Thereafter they of Burgstead went into Wood-grey's hall, or as many
of them as might, for it was but a poor place and not right great.
There they saw the goodman laid on the dais in all his war-gear,
under the last tie-beam of his hall, whereon was carved amidst much
goodly work of knots and flowers and twining stems the image of the
Wolf of the Waste, his jaws open and gaping: the wife and daughters
of the goodman and other women of the folk stood about the bier
singing some old song in a low voice, and some sobbing therewithal,
for the man was much beloved: and much people of the Woodlanders was
in the hall, and it was somewhat dusk within.
So the Burgstead men greeted that folk kindly and humbly, and again
they fell to praising the dead man, saying how his deed should long
be remembered in the Dale and wide about; and they called him a
fearless man and of great worth. And the women hearkened, and ceased
their crooning and their sobbing, and stood up proudly and raised
their heads with gleaming eyes; and as the words of the Burgstead men
ended, they lifted up their voices and sang loudly and clearly,
standing together in a row, ten of them, on the dais of that poor
hall, facing the gable and the wolf-adorned tie-beam, heeding nought
as they sang what was about or behind them.
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