Tales of a Wayside Inn

[Illustration]




                                TALES

                                 OF A

                             WAYSIDE INN


                                  BY

                     HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.


                            [Illustration]


                               BOSTON:
                         TICKNOR AND FIELDS.
                                1863.




      Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by
                     HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW,
    in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
                            Massachusetts.


                          UNIVERSITY PRESS:
                     WELCH, BIGELOW, AND COMPANY,
                              CAMBRIDGE.




CONTENTS.


TALES OF A WAYSIDE INN.

                                                          PAGE
  PRELUDE.

      THE WAYSIDE INN                                        1

  THE LANDLORD'S TALE.

      PAUL REVERE'S RIDE                                    18

  INTERLUDE                                                 26

  THE STUDENT'S TALE.

      THE FALCON OF SER FEDERIGO                            30

  INTERLUDE                                                 46

  THE SPANISH JEW'S TALE.

      THE LEGEND OF RABBI BEN LEVI                          49

  INTERLUDE                                                 53

  THE SICILIAN'S TALE.

      KING ROBERT OF SICILY                                 55

  INTERLUDE                                                 69

  THE MUSICIAN'S TALE.

      THE SAGA OF KING OLAF                                 71

          I. The Challenge of Thor                          71
         II. King Olaf's Return                             74
        III. Thora of Rimol                                 79
         IV. Queen Sigrid the Haughty                       83
          V. The Skerry of Shrieks                          88
         VI. The Wraith of Odin                             94
        VII. Iron-Beard                                     98
       VIII. Gudrun                                        103
         IX. Thangbrand the Priest                         106
          X. Raud the Strong                               111
         XI. Bishop Sigurd at Salten Fiord                 114
        XII. King Olaf's Christmas                         120
       XIII. The Building of the Long Serpent              125
        XIV. The Crew of the Long Serpent                  130
         XV. A Little Bird in the Air                      134
        XVI. Queen Thyri and the Angelica Stalks           137
       XVII. King Svend of the Forked Beard                144
      XVIII. King Olaf and Earl Sigvald                    149
        XIX. King Olaf's War-Horns                         152
         XX. Einar Tamberskelver                           156
        XXI. King Olaf's Death-drink                       160
       XXII. The Nun of Nidaros                            165

  INTERLUDE                                                169

  THE THEOLOGIAN'S TALE.

      TORQUEMADA                                           173

  INTERLUDE                                                187

  THE POET'S TALE.

      THE BIRDS OR KILLINGWORTH                            189

  FINALE                                                   205


BIRDS OF PASSAGE.

FLIGHT THE SECOND.

  THE CHILDREN'S HOUR                                      209

  ENCELADUS                                                212

  THE CUMBERLAND                                           215

  SNOW-FLAKES                                              218

  A DAY OF SUNSHINE                                        220

  SOMETHING LEFT UNDONE                                    222

  WEARINESS                                                224




TALES OF A WAYSIDE INN.




PRELUDE.


THE WAYSIDE INN.

  One Autumn night, in Sudbury town,
  Across the meadows bare and brown,
  The windows of the wayside inn
  Gleamed red with fire-light through the leaves
  Of woodbine, hanging from the eaves
  Their crimson curtains rent and thin.

  As ancient is this hostelry
  As any in the land may be,
  Built in the old Colonial day,
  When men lived in a grander way,
  With ampler hospitality;
  A kind of old Hobgoblin Hall,
  Now somewhat fallen to decay,
  With weather-stains upon the wall,
  And stairways worn, and crazy doors,
  And creaking and uneven floors,
  And chimneys huge, and tiled and tall.

  A region of repose it seems,
  A place of slumber and of dreams,
  Remote among the wooded hills!
  For there no noisy railway speeds,
  Its torch-race scattering smoke and gleeds;
  But noon and night, the panting teams
  Stop under the great oaks, that throw
  Tangles of light