Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 22, 2025
Peace! sweet, sweet peace! oh how joyful it was to be once more in the deep woods of Aescendune, to hear the sweet song of the birds, and to fear no evil! Sweet, ineffably sweet were those days to Alfgar and Ethelgiva! So the day was at length appointed; it was to be the feast of St.
Wessex, therefore, remained faithful to him, at least for a time, but Mercia was utterly lost; and Edgar was recognised as the lawful king north of the Thames, by all parties; friends and foes, even by Edwy himself. Many months had passed away since the destruction of the hall of Aescendune and the death of the unhappy Ragnar, and the spring of 958 had well-nigh ended.
The Earl Waltheof killed, with his own battle-axe, twenty Normans in their flight, and, chasing a hundred more into the woody marshes, took advantage of the dry season, like our friends at Aescendune, and burned them all with the wood. All over England the struggle spread. Hereward took the command at the Camp of Refuge, in the Isle of Ely, and crippled the Normans around.
And so England entered upon a peace of fifty years, only broken by an event yet in the womb of time, the Norman Conquest. "Come, Alfgar," said Edmund, one day soon after these events, "let us go to Aescendune and fix thy wedding day; Elfwyn need fear no longer that the sword will be the portion of his grandchildren."
But a generation only had passed since the shadow of a great woe fell on the family of Aescendune. Offa, who was then the thane, had two sons, Oswald the elder, and Ella the younger, with whom our readers are already acquainted. The elder possessed few of the family virtues save brute courage.
This delighted the hearts of his wife and children, and they were happy in anticipation. It was a fine day in September when the thankful people of Aescendune were called to raise the song of "Harvest Home" for the fruits of the earth had indeed been safely gathered in ere the winter storms by the hands of women and children.
Then the words of the churl Beorn, who had been taken prisoner, as the messenger had told us, came fresh to my mind. "Elfwyn," said I, "do you remember Beorn?" He looked earnestly at me. "Did he not say that his captors asked particularly about Aescendune, and that the name of Anlaf was mentioned, and inquiries made concerning Alfgar?" "He did." "It is the curse of St. Brice's night."
So Father Cuthbert and the Benedictines started back to Aescendune without Alfred, bearing Dunstan's explanation of the matter to the half-bereaved father whose faith, they feared, would be sorely tried, and leaving Oswy to be his companion.
So they lay in cover until the last straggler had disappeared in the direction of Aescendune, and then continued their course, with many a jest at the expense of the English. Anlaf watched his son; he knew what his feelings were, and his thoughts were bitter as he felt that, could Alfgar have been consulted, he would be in that English band.
His greatest joy was when surrounded by his nephews and nieces yea, great-nephews and great-nieces, after the happy marriage of Edward of Aescendune to Lady Agatha of Wilmcote. Etienne and Edith lived blessed in each other's love to the end.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking