So came the War-leader to his seat of green turf raised in the ingle
aforesaid; and he stood beside it till the Alderman and Wardens had
taken their places on a seat behind him raised higher than his; below
him on the step of his seat sat the Scrivener with his pen and ink-
horn and scroll of parchment, and men had brought him a smooth shield
whereon to write.
On the left side of Face-of-god stood the men of the Face all
glittering in their arms, and amongst them were Wolf-stone and his
two fellows, but Dallach was not yet whole of his hurts. On his
right were the folk of the House of the Steer: the leader of that
House was an old white-bearded man, grandfather of the Bride, for her
father was dead; and who but the Bride herself stood beside him in
her glorious war-gear, looking as if she were new come from the City
of the Gods, thought most men; but those who beheld her closely
deemed that she looked heavy-eyed and haggard, as if she were aweary.
Nevertheless, wheresoever she passed, and whosoever looked on her
(and all men looked on her), there arose a murmur of praise and love;
and the women, and especially the young ones, said how fair her deed
was, and how meet she was for it; and some of them were for doing on
war-gear and faring to battle with the carles; and of these some were
sober and solemn, as was well seen afterwards, and some spake
lightly: some also fell to boasting of how they could run and climb
and swim and shoot in the bow, and fell to baring of their arms to
show how strong they were: and indeed they were no weaklings, though
their arms were fair.
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