPTER IX. THOSE BRETHREN FARE TO THE YEW-WOOD WITH THE BRIDE.
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CHAPTER XV. MURDER AMONGST THE FOLK OF THE WOODLANDERS.
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CHAPTER XX. THOSE TWO TOGETHER HOLD THE RING OF THE EARTH-GOD.
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CHAPTER XXIX. THEY BRING THE RUNAWAYS TO BURGSTEAD.
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CHAPTER XXXIV. THE CHIEFTAINS TAKE COUNSEL IN THE HALL OF THE FACE.
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CHAPTER XXXVII. OF THE FOLK-MOTE OF THE DALESMEN, THE SHEPHERD-FOLK, AND THE WOODLAND CARLES: THE BANNER OF THE WOLF DISPLAYED.
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CHAPTER XXXIX. OF THE GREAT FOLK-MOTE: MEN TAKE REDE OF THE WAR-FARING, THE FELLOWSHIP, AND THE WARLEADER. FOLK-MIGHT TELLETH WHENCE HIS PEOPLE CAME. THE FOLK-MOTE SUNDERED.
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CHAPTER XLI. THE HOST DEPARTETH FROM SHADOWY VALE: THE FIRST DAY'S JOURNEY.
  
[The Song of the Sword Unsheathed.]
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CHAPTER XLIV. OF THE ONSLAUGHT OF THE MEN OF THE STEER, THE BRIDGE, AND THE BULL.
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CHAPTER XLV. OF FACE-OF-GOD'S ONSLAUGHT.
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CHAPTER XLVIII. MEN SING IN THE MOTE-HOUSE.
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CHAPTER LI. THE DEAD BORNE TO BALE: THE MOTE-HOUSE RE-HALLOWED.
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CHAPTER LV. DEPARTURE FROM SILVERDALE.
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CHAPTER LVIII. HOW THE MAIDEN WARD WAS HELD IN BURGDALE.
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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 XLI. THE HOST DEPARTETH FROM SHADOWY VALE: THE FIRST DAY'S JOURNEY.

[Songs extracted from the prose narrative.]

[The Song of the Sword Unsheathed.]

BOW-MAY SINGETH:
Hear ye never a voice come crying
Out from the waste where the winds fare wide?
“Sons of the Wolf, the days are dying,
And where in the clefts of the rocks do ye hide?

“Into your hands hath the Sword been given,
Hard are the palms with the kiss of the hilt;
Through the trackless waste hath the road been riven
For the blade to seek to the heart of the guilt.
“And yet ye bide and yet ye tarry;
Dear deem ye the sleep 'twixt hearth and board,
And sweet the maiden mouths ye marry,
And bright the blade of the bloodless sword.”
WOOD-WISE SINGETH:
Yea, here we dwell in the arms of our Mother
The Shadowy Queen, and the hope of the Waste;
Here first we came, when never another
Adown the rocky stair made haste.

Far is the foe, and no sword beholdeth
What deed we work and whither we wend;
Dear are the days, and the Year enfoldeth
The love of our life from end to end.
Voice of our Fathers, why will ye move us,
And call up the sun our swords to behold?
Why will ye cry on the foeman to prove us?
Why will ye stir up the heart of the bold?
BOW-MAY SINGETH:
Purblind am I, the voice of the chiding;
Then tell me what is the thing ye bear?
What is the gift that your hands are hiding,
The gold-adorned, the dread and dear?

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WOOD-WISE SINGETH:
Dark in the sheath lies the Anvil's Brother,
Hid is the hammered Death of Men.
Would ye look on the gift of the green-clad Mother?
How then shall ye ask for a gift again?

THE WARRIORS SING:
Show we the Sunlight the Gift of the Mother,
As foot follows foot to the foeman's den!
Gleam Sun, breathe Wind, on the Anvil's Brother,
For bare is the hammered Death of Men.

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