Paul Kingsnorth - The Wake

this cwen of the haerfest she was passan through this small ham as folcs put mor baerlic on the waegn and threw blosms at her. there was a cilde plegen a harp and also a cilde with pipe and they was macan songs what sum folcs was steppan to as they gan after this slow waegn what was mofan to a barn at the end of the straet. well this waegn it went in to this barn then and folcs followed it and from in the barn then cum the sounds of blithe lif

i telt my men to follow me and to this barn i walced and i walced tall. in this gathran of folcs there was wifmen and boys and eald folcs but there was also men of good age and sum of these i was thincan wolde cum to us when they cnawan we was gathran a werod to stric agan the frenc. in to the barn we gan and we gan tall and in the barn we seen the waegn and around it folcs singan and leapan and there was drincan of ealu and pipes and harp plegen and micel blitheness

soon enough this stopped when we was seen standan at the door. music stopped and singan also and folcs loccd at us in sum wundor and also in fear it seemed for they did not cnaw who we was we might haf been ingengas

so what i done i spac to them as they loccd at us and i spac cwic before sum folc spac to us. anglisc folcs i saes good anglisc folcs of creatas tun do not be afeart for we is not nightgengas or wihts of the holt though it is triewe we has been lifan there. my men and i we is grene men

there was sum specan low at this and this macd me feel strong

we is grene men i saes again we is risan agan the bastard cyng geeyome and the frenc what has toc our lands and our freodoms and the eald ways from us. all ofer angland grene men is gathran there is great fyrds of us and we has cum here to tell thu of this great thing and to call on any folcs who lufs freodom in this ham to cum with us that we may drif the frenc in to the sea lic the wihts they is

here two or three folcs seemed to mac sounds lic they thought this was good but most only locd at us still. lic hunds they was only locan. well i had thought that this tale of feohtan and freodom wolde mac men cum to us but all only stood locan lic we was aelfs macd flesc

then a man cum from the folcs to us he was a yonge man with bright eages not an esol he cum up and he spac to me

what is thy name he saes

what is thine i saes cwic

he loccs at me for sum small time and i sees him also locan at welands sweord what i is wearan on my belt and what is scinan bright after i has clened it

i is harald he saes i is gerefa of this ham

i is buccmaster of holland i saes and i is leader of this werod

werod he saes smercan locan at us well this is sum small werod i can see why thu locs for mor men

we locs for men who lufs freodom saes tofe

men who wolde lif saes grimcell without frenc fyr and theft

fyr and theft saes the gerefa well we has had none of this here thu can see folcs in this ham is blithe. none will be cuman to the holt with thu for there is worc to do here

does thu spec for all men then i saes has folcs not tunges here

all has tunges saes harald and specs then to the folc in the barn. men he saes men of creatas tun if thu wolde go with these wihts of the wud then go now. well he waits but none cums to us and he cnawan this wolde be so

thy tunge gerefa i saes is sic we is not wihts we is men feohtan we is men who has lost land wifmen all things to the frenc hunds and yes we has lost all of angland to them also it seems thu thinc this is sum small thing

it is no thing of ours saes the gerefa that is all no thing of ours. we has gifen geld to the frenc and done their biddan and thu can see they has left us free as efer we was if thu does their biddan they is good to thu

good i saes fuccan good well i is ired now my wifman in the ground and this hund specan of good frenc folc. good i saes i has lost all things there is men rottan in the ground all ofer angland and thu tells us of these great frenc men

this gerefa he locs at me then and at my sweord again and he saes so tell us grene man what will thu do

we will feoht saes tofe we has cwelled a frenc thegn and will cwell many mor. well at this there is sum mofan in the barn

then thu sceolde go now saes the gerefa for cuman here will be bad for us thu moste cnaw this

now lysten i saes lysten angland is bean cwelled all ofer by ingengas while thu is singan and drincan. does thu thinc this is good does thu thinc this is right thy anglisc cyng harald godwineson and all his thegns was cwelled by ingengas our land was toc and all things anglisc now they is goan up in fyr. these castels is bean put up with frenc cnihts in them anglisc gold is bean tacan to the frenc lands all things we had was gan our cildren will haf frenc names they will spec frenc words all that we is is bean tacan from us

the gerefa then he wafs his hand at the barn and the waegn. this is all that we is he saes and it is the same as it was and it will cepe bean this way no frenc has cum here to mac us do frenc things. before the frenc cum this was a wilde place there was out laws in these wuds now there is mor laws from abuf and there is no out laws. thy harald cyng he did not cepe us safe yet this frenc cyng does now what does thu grene men say to this

scit saes grimcell this is scit let me tell thu how safe my wifman is she is in the fuccan ground

well i is sad to hiere this saes the gerefa but in this ham thu can see that all is well

so thu wolde cepe to thyself saes grimcell lic there was no place outside

we wolde cepe to our ham and to the laws of angland saes the gerefa that is all

then thu will be thralls i saes fuccan thralls all of thu

at this the gerefa he is ired for the first time since i has seen him. thralls he saes thralls thu saes well we is all thralls my freond all the time and has always been in angland. thralls there has always been here and ceorls and geburs tell me my freond how is these folcs free. when their thegn ascs of them three daegs on his land efry wice or a winters harrowan when he ascs for a score of hens efry sixmonth or fifty carts of their own wud when he wolde lic the fyr higher in his hall. or when the cyng cums through and calls up the fyrd and they is tacan from their wifmen and their cynn with naught but stans and sithes to sum feld to die in a dic for his war with sum denisc cyng. tell me buccmaster of angland where is it that thu can see the freodom thu wolde haf us feoht for

well what is this scit i thincs what man wolde spec this way. thu is a fuccan hund i saes i is a socman of holland a man of the wapentac i has three oxgangs i answers to none

there is not so many lic thu saes the gerefa not here here we worcs for thegns and is these thegns anglisc or frenc well these is names only. thralls for harald thralls for geeyome if we can bring in our baerlic and sing for the gift of it we does not asc why

fucc saes grimcell and i locs at him now for i has nefer hierde him spec with ire lic this. fucc man he saes does thu not cnawan what these frenc has done to thy cynn folc

my cynn folc is here saes the gerefa the frenc has done naht

loc i saes and i saes this now not only to this scucca of a gerefa but to all folcs in the barn who is all gathran round. loc i saes at this yonge man this yonge cilde and here i tacs tofe by the sceoldor. this yonge cilde i saes this yonge anglisc cilde he seen his father and his mothor cwelled before him by the frenc hunds thu gifs thy geld to. they cum in to his ham on great deorc hors one daeg lic this daeg now and they toc this boys mothor and they fuccd her on the ground before him in the straet before all his cynn folc all these frenc hunds they fuccd her in the dirt lic a wiht and then they slit her cunt with frenc style and she bled there before her son

there is gaspan and whispran at this and tofe he mofs lic he wants to spec but i locs at him and he does not