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A scornful laugh ran through the hall. "And as we English are hospitable folk, and give any man, who asks, meat and board for one night, so one day's welcome, methinks, will be all that the Count of the Normans will need at our English hands." Flushed with the joyous insolence of wine, the wassailers roared applause. "Wherefore, this drink-hael to William of Rouen!
"Drink-hael to William the Norman!" shouted the revellers; and each man, with mocking formality, took off his cap, kissed his hand, and bowed . "Drink-hael to William the Norman!" and the shout rolled from floor to roof when, in the midst of the uproar, a man all bedabbled with dust and mire, rushed into the hall, rushed through the rows of the banqueters, rushed to the throne-chair of Harold, and cried aloud, "William the Norman is encamped on the shores of Sussex; and with the mightiest armament ever yet seen in England, is ravaging the land far and near!"
"I take in thy words slowly," said the Kent man, shaking his head, "and after all, it matters little who is king, so he be a good one. Yes, I see now that the Earl was a just and generous man when he made the King send for the Atheling. Drink-hael! long life to them both!" "Was-hael," answered Godrith, draining his hippocras to Vebba's more potent ale.
And now, as night advanced, Leofwine, who was ever a favourite in the banquet, as Gurth in the council, rose to propose the drink-hael, which carries the most characteristic of our modern social customs to an antiquity so remote, and the roar was hushed at the sight of the young Earl's winsome face.
A scornful laugh ran through the hall. "And as we English are hospitable folk, and give any man, who asks, meat and board for one night, so one day's welcome, methinks, will be all that the Count of the Normans will need at our English hands." Flushed with the joyous insolence of wine, the wassailers roared applause. "Wherefore, this drink-hael to William of Rouen!
Round the large fires the men grouped in great circles, with the ale-horns and flagons passing merrily from hand to hand; shouts of drink-hael and was-hael, bursts of gay laughter, snatches of old songs, old as the days of Athelstan, varying, where the Anglo-Danes lay, into the far more animated and kindling poetry of the Pirate North, still spoke of the heathen time when War was a joy, and Valhalla was the heaven.
And now, as night advanced, Leofwine, who was ever a favourite in the banquet, as Gurth in the council, rose to propose the drink-hael, which carries the most characteristic of our modern social customs to an antiquity so remote, and the roar was hushed at the sight of the young Earl's winsome face.
"I take in thy words slowly," said the Kent man, shaking his head, "and after all, it matters little who is king, so he be a good one. Yes, I see now that the Earl was a just and generous man when he made the King send for the Atheling. Drink-hael! long life to them both!" "Was-hael," answered Godrith, draining his hippocras to Vebba's more potent ale.
Round the large fires the men grouped in great circles, with the ale-horns and flagons passing merrily from hand to hand; shouts of drink-hael and was-hael, bursts of gay laughter, snatches of old songs, old as the days of Athelstan, varying, where the Anglo-Danes lay, into the far more animated and kindling poetry of the Pirate North, still spoke of the heathen time when War was a joy, and Valhalla was the heaven.
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