Sir James George Frazer - "The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3)"

Edward J. O'Brien and John Cournos, editors - "The Best British Short Stories of 1922"

James Athearn Jones - "Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 2 (of 3)"

M. E. Braddon - "The Golden Calf"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Theodoric the Goth

T >> Thomas Hodgkin >> Theodoric the Goth




[Footnote 165: Some of these adventures remind us of the story of the
kitchen-knave as told in Tennyson's Gareth and Lynette.]

Now, Hermanric, as has been said, was sovereign lord of Rome and of many
other fair lands beside: and all kings and dukes to the south of the
great mountains served him, and, as it seems, even Theodoric himself
owned him as over-lord, and he was by far the greatest potentate in the
south of Europe. For the Emperor himself then ruled only over Bulgaria
and Greece, while King Hermanric's dominions included all that lay west
of the Sea of Adria.

Till this time Theodoric and his uncle, Hermanric, had been good
friends. The young hero had visited the older one at Romaborg, and they
had fought side by side against their enemies. But now came a disastrous
change, which made Theodoric a wanderer from his home for many years;
and this was all the work of that false traitor, Hermanric's chief
counsellor, Sibich.[166] For Sibich's honour as a husband had been
stained by his lord while he himself was absent on an embassy; but
instead of avenging himself with his own right hand on the adulterous
king, he planned a cruel and wide-reaching scheme of vengeance which
should embrace all the kindred of the wrong-doer. Of Hermanric's three
sons he caused that the eldest should be sent on an embassy to
Wilkina-land[167] demanding tribute from the king of that country, and
should be slain there by an accomplice; that the second should be sent
on a like embassy to England, and sailing in a leaky ship, should be
swallowed up by the waves; and that the youngest should be slain by his
father in a fit of rage provoked by the slanderous accusations of
Sibich. Then he set Hermanric against his nephews, the Harlungs, sons of
his half-brother, Ake; and these hapless young men were besieged in
their Rhine-land castle, to which Hermanric set fire, and issuing forth,
sword in hand, that they might not die like rats in a hole, were
captured and hung by their enraged uncle on the highest tree in their
own domains. So was all the family of Hermanric destroyed except
Theodoric and his young brother Diether: and against Theodoric Sibich
now began to ply his engines of calumny. He represented to Hermanric
that Theodoric's kingdom had for some time been growing large, while his
own had been growing smaller, and hinted that soon Theodoric would
openly attack his uncle. Meanwhile, and in order to test his peaceable
disposition, Hermanric, by Sibich's advice, claimed that he should pay
him tribute for Amalungen-land.[168] When Theodoric refused to do this
Hermanric was persuaded of the truth of Sibich's words, and declared
that Theodoric also should be hanged, "for right well do both he and I
know which of us is the mightier".

[Footnote 166: In the Norse Siska, sometimes Bicki.]

[Footnote 167: Norway.]

[Footnote 168: Perhaps North Italy.]

Witig and Heime, who were now at Hermanric's court, when they heard
these wrathful words, tried in vain to abate the fury of the king and to
open his eyes to Sibich's falseness; but as they availed nothing, they
mounted their horses and rode with all speed to Verona. At midnight they
reached the city and told Theodoric the evil tidings, that on the next
day Hermanric would burst upon him with overwhelming force determined to
slay him. Then Theodoric went into his great hall of audience and bade
the horns blow to summon all his counsellors and men of war to a meeting
there in the dead of night. He told them all the tidings that Witig had
brought and asked their counsel, whether it were better to stay in
Verona and die fighting--for of successful resistance to such a force
there was no hope--or to bow for a while to the storm and fleeing from
the home-land seek shelter at some foreign court. Master Hildebrand
advised, and all were of his opinion, that it was better to flee, and
that with all speed, before morning dawned. Scarcely had Hildebrand's
words been spoken, when there arose a great sound of lamentation in
Verona, women and children bewailing that their husbands and fathers
were about to leave them, brothers parting from brothers and friends
from friends. And with all this, in the streets the neighing of horses,
and the clank of arms, as the warriors, hastily aroused, prepared
themselves for their midnight march.

So Theodoric, with the knights his companions, rode away from Verona,
which Hermanric entered next morning with five thousand men. And
Theodoric rode first to Bacharach[169] on the Rhine, where dwelt the
great Margrave, Rudiger, who was his trusty friend. And from thence he
rode on to Susat,[170] where was the palace of Attila, King of the Huns.
And when Attila heard that Theodoric was coming, he bade his men blow
the great horns, and with all his chieftains he poured forth to welcome
him and do him honour. So Theodoric tarried in the palace of Attila, a
cherished and trusted guest, and there he abode many years.

[Footnote 169: Bakalar or Bechelaren.]

[Footnote 170: Susat is identified with Soest in Westphalia, an
allocation which is doubtless due to the region in which "Wilkina Saga"
was committed to writing (the neighbourhood of Muenster and Bremen). The
geographical conditions of the story would be better suited by Buda on
the Danube, which would, of course, be nearer to historical fact.]

Now King Attila had long wars to wage with his neighbours on the north
and east of Hun-land. These were three brothers, mighty princes,
Osantrix, king of Wilkina-land (Norway and Sweden) whose daughter Attila
had married, and Waldemai, king of Russia and Poland, and Ilias, Earl
of Greece, With all Attila waged war, but longest and hardest with
Waldemar. And in all these encounters Theodoric and his Amalung knights
were ever foremost in the fray and last to retreat, whilst Attila and
his Huns fled often early from the battle-field, leaving the Amalungs
surrounded by their foes. Thus, once upon a time, Theodoric and Master
Hildebrand, with five hundred men, were surrounded in a fortress in the
heart of Russia: and they suffered dire famine ere King Attila,
earnestly entreated, came to their rescue. And Master Hildebrand said to
the good knight, Rudiger, who had been foremost in pressing on to
deliver them, "I am now an hundred years old and never have I been in
such sore need as this day. We had five hundred men and five hundred
horses, and seven only of the horses are left which we have not killed
and eaten".

In this campaign Theodoric took prisoner his namesake, Theodoric, the
son of Waldemar, and handed him over into the keeping of his good host
and ally, King Attila. By him the captive was at first thrown into a
dreary dungeon, and no care was taken of his many wounds. But Erka, the
queen of the Huns, who was a cousin of Theodoric, son of Waldemar,
besought her husband that she might be allowed to take him out of prison
and bring him to the palace and heal his wounds. "If he is healed, he
will certainly escape", said Attila. "If I may only heal him", said
Erka, "I will put my life on the hazard that he shall not escape". "Be
it so", said Attila, who was going on another campaign into fat Russia:
"If when I return I find that the son of Waldemar has escaped, doubt not
that I will strike off thy head".

Then Attila rode forth to war, and Erica commanded that Theodoric, the
son of Waldemar, should be brought into the palace, and every day she
had dainty dishes set before him, and provided him with warm baths, and
delighted his soul with gifts of jewels. But Theodoric of Verona, who
was also sore wounded, was left under the care of an ignorant and idle
nurse, and his wounds were not tended, and were like to become
gangrened. So before many days were passed, the son of Waldemar was
again whole, and clothed him with his coat and greaves of mail and put
his shining helmet on his head, and mounted his horse and rode from the
palace. Queen Erka implored him to stay, saying that her head was the
pledge of his abiding; but he answered that he had been all too long
already in Hun-land, and would ride forth to his own country. Then the
queen, in her terror and despair, sought Theodoric of Verona, where he
lay in his ungarnished chamber with his gangrened wounds; and he, though
he could not forbear to reproach her for her little kindness to him, and
though his wounds made riding grievous and fighting well-nigh
impossible, yet yielded to her prayers and tears, and rode forth after
the son of Waldemar. Striking spurs into the good steed Falke, he rode
fast and far, and came up at length with the fugitive. "Return", he
cried, "for the life's sake of thy cousin, Erka; and she and I together
will reconcile thee to Attila, and I will give thee silver and gold".
But Waldemar's son utterly refused to return and to be reconciled with
either of his enemies, and scoffed at the foul wounds of his namesake.
"If thou wilt not return for silver and gold, nor to save the life of
thy cousin, Erka, thou shalt stay for thine own honour's sake, for I
challenge thee here to combat; and never shalt thou be called aught but
a 'Nithing' if thou ridest away when challenged by one wounded man". At
these words the son of Waldemar had no choice but to stay and fight. The
battle was long and desperate, and once both champions, sore weary,
leaned upon their shields and rested a space, while he of Verona in vain
renewed to the son of Waldemar his offers of peace and friendship; but
the combat began again with fury, and at last, with one mighty
sword-stroke, Theodoric of Verona struck the right side of the neck of
the other Theodoric so that his head rolled off on the left side, and
the victor rode back to Susat with that trophy at his saddle-bow. Queen
Erka, when her cousin's head was thrown by Theodoric at her feet, wept
and bitterly lamented that so many of her kindred should lose their
lives for her sake.

At length, after many days, Theodoric was healed of his wounds, and went
with Attila on one more expedition into Russia, in the course of which
they took the cities of Smolensko and Pultowa, and Theodoric slew King
Waldemar on the battle-field.

And now had Theodoric been twenty winters in Hun-land. He had fought in
many great battles, and had gained broad lands for his host-friend,
Attila. His young brother, Diether, who had been brought as a babe from
Verona, had grown into a goodly stripling; and the two sons of Attila,
Erp and Ortwin, who had grown up with him, loved him as a brother; and
Erka, their mother, loved Diether as her own son. Great, too, was the
reverence shown to Theodoric, who sat at the high-seat by the side of
Attila, and was honoured as his chief counsellor and friend.

But Theodoric's heart pined for his home and his lost kingdom, and one
day he sought the presence of Queen Erka and poured out the longings of
his soul. "Good friend, Theodoric", said she, "I will be the first to
aid thee in thine endeavour. I will send with thee my two sons, Erp and
Ortwin, and a thousand well-armed knights. And now will I seek Attila,
my lord, and adjure him to help thee". Attila at first took it ill that
Theodoric came not himself to urge his suit, but when Erka had persuaded
him that it was not from pride but from modesty that he made the request
through her, and when she said that she was willing to send her own sons
into danger for his sake, Attila gladly yielded, and bade his trusty
friend Rudiger, with a body of chosen knights, accompany Theodoric and
his exiled followers back to their own land.

Then Queen Erka called her two sons to her and showed them the coats of
mail and the greaves of mail, bright as silver and of hardest steel, but
embellished with ruddy gold, and the helmets and the thick red shields
that she had prepared for their first day of battle. "Now be brave",
said she, weeping, "oh, fair sons of mine, even as your arms are
strong: for great as is my longing that you return in safety to my
embraces, I long yet more that all men should say that you bore
yourselves as brave men and heroes in the fight". And then she armed
Diether in like manner, and said: "Dear foster-son, behold here my sons
Erp and Ortwin, whom I have armed for war to help thee and Theodoric in
the recovery of your kingdom. You three youths, who are now here, have
loved one another so dearly that never were you in any game in which you
could not be on the same side and give one another help. Now you ride
forth to war for the first time: keep well together and help one another
in this great game on which you are now entering". "May God help me,
dear lady", said Diether, "that I may bring back both thy sons safe and
sound; but if they fall in the storm of war, I will not live to tell the
tale".

Of the clang of iron and steel in all the armourers' shops at Susat, of
the stillness which fell upon the shouting host when Attila, from a high
tower, gave his orders to the army, of the setting forth of the gallant
band, ten thousand knights with many followers, it needs not to be told
at length. Enough, they crossed the mountains and entered the land that
had been theirs; and Theodoric, to take no unknightly advantage of his
foe, sent messengers to Rome to apprise Hermanric of his coming and
challenge him to battle outside the walls of Ravenna. [171]

[Footnote 171: I here deviate from the text of the "Wilkina-Saga", which
puts the battle-field at Gronsport on the banks of the Moselle. This is
evidently due to the influence of the Muenster and Bremen traditions,]

Hermanric, too old to go forth himself to war, gave the chief command to
the false counsellor, Sibich. Under him were Reinald and Witig, both of
whom had been friends and comrades of Theodoric in times past, and were
most unwilling to fight against him, though thirsting for battle with
any number of Huns. It was appointed, therefore, that Sibich, bearing
Hermanric's banner, should fight against Theodoric and his Amalungs,
Reinald against the gallant Rudiger, and Witig against the two sons of
Attila. The whole army of Hermanric numbered seventeen thousand men. And
now were the two armies drawn up on the opposite banks of a river, and
it was the night before the battle. Master Hildebrand, desiring to learn
the position of the enemy, rode some way up the stream till he found a
ford by which he crossed to the other side. It was so dark that he had
almost ridden up against another knight coming in the opposite
direction, before either perceived the other. Dark as it was they soon
recognised one another by their voices, though they had not met for
twenty years. The stranger was Reinald, who had come forth on the same
errand as Hildebrand. No blows were fought; only friendly words were
exchanged, with lamentations over this miserable war between the brother
Amalungs, and curses on the false Sibich, whose intrigues had brought it
to pass. Then the moon shone forth, and Reinald showed Hildebrand from
afar the great yellow tent with three golden tufts where the traitor
Sibich was sleeping; and the green tent with the silver tuft in which
Witig and his Amalungs were dreaming of battle with the Huns; and the
black tent, then empty of its lord, that was the tent of Reinald
himself. And Hildebrand told Reinald the ordering of the troops of
Theodoric, showing him Theodoric's tent with five poles and a golden
tuft, and the tent of the sons of Attila, made of red silk with nine
poles and nine tufts of gold; and the green tent of Margrave Rudiger.
Then the two warriors kissed each other and wished one another well
through the day of battle, and so they parted. And when Reinald,
returning to the camp, told whom he had met, Sibich wished to send him
to slay Master Hildebrand before he returned to his friends. But Reinald
would in no wise permit so unknightly a deed, saying that Sibich must
first slay him and all his friends ere such a thing should befall.

When day dawned Theodoric set forward his array and bade all his
trumpets blow. They rode up the stream to the ford which Hildebrand had
discovered the night before, and crossed thereby. And Sibich and Witig,
seeing them approach, sounded their trumpets and marshalled their men.
Theodoric, seeing the false Sibich's banner waving, cried to his
followers: "Forward, my men! Strike this day with all your courage and
knighthood. Ye have striven often against the Russians and the
Wilkina-men, and have mostly gotten the victory; but now in this strife
we fight for our own land and realm, and for the deathless glory that
will be ours if we win our land back again". Then he spurred his brave
old steed Falke through the thickest ranks of the enemy, raising ever
and anon his good sword Ecke-sax and letting it fall, with every blow
felling a warrior or his horse to the ground. Likewise his brave
standard-bearer Wildeber, who went before him, hewed down the ranks of
the foe. Against him came Walter, Sibich's standard-bearer, who rode in
hero-mood towards him, and aiming the banner-staff full against his
breast, pierced him through, the staff coming out through his shoulders.
But Wildeber, though wounded to the death, lopped off with his sword the
end of the banner-staff, and then riding fiercely at Walter struck him
on his thigh so terrible a blow that the sword cut right through the
coat of mail and stuck fast in the saddle below. Then did both the
standard-bearers fall from their horses and lie dead on the field side
by side.

When Sibich saw his standard droop and the brave knight Walter fall, he
turned his horse and fled from the field, and all his division of the
army with him. Theodoric and his men rode after them fast and far, and
wrought dire havoc among them, but when Theodoric was miles away from
the battle-plain he was overtaken by one of his men, his horse all
covered with foam, who brought him evil tidings from another part of the
field.

For Witig, when he saw the flight of Sibich, not terrified but all the
more enraged, had ridden fiercely towards the place where the banner of
Attila's sons was waving and had struck down their standard-bearer.
"Seest thou", said Ortwin to Helfric, his sworn henchman, "what evil
that base dog, Witig, is doing? He has slain our brave standard-bearer;
let us ride up to him and stop his deadly work". So spake Ortwin, but in
the fierce fray that followed both he and his good comrade Helfric, and
then his brother Erp, fell dead around Witig and his standard-bearer.
Oh! then, great was the wrath of the young Diether--who meanwhile had
fought and killed the standard-bearer of Witig--when he saw both of his
foster-brothers slain. Eager to avenge them, he struck oft and hard at
Witig's armour. "Art thou Diether, King Theodoric's brother?" cried
Witig; "for his sake I am loth to do thee any hurt. Ride away and fight
with some other man". "Since my young lords Erp and Ortwin are dead, and
thou, base hound, hast slain them, I care not for my life unless I can
have thine". So said Diether, and struck with all his might on Witig's
helmet. The helmet, of hardest steel, resisted the blow, but the sword,
glancing off, descended on the neck of Witig's war-horse, Schimming, and
severed its head from its body. "God knows", cried Witig, as he sprang
to earth, "that I fight now but to save mine own life". And with that he
grasped the handle of his sword Mimung with both hands and struck
Diether so terrible a blow that he clove his body in twain.

These were the tidings which the breathless knight brought to Theodoric
and which stayed him in his pursuit of the fugitives. "Ah! how have I
sinned", said he "that so evil a day should come upon me? Here am I
untouched by a wound, but my dearest brother is dead and my two young
lords also. Never may I now return to Hun-land, but here will I die or
avenge them". And with that he turned and set spurs to Falke and rode so
swiftly that none of his men could keep up with him; and so full was he
of rage and fury that a hot breath, like sparks of fire, came forth from
his mouth, and no living man might dare to stand before him. And when he
reached Witig, who was riding Diether's horse, his own being slain,
Witig, like all others turned to flee from that terrible countenance.
"Evil dog", cried Theodoric, "if thou hast any courage stand and wait
till I come up to thee and avenge the death of my brother". "I slew him
against my will". said Witig, "and because I had no other way to save my
life; and if I can pay forfeit for his blood with any quantity of gold
and silver, that will I gladly do". But still he fled as fast as his
steed could carry him, down the course of a stream to where it poured
itself into a lake, and still Theodoric rode after him. But when
Theodoric hurled his spear, in that very moment Witig sank beneath the
waters of the lake and the spear-shaft was driven deep into the shore,
and there it may be seen to this day. But some men thought that Witig
was received by a mermaid and kept hidden in her cave for many days. For
his grandfather had been born long ago of this mermaid, having been
begotten by Wilkinus, King of Norway.

So the battle had been won by Theodoric and his allies (for in other
parts of the field the Margrave Rudiger had vanquished Reinald) yet was
it a bootless victory by reason of the death of Attila's sons. And
Theodoric, riding back to the battle-field, came where his brother
Diether was lying; and lamented him saying: "There liest thou; my
brother Diether. This is the greatest sorrow that has befallen me, that
thou art thus untimely slain". And then he came to the place where lay
the young princes, with their stout coats of mail and their strong
helmets, which had not been able to save them from death, and he said:
"Dear young lords, this is the greatest of my sorrows that I have lost
you; and how shall I now return to Susat? God knows that I would gladly
have many a gaping wound, if only you might be whole again". Then he
bade Rudiger lead back the army to its king, for he would neither claim
his own kingdom nor return to the palace of Susat, after he had cost
Attila the lives of so many brave knights and of his own sons. So
Rudiger returned to the palace, but Theodoric and Master Hildebrand
dwelt in a little hut in the neighbourhood of the city of Susat.

When Rudiger stood in the presence of Attila, who asked him of the
welfare of Theodoric and of the host, he made answer: "King Theodoric
lives, and the Huns have been conquerors in the battle, yet have we had
evil fortune, since we have lost the young lords, Erp and Ortwin". Then
Queen Erka and almost all who were in the palace-hall lifted up their
voices and wept. And Rudiger told Attila how Diether and many another
brave knight had fallen in the battle. But Attila answered with
steadfast soul: "It has happened now as it ever does. They fall in the
fight for whom it is so appointed, and neither mail nor muscle avails
them anything. My sons Erp and Ortwin and their foster-brother Diether
had the best arms that could be fashioned in the smithy, yet there they
all lie dead". And after a space he added: "Where is my good friend,
King Theodoric?" "He and Master Hildebrand are sitting together in a
mean hut, and they have laid their arms aside and dare not come into thy
presence, O King! because they have lost the young lords". Then Attila
sent two knights to beg Theodoric to come into his presence, but he
would not for grief and shame. Then Queen Erka rose up weeping and went
with her maidens to the cottage where Theodoric abode: and when she
entered it she said: "My good friend, Theodoric! how did my sons fare in
the war, and fought they as good knights ere they fell?" But Theodoric,
with mournful face, answered: "Lady! they fought as good knights and
parried the blows bravely, and neither of them would part from the
other". And with that she went up to him and threw her arms round his
neck and said: "Good friend! King Theodoric! come now into the
palace-hall to King Attila, and take thy welcome there, and be merry
once more. Often before now have the brave men for whom it was
appointed, fallen in the battle; and they who live still must take
thought for themselves, since it profits not to be ever bewailing the
dead". So Theodoric went with the queen into the palace-hall, and Attila
stood up and gave him a kiss of welcome and bade him sit beside him on
the high-seat. Thus he returned to Attila's palace, where he dwelt for
yet many years, and all was friendship between them as before.

Two years after this Queen Erka fell sick of a grievous disease and lay
at the point of death. Sending for Theodoric, she rehearsed to him how
he had ever been the best friend of her husband and herself; and as it
might well happen that this sickness would sever that long friendship,
she desired to give him fifteen marks of red gold in a beaker and a
costly purple robe, as memorials of the same, and she prayed him to take
her young kinswoman, Herauda,[172] to wife. Theodoric said: "Good lady
and queen! thy sickness is doubtless a dangerous one. True friendship
hast thou ever shown to me and mine; and better it were for Attila to
lose the half of his kingdom than to lose thee". Thereat he wept like a
child and could say no more words, but went quickly forth of the
chamber.

Copyright (c) 2007. topboookz.com. All rights reserved.