For shall I not go back with these thy messengers, so that
I also may get all ready to wend to the Mote-house of Shadowy Vale?'
But the Bride looked kindly on her, and laughed and said: 'Sister
Bow-may, his meaning is that thou shouldest abide here in Silver-dale
till we depart for the Folk-thing, and then go thither with us; and
this I also pray thee to do, that thou mayst rejoice the hearts of
thine old friends; and also that thou mayst teach me all that I
should know concerning this fair child of my brother and my sister.'
And she looked on her so kindly as she caressed the babe, that Bow-
may's heart melted, and she cried out:
'Would that I might never depart from the house wherein thou
dwellest, O Bride of my Kinsman! And this that thou biddest me is
easy and pleasant for me to do. But afterwards I must get me back to
Burgdale; for I seem to have left much there that calleth for me.'
'Yea,' said Folk-might, 'and art thou wedded, Bow-may? Shalt thou
never bend the yew in battle again?'
Said Bow-may soberly: 'Who knoweth, chieftain? Yea, I am wedded now
these two years; and nought I looked for less when I followed those
twain through the wild-wood to Burgdale.
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