sung aforetime.

Whence are ye and whither, O fowl of our fathers?
What field have ye looked on, what acres unshorn?
What land have ye left where the battle-folk gathers,
And the war-helms are white o'er the paths of the corn?

What tale do ye bear of the people uncraven,
Where amidst the long hall-shadow sparkle the spears;
Where aloft on the hall-ridge now flappeth the raven,
And singeth the song of the nourishing years?

There gather the lads in the first of the morning,
While white lies the battle-day's dew on the grass,
And the kind steeds trot up to the horn's voice of warning,
And the winds wake and whine in the dusk of the pass.

O fowl of our fathers, why now are ye resting?
Come over the mountains and look on the foe.
Full fair after fight won shall yet be your nesting;
And your fledglings the sons of the kindred shall know.

Therewith he strode with his head upraised, and above him flew the
ravens, croaking as if they answered his song in friendly fashion.

It was but a little after this that the path turned aside sharp toward
the cliffs, and the seekers were abashed thereof, till Hallblithe running
forward beheld a great cavern in the face of the cliff at the path's
ending: so he turned and cried on his fellows, and they hastened up, and
presently stood before that cavern's mouth with doubt and joy mingled in
their minds; for now, mayhappen, they had reached the gate of the
Glittering Plain, or mayhappen the gate of death.

The sad man hung his head and spake: "Doth not some new trap abide us?
What do we here? is this aught save death?"

Spake the Elder of Elders: "Was not death on either hand e'en now, even
as treason besetteth the king upon his throne?"

And the second said: "Yea, we were as the host which hath no road save
through the multitude of foe-men."

But Hallblithe laughed and said: "Why do ye hang back, then? As for me,
if death be here, soon is mine errand sped." Therewith he led the way
into the dark of the cave, and the ravens hung about the crag overhead
croaking, as the men left the light.

So was their way swallowed up in the cavern, and day and its time became
nought to them; they went on and on, and became exceeding faint and
weary, but rested not, for death was behind them. Whiles they deemed
they heard waters running, and whiles the singing of fowl; and to
Hallblithe it seemed that he heard his name called, so that he sho