So there they ordered all matters duly for that present time, and by
then they had made an end, it was past sunset, and men were lodged in
the chief houses about the Market-stead.
Albeit, though they ate their meat with all joy of heart, and were
merry in converse one with the other, the men of the Wolf would by no
means feast in their Hall again till it had been cleansed and
hallowed anew.
CHAPTER LI. THE DEAD BORNE TO BALE: THE MOTE-HOUSE RE-HALLOWED
On the morrow they bore to bale their slain men, and there withal
what was left of the bodies of the four chieftains of the Great
Undoing. They brought them into a most fair meadow to the west of
Silver-stead, where they had piled up a very great bale for the
burning. In that meadow was the Doom-ring and Thing-stead of the
Folk of the Wolf, and they had hallowed it when they had first
conquered Silver-dale, and it was deemed far holier than the Mote-
house aforesaid, wherein the men of the kindred might hold no due
court; but rather it was a Feast-hall, and a house where men had
converse together, and wherein precious things and tokens of the
Fathers were stored up.
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