Eaters of the Dead

THE RETURN FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY

NOW I PASSED SOME FURTHER WEEKS IN THE company of the warriors and nobles of the kingdom of Rothgar. This was a pleasant time, for the people were gracious and hospitable, and most attentive to my wounds, which healed well, praise Allah. But it happened soon enough that I desired to return to my own land. To King Rothgar I made known I was the emissary of the Caliph of Bagdad, and that I must complete the business he had sent me upon, or incur his wrath.

None of this mattered to Rothgar, who said I was a noble warrior, that he desired I should remain in his lands, to live the life of such an honored warrior. He said I was his friend forevermore, and that I should have whatever I desired within his means to give me. Yet he was reluctant to let me depart, and contrived all manner of excuses and delays. Rothgar said I must look to my wounds, although these injuries were plainly healed; also he said I must recover my strength, although my strength was evidently restored. Finally he said I must await the outfitting of a ship, which was no mean undertaking; and when I inquired after the time such a ship might be outfitted, the King made a vague reply, as if this did not matter to him overmuch. And upon those times when I pressed him to depart, he turned cross and asked if I was dissatisfied with his hospitality; to this I was obliged to respond with praise for his graciousness and all variety of expressions of contentment. Soon enough I thought the old King less a fool than I had previously.

Now I went to Herger, speaking of my plight and I said to him: “This King is not such a fool as I have taken him to be.”

In reply, Herger said: “You are wrong, for he is a fool, and does not act with sense.” And Herger said he would arrange for my departure with the King.

Here was the manner of it. Herger sought the audience of King Rothgar in private, and said to the King that he was a great and wise ruler whose people loved and respected him, by virtue of the way he looked after the affairs of the kingdom and the welfare of his people. This flattery softened the old man. Now Herger said to him that of the five sons of the King, only one survived, and he was Wulfgar, who had gone to Buliwyf as messenger, and now remained far off. Herger said that Wulfgar should be summoned home, and that a parry for this purpose be arranged, for there was no other heir save Wulfgar.

These things he told the King. Also, I believe he spoke some words in private to the Queen Weilew, who had much influence over her husband.

Then it happened at an evening banquet that Rothgar called for the fitting out of a ship and a crew, for a voyage to return Wulfgar to his kingdom. I requested to join the crew, and this the old King could not deny me. The preparation of the ship took the space of several days. I spent much time with Herger in this interval. Herger had chosen to remain behind.

One day we stood upon the cliffs, overlooking the ship on the beach, as it was prepared for the voyage and fitted with provisions. Herger said to me: “You are starting upon a long journey. We shall make prayers for your safe-keeping.”

I inquired whom he would pray to, and he responded, “To Odin, and Frey, and Thor, and Wyrd, and to the several other gods who may influence your safe journey.” These are the names of the Northmen gods.

I replied, “I believe in one God, who is Allah, the All-Merciful and Compassionate.”

“I know this,” Herger said. “Perhaps in your lands, one god is enough, but not here; here there are many gods and each has his importance, so we shall pray to all of them on your behalf.” I thanked him then, for the prayers of a nonbeliever are as good as they are sincere, and I did not doubt the sincerity of Herger.

Now, Herger had long known that I believed differently from him, but as the time of my departure drew close, he inquired many times again of my beliefs, and at unusual moments, thinking to catch me off my guard and learn the truth. I took his many questions as a form of test, as Buliwyf once tested my knowledge of writing. Always I answered him in the same way, thus increasing his perplexity.

One day he said to me, with no show that he had ever inquired previously: “What is the nature of your god Allah?”

I said to him, “Allah is the one God, who rules all things, sees all things, knows all things, and disposes all things.” These words I had spoken before.

After a time, Herger said to me, “Do you never anger this Allah?”

I said: “I do, but He is all-forgiving and merciful.”

Herger said: “When it suits his purposes?”

I said that this was so, and Herger considered my answer. Finally he said this, with a shaking head: “The risk is too great. A man cannot place too much faith in any one thing, neither a woman, nor a horse, nor a weapon, nor any single thing.”

“Yet I do,” I said.

“As you see best,” Herger replied, “but there is too much that man does not know. And what man does not know, that is the province of the gods.”

In this way I saw that he would never be persuaded to my beliefs, nor I to his, and so we parted. In truth, it was a sad leave-taking, and I was heavy-hearted to depart from Herger and the remainder of the warriors. Herger felt this also. I gripped his shoulder, and he mine, and then I set out upon the black ship, which carried me to the land of the Dans. As this ship with her stout crew slipped away from the shores of Venden, I had view of the gleaming rooftops of the great hall of Hurot, and, turning away, of the gray and vast ocean before us. Now it happened

The manuscript ends abruptly at this point, the end of a transcribed page, with the final terse words “ nunc fit,” and although there is clearly more to the manuscript, further passages have not been discovered. This is, of course, the purest historical accident, but every translator has commented upon the odd appropriateness of this abrupt ending, which suggests the start of some new adventure, some new strange sight, that for the most arbitrary reasons of the past thousand years will be denied us.