English Literature for Boys and Girls. H. E. Marshall

our old stories have come down to us, not through their English originals, but through the French. For the years after the Conquest are the poorest in English Literature.

      From the Conquest until Layamon wrote his Brut, there was no English literature worthy of the name. Had we not already spoken of Layamon out of true order in following the story of Arthur, it is here that we should speak of him and of his book, The Brut. So, perhaps, it would be well to go back and read chapter vii., and then we must go on to the Metrical Romances.

      The three hundred years from 1200 to 1500 were the years of the Metrical Romances. Metrical means written in verse. Romance meant at first the languages made from the Latin tongue, such as French or Spanish. After a time the word Romance was used to mean a story told in any Romance language. But now we use it to mean any story of strange and wonderful adventures, especially when the most thrilling adventures happen to the hero and heroine.

      The Norman minstrels, then, took English tales and made them into romances. But when the English began once more to write, they turned these romances back again into English. We still call them romances, although they are now written in English.

      Some of these tales came to us, no doubt, from the Danes. They were brought from over the sea by the fierce Northmen, who were, after all, akin to the Normans. The Normans made them into French stories, and the English turned them back into English.

      Perhaps one of the most interesting of these Metrical Romances is that of Havelok the Dane.

      The poem begins with a few lines which seem meant to call the people together to listen:—

      "Hearken to me, good men,

       Wives, maidens, and all men,

       To a tale that I will tell to

       Who so will hear and list thereto."

      We can imagine the minstrel as he stands in some market-place, or in some firelit hall, touching his harp lightly as he sings the words. With a quick movement he throws back his long green cloak, and shows his gay dress beneath. Upon his head he wears a jaunty cap, and his hair is long and curled. He sings the opening lines perhaps more than once, in order to gather the people round him. Then, when the eager crowd sit or stand about him, he begins his lay. It is most probably in a market-place that the minstrel stands and sings. For Havelok the Dane was written for the people and not for the great folk, who still spoke only French.

      "There was a king in byegone days

       That in his time wrought good laws,

       He did them make and full well hold,

       Him loved young, him loved old,

       Earl and baron, strong man and thane,

       Knight, bondman and swain,

       Widows, maidens, priests and clerks

       And all for his good works."

      If you will compare this poetry with that of Layamon, you will see that there is something in it quite different from his. This no longer rests, as that does, upon accent and alliteration, but upon rhyme. The English, too, in which it is written, is much more like the English of to-day. For Havelok was written perhaps a hundred years after Layamon's Brut. These are the first lines as they are in the MS.:—

      "Herknet to me gode men

       Wiues maydnes and alle men

       Of a tale pat ich you wile telle

       Wo so it wile here and yerto dwelle."

      That, you see, except for curious spelling, is not very unlike our English of to-day, although it is fair to tell you that all the lines are not so easy to understand as these are.

Chapter XVII THE STORY OF HAVELOK THE DANE

       Table of Contents

      THE good king of whom we read in the last chapter was called Athelwold, and the poet tells us that there were happy days in England while he reigned. But at length he became sick unto death. Then was he sore grieved, because he had no child to sit upon the throne after him save a maiden very fair. But so young was she that she could neither "go on foot nor speak with mouth." So, in this grief and trouble, the King wrote to all his nobles, "from Roxburgh all unto Dover," bidding them come to him.

      And all who had the writings came to the King, where he lay at Winchester. Then, when they were all come, Athelwold prayed them to be faithful to the young Princess, and to choose one of themselves to guard her until she was of age to rule.

      So Godrich, Earl of Cornwall, was chosen to guard the Princess. For he was a true man, wise in council, wise in deed, and he swore to protect his lady until she was of such age as no longer to have need of him. Then he would wed her, he swore, to the best man in all the land.

      So, happy in thought that his daughter should reign after him in peace, the King died, and there was great sorrow and mourning throughout the land. But the people remained at peace, for the Earl ruled well and wisely.

      "From Dover to Roxburgh

       All England of him stood in awe,

       All England was of him adread."

      Meanwhile the Princess Goldboru grew daily more and more fair. And when Earl Godrich saw how fair and noble she became, he sighed and asked himself:—

      "Whether she should be

       Queen and lady over me.

       Whether she should all England,

       And me, and mine, have in her hand.

       Nay, he said,

       'I have a son, a full fair knave,

       He shall England all have,

       He shall be king, he shall be sire.'"

      Then, full of his evil purpose, Godrich thought no more of his oath to the dead king, but cast Goldboru into a darksome prison, where she was poorly clad and ill-fed.

      Now it befell that at this time there was a right good king in Denmark. He had a son named Havelok and two fair daughters. And feeling death come upon him, he left his children in the care of his dear friend Godard, and so died.

      But no sooner was the King in his grave than the false Godard took Havelok and his two sisters and thrust them into a dungeon.

      "And in the castle did he them do

       Where no man might come them to,

       Of their kin. There they prison'd were,

       There they wept oft sort,

       Both for hunger and for cold,

       Ere they were three winters old.

       Scantily he gave them clothes,

       And cared not a nut for his oaths,

       He them nor clothed right, nor fed,

       Nor them richly gave to bed.

       Thane Godard was most sickerly

       Under God the most traitorly

       That ever in earth shapen was

       Except the wicked Judas."

      After a time the traitor went to the tower where the children were, and there he slew the two little girls. But the boy Havelok he spared.

      "For the lad that little was,

       He kneeled before that Judas

       And said, 'Lord, mercy now!

       Homage, Lord, to you I vow!

       All Denmark I to you will give

       If that now you let me live.'"

      So the wicked Earl spared the lad for the time. But he did not mean that he should live. Anon he called a fisherman to him and said:—

      "Grim, thou wist thou art my thral,