Paul Kingsnorth - The Wake

sum daegs before this my sistor aelfgifu and i had been sittan with him in the sunne by the great hus what later becum my hus and then was gan in frenc fyr. he was sittan on a stool what he had macd many years before and my sistor and i was sittan by him on the ground for he licd to be abuf us when he was specan. he was specan now but his words was not always clere and his heafod was mofan around lic it was mofan itself

i will be gan soon he saes gan to eorth and erce

i saes this is not so

bury me in a scip he saes

i saes what

a scip a boat bury me beorn me in fyr put me in my boat with welands sweord send me baec to the eald folc. they was buried in their scips he saes in their scips and sum of them was beorned in them

of who is thu specan grandfather saes aelfgifu. she was a girl of great beuty her haer gold her bodig thynne and scapd well and her words was soft lic her heorte when she locd at me

in their scips he saes the eald cyngs deop in the ground

what scips is these i saes. i was sad to hiere my grandfather spec lic this for it seemed he spoc lic a cilde

cilde he saes i had thought i had telt thu of the eald times does thu cnawan naht after efry thing i has done. not so far from here cilde in the land of the eald folc of the east there is a wide feld cilde and this feld is full of hylls and eacc of them macd not by erce but by man. they is great hylls cilde i has seen them erce breathes through these hylls there is great strength in the land at this place. under these hylls is buried many great scips and in eacc of these scips is a great cyng buried with gold with sweords of great craft with helms of seolfor and with hors. there is great halls under these hylls laid out with foda and cuppes and plates of gold and whole scips cilde scips of the eald times scips of the cuman. this is what we is cilde these is our folcs the eald cyngs cilde the eald gods beneath now all beneath and waitan

cyngs is blud i saes grandfather thu saed this

sum cyngs is blud sum cyngs is good the eald cyngs was great men. it is cyngs now what is low lic wyrms

i does not trust cyngs i saes

this is a good thought cilde a good thought but there was times when cyngs was gods

cyngs is men

triewe anglisc cyngs cilde is of wodens blud i has telt thu these cyngs we has now they is men only their blud is not triewe we moste go baec cilde go baec

has thu seen these great scips grandfather these great hylls

i has seen the hylls cilde i seen them when i was yonge lic thu but what is under them no man lifan has seen. only i lic others has heard the tales and tales succ as these they is not lies. ah i wolde be buried in my boat in my lytel boat only or laid on the fenn in it and set afyr to drift on these waters to my cynn folc who is waitan waitan

aelfgifu she locs at me then for grandfather is mofan bacc and forth and locan at the heofon and he seems so old so old

cilde he saes when i go cilde thu moste spec to the land for i no longer can

the land grandfather

cilde i has telt thu how the land specs and thu has seen in this ham how folcs has teorned from it to the hwit crist and this has been the brecan of angland cilde. it is not in the words cilde it is not in bocs thu moste go to the holt to the fenn sleep by the waters cilde in the wuds in the regn do not spec and thu will waec one daeg and the land will be in thu and thu in it and thu will feel as it feels and all that it has will be in thu cilde and in this way the eald gods will return cilde they will return in thu

grandfather saes aelfgifu gently wolde thu lic mead or wolde thu maybe lic to sleep in the hus

fecc me mead girl saes my grandfather and though i is eald i is not a dumb esol i will sleep when the gods calls me and then i will sleep long

my sistor then she gan to the hus to fecc mead and loccan baec at me gaf a smerc

cilde saes my grandfather when she is gan a boar spac with me

a boar grandfather i saes and i wysces aelfgifu was still here

a boar cilde i was in the holt i was in the brunnesweald thu does not cnaw this holt yet cilde but thu will it is a great wud thu moste cross it to leaf the fenns to go to the west i was in this wud cilde and

aelfgifu cums baec here with a cuppe of mead and she puts it in my grandfathers hand what is sceacan but he does not stop specan he does not efen loc at her

i was lifan lic i has saed to thu i was a yonger man i had gan to the holt to cepe away from men to cum to the wilde and for many daegs i saed naht only lifan and etan and mofan in the holt. i seen the fugol and i mofd lic the fugol and it cum to me. i seen the fox and i mofd lic the fox and it cum to me. i seen the brocc and i mofd lic the brocc at dusc and it toc me for its brothor. and one daeg as dusc was cuman on the holt i stood in a wid part of the wud and a sound cum and cum nearer and in to the lea cum a boar

well this boar locd at me and it colde see that after so many daegs in this holt i did not loc nor seem nor smell lic no man. this boar it mofd its heafod and i mofd my heafod the same. i locd at it and i was in this boar. when it breathed i breathed when it mofd its scanc i mofd my scanc. i was boar i was the eald boar of the holt cilde

i did not say naht for i colde not

all was still cilde all still in all places and then this boar in my heafod and in the holt cilde this boar spac to me

grandfather what did it spec

it saed cepe it

cepe it

it saed cepe it. this is all cilde it saed cepe it and then this boar teorned cwic and i was man again cilde and it ran from me and i cnawan i moste go baec to the ham

cepe it saes aelfgifu

cepe what i saes but my grandfather he is dreanan his mead and he is tired tired lic the waters after the regn

well these swine of tofes they was not specan to no man only walcan and gruntan about in the holt all of the daegs. that mergen when all was wacend we broc down our lytel hus of stics and leafs so none colde see and we ciccd ofer the aesc of the fyr and we went to mof on. but we was hungered we was three men needan sum foda what was mor than leaf or root or berry and all we had was these swine. i had ate all the mete from my own swine with out tofe and grimcell sean for there was no reason for them to see this and now i was hungered also

well we had brought along this cilde and his swine and it wolde haf been a cwic thing to cwell them and mac them ready but while we colde haf coccd sum mete we colde not cocc it all. we was goan to need to cepe sum for sum daegs for a good swine macs micel mete and to let it be eatan by wihts wolde haf been a great synn. we thought about smocan it but how colde we smoc it we wolde need a great fyr and a place for hangan for sum time and we did not haf neither of these things. it seemed then that we sceolde salt the mete for though we colde not do it well lic our wifmen did at least saltan it wolde cepe it for sum small number of daegs and in this time we colde eat

but of course none of us had salt and there was no pans here for we was not near the sea. whether saltmen wolde efer cum again now after the frenc cum we did not cnaw but they was not here now. any salt there was wolde be in the hams and we thought to go to langetof before we left this holt to asc for sum. grimcell was agan this he thought we sceolde go now he thought the frenc may be in langetof after the thegn was cwelled he saed there was no tellan what folcs wolde sae of us or do. tofe saed to him that we was great men hafan cwelled this ingenga and we wolde be wel cum in the ham lic gods and this thought i licd though in triewth i was thincan it wolde not be so

well what we done we gan through the holt to langetof and we cept in the treows where we had been before where we colde see the ham. i was at first blithe to see that the ham was still standan that folcs was there that the ingengas had not beorned it for then this war it wolde haf been greater efen than it was. the ham was still here and we colde hiere anglisc folcs specan but their words seemed the words of fear and there was callan and wepan cuman from the ham at a place we colde not see