Paul Kingsnorth - The Wake

i seen that the names of the folcs of angland was part of anglisc ground lic the treow and rocc the fenn and hyll and i seen that when these names was tacan from the place where they had growan and cast down on other ground and when their place was tacan by names what has not growan from that ground is not of it and can not spece its tunge then a great wrong had been done. then sum thing deop and eald had been made wrong and though folcs wolde forget cwic the eald gods and the eald places the eald trees and the eald hylls these things wolde not forget what had been broc and how things used to be and sceolde be and one daeg though not in our lifs one daeg all will be made right again

well i will not tell thu how many mergens there was lic this in these wices nor how much walcan we done in the brunnesweald and in the land around it. we three men and our swine we gan through these lands cnawan them and cepen loc out for frenc and for anglisc also. we saw few folcs for we cept to the deop holt and in the deop holt far from any ham and far from any frenc we macd our selfs a place to be what was stronger than the small hus of stics and leafs what we had been slepan in before

ofer sum wices we macd this place together for it seemed now that we wolde be together for sum time and though i was not blithe at this i colde not see no other place to go. also it seemed to me that i was leadan these men and that they neded leadan for though there was sum strength in them they did not cnaw how to use it well for them selfs and their folc. so together we macd a strong hall in the deop wud a hall that colde tac many folcs for others may cum we saed and i had in mynd to see that they did. we macd this hall of strong wud and thaeccd the roof and by the hall we macd another small hus of wud and thaecc for cepan things and we had a place for a fyr in the lea of this wud and logs for sittan on by it and when we had done after sum time this was a good place to be and though still rough it was dry and strong and a place to cum baec to from where efer we gan

well i cnawan now that i stayed too long but then i did not cnaw what to do. we had cwelled a great frenc man and this was good but no war had begun and no others had cum to us and in the brunnesweald few other folcs we saw though tofe and grimcell had talcced of these grene men this anglisc fyrd gathran agan the frenc. well i did not see this we saw few folcs for sum time and now that we had a hus i wolde go eacc daeg in to the wud alone and i wolde spec to the wihts and i wolde spec to weland

this of course was what my grandfather had done and it was what he telt me to do loc ofer the land cilde he had saed but the land it wolde not lysten. no wihts cum to me and when i cum to sum hara or boar or fugol it ran from me i colde not be the land the land wolde not lysten. naht gan right at this time for weland wolde not lysten neither and though i wolde spec with him and asc him what will i do now where sceolde i go he saed naht to me and i cnawan why

and so efry daeg i wolde walc the holt and tofe and grimcell they wolde go huntan and we wolde coc together and in the nights around the fyr we wolde sitt and we wolde spec of what had been and also of what was to cum. ah we wolde spec micel of this grimcell he wolde spec of when the frenc was gan drifen out and his hus built again in our ham and him in it and of findan a new wifman and lifan again on his ground. tofe wolde spec of great feohts and of an anglisc fyrd risan from fenn and holt to cum down on the ingenga in blud and of succ deorcness and blud wolde he spec that it colde be thought he was an eald feohtan man and not a yonge cilde who colde not efen grip a scramasax without pissan himself

me i wolde not sae so micel though i colde see both thoughts and feel them both in me but i was still thincan of all that had been and not cnawan what was to cum and efry mergen i wolde rise again and eat at the fyr and then go walcan. in triewth there was sum thing i licd about this place for efen though all was broc the hus and the fyr cept a small part of me baec on my land with my cynn and my geburs and what man wolde not want this. also i saed then and i sae now that he wolde not cum he wolde not cum and so if i was lost for a time this was on him and not on me

well one daeg when we had been in the wud for sum time tofe cum to me in the mergen as i was eatan and before i colde go walcan. tofe had ascd me efry daeg in the mergen if he colde cum with me thincan that i was doan great things in the holt and efry daeg i saed no cilde and this macd him thinc only mor of me. but after sum wices i colde see he was thincan less of me and our place here and on this daeg i was thincan he wolde asc again to cum with me but he wanted sum other thing

buccmaster he saes i wolde lic to cnaw what we will do now

i is goan to the holt cilde i saes i has telt thu there is things i moste do there and thu can not be with me

i does not mean this daeg he saes. i locs at him and it seems he is tryan hard to be strong. i means in this holt he saes i means our worc

worc i saes

our worc he saes our war with the frenc. it has been many wices since we cwelled the ingenga and yet we has not brought our war to others

lysten cilde i saes this war thu specs of it is all around thu. if thu leafs this holt thu will see it in all hams and tuns if thu wants frenc go to them with thy great strength

buccmaster saes tofe thu saes thu is leadan us thu saes thu is ring gifer. in my ham before i cum to thu there was micel specan of the grene men and all cnawan they was gathran in the brunnesweald for it is the greatest holt in angland and folcs who is free and is agan the ingenga cum here to gather and spec of war. when i cum to thu i cum for this and yet there is three of us buccmaster and no war

cilde i saes this is no way to spec to me

i does not mean naht by it saes tofe i does not mean to sae thu is wrong but i is only ascan that is all when we will gather when others will cum for surely there moste be a great risan lic folcs was saen in my ham there wolde be lic there will be soon in elge

in elge i saes

tofe locs at me lic he has saed sum thing wrong

in elge he saes

what of elge i saes what of this place

oh it is only tales he saes cwicc tales that is all has thu not hierde them. in elge on the ealond on the fenns there is men gathran it was saed under an anglisc ealdor namd hereweard and they is lic us they is grene men they is standan agan the ingenga lic we will lic thu is leadan us

i stands up at this point for i has eatan and i locs down at tofe who now feels small i can see and i saes cilde wait for me that is all. thu will see i saes thu will see and now i moste go

well i was blithe to go for this cilde had ired me and this was not good and in triewth i cnawan nuthan but that i had foda in the holt for the last of the swine still lyfed and there was water from a small ea and a hus now also and i colde not see why i wolde go any other place. of course i colde haf lifd there i colde haf saed to this cilde and this cottar grimcell i colde haf saed go then go in to the world and leaf me. micel of me wolde do so and yet i did not and now i gan in to the holt tellan myself i loccd for wihts and weland but in triewth i was walcan only and walcan and walcan for want of any other thing

and now when i was not specan to him he cum to me and he cum in a sound lic a great wind in treows lic a roar of water lic a red ea red with blud

another is cum

i has called for thu i has spocan to thu

there is cum a greater man

why has thu not cum

this other he ascs naht only cwells only feohts

what other

thu has been a small man buccmaster a weac man

i is not weac

weac lic a wifman in thy warm hus eatan and slepan while angland beorns