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Yea, every time I remember when hand in hand we went Amidst the shafts of the beech-trees, and down to the youngling bent The Folk-wolf in his glory when the eve of fight drew nigh; And every time I remember when we wandered joyfully Adown the sunny meadow and lived a while of life 'Midst the herbs and the beasts and the waters so free from fear and strife, That thy years and thy might and thy wisdom, I had no part therein; But thou wert as the twin-born brother of the maiden slim and thin, The maiden shy in the feast-hall and blithe in wood and field.
Yea do my bidding, O Folk-wolf, lest a grief of the Gods should weigh On the ancient House of the Wolfings and my death o'ercloud its day." And still she clung about him, while he spake no word of yea or nay: but at the last he let himself glide wholly into her arms, and the dwarf-wrought hauberk fell from his knees and lay on the grass.
She yet smiled as she said in answer: "O Folk-wolf, heed and hearken; for when shall thy life be spent And the Folk wherein thou dwellest with thy death be well content? Whenso folk need the fire, do they hew the apple-tree, And burn the Mother of Blossom and the fruit that is to be?
Fear they that the Folk-wolf, growing as the fire from out the spark Into a very folk-god, shall lead the weaponed Mark From wood to field and mountain, to stand between the earth And the wrights that forge its thraldom and the sword to slay its mirth? Fear they that the sons of the wild-wood the Loathly Folk shall quell, And grow into Gods thereafter, and aloof in God-home dwell?"
"Time agone," quoth he, "I had said, it shall abide with the Kindreds of the Earth; but now again I say, I wot not." "Will the Earth hide it," said she, "when thou diest and art borne to mound?" "Even so didst thou say when we spake together that other night," said he; "and now I may say nought against thy word." "Art thou happy, O Folk-Wolf?" she said.
There was he who bore a name great from of old, Folk-wolf to wit, bearing on his shield the axe of the hewer. There they hung, dusty, befouled, with sightless eyes and grinning mouths, in the dimmed sunlight of the Hall, before the eyes of that victorious Host, stricken silent at the sight of them.
No weapon, no treasure of earth doth he bear, No gift for the pleasure of Godhome to share; But life his hand bringeth, well cherished, most sweet; And hark! the Hall singeth the Folk-wolf to greet! "As the rain of May On earth's happiest day, So the fair flowers fall On the sun-bright Hall As the Gods rise up With the greeting-cup, And the welcoming crowd Falls to murmur aloud.
Didst thou doubt my faith, O Folk-wolf, or the counsel of the Gods, That thou needs must cast thee naked midst the flashing battle-rods, Or is thy pride so mighty that it seemed to thee indeed That death was a better guerdon than the love of the Godhead's seed?"
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