ve and high. He only
of the tribe wore a garment that swept the ground, and his head was bare
and his long black hair descended to his girdle, and rarely was change
or human passion seen in his calm aspect. He feasted not, nor drank
wine, nor was his presence frequent in the streets. He laughed not,
neither did he smile, save when alone in the forest,--and then he
laughed at the follies of his tribe.

So he walked slowly through the crowd, neither turning to the left nor
to the right, as the crowd gave way; and he supported his steps with a
staff of the knotted pine.

And when he came to the place where the chiefs were met, and the two
princes stood in the centre, he bade the people around him proclaim
silence; then mounting on a huge fragment of rock, he thus spake to the
multitude:--

"Princes, Warriors, and Bards! ye, O council of the wise men! and ye, O
hunters of the forests and snarers of the fishes of the streams! hearken
to Morven, the son of Osslah. Ye know that I am lowly of race and weak
of limb; but did I not give into your hands the tribe of Alrich, and did
ye not slay them in the dead of night with a great slaughter? Surely, ye
must know this of himself did not the herdsman's son; surely he was but
the agent of the bright gods that love the children of Oestrich! Three
nights since when slumber was on the earth, was not my voice heard in
the streets? Did I not proclaim woe to the kingly house of Oestrich? and
verily the dark arm had fallen on the bosom of the mighty, that is no
more. Could I have dreamed this thing merely in a dream, or was I not
as the voice of the bright gods that watch over the tribes of Oestrich?
Wherefore, O men and chiefs! scorn not the son of Osslah, but listen to
his words; for are they not the wisdom of the stars? Behold, last night,
I sat alone in the valley, and the trees were hushed around, and not
a breath stirred; and I looked upon the star that counsels the son of
Osslah; and I said, 'Dread conqueror of the cloud! thou that bathest thy
beauty in the streams and piercest the pine-boughs with thy presence;
behold thy servant grieved because the mighty one hath passed away, and
many foes surround the houses of my brethren; and it is well that they
should have a king valiant and prosperous in war, the cherished of the
stars. Wherefore, O star! as thou gavest into our hands the warriors of
Alrich, and didst warn us of the fall of the oak of our tribe, wherefore
I pray thee give