Paul Kingsnorth - The Wake

none saes naht then tofe locs at the ground small and the gleoman locs at me and grimcell locs at me lic he oft does with no loc in his eages at all

well then i saes lic naht had been saed well then we moste go from this path for sum may cum here who does not wysc us well. we is goan south

cum saes grimcell to the gleoman and he saes it strong he does not asc me does not loc at me. the gleoman locs at him

where was thu goan saes grimcell to him cum with us for sum time efen if the time is only a scorte one. gif us as we walcs tales and tidans from the land

the gleoman locs at him for a scorte time then at me and tofe and he saes well i will cum then i will cum with thu for a lytel for i wolde cnaw where thu has been and what thu has seen and many things i has to sae what thu may find good to hiere

now thu has hierde

who is he

thy brothor and thy enemi

i is stronger

let us see

upon a hyll stands a treow but this treow it has no stics no leafs. its stocc is gold on it is writhan lines of blud red it reacces to the heofon its roots is deop deop in the eorth. abuf the hyll all the heofon is hwit and below all the ground is deorc. the treow is scinan and from all places folcs is walcan to it walcan to the scinan treow locan for sum thing from it. abuf the tree flies a raefn below it walcs a wulf and deop in the eorth where no man sees around the roots of the treow sleeps a great wyrm and this wyrm what has slept since before all time this wyrm now slow slow slow this wyrm begins to mof

well because we is grene men and because we is as great as any fuccan hereweard we walcs now down the straet and not in the treows lic hunds. we walcs all of us and with me leadan and with my sweord on my belt we walcs tall lic we is the fyrd we is goan to be

where does thu go to ascs the gleoman as we is walcan. this one he locs at me lic he is all the time smercan it seems lic he is all the time smercan yet there is no smerc on his nebb

what is the ham that is most near i saes to him

creatas tun is two miles on this straet he saes

then we will go to creatas tun and there we will spec to the folc and we will tell them we is men of the holt and we is gathran to mac a fyrd agan the frenc and we will asc the men of the tun to cum with us

it is a small place there is not many folc

many small places will gif us many good folc

yes saes tofe yes we gan gathran and he is blithe as a man who goes gathran a wif in litha

is there frenc there saes grimcell to the gleoman we does not want to see frenc

thu has seen too many frenc yes saes the gleoman and cwelled one i thinc

who telt thu this i saes

folcs specs saes the gleoman and folcs thincs the frenc thegn of these parts sum wices ago was cwelled by folcs from the holt

and what does thu thinc gleoman i saes and i saes it strong but still he is smercan it seems to me

i is only a gleoman he saes only a scop what does i cnaw

what does thu cnaw

if any was to asc i wolde sae that to tac and cwell a yonge frenc thegn in the holts of angland is a great thing and that many folcs here specs of it when there is no frenc near them and they is in awe of the folcs who done this though also in fear. for of course it is also a dumb act an act of blud but at a time when all angland is in blud who can spec of this in succ words

folcs specs of it saes tofe folcs of these wuds. he is in a great thryll now

i has hierde folcs in hams spec of it saes the gleoman and i has hierde frenc also spec of it they is in ire and perhaps also in sum fear

fear saes tofe the frenc in fear

of course they does not cnawan who to fear saes the gleoman and the folcs of the hams does not cnawan who to thanc

none cnawan naht saes grimcell

sum saes this thegn was cwelled by aelfs saes the gleoman

aelfs i saes aelfs with lines

but most saes the gleoman is thincan he was cwelled by hereweard

hereweard i saes fuccan hereweard. o i is in ire to hiere of this again who is this fuccan hereweard hereweard always folcs is lic sceop

he ires thu saes the gleoman to me

thu fuccan ires me gleoman i saes with all thy words all thy specan of fuccan hereweard it was not he cwelled the thegn it was us it was me

well saes the gleoman well

with a line saes tofe

ofer his fuccan frenc throta saes i

well saes the gleoman

is thu fuccan smercan

smercan saes the gleoman well no i is not smercan

fuccan hereweard i saes who specs of him why does folcs always spec of him

folcs is folcs saes the gleoman they needs tales of great men it cepes me eatan

tell them tales of us saes tofe tell them tales of us cwellan the thegn

do not saes grimcell do not. does thu want to feoht one hundred frenc men tofe do not spec of us lic this we is men only

we walced on we walced towards creatas tun but i was in ire thincan of this hereweard and of all this specan of him and of how a socman with three oxgangs can cum to be lower than a gleoman sleepan in the fuccan holt lic a brocc or a fox. well i had to thinc of weland i had to thinc of his words always for i cnawan i was ceosan i cnawan i moste be triewe

the daeg was wanan and i was needan to thinc on what had cum and on what wolde cum now and so i telt my werod to stop that night in the holt and when the mergen cum we wolde go in to creatas tun and we wolde tell them of our greatness of our deed with the frenc thegn and we wolde call on men of that ham to cum with us to feoht. i wolde gather many folcs and what moste be done then wolde cum to me or weland wolde cum to me and gif me my lead when my werod was great and my sweord again free for feohtan lic my grandfather had meant it to be

we macd a fyr then and we satt and we ate sum of the last of tofes swine what we had cwelled and smocd sum time before and also we ate sum swamms what by now was growan in the holt. after this we wolde be needan mor foda and we moste thinc on this if we was not to be eatan bits of fugol and fox and the leaf from the treow

well when thu sits a gleoman by a fyr and gifs him foda he starts to spiw out raedels and soon enough this ulf he was doan so. tofe and grimcell they was laughan and grimcell well i had not seen him laughan efer

a yonge man saes the gleoman macs for the ecg of the hus where he sees the thing he wants and with his hands he lifts up her gyrdel and under it he throsts sum thing long and hard. well this yonge man he worcs his will and the both of them they shacs then this man he cwicns and then is tyred. he falls baec but his worc is done and under the gyrdel sum thing is growan what this yonge man will be blithe to see in times to cum

tofe and grimcell they is both laughan now and the gleoman this time he is smercan for real. i does not cnaw of what he is specan

buccmaster calls the gleoman tell us what was this yonge man doan

no gleoman i saes i does not do games

tofe cilde saes the gleoman thu can tell us can thu not for thu is a great man of this world. tofe then he is gan red lic a berie and only laughs

ulf saes grimcell thy raedels runs out this one i has hierde before the man is ceornan buttere

buttere saes tofe and he almost falls ofer laughan. nefer has i seen why men pleges lic this when they sceolde be strong. i is sat around this fyr for the heat but i is clenan my sweord not plegen. well at this time i was needan a piss so i left my sweord and i gan in to the holt and when thu gan from a fyr in to the deorc of the holt the deorc seems deoper than at any other time and hard it is to see any thing. as i gan in to the holt sum small way i hierde a sound near me and i was thincan i sceolde not haf left my sweord by the fyr that again i has let weland thinc small of me for always he is locan on