Tostig

“ HAROLD. I would it went as well as with mine earldom, Leofwin's and Gurth's. TOSTIG. Ye govern milder men. GURTH. We have made them milder by just government. TOSTIG. Ay, ever give yourselves your own good word. LEOFWIN. An honest gift, by all the Saints, if giver And taker be but honest! but they bribe Each other, and so often, an honest world Will not believe them. HAROLD. I may tell thee, Tostig, I heard from thy Northumberland to-day. TOSTIG. From spies of thine to spy my nakedness In my poor North! HAROLD. There is a movement there, A blind one—nothing yet. ”

“ HAROLD. Take thee, or free thee, Free thee or slay thee, Norway will have war; No man would strike with Tostig, save for Norway. Thou art nothing in thine England, save for Norway, Who loves not thee but war. ”

“ What will he offer to the earl, and what part of England will he surrender to the King of Norway?"
A loud, ringing voice from among the Saxon horsemen at once responded:
"To Tostig, the son of Godwin, full pardon and an earldom. To Harold Hardrada of Norway, seven feet of English ground for his burial. Or, since he is said to be taller than other men, he will be allowed twelve inches more."
"Then tell thou him," replied the earl, "that Tostig will not desert the comrades [254] who have trusted him, and that he will fight to the last." ”

“ Look at him— The rosy face, and long down-silvering beard, The brows unwrinkled as a summer mere.— STIGAND. A summer mere with sudden wreckful gusts From a side-gorge. Passionless? How he flamed When Tostig's anger'd earldom flung him, nay, He fain had calcined all Northumbria To one black ash, but that thy patriot passion Siding with our great Council against Tostig, Out-passion'd his! Holy? ay, ay, forsooth, A conscience for his own soul, not his realm; A twilight conscience lighted thro' a chink; Thine by the sun ”

“ HAROLD. Better die than lie! MALET. Choose therefore whether thou wilt have thy conscience White as a maiden's hand, or whether England Be shatter'd into fragments. HAROLD. News from England? MALET. Morcar and Edwin have stirr'd up the Thanes Against thy brother Tostig's governance; And all the North of Humber is one storm. HAROLD. I should be there, Malet, I should be there! MALET. And Tostig in his own hall on suspicion Hath massacred the Thane that was his guest, Gamel, the son of Orm: and there be more As villainously slain. HAROLD. The wolf! the beast! Ill news for guests, ha, Malet! ”

“ Steady and stern had indeed been the rule of the son of Brander, and he had brooked no gainsaying, but he had been a prudent captain from the first, and there were a full third of the men now to stand by him in his peril. Would there had been more, for on both sides the slain were many. Moreover, when a man went down that was quickly his end, on whichever side he fought, for an enemy came to thrust him.
"Wake, son of Brander! Wake!" shouted Tostig in the ear of Ulric. "Call thou upon Odin, thy father, and draw thy sword." ”

“ HAROLD. Make not thou The nothing something. Wisdom when in power And wisest, should not frown as Power, but smile As kindness, watching all, till the true must Shall make her strike as Power: but when to strike— O Tostig, O dear brother—If they prance, Rein in, not lash them, lest they rear and run And break both neck and axle. ”

“ So thought others of the vikings, as if the crew of white monsters now clambering nearer over the rugged ridges of the ice were as his own cattle to the mighty gnome who had builded this frozen tower for his castle.
"As many they are," said Tostig, "as the fingers of a hand. I have heard that they have no fear of men." ”

“ Hate him? I could love him More, tenfold, than this fearful child can do; Griffyth I hated: why not hate the foe Of England? Griffyth when I saw him flee, Chased deer-like up his mountains, all the blood That should have only pulsed for Griffyth, beat For his pursuer. I love him or think I love him. If he were King of England, I his queen, I might be sure of it. Nay, I do love him.— She must be cloister'd somehow, lest the king Should yield his ward to Harold's will. What harm? She hath but blood enough to live, not love.— When Harold goes and Tostig, shall I play The craftier Tostig with him? ”

“ Whither goest thou?"
"To Jerusalem," said Ben Ezra, "and I think I may have somewhat to do there for thy jarl. I love him much. I come again shortly."
"The gods go with thee," said Tostig. "I think thee a brave warrior. Art thou sure that the jarl healeth of these hurts?"
"No man knoweth surely," said Ben Ezra, "but see ye to it that he hath quiet."
"We will care for that," said Tostig. "I have been sore wounded myself, and while the cuts were knitting I would fain have cleft the head of any who came near me." ”

“ EDWARD. Tostig says true; my son, thou art too hard, Not stagger'd by this ominous earth and heaven: But heaven and earth are threads of the same loom, Play into one another, and weave the web That may confound thee yet. HAROLD. Nay, I trust not, For I have served thee long and honestly. EDWARD. I know it, son; I am not thankless: thou Hast broken all my foes, lighten'd for me The weight of this poor crown, and left me time And peace for prayer to gain a better one. Twelve years of service! England loves thee for it. Thou art the man to rule her! ALDWYTH (aside) . So, not Tostig! ”

“ Sometimes [Pg 57] as they did so they lifted up their heads toward the moon, but oftener toward the ice king.
"Look at him now!" exclaimed Ulric. "The moon is shining upon him wonderfully.
"It is so," said Tostig, "but I think not of that. Wilt thou note this, that whenever there cometh a boom of the rending ice the bears call out to their mates? More than we do they know of such matters. All such creatures have gods of their own, and we may have offended them. I like it not."
"The gods of the bears will care for the bears!" said Knud. "They have naught to do with men." ”

“ They assisted the Northumbrians to expel Tostig, of the house of Godwin, in 1065 and Morcar was chosen earl by the rebels. Harold, Tostig’s brother, consented to this extension of the power of the Mercian house. In spite of this concession, and the help which he gave them against Tostig and Harold Hardrada, the two brothers left him to fight alone at Hastings. After trying to secure the crown for their own house, they submitted to William, but lost their earldoms. They attempted to raise the North in 1068, and failed ignominiously. ”

“ By stern and cruel measures Tostig introduced a certain amount of order into the wild northern district under his rule; this severity made him exceedingly unpopular, and in 1065 Northumbria broke into open revolt. Declaring Tostig an outlaw and choosing Morkere in his stead, the rebels marched southwards and were met at Oxford by Earl Harold, who, rather against the will of the king, granted their demands. Tostig sailed to Flanders and thence to Normandy, where he offered his services to Duke William, who was related to his wife and who was preparing for his invasion of England. ”

“ Down fell the soldier, speared through the face, so that he spoke not again, and on rode the Saxons toward the sea.
"We have now only starlight," said Lysias, "but yonder at anchor floateth the galley of Herod, the tetrarch. [Pg 405] This is according to the saying of the procurator. All is well, for he who cometh hath not arrived. There are boats; take them. But here do I leave you, for I have a further errand. Fare thee well."
"Success to thee, O Lysias," said Tostig. "We are thy friends henceforth. Haste thee about thy business. We can care for ourselves now that we see keels and waves." ”

“ Let kith and kin stand close as our shield-wall, Who breaks us then? I say, thou hast a tongue, And Tostig is not stout enough to bear it. Vex him not, Leofwin. TOSTIG. No, I am not vext,— Altho' ye seek to vex me, one and all. I have to make report of my good earldom To the good king who gave it—not to you— Not any of you.—I am not vext at all. HAROLD. The king? the king is ever at his prayers; In all that handles matter of the state I am the king. TOSTIG. That shall thou never be If I can thwart thee. HAROLD. Brother, brother! TOSTIG. Away! ”

“ GURTH (calling) . Harold, Harold! HAROLD. The voice of Gurth! (Enter GURTH.) Good even, my good brother! GURTH. Good even, gentle Edith. EDITH. Good even, Gurth. GURTH. Ill news hath come! Our hapless brother, Tostig— He, and the giant King of Norway, Harold Hardrada—Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Orkney, Are landed North of Humber, and in a field So packt with carnage that the dykes and brooks Were bridged and damm'd with dead, have overthrown Morcar and Edwin. HAROLD. Well then, we must fight. How blows the wind? GURTH. Against St. Valery And William. HAROLD. Well then, we will to the North. ”

“ No other Englishman appears to have been so beloved by Eadward as Tostig, the brother of Harold. This stern and violent man gained great influence over the weak king, who in spite of his saintliness was spiteful and cruel when any one offended him, and must therefore have been glad to find a counsellor and companion as unscrupulous as he was himself when his passion was roused, and of a far stronger will than his own. ”

“ Shall we not now go on into the forest and find a place where we may kindle a fire?"
"O Tostig," said the jarl, "Ben Ezra is our guide. This is his country. What sayest thou, O Jew?"
"Only this," replied Ben Ezra; "that we are upon Mount Carmel, and that the forests thereof are deep. We are safe if we are prudent. It is a wilderness into which not many come at any time, but there are villages and cities not far away."
"Lead on thou, then," said Ulric. "Let every man bring all his burden. We will keep up strong hearts, and we will see to what this strange coming on shore will take us." ”

“ Thou swarest falsely by our blessed bones, We give our voice against thee out of heaven! Sanguelac! Sanguelac! The arrow! the arrow! HAROLD (starting up, battle-axe in hand.) Away! My battle-axe against your voices. Peace! The king's last word—'the arrow!' I shall die— I die for England then, who lived for England— What nobler? men must die. I cannot fall into a falser world— I have done no man wrong. Tostig, poor brother, Art thou so anger'd? Fain had I kept thine earldom in thy hands Save for thy wild and violent will that wrench'd All hearts of freemen from thee. ”

“ Therefore, every house which the invaders had entered upon landing had been found nearly empty, to the great disgust of the brave Vikings.
[174]
"Didst thou see the carts that went ashore from the ships?" asked Father Brian of his young friend. "The horses were fetched along to pull them and not for riding. They will go out to gather all that's left, or there'll be a famine in the army."
"The king's orders are not to kill anybody that isn't fighting," said Ned. "Tostig lost his earldom by being cruel to the people. Now he is going to try and make himself popular." ”

“ Sleeps. VISION OF EDWARD. Son Harold, I thy king, who came before To tell thee thou shouldst win at Stamford-bridge, Come yet once more, from where I am at peace, Because I loved thee in my mortal day, To tell thee them shalt die on Senlac hill— Sanguelac! VISION OF WULFNOTH. O brother, from my ghastly oubliette I send my voice across the narrow seas— No more, no more, dear brother, nevermore— Sanguelac! VISION OF TOSTIG. O brother, most unbrotherlike to me, Thou gavest thy voice against me in my life, I give my voice against thee from the grave— Sanguelac! ”

“ None saw the stone, so swiftly did it pass, but the trierarch said to the centurion:
"O Lentulus, thou art said to be as good a spearman as Pontius of Asia. Have thy pilum ready and try thy fortune."
"It is too far," said Lentulus, poising his pilum. "I was in battle once with that same Pontius. Hercules! I am slain!"
Loud clanged his brazen helmet and prone he fell upon the deck. He did not move again. The stone hurled by Tostig had left him but life enough for that one outcry as it smote him.
"May all the gods forbid!" exclaimed Comus. "What ill fortune is this? He is dead! ”

“ Harold always hated him. Why—how they fought when boys—and, Holy Mary! How Harold used to beat him! HAROLD. Why, boys will fight. Leofwin would often fight me, and I beat him. Even old Gurth would fight. I had much ado To hold mine own against old Gurth. Old Gurth, We fought like great states for grave cause; but Tostig— On a sudden—at a something—for a nothing— The boy would fist me hard, and when we fought I conquer'd, and he loved me none the less, Till thou wouldst get him all apart, and tell him That where he was but worsted, he was wrong'd. Ah! thou hast taught the king to spoil him too ”

“ What he expected happened to him. The evening of the next day, without knowing how, he found himself at her back yard, by her hay shed, where in autumn they had once had a meeting. As though having a stroll, he stopped there lighting a cigarette. A neighbouring peasant-woman saw him, and as he turned back he heard her say to someone: "Go, he is waiting for you -- on my dying word he is standing there. Go, you fool!"
He saw how a woman—she—ran to the hay shed; but as a peasant had met him it was no longer possible for him to turn back, and so he went home. ”

“ I caught hold of the nearest branch and climbed to the top of the wall; then, before he had time to catch me, I jumped down on the other side.
"What foolish things you do!" he muttered, flushing again and trying to hide his confusion under a pretence of annoyance; "you might really have hurt yourself. But how do you mean to get out of this?"
He was even more confused than before, but this time his confusion frightened rather than pleased me. It infected me too and made me blush; avoiding his eye and not knowing what to say, I began to pick cherries though I had nothing to put them in. ”