The Wake: Man Booker Prize 2014 Longlist Edition Page 4

  my sons and my geburs we was standan by my hus my wifman and annis was standan in the door loccan and i was thincan to get my grandfathers sweord but sum of these men i cnawan. jalf the gebur was there and others from the ham and then also i seen ecceard for he was with this feohtan man who was saen naht but who was langer than all in his stillness

  buccmaster saes ecceard this man is sent from the cyng to holland. harald cyng is callan out the fyrd from the folc of this scir as thu cnawan is his right by anglisc law. harald cyng he calls all anglisc men fit and of feohtan age to cum to him for angland is threatened from ofer the sea and its men must feoht for angland

  this is no good ecceard i saes it is weodmonth

  buccmaster saes ecceard all moste send men it is the word of the cyng all moste send their strength in this time thu will see many hus in this ham is now with no men at all

  we has timber to heaw i saes a barn to mac good i is a socman of these parts i has three oxgangs who will worc my ground the fuccan swine

  then this feohtan man he steps toward me in his helm of light sum dumb swine he may be under this helm but wearan it he locs of sum greatness

  he locs at dunstan and eadberht and he saes thu will cum go bring what thu has. he locs at my geburs and to gamel he saes thy cyng is in need of thu bring what thu has. he locs then at me and at asger and he saes naht then he teorns baec and he macs his lytel band to teorn baec with him along the path in to the fenn

  ecceard locs at me lic he is with me but he is not with me he is doan what he is bid by other men again for this is his worc in his lytel lif

  it may be there will be no feohtan buccmaster he saes they will be baec for the haerfest for this is the duty upon the cyng

  i saes fucc the cyng but so ecceard only colde hiere and he locs at me then in sum ire and saes naht and teorns and walcs with the fyrd down the path and naht mor he specs. ecceard has always been a hund he will tac scraps from any man who has them and no care will he gif to who is fedan his fatt mouth

  well then all is madness on my land. gamel has gan from me he is walcan the path baec to his hus to tac what lytel things he has and go after the fyrd. in my hus my sons dunstan and eadberht is macan around with their things also and odelyn is frettan lic a moth who can not reach the bright mona through wattle. ah my boys she is saen my sons thu is yonge to be feohtan ah my husbond she saes to me do not let these boys cum to harm

  of what is thu specan i saes does thu thinc i can cepe these boys they is men why does thu not asc the cyng to cepe them it is no tasc of mine. i was in a great ire i was thincan that no man in angland is left alone no mor that my grandfather was right that all was cuman apart around us that sons and geburs can be toc away by sum hore in a helm without efen gold bean gifen. if ingengas is cuman we sceolde feoht them on our ground in our way not in sum other land for the will of harald of wessex

  then dunstan is stood by me he has a sacc with his things in and in his eages there is blud. eadberht he is mofan slow lic there is sum curse upon him lic sum deorc wyrd gathers him in but dunstan he is lic a fyr risan to the heofon

  father he saes i sceolde tac the sweord

  of course i cnawan of what he is specan for he is locan at my grandfathers sweord all on the beam of my hus lic in his own time

  i is a feohtan man now he saes i is feohtan for angland i sceolde haf a sweord

  thu is goan to a fyrd with sum herd of geburs i saes thu is not aelfred. this sweord is not sum cildes thing thu has not nefer swung it efen it is as long as thu

  it is a sweord for cwellan ingengas saes dunstan this is what thy grandfather telt thu

  do not fuccan spec to me of him i saes to dunstan and i macs my words hierde then in my hus loud. thu did not cnaw him all thu has seen is his graef this is not a sweord for the fyrd where will thu be cilde in sum fuccan feld in wessex loccan at the sea all daeg. this sweord is for when this hus moste be feoht for it is not to be tacan from my land

  dunstan then he locs at me and in his eages there is ire agan me i has seen this many times but also it seems there is sum other thing what is not ire but is sum thing smaller. odelyn is locan at me lic i is doan sum misdaed but it is her misdaed locan at me this way before my cildren

  to dunstan and eadberht then i specs lic a father sceolde. go i saes and do what is ascd and do naht mor and cum baec. tac what thu needs from the barn there is sithes there and axes. cum baec cwic for there is worc to be doan and thy mothor will pine as mothors do. dunstan then he locs at me both these things still in his eages and i wundors what this feoht will mac him and i saes go then or they will cum baec for thu and both my sons after grippan their mothor lic cildren again both my sons is tacan from my hus and one of them only saes faren wel

  i stood loccan at them go and sean also my dumb gebur asger goan baec to the waet feld locan for weods and singan as if naht had cum and when all had gan from my sight i teorned baec in to my hus. here was odelyn only standan and at her side her gebur annis who was not lic my wif in no way. odelyn was thynne but annis scort and fatt and while odelyns haer was gold annis had blaec haer with all graeg in a widewe was she her husbond had been sum gebur and when the fenn fefor toc him she had naht and cum to worc for me for what i colde gif her

  thu sceolde haf gifen him the sweord saes my wifman

  she cnawan this was a misdaed as soon as it was specan

  sceolde i saes

  it is only my thought she saes it is naht my husbond

  again i saes sceolde. now she macs with annis to go baec to her loom lic she had saed naht lic there was naht in the air but she cnawan there was

  thu fuccan tells me what i sceolde sae to my son i saes what i sceolde do in my hus

  she saes my husbond it was only my dumb thought

  thy dumb thought and thy dumb locan i saes thy locan at me before my sons lic thu is tacan waepens agan me

  i wolde nefer tac waepens agan thu she saes but this is not enough if she belyfs words will right her lies she does not cnaw who is mastor of this hus. i saes to her that she is settan me up for a liar and a dumb esol in front of my cildren and what does she thinc she is doan and she saes naht only locs down at her feet lic a hund lic always and stands still to mac her self lytel. she has no pryde and pryde is neded in a wifman i saes and i strics her about the nebb that will teacc thu to haf sum pryde in thyself i saes. sum times this is enough with her and no mor is needed but this time she saes naht does not efen loc at me it is lic i had done naht. well this is not right and it is triewe i was in a great ire now lic any man wolde be my sons was gan my gebur gan also and i was thincan of how this man in the helm loccd at me

  loc at me when i is specan to thu wifman i saes i is the man in this hus i has lost two sons and a gebur to sum cunt in a helm this ground will fall asunder and thu is with those who wolde mocc me. i will not be mocced by no fuccan wifman who sceolde stand with me and i strics her again and she falls then and she strics her heafod on the stans what is weightan down the warp threads of her loom and she is on the flor hwinan lic a cat in a water pael all blud and spit and annis runnan round her lic an ael on a glaif and she is weac weac it is a sad sight to see

  what wolde thu do without me i saes who wolde teacc thu these things who wolde teacc thu to be a wifman. but as she has no pryde she does not answer

  i is the eald one

  dweller in the beorgs

  i walcs the high lands

  i macs the hwit hors and the hwit man

  i is forger of wyrd and waepen

  cweller of cyngs

  i walcs through deop water to cum to thu

  name me

  at this time with my sons and my best gebur gan it seemed to me that all was lost but in triewth naht had begun efen and if i was triewe to my self efen then i wolde haf saed so. sum thing was cuman still the fenn was tellan me this and the fugols and the treows and though sum lytel thing had cum it was only the first sparc of the great fyr

  well this fyr has cum now it has cum and it has beorned high
and strong and for many years and it has eten all angland in it and now angland is but a tale from a time what is gan. if thu can thinc on what it is lose efry thing thu is thinc on this and if thu belyfs thu wolde do sum thing other than what i done if thu thincs thu wolde be milde or glad to those who wolde heaw away thy lif from thu then thu is sum dumb esol who lifs may be in sum great hus with all warm fyrs and rugs and sum cymly wif and has nefer suffered naht

  but as there is a time after angland so there was a time before and i thincs of this sum daegs when i is moste weary and i thincs of when my grandfather toc me to see where the eald gods lifd before the crist cum. this place was sum way from our hus it toc us one half of a daeg to reach this place i was still a yonge cilde and until we had cum to it i did not cnaw what we was doan for my grandfather he wolde not sae he was a man who wolde not sae. he had toc me from my fathers hus early in the daeg it was in the month of litha when all is bright when blosms is open and buterefleoges is floteran on them. we was in his boat again and on to the water of the fenn and in litha with all bright and hued wyrmfleoges and all the heofon writhan with lif and with the risan sunne on the nebb of the water the fenn what can be so blaec and deop and cold on this mergen was a thing of great wundor

  micel rowan did my grandfather do through the secg and the lesch below the reed and down streams deorc and windan and nefer did i thinc we wolde find our way baec efer to our hus so far was we in to the fenn. the secg had been cuman in ofer us for a long time and it was locan lic we was in a deop place in the ground but after many hours we cum to a place where it fell baec and there opened before us a great mere hecged around with yeolo secg and singan with the call of coot and hraga

  my grandfather then he rowed us slow to the middel of this mere and he stopped rowan and he toc the ars wet and dryppan into the boat and we roccd then with the wind and the water. and my grandfather he saes to me loc into the water cilde loc down

  and i loccd then into the deorc water and at first i colde see naht but the blaec and the ael and the writhan caddis and the grene ropes of mos on the water still but my grandfather was specan lic he meant to hiere a good answer from me so i cept locan and then lic sum masc had cum off my nebb sudden i seen the treows

  under the boat under the water and not so deop was the stocc of a great blaec treow torn to its root lic a tooth in the mouth of an eald wif. a great treow it was wid and blaec as the fyrs aesc blaec as the deorcness beyond the hall on a night when the mona sleeps and as i was locan i seen another and another and i colde see that under this mere was a great holt a great eald holt of treows bigger than any i had seen efer in holland and ealdor i was sure ealdor efen than my grandfather. and through the waters these treows they seemed to stir though in triewth they was still as the graef and blaeccer

  then i specs to my grandfather lic he is sum wicce what is this grandfather i saes what is this holt under the water what world is this. i was thincan many things that afeart me then i was thincan this was the land where aelfs cums from or that ents or dweorgs was here or efen that it was the hall under the mere in what grendel was lifan and that his mothor was cuman for me under my lytel boat. until my grandfather spac i efen thought he was him self an aelf or an eorca in a mans masc cum to tac me to his world of blaec and yfel and me no place to run

  my grandfather then he left the ars still in the boat and we was driftan slow on a wind that was so lytel we colde not feel it and naht near but the yeolo secg and naht hierde but fugols and wyrmfleoges and driftan then ofer the great blaec treows he telt me of the holt of the lost gods of angland

  he telt me that in the time before the crist angland was ham to a hus of gods what was born of this ground and what lifd in it among the folc. and these gods he saed was not lic the crist they was not ingenga gods bound about in lies and words not gods of fear unseen in the heofon what priccd man sore and bound him with laws and afeart him with fyr but these was gods of the treows and the water lic we is folc of them

  the ealdor of these he saes was woden also called grim who walcced the duns and the high hylls woden cyng of the gods of angland from who all triewe anglisc cyngs is cum in blud. and before the crist saes my grandfather and i hierde from others after that this is triewe though then i wolde not belyf him before the crist he telt me it was woden what was hung fyrst on a treow and woden holed with a spere until waters cum from him and woden who fell lic he was cwelled then cum up again and in risan was gifen the wisdom of the world in the runes. and woden then was called upon by anglisc folc in holt and feld and now the preosts they tells us he is the deoful himself though they has tacan his lif for the tale of their own god the hwit crist who nefer cums

  woden has a wifman my grandfather saes also and her name is frig and for all wifmen frig is a freond in the birth of cildren and in luf and in all wifly things. and the first son of woden and frig was thunor freond of all wilde places god with a hamor what waepen brought on the lightnan itself. and his brothor was balder whose beuty was greater efen than the beuty of the fenn in winter efen than of my wifman edith. and his brothor also was ing ealdor of the holt who steered the waegn of lif through the grene months who colde becum a boar for feohtan and for specan to the land and all wihts

  and these gods saes my grandfather these gods was lic our folc lic my edith to me and thy good mothor to thu before she was tacan. these gods was lifan here in this holt in the daegs before the waters cum and drencced it. this was the holt of the eald gods for they had no hus lic us now they was not weac lic us they was of treow and ground

  and ofer all these gods he saes ofer efen great woden was their mothor who is mothor of all who is called erce. erce was this ground itself was angland was the hafoc and the wyrmfleoge and the fenn and the wid sea and the fells of the north and efen the ys lands. and great erce it was who brought the waters to cum ofer the holt of the eald gods and to drenc the treows so they is now lytel stoccs for she seen that the folc of angland had teorned from them to this crist the lyan god who specs of heofon but cnawan not our own ground. for erce she is the ground herself and until anglisc folcs sees what they has done the holt of the gods will be for efer under the deorc waters of this fenn and the gods will be lost to us.

  and the gods he saes the gods them selfs waits still beneath these waters for us to cum baec and when angland is in need if we call them they will cum all of them from the eald holt below this fenn mere and feoht again with anglisc men agan any and heaw them down

  the treows in the mere was beorned in to me that daeg and until i is in my deop graef always i will see them. ah my grandfather the crist he saed wolde nefer cum all the strength of preost and biscop he wolde sae all their hold ofer men is in this one lie that the crist will cum to recen with them all but he nefer cums. and my grandfather he had seen this for when he was a yonge man micel of the world was in high thryll for it had been a thousand years since the crist cum saed all the preosts and biscops and for many years it had been saed this was the year he wolde cum again

  and for one full year folcs was wepan and biddan and sean signs in the heofon and all preosts and biscops was saen it will be tomergen and then again tomergen. and then when the year was gan at last with a thousand fyrs on a thousand hylls ofer angland and folcs callan up to heofon on them and when it was done and the crist was still not cum then the preosts and the biscops they saed naht mor and it was nefer spoc of again. and then saed my grandfather then their lies was claere and yet dumb men still belyfs them and triewely he saed most men is hunds or esols and not to be loccd up to

  well my grandfather was a wise man in many things and of the hunds and esols he spac triewe and of the crist also. but of the lost gods under the mere the eald gods who wolde cum again when angland called well i was callan them i was callan them from fenn and holt and they did not feoht for angland. woden thunor ing they did not cum for harald cyng for dunstan or eadberht or odelyn lic they had not cum for all the men of sanlac. lic they had not cum to stand agan the bastard and send him baec to the sea with the fre
nc hunds he bring to eat our land lic goats

  but i sceolde spec with care for i did call and sum thing

  sum thing cum

  sum one cum

  sum one cum and is still here

  but i will spec now while he is still i will spec to thu of the fyrs beginnan as was seen in fugol and in star and in many other signs what the fenn gaf to me.

  my sons and my best gebur was tacan from me in high sumor and i did belyf this wolde cwell us. i had to go with asger to the meado and sithe and succ was the grass and succ the month that odelyn also and efen annis moste sithe though this is not wifmans worc their worc bean to reap only. but naht mor colde we do and so annis moste sithe and lay the grass in windrows and then we moste all mac riccs for the hig and dry it and tac it to the barn what was still in need of worc. and later also annis moste help in cuttan and feccan in the waet and the baerlic at haerfest then gleanan and grindan the flour for the loaf for though ecceard had saed my men wolde be baec they was not and on our land the crops grow cwic and the weods long. and the swine too was needan worc also the sceap and oxen and our one hors and the treows and when the aeppels was growan annis moste mac of it what she colde for the winter and also do all other wifly things and i moste be worcan on barn and heges and heawan in the holt and tendan to the haerfest and locan at asger that he not cut off his hand with an ax or sum other dumb thing

  well ecceard had not gan with the fyrd he bean gerefa and he bean also a man who is gan when hard things cum and many a time i was wantan to go to the ham and tell him how i felt about this but i cnawan in triewth it was not ecceard who was wrong. oft i thought i wolde lic to see harald cyng cum and worc on my barn as he had toc my men but other times i thought that if it was triewe about the landwaster and the frenc duc and the brothor of the cyng and all then harald cyng wolde be needan mor than my gebur and dunstan with his ire and his cildes dreams