Page 241 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

X ne Argosies [.1510-1440 B.c.]
of nuts and berries, cheeses and bowls of milk. And after the god
and his priests had taken their share, there would be the com­
munal feast, a feast to be remembered long into the lean days of
winter.

But best of all, the children loved yuletide, the midwinter
day when the chariot of the sun once more began its climb up the
sky and the night-time voyage of the sun beneath the earth from
west to east began once more to shorten. Then the snow lay thick

over the valley, and the cold bit harsh in the lungs, and the fes­
tival was celebrated inside the snug-built houses. But the tallow
lamps and the central hearth burnt brightly on that day, and the
cattle in the byre beyond the thin partition smelt warm and com­
fortable. Everyone, including the gods and the cattle, fed well

on that day, with thick rich-smelling stews of dried meat and
barley, with wheaten cakes, and with apples bobbing in the
mulled ale. And the muffled priests drew the sun chariot on a
sledge through the village, stopping at each house to chant their
age-old songs of hope renewed, and to receive the gifts to the

god in thanksgiving for the token that even the longest winter
would have an end.
Punctuated by the festivals, the years took their course, and
the boys grew older and began to talk about what they would

do when they were grown men. Their talk was always of adven­
ture far afield, and the timid ones who proposed staying to till
their fathers’ lands and to fish were laughed to scorn. Among the
more daring, two ambitions were alternately in favor, to sign on
in the ships for foreign parts, or to take service with the king and

win renown on the field of battle. The popularity of either course
depended much on recent events.
Most years the king visited the valley in his summer progress
from his hall in the north. The first intimation would be the

mounted messenger, always a young man in resplendent scarlet
homespun cloak. The boys would feast their eyes on his rich
bronze ornaments, the double spiral of his cloak clasp and the
massive rings around his throat and wrists, and above all the
sword at his side, while the older men would admire his sure

horsemanship and recall the time when horses were regarded as
too mettlesome to ride and suited only for the drawing of char­