This is also from the main collection and is an unfinished version of a sort of intro to the story. Unlike the High Queen's Tale, it stays in meter.
I have also put this under a "Read More" break as it is rather long.
I have also put this under a "Read More" break as it is rather long.
In a faraway land, grand, wide, and mountainous,
Lies the setting of the tale I proceed to tell.
Bordered on the west was it by a vast blue sea,
And on the east and south by tall mountains was bound.
Here rested a kingdom by the name of Itvea.
A kingdom far spread out was this land Itvea,
And the ways of the king therefore were spread quite thin.
Thus were some villages very remote indeed
From the doings of others in fair Itvea.
In one such village, far off in the southern hills,
Lived a young girl named Laina, with her family.
Of her parents, this Laina the sole child was,
And no family also had she save those two.
Yet so beloved was she in that small village,
It was if all the village were her kindred.
Her family was of poor estate in men's eyes,
But in eyes sacred were they richer than a king,
For they lacked very little in faith and belief,
Though material goods they did not have much of.
Her father was a farmer, industrious and good,
And her mother a humble spinner of plain cloth
Whose work was known throughout the village as well done.
Laina, who was about this time twelve years of age,
Worked with them both, at spinning-wheel and the fields,
And knew also how to cook and to keep the house.
Lies the setting of the tale I proceed to tell.
Bordered on the west was it by a vast blue sea,
And on the east and south by tall mountains was bound.
Here rested a kingdom by the name of Itvea.
A kingdom far spread out was this land Itvea,
And the ways of the king therefore were spread quite thin.
Thus were some villages very remote indeed
From the doings of others in fair Itvea.
In one such village, far off in the southern hills,
Lived a young girl named Laina, with her family.
Of her parents, this Laina the sole child was,
And no family also had she save those two.
Yet so beloved was she in that small village,
It was if all the village were her kindred.
Her family was of poor estate in men's eyes,
But in eyes sacred were they richer than a king,
For they lacked very little in faith and belief,
Though material goods they did not have much of.
Her father was a farmer, industrious and good,
And her mother a humble spinner of plain cloth
Whose work was known throughout the village as well done.
Laina, who was about this time twelve years of age,
Worked with them both, at spinning-wheel and the fields,
And knew also how to cook and to keep the house.