WEBVTT - CZM Book Club: "Svend and His Brethren" by William Morris, Part Two 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:12.200 Cool Zone Media, Cool Zone Media book Club. That's always 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:14.320 been our introduction to Cool Zone Media book Club. Hi, 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.680 I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy. Every week on Cool Zone 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:21.439 Media book Club, I bring you stories so you don't 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:23.240 have to do the reading, because I do it for you. 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:28.560 I think that is our actual official slogan. But if 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:30.800 you're checking in, if you're tuning in now, you're tuning 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:33.479 into part two of a story, because part one was 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:36.879 last week. In part one of Zvend and his Brethren, 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.519 we haven't even met Zvend of the Brethren having instead, 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.640 we met Cecilla in this story by William Morris written 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:45.760 in eighteen fifty six or published in eighteen fifty six, 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:48.080 who knows when you fucking wrote it. Probably eighteen fifty six. 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:53.840 We met Secilla, who lived in a country holding back 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.680 an empire and they were losing badly and she sacrificed 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:01.480 her own happiness to go be with king and she's 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:04.319 not happy about it. And that's where she's at right now. 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:07.640 And I'm reading this story because I think it inspires 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.559 a ton of stuff that comes later. And I see 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.400 almost no one talking about the story. I was like, Dear, 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.080 the internet is Vend and his Brethren a big deal 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:19.840 in literature, and everyone knows about it because it's William 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:23.440 Morris and clearly is an inspiration for those who walked 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:27.319 away from omelass and the internet was like, here's two 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:31.200 paragraphs of one person talking about his vend and his brethren, 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:35.120 So you talking about it with your friends is the 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.319 first talking about it because we discovered it, much like 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:40.840 I'm attempting to make some sort of vague reference to 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:44.120 colonialism and how people pretend to discover things that clearly 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:46.440 people have known about, Like William Morris is not a 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:49.640 minor figure in literature. I'm sure other people have talked 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:54.760 about it. I just couldn't find anything. But we're gonna 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:57.080 talk about it a little bit after we finish reading it. 0:01:57.240 --> 0:01:58.920 But first we're going to finish reading it, and by we, 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:04.120 I'm me, okay, this story kind of fast forwards. You'll 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:09.840 probably notice that, Come, Harold, said a beautiful golden haired 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:12.600 boy to one who is plainly his younger brother. Come 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:15.320 let us leave Robert here by the forge to show 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:19.840 our lady mother this beautiful thing. Sweet master armorer, farewell 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:24.080 are you going to the queen? Then? Said the armorer yay, 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:28.519 said the boy, looking wonderingly at the strong craftsman's eager face. 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.600 But nay, let me look at you a while longer. 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:33.800 You remind me so much of what I loved long 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:37.040 ago in my own land. Stay awhile till your other 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:41.360 brother goes with you. Well, I will stay and think 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:43.519 of what you have been telling me. I do not 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:46.919 feel as it I should ever think of anything else 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:50.840 for long together, as long as I live. So he 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:54.079 sat down again on an old battered anvil and seemed, 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:56.040 with his bright eyes to be holding something in the 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:59.520 land of dreams, A gallant dream, it was, he dreamed for. 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.160 He saw himself, with his brothers and friends about him, 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:05.680 seated on a throne, the justice king in all the earth, 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.480 his people, the loviness of all people. He saw the 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:13.200 ambassadors of the restored nation that had been unjustly dealt 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:17.079 a long time ago, everywhere, love and peace, if possible, 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:21.840 justice and truth at all events. Alas, he knew not 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:25.600 that vengeance so long delayed must fall at last in 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:28.680 his lifetime. He knew not that it takes longer to 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:31.960 restore that whose growth has been through age and age 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:35.360 than the few years of a lifetime. Yet was the 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:39.160 reality good, if not as good as the dream? Presently, 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:44.000 his twin brother Robert woke him from that dream, calling out, now, brothers, Vend, 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:48.160 are we really ready see here? But stop kneel first there? 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.280 Now I am the bishop. And he pulled his brother 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.040 down on his knees and put on his head, where 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:57.200 it fitted loosely enough. Now hanging down from left to right, 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:01.240 an iron crown fantastically wrought, which he himself, having just 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:04.600 finished it, had taken out of the water, cool and dripping. 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:08.560 Robert and Harold laughed loud when they saw the crown 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:11.680 hanging all askew, and the great drops rolling from it 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.960 into Ven's eyes and down his cheeks, looking like tears. 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.120 Not so, Svend. He rose, holding the crown level on 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.039 his head, holding it back so that it pressed against 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.960 his brow hard and first dashing the drops to left 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.520 and right, caught his brother by the hand and said, 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:31.479 may I keep it, Robert, I shall wear it someday. Yeay, 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:33.600 said the other, But it is a poor thing. Better 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:36.200 let shore put it in the furnace again and make 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:40.839 it into sword hilts. Thereupon they began to go Zvend, 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.599 holding the crown in his hand. But as they were going, 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:46.720 Shore called out, yet, I will sell my dagger at 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.760 a price, Prince Vend, even as you wished at first, 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.680 rather than give it to you for nothing. Well for 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.760 what said Svend, somewhat shortly, for he thought Sure was 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:59.480 going back from his promise, which was ugly to him. 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:03.119 Be not angry, Prince, said the armorer. Only I pray 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.640 you to satisfy this whim of mine. It is the 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.200 first favor I've asked of you. You will ask the 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:12.560 fair noble lady, your mother from Shore the smith if 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:17.120 she is happy. Now, willingly, sweet master Sure, if it 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:22.599 pleases you, farewell, And with happy young faces they went away, 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.560 And when they were gone, Sure, from a secret place, 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.560 drew out various weapons and armor, and began to work 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:34.480 at them. Having first drawn bolton bar of his workshop carefully, Svend, 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:38.080 with Harold and Robert, his two brethren, went their ways 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.159 to the Queen and found her sitting alone in a 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.120 fair court of the palace, full of flowers, with a 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.400 marble cloister round about it. And when she saw them coming, 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:50.040 she rose up to meet them, her three fair sons. 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:54.000 Truly as that right royal woman bent over them lovingly. 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:57.320 There seemed to be little need of Shore's question, so 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:00.240 Sven showed her his dagger, but not the crown, and 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:04.080 she asked many questions concerning Sure the smith, about his 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:07.600 way of talking, and his face, the color of his hair, 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:10.479 even till the boys wondered. She questioned them so closely, 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.680 with beaming eyes and glowing cheeks, so that Svend thought 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.839 he had never before seen his mother look so beautiful. 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:21.000 Then Sven said, and mother, don't be angry with Sure, 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:23.599 will you, because he sent a message to you by 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:28.440 me angry and straightway. Her soul was wandering where her 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:30.920 body could not come, and for a moment or two 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:33.320 she was living as before, with him close by her 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:37.279 in the old mountain. Land. Well, mother, he wanted me 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:41.800 to ask if you were happy? Now did he' s Vend? 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.400 This man with brown hair grizzled as you say it 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.680 is now? Is his hair soft? Then? This shore going 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:50.480 down on to his shoulders and waves, and his eyes 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:53.200 do they grow steadily as if lighted up from his heart? 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:56.080 And how does he speak? Did you not tell me 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.320 that his words led you whether you would or no? 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:02.720 And to dreamland? Ah? Well, tell him I am happy 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:05.200 but not so happy as we shall be as we were. 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:08.279 And so you, son Robert, are getting to be quite 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:11.520 a cunning smith. But do you think you will ever 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:15.400 beat sure? Ah? Mother, No, he said, there is something 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:17.880 with him that makes him seem quite infinitely beyond all 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:21.080 other workmen I have ever heard of. And if you 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:25.840 want to buy products from the finest work people in 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:29.760 all the realm, I suggest the sponsor of this podcast 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:34.600 medieval weaponry. No one's sad when they have a sword 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:40.000 or a dagger, mace, morning star, flail, spear spears are 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:44.720 quite lovely. We also probably have other ads. Let's find out, 0:07:55.240 --> 0:08:02.400 and we're back memory. Coming from that dreamland smoke upon 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.040 her heart more than the others. She blushed like a 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:08.720 young girl and said, hesitatingly, does he work with his 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:11.200 left hand, son, Robert? For I have heard that some 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:13.960 men do so. But in her heart she remembered how 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.560 once long ago, in the old mountain country, in her 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:19.920 father's house, someone had said that only men who were 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:23.800 born so could do cunningly with their left hand. And 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:26.720 how sure then quite a boy had said, well I 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:28.920 will try, And how in a month or two he 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:31.480 had come to her with an armlet of silver, very 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.760 curiously wrought, which he had done with his own left hand. 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:39.160 So Robert said, yea, mother, he works with his left 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:41.760 hand almost as much as with his right. And sometimes 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:43.880 I have seen him change the hammer suddenly from his 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:46.000 right to his left, with a kind of half smile, 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:49.880 as one who could say, can I not then? And 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.839 this more when he does smith's work in metal than 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:55.640 when he works in marble. And once I heard him say, 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.400 when he did so, I wonder where my first left 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:03.720 hand work is, ah, I abide my time. I wonder, also, mother, 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:07.840 what he meant by that. She answered no word, but 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.880 shook her arm free from its broad sleeve, and something 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:14.080 glittered on it near her wrist, something wrought out of silver, 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:19.880 set with quaint and uncouthly cut stones of little value. 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:24.520 In the council chamber among the lords sat Vend with 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:27.800 his six brethren, he chief of awe in wielding of 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:31.360 sword or axe, in the government of people, in drawing 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:33.960 the love of men and women to him, perfect in 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.160 face and body, and wisdom and strength, was Vennd. Next 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:40.160 to him sat Robert, cunning and working of marble or 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:43.080 wood or brass, all things he could make to look 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.560 as if they lived from the sweep of an angel's 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:48.600 wing down to the slipping of a little field mouse 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.880 from under the sheath in the harvest time. Then there 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:54.959 was Harold, who knew concerning all the stars of heaven 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:58.280 and flowers of earth. Richard, who drew men's hearts from 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:01.040 their bodies with the words that swung to and fro 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:05.000 in his glorious rhymes. William, to whom the air of 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.840 heaven seemed a servant when the harpstrings quivered underneath his fingers. 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:12.080 There were the two sailor brothers, who the year before, 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:14.960 young though they were, had come back from a long 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:17.760 perilous voyage with news of an island they had found 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:21.360 long and long away to the west, larger than any 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.240 that his people knew of, but very fair and good, 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:29.840 though uninhabited. But now over all this noble brotherhood, with 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:34.120 all its various gifts, hung one cloud of sorrow. Their mother, 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:39.000 the peace Queen Cecilia, was dead, She who had taught 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:42.400 them truth and nobleness so well. She was never to 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:46.280 see the beginning of the end that they would work. Truly, 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.959 it seemed sad. There sat the seven brothers in the 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:53.800 council chamber, waiting for the king, speaking no word, only 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:57.400 thinking drearily. Under the pavement of the great church, Cesllah 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.400 lay and by the side of her tomb stood men, 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:06.760 old men, both Valdemar the King, and sure so the King. 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:09.559 After that he had gazed awhile on the carve and 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:13.280 face of her he had loved so well, said at last, 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.280 and now, sir carver, you must carve me also to 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:21.280 lie there. And he pointed to the vacant spot by 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:25.839 the side of the fair alabaster figure. Oh King said sure, 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:28.240 except for a very few strokes on steel, I have 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.560 done work. Now, having carved the queen there, I cannot 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:34.880 do this thing for you. What was? It? Sent a 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:37.680 sharp pang of bitterest suspicion through the very heart of 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.920 the poor old man. He looked steadfastedly at him a 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:43.839 moment or two, as if he would know all secrets. 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:46.640 He could not. He had not the strength of life 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:49.040 enough to get to the bottom of things. Doubt vanished 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:52.840 soon from his heart and his face under Shore's pitying gaze, 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:59.160 he said, then, perhaps I shall be my own statue. 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:01.200 And there with all he sat down on the edge 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:04.120 of the low marble tomb and laid his right arm 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:07.360 across her breast. He fixed his eyes on the eastern 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:11.240 belt of windows, and sat quite motionless and silent. And 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:16.040 he never knew that she loved him, not but sure 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.880 when he gazed at him, awhile stole away quietly as 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:22.200 we do when we fear to wake a sleeper. And 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.160 the king never turned his head, but still sat there, 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:29.360 never moving, scarce breathing. It seemed Shore stood in his 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:32.800 own great hall, for his house was large. He stood 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:36.040 before the dais, saw a fair sight the work of 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:42.000 his own hands. For fronting him against the wall were 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:46.480 seven thrones, and behind them a cloth of samite of purple, 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:50.360 wrought with golden stars, and barred across from right to 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.680 left with long bars of silver and crimson, and edged 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:58.080 below with melancholy fading green like a september sunset. And 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.200 opposite each throne was a glitter suit of armor, wrought 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.280 wonderfully in bright steel, except that on the breast of 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:07.960 each suit was a face worked marvelously in enamel, the 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.680 face of Cecilla, in a glory of golden hair, and 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.079 the glory of that gold spread away from the breast 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:17.160 on all sides and ran conningly along with the steel 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:20.120 rings in such a way as it is hard even 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.600 to imagine. Moreover, on the crest of each helm was 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:27.800 wrought the phoenix, the never dying bird, the only creature 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:30.840 that knows the sun. And by each suit lay a 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:35.120 gleaming sword, terrible to look at, steel from pommel to point, 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:39.400 but wrought along the blade in burnished gold that out flashed. 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:43.160 The gleam of the steel was written in fantastic letters. 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:52.640 The word westward and also gleaming steel are medieval weapons. 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:56.480 Here they are the ads that are only for medieval weaponry. 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:13.760 And were back so sure gazed till he heard footsteps coming. 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.240 Then he turned to meet them. And Svend and his 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.720 brethren sat silent in the council chamber. So they heard 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:22.880 a great noise and clamor of the people arise through 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.080 all the streets, and then they rose to see what 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:28.400 it might be. Meanwhile, on the low marble tomb, under 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:31.360 the dim sweeping vault, sat, or rather lay the King, 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:34.400 for though his right arm still lay over her breast, 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:38.160 his head had fallen forward and rested now on the 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:42.120 shoulder of the marble queen. There he lay, with strange 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:47.600 confusion of his scarlet gold wrought robes, silent, motionless and dead. 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:51.720 The seven Brethren stood together on the marble terrace of 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:55.000 the Royal Palace that was dotted about on the bluster 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:58.600 of it with white statues. They were helmeted and armed 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:02.720 to the teeth. Only over their armour, great black cloaks 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:07.120 were thrown. Now the whole great terrace was a sway 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:10.280 with the crowd of nobles and princes, and others that 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:14.040 were neither nobles or princes, but true men only, And 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:17.480 these were helmeted and wrapped in black cloaks, even as 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:20.160 the princes were. Only the crests of the prince's helms 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.440 were wrought wonderfully with that bird, the phoenix, all flaming 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:26.240 with new power, dying because its old body was not 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.680 strong enough for its newfound power. And those on that 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:33.600 terrace who were unarmed had anxious faces, some fearful, some 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:37.560 stormy with devil's rage at disappointment. But among the faces 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:40.120 of those helmed ones, though here and there you might 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.080 see a pale face, and there was no fear or rage, 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:47.400 scarcely even anxiety, but calm, brave joy seemed to be 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:51.360 on all above the heads of all men on that 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:55.320 terrace shown out Zeven's brave face, the golden hair flowing 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.920 out from his helmet, a smile of quiet confidence overflowing 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:00.880 from his mighty heart, and the depths of which it 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.480 was dwelling just showed very little on his eyes and lips, 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:08.480 while all the vast square, and all the windows and 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:12.040 roofs and even of houses over against the palace were alive, 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:15.320 with an innumerable sea of trouble, raging faces showing white 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:20.040 upturned under the undersea their many colored raiment. The murmur 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.280 from them was like a sow of the first tempest 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:27.000 wind among the pines, and the gleam of spears here 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.440 and there was like the last gleams of the sun 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:33.080 through the woods when the black thunderclouds come up over all, 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:35.760 and soon to be shown through those woods by the 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:41.080 gleam of deep lightning. Also sometimes the murmur would swell, 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:43.680 and from the heart of it would come a fierce horse, 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:50.800 tearing shattering roar, strangely discordant of war, war, Give us war, 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:56.040 o King, thence then stepping forward, his arms hidden under 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:59.160 his long cloak, as they hung down quietly, The smile 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:02.240 on his face brought somewhat sent from his chest a 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:07.600 mighty effortless voice. Over all the raging hear, o ye people, 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.119 war with all that is ugly and base, peace with 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:14.879 all that is fair and good, No war with my 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:19.960 brother's people. Just then, one of those unhelmeted, creeping round 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.359 about stealthily to the place where Sven stood, lifted his 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:26.639 arm and smote at him with a dagger. Whereupon, Seven, 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:29.040 clearing his right arm from his cloak with his left, 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:32.520 lifted up his glittering right hand, and the trader fell 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.280 to the earth, groaning with a broken jaw. First, Ven 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.760 had smitten him on the mouth a backward blow with 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:43.520 his open hand. One shouted from the crowd, I murderers, Ven, 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:46.600 slay our good nobles, as you poisoned the king your father, 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:49.520 that you and your false brethren might oppress us with 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:54.119 the memory of that devil's witch your mother. The smile 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:57.359 lifts Ven's face and heart. Now he looked very stern 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:01.120 as he said, here, o ye people. In years past, 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.080 when I was a boy, my dream of dreams was 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:06.520 ever this, How should I make you good and because 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:10.240 good happy when I should become king over you? But 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:12.760 as year by year passed, I saw my dream flitting, 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:16.040 the deep colors of it changed, faded, grew gray in 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.720 the late light of coming manhood. Nevertheless, God be my 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:22.480 witness that I have ever striven to make you just 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:26.920 and true, hoping against hope continually, and I have ever 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:29.880 determined to bear everything and stay with you, even though 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.919 you should remain unjust in liars, for the sake of 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:35.439 the few who really love me. But now, seeing that 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:38.000 God has made you mad, and that his vengeance will 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:41.199 speedily fall, take heed, how you cast out from you 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:44.400 all that is good and true hearted? Once more, which 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:50.040 choose you peace or war? Between the good and the base. 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:52.760 In the midst of the passionate faces and changing colors 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:56.040 stood the great Terrace, cold and calm and white, with 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:59.360 its changeless statues. And for a while there was silence, 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.040 broken through at last by a yell and a sharp 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:07.600 whir of arrows, and the cling clang from the armor 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:11.240 of the terrace. As Prince Harold staggered through, unhurt, struck 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:15.440 by the broad point on the helmet, What war? Shouted 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.399 vend wrathfully, and his voice sounded like a clap of 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.199 thunder following the lightning flash when a tower is struck 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:25.320 what war swords for vend round about the king, good 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:27.840 men and true sons of the golden hair, show these 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:31.400 men war. And as he spoke, he let his black 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.800 cloak fall, and up from their sheaths sprang seven swords, 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:38.400 steal from pommel to point. Only on the blades of them, 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:43.320 in fantastic letters of gold, shone the word westward. Then 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:46.480 all the terrace gleamed with steel, and admit the hurling 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:50.720 of stones and whizz of arrows, they began to go westward. 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:55.480 The streets ran with blood, the air was filled with 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:59.320 groans and curses. The low waves nearest the granite pier 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:02.680 were edged with blood because they first caught the drippings 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:05.639 of the blood. And those on the pier who durst 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:08.680 stay on the pier saw the ships of Sven's little 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:12.080 fleet leaving, one by one, For he had taken aboard 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:14.600 those ten ships whoever had prayed to go, even in 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:17.840 the last moment, wounded or dying. Even better so, for 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:20.199 in their last moments came thoughts of good things to 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:22.639 many of them, and it was good to be among 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:27.240 the true. But those haughty ones left behind, sullen and untamed, 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:31.160 but with horrible, indefinable dread on them what was worse 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:35.400 than death or mere pain, howsoever fierce. These saw all 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:37.600 the ships go out of the harbor, merrily, with the 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:41.080 swaying sail and dashing oar, and with joyous singing of 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:45.760 those aboard. And Sven's was the last of all whom 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:48.960 they saw kneel down on the deck unhelmed. Then all 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:51.720 sheathed their swords that were about him, and the Prince 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:55.919 Robert took from Sven's hand an iron crown fantastically wrought, 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:58.439 and placed it on his head, and he knelt, and 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.920 he continued kneeling still till as the ship drew further 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:05.159 and further away from the harbor, all things aboard her 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:09.639 became indistinct, and they never saw Spend and his brethren again. 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:15.280 Here ends what William the Englishman wrote. But afterwards, in 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:17.680 the night time he found the book of a certain 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:24.200 chronicler which Saith in the springtime. In May the five 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:26.919 hundred and fiftieth year from the death of Spend, of 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:31.400 the wonderful King, the good knights, sailing due eastward, came 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:34.159 to the harbor of a land they knew not wherein 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:37.760 they saw many goodly ships, but of a strange fashion, 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:42.880 like the ships of the ancients, and destitute of any mariners. Besides, 0:21:42.920 --> 0:21:46.760 they saw no beacons for the guidance of seamen, nor 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:49.679 was there any sound of bells or singing, though the 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:53.520 city was vast with many goodly towers and palaces. So 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:56.280 when they landed they found that which is hardly to 0:21:56.280 --> 0:22:00.159 be believed, but which is nevertheless true. For about to 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:02.920 the quays and about the streets lay many people dead 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:06.080 or stood, but quite without motion, for they were all white, 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:09.640 or about the color of new hewn freestone. Yet were 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:12.560 they not statues, but real men, for they had, some 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:15.280 of them ghastly wounds, which showed their entrails, and the 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:20.639 structure of their flesh and veins and bones. Moreover, the 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:23.879 streets were red and wet with blood, and the harbor 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:26.639 waves were red with it, because it dipped in great 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:30.560 drops slowly from the quays. Then, when the good knights 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:33.199 saw this, they doubted not but that it was the 0:22:33.280 --> 0:22:37.320 fearful punishment on this people for sins of theirs. Thereupon 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:39.679 they entered into a church of that gray city and 0:22:39.720 --> 0:22:43.680 prayed God to pardon them. Afterwards, going back to their ships, 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:48.120 sailed away, marveling and I John who wrote this story, 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:56.000 saw all this with mine own eyes, and that's the story. 0:22:56.280 --> 0:22:58.119 I like this story so much. I even like it 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:01.360 better the second time I eat it, right, because there's 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:03.399 a kind of lot going on that I didn't necessarily 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:07.760 catch the first time. But it's so interesting to me, okay, 0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:10.639 for a lot of reasons. One, I can see the 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:13.040 inspiration on Tolkien really clearly in this right, because you 0:23:13.080 --> 0:23:15.720 have this kind of like good noble king thing going on, 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:17.600 but you also have like an evil king, or like 0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:19.639 a king who thinks he's good but he actually sucks, 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:22.520 like the first king, you know. And and he's like, oh, 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:24.639 I love my wife, and she's like, I'm not into you. 0:23:24.720 --> 0:23:27.080 I wish I was still dating that fucking smith, you know. 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:32.119 And it's so tragic when he's like, I'm gonna just 0:23:32.200 --> 0:23:34.760 lay down and die here upon the statue of my 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:37.720 dead wife, and she's like, I don't even like you. 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:40.119 You know, I married you as like I gave up 0:23:40.160 --> 0:23:41.760 my life to marry you in order to keep my 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:45.879 people like free and happy, and you know, and you 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:47.440 still have got these like okay, and then the seven 0:23:47.480 --> 0:23:49.600