They have been
plotting
here!
Tennyson
Aldwyth, Aldwyth!
HAROLD. They shout as they would have her for a queen.
MORCAR. She hath followed with our host, and suffer'd all.
HAROLD. What would ye, men?
VOICE. Our old Northumbrian crown,
And kings of our own choosing.
HAROLD. Your old crown
Were little help without our Saxon carles
Against Hardrada.
VOICE. Little! we are Danes,
Who conquer'd what we walk on, our own field.
HAROLD.
They have been plotting here! [_Aside_.
VOICE. He calls us little!
HAROLD. The kingdoms of this world began with little,
A hill, a fort, a city--that reach'd a hand
Down to the field beneath it, 'Be thou mine,
Then to the next, 'Thou also! ' If the field
Cried out 'I am mine own;' another hill
Or fort, or city, took it, and the first
Fell, and the next became an Empire.
VOICE. Yet
Thou art but a West Saxon: _we_ are Danes!
HAROLD. My mother is a Dane, and I am English;
There is a pleasant fable in old books,
Ye take a stick, and break it; bind a score
All in one faggot, snap it over knee,
Ye cannot.
VOICE. Hear King Harold! he says true!
HAROLD. Would ye be Norsemen?
HAROLD. They shout as they would have her for a queen.
MORCAR. She hath followed with our host, and suffer'd all.
HAROLD. What would ye, men?
VOICE. Our old Northumbrian crown,
And kings of our own choosing.
HAROLD. Your old crown
Were little help without our Saxon carles
Against Hardrada.
VOICE. Little! we are Danes,
Who conquer'd what we walk on, our own field.
HAROLD.
They have been plotting here! [_Aside_.
VOICE. He calls us little!
HAROLD. The kingdoms of this world began with little,
A hill, a fort, a city--that reach'd a hand
Down to the field beneath it, 'Be thou mine,
Then to the next, 'Thou also! ' If the field
Cried out 'I am mine own;' another hill
Or fort, or city, took it, and the first
Fell, and the next became an Empire.
VOICE. Yet
Thou art but a West Saxon: _we_ are Danes!
HAROLD. My mother is a Dane, and I am English;
There is a pleasant fable in old books,
Ye take a stick, and break it; bind a score
All in one faggot, snap it over knee,
Ye cannot.
VOICE. Hear King Harold! he says true!
HAROLD. Would ye be Norsemen?
